ion of the house we live in, where the new
has all come off of Dolly's wedding presents, the chair covers are
wearing out, holes are coming in the napkins, and there is no money for
replacements. How Dolly could pay for her trip to the border, or keep
herself there, I can't think. Suppose the children are sick!

Oh, my dear, I am so weary of genteel poverty! Why couldn't I have
married Dick? He worked so hard, and got himself such a fine position,
that we should have been so comfortable! And then we had to conclude that
we weren't made for each other. I do so regret it, and yet there was
nothing else possible. Perhaps I'm not made for marriage after all.

* * * * *

September 12th.

The town, as I told you, is flooded with recruits, of the amateur
variety. But our post is a little oasis all by itself, and except that
they come and drill on the parade ground, they do not come near us. Did I
tell you that out in front of the house, merely across a driveway, is
this great field where the training companies manoeuvre morning and
afternoon, and where they occasionally have regimental or battalion
drill? Luckily our small piazza is all grown over with vines, so that I
can sit outside for the air and yet not myself be seen. The old Colonel
watches it all with the keenest interest, tells me what they do and what
they fail to do, and I am even learning the meaning of a few military
terms. He approves of the way in which the new men learn, and is very
proud of what they are achieving. But it has got so with me that I pay no
more attention to the drilling men than to automobiles going by. And when
their hours are over the place is almost as deserted as before.

* * * * *

Sept. 13.

I am rather annoyed by the fact that now that the training camp is
settling into its routine, its officers--the unmarried ones--find time to
come calling on the Colonel. Of course the dear old man is delighted to
see them, and doesn't tell me that he has helped to spread the report
that an eligible young woman is staying with him. I wish he hadn't. For I
have found out that military men are twice as bad as civilians. They are
aggressive by nature, or they wouldn't have chosen the profession; they
are aggressive by education; three minutes afte