The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-03-29
GATH.
Texas studies-Lone Star Interview.

ANsllNt iEAhs, MarCn IL looz. his is the
capital Of the. biggest province out Of
doorst 1t is called the handsomest city in
Texassbut the want Of shade in the str eets,
the glazing yellow of the limestone blocks
and the yellowish plaster clay of the soil do
not agreeaby meet the travellers expecta-
ton, glaring ochre tint and oriental
bleakness of sunshine q want OF shady
sidewalk at most times, and great breadth
OF bake-oven in midwinter, when undertake
ing to cross the wide streets modifies our
appreciation of the pleasingly broken land
scapes and noble, ascending grade of the
main street, from the Colorado bridge to
the ruined walls of the capitol building,
where the ordinance of secession was passed
that foolish ordinance on which is built
the present sullen and stupid regime of
Texas politics, with tiresome old gov
ernor named Roberts, the wisest owl
among the moss-backs of the south too con
ceited to learn anything, too simple to IN
deceive the credulous farm people, too
wrong in the past to be frank and get right.
lie presided over the secession convention;
that is his miserable title to gratitude
and immortality, He lives in an old
lead -colored executive mansion sidewise
to the capitol, upon the grade of hill
u house with an entablature of iluted
columns and balcony under it, and there
once lived Sam Houston. ruler he
and his school persistently fought in vain
and, unable to beat him, finally deposed
him, and now resent his fame, which they
tedlously attempt to explain away. 1t is
said that Roberts expects to be sent to the
United States senate in place of Coke.
Coke is mineral out of which some of the
gas and moisture have been baked, Roberts
is replete with all the original gas and
verdancy. lie bears the same relation to
n great province like Texas that n bigoted
Mohammedan Tartar chief bears to the
great plains of Asia in the nineteenth cen-
fury. Let nae reveal him to the outer
world.
ROBERTS,
a lean, simple, wiseish, skipny-faced old
man of sixty odd, with one tooth ever try
ing to make connection with wagging
undcr-lip, on which is n sheet of white
beard. He has pair Of grayish eyes, full
of transparent light and selfappreciation
reminding you, by their feeble confidence,
of Justice Shallow when he says 20,
brother, you should have seen what Sir
John and have seen, Ha Sir John?"
They say Roberts was a colonel in the
war, but there are no traces of it. A glib
bering childhood seems to have settled upon
his scars, and as we bear his weak yet con,
hdent generalizations we are reminded oil
the lion lying down with the sheep, and q
little child leading them. Insensibly we
think of weak cruel and catnip tea as the
proper pabulum for this poor old Lear
He has written a book, like King James |.
his garrulous prototype. | will give you
the first sentence:
Nothing appears to me as being more
appropriate than an explanation of how it
happened that |, small farmer, a lawyer
and n judge most of the time, owning q res.
Enr tlxt fN,t,y Ia,
should have collected the materials for such
n work while busly engaged in my ordi.
nary pursuits"
This work" he congratulates himself
upon is pamphlet of one hundred
and thirty-threc pages about as large
as the brief lawyer will write in
two nights, or equal to three or four
of my letters to the Enquirer in size. lie
has officially approved of the purchesc.of
ninety copies of it by one of the state nor
nal schools, where 1t may safely he intro.
duCed assbelonging to eunuch literature
The life of Charles l. by Mr.. Dick in "Cop.
pertield' was virile matter in comparison
THE FuRTIvE.EYED GOVERNOR TALKED
to the following effect
Sam Houston2 III give YOU my idea
of the man, lie was an actor! sir.
That's it-an actor, very great actor
Now let me give You an instance of it:
Down yer at st. Augusteen Sam
Houston made one of his speeches.
They used to follow him around to speak
against him-Wigtall and Oldham and sew
eral of 'em. Well, sir, Sam Houston he'd
make his speech first, with n big flourish.
Then he'd get up and leave. He'd never
stop to hear any of en- answer him. lie
was Sam Houston! Yes, sir, he was great
actor.
4 well, sir, rs was goin' on to say, Sam
Houston got down to Augusteen. He
made his speech first. The people were all
hooray. Sam he acted as II there wa mt no
body but him to hear. When he'd
+ got done, he says TO the peoplc-mnd
you, Wigiall was sttin' right
thcre'sa little Teller yer by the name OF
Wagtail'-no, that wasn't IT. Let me see.
o, yes-'a little Teller by the name OF Wag-
gletail, that was Sam lIouston's nickname
fur him. 'FellerCitizons,' says he, there s
little Teller named Waggletail folcrn of
of me around, and directly he'll get up and
tell you whole parcel of lies, There was
Wigmll, mind you, and great man he was,
too-a bigger man than Sam Houston in
the substantials. Sam could paint it up
and make 1t appear SO, but on the substan-
tails Wigiall was very great man,
sir. Well-now hope | amt borin you,
am l3-Sam Houston he come down AND
set by the tavern and began to white
sticks, pretending not to hear word Wig
fall was a.saying but he was hearin' every
word of IT, | told you he was great aC-
tor, didn't |? When Wighll got through
Sam Houston sprung up from that cheer
and walked up the street amongst the
crowd, and says. he, 2t the top OF
his voice; Teller, itizens, didn't tell
ye that lcller would tell ye parcel OF
licsp Now we've heard 'em.' Well, you
+ can see the effect Why, they Jest howled
with admiration ofhim, o, he was n great
actor,h Here the governor Of Texas wiped
his beard, pushed up his slouched hat
looked down through his eycs-which were
along way beneath his eyebrows-room
enough Between for another pair of eyes
and he shot pigeons as the phrase is, OIL
looked furtively here and there for another
beginning
Now I'll give you my idea of
WHAT MADE SAM HOUSTON SUCCESS.
Am boring of your Because if | am, III
go away
NO, governor, you are deeply inter
estingn
well, I'll give you my idea of Sam
Houston's power among the people. II
was his way of never looking as il he'd beer
put down. Therc, you've got my idea o.
: Sam Houston, He'd cock up his head Us Il
he'd won q victory, whether the argy
, mcnt had been against him or not