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Show Old Sam Houston. M In the Outlook II. Addington Bruce tolls the M story of Texas from 1819 to its annexation by H the United States. There is nothing especially M new in it, but it is a vivid reminder of some M stirring events, and it brings back vividly what old Sam Houston was to that land, and tho kind M of a man ho was. Tho time will como when tho M men of Texas will do fitting honor to his mom- M ory. Ho had some of tho rarest of human attri- M butos. His personal courage was measureless; M his power over men was very great; at tho same M time he was half a savage by naturo, for in his M youth ho ran away and for a long time, of choice, M lived with tho Chorokees. Ho was a trusted lieu- tenant of General Jackson, tho influence of that remarkable man doubtless had a powerful in- fl fluonce on his own llfo, it was through his gen- fl eralship that Texas won its independence, but it H is clear that all the timo Houston wanted Texas, not as an independent state, but as a part of the jH United States, fQr his allegiance to native land S was never shaken. The crowning aot of his life H was when as governor of Texas ho strove with all 9 his mind and courage to hold the state in the , H Union. When at last tho legislature carried the , fl state out of tho Union, the old man still held on , H and when begged to join the confederacy or re- jH sign ho rofusod to do either and declared that , H if he were again young he would raise an army S and force the state back Into the Union. Ho WL - , - - ..in i i in ii ii ii ih.i ii i imn . m I was Anally put out of ofllce and then taking an old four-pound gun mounted It upon his ranch and told the stato that owed him so much that , it might go out of the Union if it pleased to, hut I it could not take him or his out. How great I would have been his triumph could he have lived until the war closed. It is easy to see, but it was not to be. He died in 1863, a few days after -gw rw the capitulation of Vicksburg. JBH Ifj It is common for historians to assume that Jfl fe i cortnin men are raised up to achieve some mighty SH Igj purpose. That term never had a more direct jH I a application than in the case of General Houston. H It looks very much as though he was raised up fl T I t0 acn'eVG the independence of Texas. He learned Ha i I war In his youth. He learned familiarity with all HB I I the hardships and the "science' 'of the frontier, B I I and when he was elected governor of Tennessee fl II' l and was in a position where he might easily B jlti ' have forgotten his dream of the conquest and B j redemption of Texas, a domestic sorrow, the par- mm i T ticulars of which no history has revealed, caused B q him to resign his ofllce and to seek once moro H f J the companionship of the savages. From that m i obscurity he once more by the strength of his Hfl oharaeter emerged and became the savior and Hi I lj fathor of Texas. Honors without stint were H heaped upon him; had the civil war been post- H f $ poned for four years, he would have died and all fl 1 Texans would have been mourners around his B I I bier, his grave would have been a shrine forever fE I and his memory would have been cherished as flH 1 l that of a second Washington. jH , As it was ho saw himself discredited, heard fl i his name spoken in reproach, and in his old age fl 1 I went away to die alone on his farm. But even 'B jfl I then his high courage and his all-embracing pa- B t;i I triotism shone out magnificently to the last he jfl $jp 1 was the noblest Roman of them all. And when Hf 1 1 I two or three more generations of Texans shall jHI 'j f have lived and died, when all the animosities of H Hw the fearful war shall have passed away; when the Ml !"m I war Itself shall have become but a troubled and H m ! dim memory; then there will rise up a generation M .til of Texans which will declare that the memory of jKt ii I the founder of their great state, the hero who fl 11 I led their fathers to victory, who never failed Rb Iff them until they themselves went wrong, shall be B iff properly honored, and then the children of Texas Hfliilj w111 1)Q taught how brave and true the old man jBD 'jHj was through all his stormy life. |