We lived very well on the road, as we had quails, fresh fish, and best
of all, Anson shot a large deer with his revolver. It was a mighty
good shot, as the deer was a hundred yards off. It weighed over a
hundred pounds dressed. We had one hind quarter, kept the other one
for Major Dudley, who is in command here, and the rest made a meal for
all the men, teamsters and laundresses, so you see it was a pretty
large one. I told Anson father would have enjoyed it. You know you
thought it would be so unpleasant for us to be without vegetables,
well today for dinner we had peas, lettuce, and young onions out of
the government farm. Anyone can have a garden here if he chooses to
take the trouble.
Our quarters are very comfortable; the houses are built of adobe and
have three rooms and a kitchen. On first entering the quarters you
would say, "It would be folly to put down carpets or attempt in any
way to fix up here, for it would only serve to make the rest look
worse," but you have no idea how much good a little fixing up does.
The floors are mud, which is as hard and as dry as a bone. I have
spread the curtains out to hide as much of the wall as possible, and
as there is only one window I have arranged the remaining curtains
in festoons over and around the front door, which is half of glass.
The parlor is only twelve by twelve, so I ripped off one breadth of
the carpet and turned it in over a yard on the length. The post is
almost destitute of furniture, so we have a large barrel covered with
a board, then a red blanket which, with Anson's desk on top, makes
a respectable piece of furniture; then a chest with the ambulance
cushions on top and covered with the carriage blanket, does duty as
a divan, which, with two tables and three chairs furnishes (?) the
parlor, the bedroom being luxuriously filled with a bedstead and a
washstand, and the dining room being amply furnished with _one table_.
The worst of it is there is no lumber in the post to make any of. I
have sent by one of the wagons that went back to Whipple for a few
articles of furniture I left in the house, as they have plenty of wood
up there to make more. I do not know whether I will get it or not, as
it is not customary to send furniture from one post to another. They
have also sent there for lumber, so we will be able to have things
made.
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