The Brandon news., 1907-09-26
TEXAS TODAY
A Journey of Disenchantment
Across the Lone Star State .......

AS well expect to see Wall Street
without a ticker.
Some one was thirsty at the next
station. The shock of the poker ex-
clusion made recourse to stimulant
seem a most commendable impulse.
A fifteen-minute wait promised am
pie time for that solace which some
men find only when the elbow is
crooked and the toe suspended on a
polished brass rail.
But quick search up and down
the principal street revealed no
saloon
At last the natives were ques-
toned, with the result that one of
them dealt this broadside:
very sorry, sir, but this is local
option town. No liquor can be pur-
| chased here, but you can get excel
lent ice cream soda at the drug
| store"
And this is Texas
Where were the famous bibbers,
the bad men Of the novels who used
to count that day wasted when they
failed to stow quart under their
red shirts!
Ice cream soda! We hurried on
the train, least the mayor of the
town come out and ask us to play
| beanbag.
Worse to come
We rode from the northern boun-
dary down through Texas to Calves
ton. We stopped at Dallas, Fort
Worth, Dennison, Waco, Marlin, 3re-
mond and Houston. We were in
the big cities and villages. We
crossed plains where cowboys
guarded cattle by thousands, but we
never saw a pistol or lariat.
on, gracious, mol" said one horri-
lied Texan, whom we questioned
about the absence of shooting irons,
no one dares carry them. There
is fine Of $10O for having a
pistol, and man who doesn't pay
the fine gets jailed for a month.
We could have spared anything
but the pistol It's absence shattered
the fondest of our dreams, for we had
all along cherished frightened hope
that it might he our gooa fortune
to see genuine Texas killing. No
pistols? Why go to Texas at all?
The roof garden of the Madison
Square Garden can do better than
that.
Dallas, at the ball game, saw he
finishing blow administered. A great
crowd had gathered to see Rube
Waddelf pitch for the Athletics
against the home team. Every place
in the stand was taken. A man and
a woman paused in the front row, in
such position as to cut Off the view
OF half dozen spectators.
We had thought that no true
Texan would speak gruf1y to a
woman, no matter what the griev-
ance, but strong-lunged fan, intent
on seeing the game, yelled:
"AW, git move on, lady. You're
no lookin' glass"
We cheered up. Surely this would
start som ething. In dime novel it
would have meant nothing less than
killing, perhaps several. Recall
ing the chivalry of the border, we
couldn't figure but that the law
against pistols would now be ignored
and half dozen guns pop out to
avenge the Insult.
But again came disappointment.
The age Of shooting is past, Texas
has bowed to it's lawmakers.
Instead of dropping his hand to
his hip pocket, the escort OF TIE lady
turned politely and said:
| "Oh, | beg your pardon"
Then the pair meekly moved on.
Not SHOT, not an angry word, not
! even a scowl.
Goodby, Texas of the dream days.
We must have housecleaning in
the memory department and hurl out
hundred worshired heroes and ten
thousand deeds Of valor.
Next time we want to read a dime
novel we shall select one whose scene
is laid in the South Sea Islands, for
the chances are we'll never get there
to have reality choke the life from
our expectations as it did in Texas
1 phi1o dn1nhio A