The St. Johns herald., 1897-12-04
A S the Governor rode Last m,

] A tue JOF6IuOI lOOC EASI ny
 A grandmother's house on the 4 A spring morning when he left the State forever he wore his uniform and carried the sword with which he after wards led the charge at San Jacinto. He was a tall man, brOadshOuIdered and well-knit, with a certain graceful stateliness which, though he had it by nature, he had not left uncultivated. It was held in those days to be mark of the person of quality, and from the time when as a boy of 10 he had lain on the puncheon floor of his fathers cabin spelling out Pope's Iliad by the l light of pine knot, the Governor had always felt himself person of quality.
 My grandmother was on the porch as he passed and he bowed low to her, tremendously doffing his hat, as he al- ways did to ladies. It was the last time she ever saw him, and though she had l been his warmest friend, he kept his own counsel with her as with every one else.
 To the day of his death, he never ex- plained himself. Sir" he would say, in response to every attempt to draw l him out, "let us speak of something else" And the bow with which he said 1t was conclusive. When he had just reached the summit of what had been his ambition; when he was Governor of what was then the pivotal State of the Union, with the Presidency as a possibility for him, and the United States Senate for life a certainty, why 1t was that he chose to dress himself In his uniform and ride out into the wilderness beyond the ! is"issippi, never to return, his biographers have not been able to explain except in vague generalities. How my grand mother knew the story l cannot say, further than that she was the friend not only of the Governor himself, but of Virginia Frazer and of John Endi- colt, the Governors private secretary, who made the trouble between them.
 Tt is true, my dear," said my grand mother to me, "that EndicOtt was a Yankee and an impecuniOuS school teacher, but he was a Harvard grad uate and gentleman. The EndicOtts are an excellent family-almost as good as our own, or as Virginia's. And the Governor, you know, though one of the best bred men I ever saw, lacked the great advantage of descent from we'll bred people"
 Those who conclude from this that my grandmother was something of a Tory will not be wholly mistaken, but if they had known the charming old lady as we'll as they would forgive her as easily as I do, even though-which Is not ikely-they are as radical in their politics as I am thought to be by some.
 The Governors honeymoon was bare l ly over when he left the State. The fact of his resignation, which he had addressed in due form to the presiding officer of the Senate, was not generally known until he was 800 miles away, ! sitting in a Cherokee cabin, smoking an Indian pipe, as silent and impassive as any other savage of those around him. For that was undoubtedly his idea at the time to renOunce civilization 1 forever and live a barbarian among barbarians.
 Mrs. Frazer, Virginia's mother, was famous matchmaker and one of the Governors staunchest partisans. 'FIf he was born in a cabin" she said to my grandfather a few days before the wedding, "he has more brains than any other man in the State. 1 expect to see him President yet"
 ! With visions of Virginia in the White House and herself as the power behind the throne, she was correspondingly elated on the night of the wedding. It IS no part of my purpose to attempt to describe her feelings when the catas- trophe came and she found herself face to face with the climax of one of those tragedies which compel silence in all who are incapable of resigna- ! ton.
 When Endicott first met Virginia Frazer he was not more than 25, very ! handsome, and with an unaSsuming self-possession which made amends for 1 his lack of the ceremonious courtesy l habitual to the society into which he was thrown There had been a marked ! attraction between him and Virginia | from their first acquaintance, and ?me who did not know her mother expected 1t to be a match. But Virginia, before any one knew of her engagement to the Governor, had begun to hold Endicott at arms length, and after the climax there was never the slightest scandal connecting her name with his.
 She was not more than 20 at the time of her marriage. Six weeks later, when she stood before the fireplace of her sitting-room as the Governor entered at II o'clock at night, she wore the muslin whose contrasting whiteness had so heightened her brunette beauty on the day after her marriage. The Governor had just come frC-n a con- ference of his political friends and was flushed and hopeful His wife did not move as he entered the room. Her face was half averted when, with ms usual impressive gallantry, he LOOK OFT his hat at the door and crossed the room to kiss her hand. He had taken II In his and his lips had almost touched 1t when she hastily-almost violently withdrew 1t. Slipping past him, she stood in the center of the room faclnS