various designs, and a cheerful-looking table-cover. We were
obliged to be very economical, as Jack was a second lieutenant,
the pay was small and a little in arrears, after the wedding trip
and long journey out. We bought white Holland shades for the
windows, and made the three rooms fairly comfortable and then I
turned my attention to the kitchen.

Jack said I should not have to buy anything at all; the
Quartermaster Department furnished everything in the line of
kitchen utensils; and, as his word was law, I went over to the
quartermaster store-house to select the needed articles.

After what I had been told, I was surprised to find nothing
smaller than two-gallon tea-kettles, meat-forks a yard long, and
mess-kettles deep enough to cook rations for fifty men! I
rebelled, and said I would not use such gigantic things.

My husband said: "Now, Mattie, be reasonable; all the army women
keep house with these utensils; the regiment will move soon, and
then what should we do with a lot of tin pans and such stuff? You
know a second lieutenant is allowed only a thousand pounds of
baggage when he changes station." This was a hard lesson, which I
learned later.

Having been brought up in an old-time community, where women
deferred to their husbands in everything, I yielded, and the huge
things were sent over. I had told Mrs. Wilhelm that we were to
have luncheon in our own quarters.

So Adams made a fire large enough to roast beef for a company of