San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-06-29
Address Of Captain James G. Storey, at
the Meeting to Commemorate the Lay.
ing Of the Corner Stone of the New
Court House for Hays County.

Tic Meetlng 10 commemorate the Lay.
ing Of the Corner Stone of the New
Court House for Hays County.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN The Commit
tee having in charge the the arrangements
for to-day, notified me a fewdays ago that I
would be called upon on this occasion to de-
liver an old citizens address. That I
was to say something in reference to
the early history of the county and its peo-
pie of that day. And in the beginning
propose to address myself more particularly
to the old citizens, to those who were here
at and before the organization of the county.
To you have to say, that to-day, when
you look back to those early days when you
were here, standing sentinel on the border of
this country, ready and willing to meet and
repel the ruthless invasions of your coun-
try by the Indians then infesting the land
and compare the situation of the country,
then and now, you have great reason for re-
joicing. You rejoice that these days are
over and that you can now lie down under
your vine and fig tree with consciousness
of security that you never felt in those days.
for then your life was never safe without
trusty and tried sentinel standing guard
while you slept. For this change you re-
joice.
And then when you think of those brave
old heroes who were your comrades in arms,
and in privations and hardships incident to
new country in state of constant war,
when you think of them, you are sad, for
if it were possible for you to call the roll
to-day, how, few would answer to their
names. They have gone to that other coun-
try, and let us who are left indulge the hope
that they made peace with our great Cap
tain-G General ere they departed; and are now
able to answer to roll call across the river.
You rejoice to-day that you have lived to
these beautiful prairies over which you so
often roamed seeking game, have been
turned into beautiful fields, cultivated by
the hand of industry and yielding abundant
harvest for the husban6man.
You rejoice to-day that your children and
your children's children, and the descenants
of your dead comrades, are here to rejoice
with you in this happy change, brought
about in great measure by your deeds of
valor in the early days of the Republic.
You rejoice now that you were here,
years ago to welcome the newcomer, and
assist him in selecting home among you,
and in every year since that time, you
have exnended the hand of welcome to the
immigrant For without them your lands
would still be unr claimed from their state
of nature, and the result has been that we
can to-day boast of as fine a country as the
sun has ever shone on-and a people as
far advanced in education and the arts and
sciences as any other country of the same
age on the globe, And for this happy re-
su Ii the old citizens and all others unite in
thanks to Him who ruleth events and holds
the destiny of nations in his hand.
Those grand old heroes who achieved the
independence of this country are rapidly
passing from the stage of action, but few
are now left to tell of their deeds Of valOr
and recite the incidents connected With the
early settlement of western Texas, all of
them viii soon have passed away, but they
vii still live IN the hearts Of grateful
people and IN the history Of the county
Especially VII the people Of the western
border bold IN sacred rensm brAnce the