Eliza moved about, "queening it," as she knew how to do, and it was a proud hour of triumph to her, as she cast a complacent side glance at the tail of her gown, which she had wheedled out of me by cunning arguments, among which the most powerful was that "'twas getting so mussed, and 'twasn't no sort of a dress for a Ginnel's wife, no how." The General lost nothing, for he sat in our hidden corner, shaking and throwing his head back in glee, but keeping a close and warning hold on my arm, as I was not so successful in smothering a titter as he was, having no mustache to deaden the sound. After Eliza discovered us, she let no one know of our perfidy, and the company, believing they were alone, abandoned themselves to complete enjoyment, as the fiddle played havoc with the heels of the entire assembly.
FOOTNOTES:
[E] In a town of Mexico last year I saw these small looms with blankets in them, in various stages of progress, in many cottages. Among the Indians the rude loom is carried about in the mountain villages, and with some tribes there is a superstition about finishing the blankets in the same place where they were begun. A squaw will sometimes have one half done, and if an order is given her she will not break over her rule to finish it if a move is made in the midst of her work. She waits until the next year, when her people return to the same camp, as is the custom when the Indian seeks certain game or grazing, or to cut longer poles.
[F] In order to gain some idea of the immense territory in which our troops were attempting to restore order, I have only to remind the reader that Texas is larger than either the German or the Austrian Empire. The area of the State is 274,356 square miles. It is as large as France, Belgium, England and Wales all combined. If we could place the northwestern corner of Texas at Chicago, its most southerly point would be at Jacksonville, Fla., its most easterly at Petersburg, Va., and its most westerly in the interior of Missouri. It would thus cover the entire States of Indiana, Kentucky and the two Carolinas, and nearly all of Tennessee, with one-third of Ohio, two-thirds of Virginia, half of Georgia, and portions of Florida, Alabama, Illinois and Missouri. The cities of Chicago, Toledo, Cincinnati, Washington, Richmond, Charleston, Atlanta and Nashville would all be included within its borders.
CHAPTER VIII.
LETTERS HOME.
The trivial events of our daily life were chronicled in a weekly letter home, and from a number of these school-girl effusions I cull a few items, as they give an idea of my husband's recreations as well as his duties.
"We are quartered in the Blind Asylum, which is large and comfortable. The large rooms in the main part of the building we can use for entertaining, while the staff occupy the wings and the building in the yard, that was used for a schoolroom. Out there they can have all the 'walk-arounds' and 'high-jinks' they choose, without any one hearing them."