The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1873-12-04
NO. 10

/ by rail, ] should always advise travellers to
take the Falls Of the Brazos" in their way
and so down. the country on the right
bank. The falls themselves are q very
small aifair--a mere rpple-but the country
1 that yon pass over, the soil, the large tim
Der aud hne farms you see on your way.
shaH always assert that to see Texas in all
I her glory OF rich ailaviai, this is the best Of
/ travelled routes.
Opposite 20 the falls, ON the right bank,
IS bold blulf, and on this bluff the % D
neers of Robertson Colony planted their
! first homes, and founded the town Of VI
esea of which but single post remains
a bare, moeking, leaning, rickety emblem
81 the past-the very graves Of the old
! pioneers have vanished from off the face of
the earth.
know Of no prettier view than to stand
on the site Of old Viesca, look across the
Brazos and view the farms, now white as a
mountain snow bank, with the great fleecy
staple of Texas. I wonder If these pioneers
who now sleep in quiet on this knoll, ever
dreamed even IN the widest of their imag-
inings that they were sowing the seeds of
such magnificent fruits. Over thousand
acres almost in one body in cotton, and such
cottonl When old Sam told the people in
Mississippi that his people in Texas took
step ladders to the field to reach the cotton,
there was far more truth than poetry in the
| observation. Cotton stalks as tall as a man
on horseback, laden with bolls from bottom
to t0pl Is it any wonder that even bale to
the acre is saved besides what is annually
lost for want of hands and time to
gather il?
recollect in ii, in the cars near New
York, gentleman on his way home from
his pew purchase in South Carolina had
cotton stalk, roots and all, with some eight
bolls, which he was showing to the wonder
ing crowd, and exhorting most agricultu-
rally thereon. My daughter, who / was
then taking to school could not help laugh
ing most heartily at the specimen, and
never shall forget how her observation dis
concerted the old gentleman. Cotton,
papa, said she, ''why one of our negroes
would not stoop to pick that thing - As l
passed through the plantation OF tie late
Col. ChuIcmll Jones, the scene in The car
came TO my mind, and I wished / could
send few stalks just as they stand, to let
our brethren in the North see what we call
cotton.
Are republics ungrateful? this remark
came finally to my mind rs l cast my eyes
up and down the Brazos, and then looked
on my map Of the county, which revealed
the fact that the headlights granted to at
least forty of these old veterans were COW
cred with prior "eleven league grants, "
taken up by the devilish hyenas, the early
land sharks, quietly and secretly, as report
has it, by mcandering the river in the night
time. Here are these men who came b
this then wilderness an fought the savage
Indian, the brutal Mex an and suffered all
I
whose main object 81 coming to Texas
was to get lands for themselves and chill
dren, many of whom were slain in their
encounters with the wild Indian, who have
never received one foot Of the splendid do
main which by their proWess they wrested
from the hands of the savage, and whose
services also helped to win new empire for
American civilization.
The new comers who soon formed the
majority in the Republic of Texas seemed
to give the cold shoulder to all claims for
land that was due these old patriots, and
since Texas became,a State in the Union,
the political authority has entirely ig-
nored the claims of the descendants of
those who made the way easy for
| their successors. I know that there are
over 250 titles extended to old settlers which
are covered by these eleven league grants,
or otherwise defective, that neither the men
themselves, their children nor their assignees
have ever received one acre of land. Even
many of those who in good faith for years
cultivated these headlights, have not only
lost their land, but with them the whole of
their years Of hard work and toll. The
sons of some have been dispossessed of the
very field upon which their parents have
been shot and scalped by the savages, even
while they were blowing the land, orsowing
the corn which was to feed their families
Before Texas parts viii all her public do
main to soulless corporations, will not some
patriotic member of the next Legislature
bring before that honorable body bill for
the relief of the descendants of old settlers
who have never yet received headrighti
1t would be a good field for the Hon Guy
NJ. Bryan, the nephew of Gen. Austin. II
is true, less Of these irregularities occurred
in Austin's colony than in the others, but
still this gentleman is looked upon as the
particular representative of the old Texan.
Let him try his best.
This is too.long, however, for the STATES
MAN. did intend to tell you something
aboat the dark corner, which / will do in
my next. WASDERER.