"can't you see them?''

"Put them back in the chests,--and get them out as you need them,"
said this son of Mars, and buckled on his sword. "Do the best you can,
Martha, I have to go to the barracks; be back again soon." I looked
around me, and tried to solve the problem. There was no bureau, nothing;
not a nook or corner where a thing might be stowed. I gazed at the
motley collection of bed-linen, dust-pans, silver bottles, boot
jacks, saddles, old uniforms, full dress military hats, sword-belts,
riding-boots, cut glass, window-shades, lamps, work-baskets, and books,
and I gave it up in despair. You see, I was not an army girl, and I did
not know how to manage.

There was nothing to be done, however, but to follow Jack's advice, so
I threw the boots, saddles and equipments under the bed, and laid the
other things back in the chests, closed the lids and went out to take a
look at the post. Towards evening, a soldier came for orders for beef,
and I learned how to manage that. I was told that we bought our meats
direct from the contractor; I had to state how much and what cuts I
wished. Another soldier came to bring us milk, and I asked Jack who was
the milkman, and he said, blessed if he knew; I learned, afterwards,
that the soldiers roped some of the wild Texas cows that were kept in
one of the Government corrals, and tied them securely to keep them
from kicking; then milked them, and the milk was divided up among the
officers' families, according to rank. We received about a pint every
night. I declared it was not enough; but I soon discovered that however
much education, position and money might count in civil life, rank
seemed to be the one and only thing in the army, and Jack had not much
of that just then.

The question of getting settled comfortably still worried me, and
after a day of two, I went over to see what Mrs. Bailey had done. To my
surprise, I found her out playing tennis, her little boy asleep in the
baby-carriage, which they had brought all the way from San Francisco,
near the court. I joined the group, and afterwards asked her advice
about the matter. She laughed kindly, and said: "Oh! you'll get used to
it, and things will settle themselves. Of course it is troublesome,
but you can have shelves and such things--you'll soon learn," and still
smiling, she gave her ball a neat left-hander.

I concluded that my New England bringing up had been too serious, and
wondered if I had made a dreadful mista