of long, low buildings which were the
kitchens, each set of quarters having its own.

We occupied the quarters at the end of the row, and a large bay window
looked out over a rather desolate plain, and across to the large and
well-kept hospital. As all my draperies and pretty cretonnes had been
burnt up on the ill-fated ship, I had nothing but bare white shades at
the windows, and the rooms looked desolate enough. But a long divan was
soon built, and some coarse yellow cotton bought at John Smith's (the
cutler's) store, to cover it. My pretty rugs and mats were also gone,
and there was only the old ingrain carpet from Fort Russell. The floors
were adobe, and some men from the company came and laid down old canvas,
then the carpet, and drove in great spikes around the edge to hold it
down. The floors of the bedroom and dining-room were covered with canvas
in the same manner. Our furnishings were very scanty and I felt very
mournful about the loss of the boxes. We could not claim restitution as
the steamship company had been courteous enough to take the boxes down
free of charge.

John Smith, the post trader (the name "sutler" fell into disuse about
now) kept a large store but, nothing that I could use to beautify my
quarters with--and our losses had been so heavy that we really could not
afford to send back East for more things. My new white dresses came and
were suitable enough for the winter climate of MacDowell. But I missed
the thousand and one accessories of a woman's wardrobe, the accumulation
of years, the comfortable things which money could not buy especially at
that distance.

I had never learned how to make dresses or to fit garments and although
I knew how to sew, my accomplishments ran more in the line of outdoor
sports.

But Mrs. Kendall whose experience in frontier life had made her
self-reliant, lent me some patterns, and I bought some of John Smith's
calico and went to work to make gowns suited to the hot weather. This
was in 1877, and every one will remember that the ready-made house-gowns
were not to be had in those days in the excellence and profusion in
which they can to-day be found, in all parts of the country.

Now Mrs. Kendall was a tall, fine woman, much larger than I, but I used
her patterns without alterations, and the result was something like a
bag. They were freshly laundried and cool, however, and I did not place
so much importance on the lines of them, as the young women of the
pre