It was bright and sunny when
the camp was made yesterday, but before dark a terrible blizzard came
up, and by midnight the snow was deep and the cold intense. As long as
we remain inside the tents we are quite comfortable with the little
conical sheet-iron stoves that can make a tent very warm. And the snow
that had banked around the canvas keeps out the freezing-wind. We
have everything for our comfort, but such weather does not make life
in camp at all attractive.
Faye just came in from Major Pierce's tent, where he says he saw a
funny sight. They have a large hospital tent, on each side of which is
a row of iron cots, and on the cots were five chubby little
children--one a mere baby--kicking up their little pink feet in jolly
defiance of their patient old mammy, who was trying to keep them
covered up. The tent was warm and cozy, but outside, where the snow
was so deep and the cold so penetrating, one could hardly have
believed that these small people could have been made so warm and
happy. But Mrs. Pierce is a wonderful mother! Major Pierce was opposed
to bringing his family on this long march, to be exposed to all kinds
of weather, but Mrs. Pierce had no idea of being left behind with two
days of car and eight days of the worst kind of stage travel between
her husband and herself; so, like a sensible woman, she took matters
in her own hands, and when we reached Chicago, where she had been
visiting, there at the station was the smiling Mrs.
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