We would call it a barn today, but we thought it
a palace. It was originally built for a small hotel, cloth and paper
on the walls and ceiling, roughened wood floors, everything of the
most primitive make. The rent of it was $80 a month and it cost $1,100
to furnish it. We had matting for carpets, the most common kitchen
chairs in the best room, kitchen table for a center table, and our
dining table was made of two long redwood boards joined together and
placed on four saw horses. Having had so much to do in making the best
out of nothing in the many places before, we had not lost the art of
arranging the furnishings of this house. Fortunately we did not
sacrifice all of our bedding, linens and quilts. We were allowed them
in the freight. The stores kept nothing but the brightest colored
prints and some bright damasks for the use of the Indians who came
down from the mountains and traded for such things. We could get white
cotton cloth, so we were able to have curtains at the windows combined
with red damask. We covered boxes with the same damask, and with
castors screwed on the corners we had some very comfortable stools.
Then a square of damask was properly finished off and made a table
cover for the center table. When all was done we began to feel we were
once more at home. There was yet something lacking. We had no piano
and we were lost without the usual music that made our home so happy.
Dear sister Mary, how we all pitied her.
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