lived close by it, and I know it well. A
ceaseless round of drill and work and lessons, and work and lessons and
drill--no recreation, no excitement, no change.

Far away from family and all home companionship, a man longs for some
pleasant place to go, after the day's work is done. Perhaps these women
think (if, in their blind enthusiasm, they think at all) that a young
soldier or an old soldier needs no recreation. At all events, they have
taken from him the only one he had, the good old canteen, and given him
nothing in return.

Now Fort Niobrara was a large post. There were ten companies, cavalry
and infantry, General August V. Kautz, the Colonel of the Eighth
Infantry, in command.

And here, amidst the sand-hills of Nebraska, we first began to really
know our Colonel. A man of strong convictions and abiding honesty, a
soldier who knew his profession thoroughly, having not only achieved
distinction in the Civil War, but having served when little more than a
boy, in the Mexican War of 1846. Genial in his manners, brave and kind,
he was beloved by all.

The three Kautz children, Frankie, Austin, and Navarra, were the
inseparable companions of our own children. There was a small school
for the children of the post, and a soldier by the name of Delany was
schoolmaster. He tried hard to make our children learn, but they did not
wish to study, and spent all their spare time in planning tricks to be
played upon poor Delany. It was a difficult situation for the
soldier. Finally, the two oldest Kautz children were sent East to
boarding-school, and we also began to realize that something must be
done.

Our surroundings during the early winter, it is true, had been dreary
enough, but as the weather softened a bit and the spring approached, the
post began to wake up.

In the meantime, Cupid had not been idle. It was observed that Mr.
Bingham, our gracious host of the Ninth Cavalry, had fallen in love with
Antoinette, the pretty and attractive daughter of Captain Lynch of our
own regiment, and the post began to be on the qui vive to see how the
affair would end, for nobody expects to see the course of true love run
smooth. In their case, however, the Fates were kind and in due time the
happy engagement was announced.

We had an excellent amusement hall, with a fine floor for dancing. The
chapel was at one end, and a fairly good stage was at the other.

Being nearer civilization now, in the state of Nebraska, Uncle Sam