Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-04-04
Anecdotes of Sam. Houston.

| lfEOm Inc Land we Love- ..
| The Houston Telegraph tells an anecdote
OF Gen. Sam. Houston. On one occasion,
when he was expected to make furious
/ war-speech to a much excited crowd eager
to invade Mexico, he gave, on the contrary,
an agricultural address, and ended by ad-
! visiug them to ''go home and raise corn ~
| Twas one of the wisest speeches ever made
| by the old warrior. In our humble way,
we would initiate his example and give the
same wholesome advice. 1t is idle to talk
| politics, it is idle to discuss the future of
| the negro, it is idle to speculate as to
whether he will work or will perish, it is
| idle to inquire who is to be Chief Magis-
trate, the President or Congress. All this
avails nothing. But we know that we can
| take off our coats and work ourselves, with
or without the negro. And we know,
whoever may be ruler of the United States,
work is king of the world. The great
duty now is to let politics alone, lay aside
foolish pride, and ''raise corn"
When we lived in Rockbridge, Va, the
native county of General Houston, we
heard an incident OF his early life. 1t is
well known that he was quite wild youth
and often shocked his guardians ideas of
propriety. When he went out west, his
guardian (who was also his uncle, we be-
lieve) accompanied him part of his journey,
and on bidding him farewell, said, "Sam.
the next thing expect to hear of you, is
either that you have been killed in some
row, or that worse fate has befallen you"
81 don't know what you will hear of me"
replied young Houston, ''but you will not
see me again till pass through ckbridge
on my way to Congress- The prediction
was literally fulfilled, and his first visit to
Rockbridge was as member elect to the
House of Represent atives.
When the writer of this was quite a
young man, he went into hotel in Wash
ington city and inquired at the Office for
friend. Owing to a change of room or to
some other cause not now remembered, the
clerk could give him no information and he
was going away disappointed, when gem
tleman came up and, with no little trouble,
aided him in the search for his frien d.
Twas an act of pure, disinterested kind
ness, and though the incident was trivial,
it spoke eloquently of the goodness of heart
of the obliging gentleman. He was Gen.
Sam. Houston, of Texas. Many theories
have been given for his remarkable success
in life, and one of them has been that he
was an accomplished demagogue. But it
is more charitable and more reasonable to
believe, that his extraordinary popularity
was owing to the conviction among the
masses, that at the bottom of his heart,
there was large fund of real, genuine, old
Rockbridge love of his race.
/ One of his bittereSt enemies told US at
Corpus Christi, in 1915, that he had known
the General to 60 into crowd almost
ready to mob him, and cry out in his
stentorian voice that it was mot the rule
In Texas to condemn man unheard; :" and
when the multitude had assented to this
proposition, the old warrior would make
such speech that Indignation would be
changed into admiration and the yells of
rage into ''hurrah for old Sam W