Letter from Walter Reed to Laura Reed Blincoe, June 6, 1877 |
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Camp Lowell, A.T.
June 6th, 1877.
My darling Sister;
Your welcome letter has
been received and deserves more than a
postal card in reply. Well really it
seems impossible that I have been so
negligent and lazy as to permit a whole
year to go by without writing my big
Sis so much as one line. Cares of mar-
ried life, I assure you, my dear Madam!
Increased responsibility thrust upon
my shoulders- Wife and children to look
after -- no time for frisking with the frol-
licksome peer, etc, etc,; if you can only
be induced to swallow such a
high-sounding excuse- If not, I have another
Terribly hot climate -- very relaxing to the
physical fibre -- conducive to the "slumber-
-ferous" condition- At other times, busily
engaged in wiping the beads of pearly per-
spirations from my marble brow- Old
lady & the two youngest children continually
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fretting- necessitates my getting up at night
& wondering in the gloom for a match-
my toe comes in violent contact with my
mahogany bed-post- result, on my back
for a week, etc, etc- All of this by way of
metaphor, however- Now, joking aside, I
am the logiest man living at present- I
know not how to account for this except
it be that I have the smartest and most
energetic wife that ever lived- As an
illustration of the latter, she has just remarked
that she began a letter to you more than a
week ago, & up to the present time, has got as
far as Camp Lowell. Oh! we are a team
and the finest children you ever laid eyes
on- of course I refer to Emerline & myself.
She's a "boofer Omsey" & I am [a] "feet Man-
tee" -- all feet- We left the English language
about one year since & now speak an
unknown tongue- A specimen of our
new language - "Oozes peetning"? Answer, "meezes". "Oozes-ub"? answer, "oozes" etc h
very simple indeed- "Children cry for it"-
will enclose complete vocabulary on receipt of 50 cents.
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Having begun a new page, will, with your
permission, take up a new train of thought
Emili
Well, you know that my old lady & I were torn
asunder on May 11th, 76 and after 6 months of
sighs & tears (and protestations that no
other human beings were wer so cruelly
de [a] lt with, we re ) [we] rushed into each others
arms with a scream & a clash, on
the evening of November 5th, at 8 O,clock,
in the great "Palace Hotel," San Francisco,
California. And then like the children of Israel.
we "sat down & wept". & my mustache had
grown to such an extent during our sep-
aration, that my old lady was not satisfied
that I was the right fellow, until she had
takened a tape-measure & measured my
the length of my head. Then she was convinced
that it was either myself or a mule! With
which happy conviction we both fell to o
on a broiled chicken- We tarried in San
F. just one week & thence came by Steamer
to San Diego, & thence by private conveyance
to Camp Lowell, a distance of 500 miles-
Took us about 23 days-camped out
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every night- Used camp stools for dinner-table
had our butter served on the top of a yeast pow-
der box, & fairly luxuriated- Crossed the great
Colorado desert -- a vast expanse of sand just
100 miles wide where we crossed- got caught
in a terrible sand storm- Sand so thick that
the sun was obscured & couldn't see 30 feet
ahead of us, etc-, finally reached Camp Lowell
safe & sound, & just $720 out of pocket- But
"do thyself no harm for we're all here"-
At some other time, my dear Sis, I'll write you
concerning this far off clime & tell you many
strange things- I reserve particulars till
we meet again- Tell Miss Jennie, after
you have given her my best love, that
I often think of her, & that I could tell her
some terrible stories about Indians that
would keep her awake all night- Nita
I suppose, has just about reached home when
this letter arrives- Kiss her and all the others- Es-
pecially my most dutiful regards to the latest
Edition- "Emerly" sends much love & vows that
she'll write soon- Love to Mr B. and believe me,
my dear Sister, your most affectionate brother,
Walter,
of Arizona
. P.S. Have
not named the
baby yet-
Think we'll call
it "Bony part"
after its father.
no more-adieu,
W. of A.
P.S. No. 2. Your
letter was just
25 days in coming-
Should have reached
us in 12 days-
W. of A.
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