The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-07-15

Il
on trains is Of secondary consideration.
/ 1t win not be diilicult to adjust the
laws after this fact has been finally
4 settled. At all events however, there
las the promise OF exciting litigation IN
/ North Carolina within the new fe"
| days.
4 OLD VIRGINIA AND YOUNG 'rhXAs.
| From time to time 1t has become the
/ duty OF The rimcs-Dispatch to turn
aside from its ordered comments on
men and affars, and administer re-
lbuke to that lenthcrn-lunged and IT.
repressible organ OF Texas thought
known as tho Houston Post--or
Boast" nA lynx-eyed contemporaries
have not hesitated to dub IT. FIRE.
ouent and pointed though these tepri-
| mands have been in the past, never
was one so richly meritcd as ut pres
| emit; for we find the above mentioned
| spokesman claiming to the limits OF
its voice that the state OF Texas Is
| Nirginia's elder by n matter OF eighty
| years. Old Virginia. the mother Of
States and statesmen Is actually chal-
llenged upon her birthright by one OF
the youngest and least finished OF her
ldaughters--tow wit, by Texas. till 1S45
the wild and ungoverned stamping
ground Of turbulent Spanish half
whiskered Mexican bandit.
The Post, of course. has nothing to
offer in support of this extraordinary
claim save familiar data already we'll
known to every schoolboy In Virginia.
namely that a certain Spanish soldier
of outlandish cognomen, spent couple
Of years in Texas around 1875. before
he could contrive to escape. and that
several later olive skinned tourists
crossed that general section OF the
map on their way to more favored To-
calities. De vaca, he of 1873. had seen
enough of Texas, during his more
or less involuntary stay there, to size
the land up, and his next voyage was
to Paraguay. None OF the other gen
tlemen, we believe. even attempted to
make a permanent settlement. La
Sales fort OF 1857. on Matagorda Bay,
was destroyed by the Indians, and there
was nothing like any real settlement
until the spaniards took hold With
| their missions in 17l5.
Texas, as a territorial entity. dates
then from Ills. AT the time when Texas
was Just beginning to feel her first
/ faint thrill of life, Virginia had already
4 celebrated her hundredth birthday.
4 Texas was then great, sprawling, un-
| shaven chunk of the earth's surface.
affording a scant foothold to hand
/ full of Latin missionaries. Virginia
was rich thriving, prosperous State,
settled with some of the best blood
in England, the home of cultured ana
happy gentlemen, with schools
churches and a college, With an or
| ganzed government nearly century
4 old and with long and distinguished
history already behind it. Virginia
even then, was preparing herself to
lead in the formation of that Union
among the older States into which
Texas, one hundred and thirty years
later. was glad enough to step anc
begin to prosper.
From strictly geologic point o,
view, Texas may be, and doubtless is
as old as Virginia. But, since thu
chance and unproductive wandering!
of Spanish rovers count for nothing
she is, from every other point of view
Virginia's junior by great gulf fixed
NO one but Texan in an exuberan
mood would have alleged otherwise
and possibly not every Texan at that
therefore, we brush aside the claim
OF the Post. lightly but decisively. a.
lady might flick away some trivia
yet insistent insect and return to
serene contemplation of the incom
, parable glories. past. present and fu
ture. OF Old Virginia.
"