I well remember how the sun shone that day, and, as we strolled up from the boat with them, Frau Haase stopped, looked at the blue sky, the lovely clouds, the green slopes of the Island and said: "Mein Gott! Frau Summerhayes, was ist das fur ein Paradies! Warum haben Sie uns nicht gesagt, Sie wohnten im Paradies!" So, with music and German speech, and strolls to the North and to the South Batteries, that wonderful and never to-be-forgotten day with the great Friedrich Haase came to an end.
The months flew by, and the second winter found us still there; we heard rumors of Indian troubles in Arizona, and at last the orders came.

The officers packed away their evening clothes in camphor and had their campaign clothes put out to air, and got their mess-chests in order, and the post was alive with preparations for the field.

All the families were to stay behind.

The most famous Indian renegade was to be hunted down, and serious fighting was looked for.
At last all was ready, and the day was fixed for the departure of the troops.
The winter rains had set in, and the skies were grey, as the command marched down to the boat.
The officers and soldiers were in their campaign clothes; the latter had their blanket-rolls and haversacks slung over their shoulders, and their tin cups, which hung from the haversacks, rattled and jingled as they marched down in even columns of four, over the wet and grassy slopes of the parade ground, where so short a time before all had been glitter and sunshine.
I realized then perhaps for the first time what the uniform really stood for; that every man who wore it, was going out to fight--that they held their lives as nothing.

The glitter was all gone; nothing but sad reality remained.
The officers' wives and the soldiers' wives followed the troops to the dock.