Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-05-17
DEDICATED.
Continued from First Tage.

from the Rio Grsude to Mobile. He
paused not IN his path. In vain might.
THE FAIRHsT VALLEY SMILE,
or the noblest landscape woo him
to stay. Gold alone Was deemed
worth the Spaniard's while, and
in this fierce quest be pillsged
all the isles of the ocesn and the two con-
tinents from California to Patsgonis.
However,, if the OCCUPANCY of the pueblo
of Ysleta by Colorado in 1850 be regarded
as permanent, Texas was the first state
of the American Union to be settled, snd
within her borders began the process OF
change that has formed our country from
q wilderness to an empire.
But the Spanish ascendancy remained
inactive until excited by jealousy Of
French eucosehments. On January l,
1855 Robert, cavalier de Ls Sale, under
commission from Louis XIV landed upon
Mstagords. bay. The object Of the French
was to establish colonies at the mouth of
the Mississippi. The piercing mind of
L. Sillssaw that from the great lakes
the ,tkend of the water shed
tiadirsEed the presene Of great
Wiley in the center of this continent
drained by the mightiest of rivers, and he
knew that this valley was the seat Of
empire. He knew that the measureless
current on whose calm grandeur De Soto
gazed wss the same which Margrate saw,
and De Soto, like Columbus, died in pa
thetic ignorance Of the extent of his dis
covery. 81 1w sad that so knightly one
should
SINK TO SLEEP
in the bosom of that great stream which
he had persisted to fad, and know not
whence came nor whittier went the dark
waters that over him rolled. Winds and
currents swept Is Sale westward and
he ssw Texas where the gulf, In veiled
msgniacence. breaks upon Matagords
peninsula. The Freuchmsn's colonial
scheme WAS futile. Discussions among
his followers, want Of support from the
home government, hostile, intractable
Indians, and fuslly Spanish Intervention,
extinguished the last vestige of French
settlement upon Texas shores. But when
disaster had done it's worst, and the gal
ilsns Frenchman read upon the wall the
Handwriting, he did not quail. Upon the
banks of that great and mysterious river
he would f md the faithful Detoni. and
from him he would get aid which the ocean
failed to be.r him and the fame of
civilization which he had lighted ought
not expire. Toward the upper Missis-
sippi and the greet lakes he therefore
bent his steps. He crossed the Lavsca,
the Colorado, the Bernard, BraZos, San
ts]aeinto, Trinity and Neches. In the bot
toms Of the lstter stream
THE CAVALIER WAS AssAssINATKD
by his own followers. With him fell the
lsst hope OF French dominion in Texas.
He, like the cavalier that he was, gave
his life to his King. In all the
chivslrg that shone around the throne Of
Lpnis there was no fajrer soul than he
whose murdered form sleeps in the I'M
known wilds of the Neches forest.
But his life and efforts were not with
out their results. The French attempt al
colonization reused the activity and jeal.
ousy of Spain. Grasping and ruthless as
she WAS Spain even set religious zeal
upon ner conouests and as soon as she
had quenched the last spark OF French
settlement in the borders of Texas, she
began the establishment of missions, re-
sulting in the erection of about twenty
Institutions, reverently dotting the val
legs of the San Antonio, the Neches
aud the Guadalupe; also OF
the Nscogdoches ana ON the
San Slbs. Thst noble order of the church
the franciscan Fathers-resred theil
missions; those fathers, half priest, hal
knight, and all courageous, lent min
gled air.of plety and romance TO the ANIMAL!
of Csstilian conquest, and in those mis-
ii ms showed both the censor and TIT
sword, the mitre snd the helmet Fo,
those pious fathers in the spread of thei
Masters faith dared the wilderness, bu
whatsoever opposed their path felt tit
thrust of the lance or the stroke of thu
sword. They came IS couquerers. No
did their name or dress belle the msrtis
: name OF
THEIR LOvELIRsT MISSION,
San Juan De Espada. Within the portal
, of those missions might dwell the saint
. Hest abbott and the hottest nuns, bu
from their walls frowned furious artiller
and at mathis and vsspsrs fosted ii