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Show CHAPTER XXVI. LAS TEXAS Y LOS TEJANOS. " G. T. T." Forty years ago these mysterious letters might often be seen chalked or charcoaled on the door of an absconding debtor in the Middle, Southern and Western States. On the tax returns one occasionally saw them, opposite the name of some ne'er- do- well who had defrauded the State and other creditors by departing between two days. " Gone to Texas" was the universal verdict in such cases; and in due time the rural wags cut it down to the initial letters. The State had a hard name. As all who left their country for their coun-try's good were supposed to have gone to Texas, its population was thought to be composed mainly of refugees from debt and justice ; and its society, such as is broadly hinted at in General Sam Houston's reported farewell to his young wife: " Madame, you may go to hell, and I'll go to Texas." The glories of San Jacinto, Goliad and the Alamo, the bravery of Texan troops in the Mexican War, and the able representatives the State sent to Washington, rapidly raised our opinion of the new com-monwealth; but its development continued slow till after the war. Then a fresh spirit of emigration was excited in the Old South, which soon spread to the North and West, and within seven years after the peace, Texas was said to be receiving immigrants at the ra" te of four thousand per week. On this south- westward wave I was again borne along in the early part of 1873, for every body was curious about it, and the State needed a pen- painter. One may now ride without change of cars from St Louis to Galves-ton, 1,009 miles; and from all points east to St. Louis. It was pro-posed to push the western branch of the Texas Central to Camargo, on the Rio Grande, and eventually to the City of Mexico ; and grading was in rapid progress when the panic of 1873 suddenly stopped it. Only a few years, however, must elapse till one can ride by rail from New York to the Mexican capital. By the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Road, I passed leisurely through the first two States, and late in a cool April day entered the Indian Territory. Daylight next morning found us in the center of the Choctaw Nation, and still sixty miles ( 406) |
