The Washington times., 1906-05-27

is likely that both the distance
u and your rate of speed may be
vastly increased. Clouds there
sail sBereneiy against the vino
whip-poor-will delivers Its disconsoia'e
cry with the notes exactly reverse
from those OF his Northern orotpei
Given a drought and subsequent iiN
ly rain. and To- from gla1eo H
stony soil will spring in single
blossomed lilies, miraculouSly iaI'
Tom Green county WIS once the staho-
ard OF measurement. I have forsotteh
how many New Jerseys and Hhode
Islands II was that could have been
slowed away and lost in its chaparral. p
But the legislative OK has slashed Tom
Green into a handful OF counties hard
" larger than European kingdoms.
The Legislature convenes az Austin.
near the center OF the State; and.
while the representative from the Rio
Grande country Is gathering his palm
leaf fan and his linen duster to set out
for the capital. the Panhandle solon
winds his muller above his weIl-but-
toned overcoat and kicks the snow
from his well creased boots ready for
the same journey. All this merely TO
hint that the big ex-republic OF the
Southwest forms a sizable star on the
dag. and to prepare for the coroIIary
that things sometimes happen there
uncut TO pattern and unfettered by
metes and bounds.
The commissioner OF insurance. sta
ustics and history Of the State OF
Texas was an official OF no very great
CT very small Importance. The past
tense Is used, for now he is commits
sloner OF insurance alone. Statistics
and history are no longer proper nouns
In the government records
In the year 1Ss- the governor an
pointed Luke Coonrod Standifer TO be
head OF this department Standifer
was then f1fty-hve years OF age. and
Texan to the core His father had
been ono OF the States earliest set
tiers and pioneers. Standifer himself
had served the Commonwealth as In
dian fighter, soldier. ranger and
legislator. Much learning he did not
claim. but he had Crank pretty deep
OF the spring OF experience.
II other grounds were less abun-
dAnt. Texas should be well up In the
lists OF glory as the grateful republic.
For both as republic and State. II has
busily heaped honors and solid re-
wards upon its sons who rescued IL
from the wilderness
Wherefore and therefore. Luke
Coonrod Standifer. son OF Ezra Stand
ifer. ex-Terry ranger, simon-pure
Democrat. and lucky dweIler In an
unprecedented portion OF the politico-
geographical map. was appointed
commissioner Of insurance. statistics
and history.
Standifer accepted the honor with
some doubt as to the nature Of tho
office he was to fill and his capacity
for filling it-but ne accepted. and by
wire. He Immediately set out from
the little country town where he main
tained Cand was scarcely maintained
by) a somnolent and unfruitfuI Office
Of surveying and map-drawing. Be
fore departing. he had looked up un-
der the rs, SIS and HIS in the En-
cyclopedia Britannica" what informa-
ton and preparation toward his Of
fetal duties that those weighty VOL
umes afforded.
few weeks ineumbency dimin-
ished the new commissioner awe OF
the great and important office he had
been called upon to conduct. An in
creasing familiarity with its workings
coDh AcSNOAEu MN 70 MS accustomed
placid course of life. In his office
was an old, spectacled clerk-a con-
secrated, informed, able machine, who
held his desk regardless OF changes
OF administrative heads Old Kaufr-
man instructed his new chief gradu-
ally IN the knowledge OF the depart
ment without seeming to do so. and
kept the wheels revoiving without the
slip OF a cog
Indeed. the department Of insurance,
statistics and history carried no great
heft OF the burden OF state Its main
work was the regulating Of the busi-
ness done IN the state by foreign In
surance companies. and the letter OF
the law was fits guide. AS for statis-
ttcs-wen. you wrote letters 10 coun-
~ officers. and scissored other peo-
ple's reports, and each year you got
out a report of your own about the
corn crop and the cotton crop and
pecans and pigs and black and white
population. and a great many columns
of figures headed bushels" and
acres" and square miles" etc.-and
there you were. History? The branch
was purely a receptive one. Old ladies
interested in the science bothered YOU
with long reports Of proceedings OF
their historical societies Some twen-
~ or thirty Ieople would write you
each year that they had secured Sam
Houston's pocket knife or Santa Ana's
whisky flask or Davy Crocketts rife
all absolutely authenticated-and de-
manded legislative appropriation TO
purchase Most of the work in the his
tory branch went Into pigeon holes.
One sizzling August afternoon the
commissioner reclined in his orfice
chair, with his feet upon the long, of
ficial table covered with green billiard
cloth. The commissioner was smoking
a cigar, and dreamily regarding the
Quivering landscape framed by the
window that looked upon the treeIess
capitol grounds. Perhaps he was think
ing OF the rough and ready life he
had led. OF the old days OF breathless
adventure and movement. OF the COM
rades who now trod other paths or
had ceased to tread any. Of the changes
civilization and peace had brought.
and. maybe. complacently. OF the snug
and comfortable camp pitched for him
under the dome OF the capitol OF the
State that had not forgotten his ser
vices.