Army Letters from an Officers Wife, 1871-1888 | Page 9

a table, and in a way to make them present

as fine an appearance as possible. Then I printed in large letters, on a
piece of cardboard, "One box--contents unknown!" and stood it up on
the back of the table. I did this to let everyone know that we had not
been forgotten by home people. My beautiful new saddle was brought
in, also, for although I had had it several weeks, it was really one of
Faye's Christmas gifts to me.
They have such a charming custom in the Army of going along the line
Christmas morning and giving each other pleasant greetings and
looking at the pretty things everyone has received. This is a rare treat
out here, where we are so far from shops and beautiful Christmas
displays. We all went to the bachelors' quarters, almost everyone taking
over some little remembrance--homemade candy, cakes, or something
of that sort.
I had a splendid cake to send over that morning, and I will tell you just
what happened to it. At home we always had a large fruit cake made for
the holidays, long in advance, and I thought I would have one this year
as near like it as possible. But it seemed that the only way to get it was
to make it. So, about four weeks ago, I commenced. It was quite an
undertaking for me, as I had never done anything of the kind, and
perhaps I did not go about it the easiest way, but I knew how it should
look when done, and of course I knew precisely how it should taste.
Eliza makes delicious every-day cake, but was no assistance whatever
with the fruit cake, beyond encouraging me with the assurance that it
would not matter in the least if it should be heavy.
Well, for two long, tiresome days I worked over that cake, preparing
with my own fingers every bit of the fruit, which I consider was a fine
test of perseverance and staying qualities. After the ingredients were all
mixed together there seemed to be enough for a whole regiment, so we
decided to make two cakes of it. They looked lovely when baked, and
just right, and smelled so good, too! I wrapped them in nice white
paper that had been wet with brandy, and put them carefully away--one
in a stone jar, the other in a tin box--and felt that I had done a
remarkably fine bit of housekeeping. The bachelors have been
exceedingly kind to me, and I rejoiced at having a nice cake to send
them Christmas morning. But alas! I forgot that the little house was
fragrant with the odor of spice and fruit, and that there was a man about
who was ever on the lookout for good things to eat. It is a shame that

those cadets at West Point are so starved. They seem to be simply
famished for months after they graduate.
It so happened that there was choir practice that very evening, and that
I was at the chapel an hour or so. When I returned, I found the three
bachelors sitting around the open fire, smoking, and looking very
comfortable indeed. Before I was quite in the room they all stood up
and began to praise the cake. I think Faye was the first to mention it,
saying it was a "great success"; then the others said "perfectly
delicious," and so on, but at the same time assuring me that a large
piece had been left for me.
For one minute I stood still, not in the least grasping their meaning; but
finally I suspected mischief, they all looked so serenely contented. So I
passed on to the dining room, and there, on the table, was one of the
precious cakes---at least what was left of it, the very small piece that
had been so generously saved for me. And there were plates with
crumbs, and napkins, that told the rest of the sad tale--and there was
wine and empty glasses, also. Oh, yes! Their early Christmas had been
a fine one. There was nothing for me to say or do--at least not just
then--so I went back to the little living-room and forced myself to be
halfway pleasant to the four men who were there, each one looking
precisely like the cat after it had eaten the canary! The cake was
scarcely cold, and must have been horribly sticky--and I remember
wondering, as I sat there, which one would need the doctor first, and
what the doctor would do if they were all seized with cramps at the
same time. But they were not ill--not in the least--which proved that the
cake was well baked. If they had discovered the other one, however,
there is no telling what