The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-06-24
AFTER DINNER.

more arose ana asked III GOV. ireland was
present. In few minutes that gentle
man was found and escorted to the stand
The governor deprecated all idea of the
occasion being one upon which political
speeches were allowable, and said although
his home was in Seguin, he could fully
sympathize with people of Travis county
In the opening up of the bridge across
the Colorado to the public as free bridge.
When he first came to Austin he was COM
PEELED either to ford or ferry the river
and was often compelled to stay all night
with the people about Manshack, waiting
for the ferryman, and then bridge was
built, and now he was glad to congratu-
late the people upon its being made free
bridge by the policy of Judge Fillmore
and the county commissioners. The gov.
ernor said the afternoon was too warm
and the subject not sufficiently suggestive
to warrant any extensive remarks and
closed by congratulrtlng the people on the
free bridge accomplishment.
JUDGE TERRELL
being loudly called for, spoke to the vast
audience, but we cennot reproduce his re-
marks in full. Referring to the OCCASION,
he said: "My friends, had not promised
70 speak here to-day, and indeed hardly
know what to say, for Governor Ireland
was, perhaps, correct when he said this
was no place to refer to partisan politics.
A free bridge, though good thing, is
poor subject to talk about. l remember
when thirty-four years ago 1 settled on
small farm on this side of the Colorado,
there were but three men living, besides
myself, within four miles of Austin, on
this side of the river, viz: Capt. Swisher,
Capt. Grumbles and Mr.. Blocker. The
grass grew here three feet high, and ma
tuI ecould be seen in her pristive beauty.
Now all is changed; stand among new
men and among the children of those who
have passed away. But my friends,
wherever over this mighty state 1 roam,
my affection turns fondly to our proud
city and these banks of the Colorado,
and even as a child turns to the breast of
its mother, so my affections cling to these
scenes of my early manhood. So long as
in your faces l see the looks of trust and
confidence which now beam on me, 1 can
laugh to scorn the Shiny crew of boot
ticks and slauderers, the gutter snipes of
other men, who live ON political garbage,
and who, in Austin, snarl and snap around
my heels. They are paid for their work,
and you must pity and not blame them,
for they are as as powerless to harm me
there as they are here in the country.
But, tie times in thirty-four years
have changed, and though we are
more prosperous, l feel we are not
better than the men who have passed
away. They are nearly all gone-Oldham
and Jack Hamilton, my old partners, are
gone. So has Paschrl and Cassidy, DR..
Robertson and old Judge Sneed, God
bless his memory, Tom Sneed's father,
my friend, trusted and true. Few of those
who made the old Texas survive. 1 well
remember when ON horseback with stake
rope at the saddle bow, we traversed these
hills and prairies as we Travelled from one
court to another. Every door was open to
us, and no man dreamed of charging any
of US. The old Texans door was open to
all corners. We are richer, my friends
but we are not better, and there are none
to take the places of those who have
passed under the shadows. The OK wagon
is gone, and the railroad has taken it.
place; free bridge across your beautiful
Colorado; splendid houses, adorned with
the trapings of luxury, now stand where
the pioneer once rested in his cabins bu
where is the free heart, the open hospi
tality, the mutual trust /; the knightly
journalist who would scorn to publish {
lie? I fear that riches have not improved
us. We must never forget that civil free
dom depends not on grand enterprises OF
splendid structures, or much money, but
on the virtue; intelligence and patriotism
of the great masses of the people. the
grandest civil freedom is always found
in the earliest ages of a republic, when
people are poor, like the bare-footed men
who starved with Washington at Valley
Forge. Afterwards come prosperity and
wealth, when the ties of patriotism and
public duty grow weak-then luxury and
corruption with corresponding neglect or
oppression of the masses who toll; then
anarchy. These are the transitions
taught by history, and in the light of its
pages we find the resurrection of social
order through the gates of anarchy, is to
despotism and the bayonet. Let us hope
that we are not approaching the last
phase in the life of republic, and yet
to be candid with you the signs to my
mind are not auspicious,
This bridge symbolszes a new era, fol-
it demands tolls no longer. The fact is
| Iuy lElolllS, JldU d VI iuBS, WnoOhoI lIOo VI
: not, is a good thing. The most terrible
} conditions for man, ever imagined by the
} ancient Greek, was when he had nc
: bridge. When man died they gave hin
piece of money to pay his ferrage
across the dark river Styx, but none to re
turn, and we have no account of any
bridge that lie could cross back on if the
temperate did not suit him.
Will, the good book once placed mo
nopolist of this worlds goods, called Dl
yes, in bad place, and he saw the pool
Lazarus across a yawning gulf with Abra.
ham, and he wanted to cross but there
was no bridge. The fact is, that while
there is nothing poetical in a bridge, it is
a good, practical institu ion.
This is not the only thing that reminds
us that we have a new Austin. Here in
sight of you once stood rat trap called
a deaf and dumb asylum, in which the
children for twenty years ran the risk OF
being roasted-now stately structure
adorns that hill, worthy of great state
The same change is seen at the blind
asylum. The shrek of the poor maniac
is no longer heard in your jails as during
the cold nights of winter he clanked his
chains, for your lunatic asylum, enlarged