The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-02-28
How set. m'' OchiItree sleeps.

The noted Texas Congressman, Col
onel Thomas Ochiltree, sat in an easy
chair at Chamberlain's discussing the
great political topics of the day. 81
see," said he, "that Representative
Hewitt cannot sleep on account of the
barking of dogs, and that he will intro
juce bill to abate such nuisances. l
hardly know how to sympathize with the
distinguished gentleman from New York,
for all the dogs in Christendom, and
Constantinople as well, couldn't keep
me awake if wanted to sleep. Why,
sir at the seige of Petersburg l slept
soundly for eight hours right under the
carriage of a forty-pound gun that was
being fired every five minutes. Yes,
sir, and the gunner said that l snored
SO loudly he could scarcely hear the or
ders that were given him between the
shots. Why, sir, on one occasion,
when was travelling through Gauda-
loupe county, Texas, stopped in a
piece of thick woods at dark, staked
my horse, built fire, and lay down.
Y.
O'Clock there were 1000 of the savage
devils bowling around me, within fifty
feet of my fire. l spread my
blanket on the grass, fixed my saddle
for pillow, and laid down with a navy
revolver in each hand. In two min
utes was asleep. When woke next
morning the sun was high in the heav-
ems. A neighboring ranchero told me
that the wolves had howled till day.
light. Sixty of them were found dead
in the bushes. They had died from
prolonged bowling, while had slum-
bered gently, like babe, on the breast
of the mother earth. Think of that,
and of a Congressman whose Nightmares
are interrupted by the midnight whin-
ings of green grocer's dog.
"Why, Tom Benton used to sleep so
long that hotel keepers had to break in
his door to see if he wasn't dead Ben.
Butler can't ride in a street car without
doing. In flying ride down the
Shenandoah valley Stonewall Jackson,
strapped to saddle, slept for six hours
with his horse at sweeping gallop, a
courier holding the guide-rein. Napo-
leon snatched slumber for the moment
as his cavalry thundered by within a
few feet of him, at Austerlitz. Yet
here is lordly statesman who cannot
even enjoy cat-nap because a sad and
lonely cur around the next corner crawls
out of his kennel and bays the moon.
"Gentlemen, | have driven an OK
wagon from Sabine Pass to El Paso 1
have ridden a steer from Caddo lake to
Bagdad, and | have ridden and led
mule from the San Jacinto to the Cibo-
la. | have slept in the eternal pine
forests of eastern Texas, with the dead
ly tarantulas crawling all over me and
rattlesnakes kissing in my ear, but if |
have ever lost fifteen minutes sleep
since quit teething, then by the eter-
nal horned frog of Texas, l don't know
it!
"Why, gentlemen, there is not cap
ital in all Europe in which l am not
famed as sound sleeper. On my last
visit to Paree, my friend, the Count de
Lafayette, with some associates, got up
device to break my slumber. They
rigged up an automatic sheet iron cat
and placed it on my windowsill at the
Hotel de Vendome, where it howled
and scratched at the window pane for
hours Well, sir, what do you suppose?
l hope that Santa Anna may rise up and
make conquest of Texas if that sheet
iron cat didn't get SO disguised by mid
night that it jumped from the window
to the ground, ran around the corner,
and has never been heard of since