strikers.

There are four companies here--three of infantry and one troop of
cavalry. You must always remember that Faye is in the infantry. With
the cavalry he has a classmate, and a friend, also, which will make it
pleasant for both of us. In my letters to you I will disregard army
etiquette, and call the lieutenants by their rank, otherwise you would
not know of whom I was writing--an officer or civilian. Lieutenant
Baldwin has been on the frontier many years, and is an experienced
hunter of buffalo and antelope. He says that I must commence riding
horseback at once, and has generously offered me the use of one of his
horses. Mrs. Phillips insists upon my using her saddle until I can get
one from the East, so I can ride as soon as our trunks come. And I am
to learn to shoot pistols and guns, and do all sorts of things.

We are to remain with General and Mrs. Phillips several days, while
our own house is being made habitable, and in the meantime our trunks
and boxes will come, also the colored cook. I have not missed my
dresses very much--there has been so much else to think about. There
is a little store just outside the post that is named "Post Trader's,"
where many useful things are kept, and we have just been there to
purchase some really nice furniture that an officer left to be sold
when he was retired last spring. We got only enough to make ourselves
comfortable during the winter, for it seems to be the general belief
here that these companies of infantry will be ordered to Camp Supply,
Indian Territory, in the spring. It must be a most dreadful
place--with old log houses built in the hot sand hills, and surrounded
by almost every tribe of hostile Indians.

It may not be possible for me to write again for several days, as I