The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1911-02-10

M Line II your course Is a
i H crooked one. II II likely that
\ tea both the distance and your
%t rats OF speed may be vastly
HsyNs Increased. Clouds there sail
\ sgss4H sereneiy against the Wind,
/ N i9Y1H The whip.poor.wili delivers
edUlH rs disconsolnte cry with the
/ HIilINlIN notes exactly reversed from
those Of his northern broth
~. Given drought and q subsequent
I lively rain, and lol from a glazed and
atony aoll VIII spring In a single night
I hlossomsd liics, internationally fair,
( Tom Green county was once the stand
ard 81 measurement ! have forgot.
ten how many New Jerseys nnd Rhode
1 Islands Il was that could have been
slowed away and lost Ia It's chaparral-
I Hut this legislative a1 has slaahed Tom
Green into 4 handful oF counties hard.
I ~ larger than European Kingdoms me
I legislature eonyenes at Austin, near
the center Of the state and. while the
representative from the Rio drande
country Ii gathering his palmleaf ran
/ ana his linen buster to set out for the
capital, the Panhandle scion Winds his
muller above his wellbuttoned over
coat AMI kicks the apnw from his well
EreaRgd bouta ready Tor the same jour
neg. All this merely 10 hint that the
| big exFepubiic Of the southwest forms
sizable star on The flag, and 70 pre-.
pare for the coFollary that things
sonetlmas happen there uncut 70 pat
tern and unfettered by Notes ana
| bounds,
The commissioner Of insurance, sta
I tistiGs ana history OF the state OF
Texas Was m oiiiciai 81 no Yery great
or very small imp rtanee. The past
tense Is used. for \ II commissioner
81 insurance alone. Statistics and his
tory are no longer proper nouns " the
/ government records.
IN the year 1873 the governor ap'
pointed Luke coonrod standlfer TO be
head of this department Standifer
was then ftty.five years Of age, and
| Texan 10 the core Ills father bad been
| one of the states earliest settlers aud
pioneers. standifer himself had served
the commonwealth as indian fighter,
soldier. ranger aud legislator. Much
| learning no did not claim. but he had
drank pretty deep OF the spring Of ok
| periunce
| III other grounds we're loss abundant.
| Texas should be well up In the lists OF
glory as the grateful republic, For
both as republic and state, Il has husi'
/ " heaped honors and solid rewards
upon its cons who rescued II from the
wilderness,
wherefore and therefore Luke
Coonrod stnndifer son Of Ezra Stnndt
| Ter, exT'erry ranger. slmon,pure Demo
crat, and lucky dweiler In an unrepre'
sented portion OF the politlco.geograph'
ical map, was appointed commissioner
% Insurance, statistics and history,
atandifer accepted the honor with
some doubt as 10 the nature OF the OF
dee he was 10 nll and his capacity for
nlling i,~but te accepted, and by wire.
lie Immediately set out from the little
country town where he maintained
tand was scarcely maintained by) a
somnolent and unfruitful office OF sur
yeying and map.drawing. Before de-
parting, he had looked up under the
| Tia, s'a and H'B in the Encyclopaedia
Ilrlttanica" what information and prep
aratlon toward his ofiicial duties that
these weighty volumes afforded.
A fow weeks OF inoumbency dimin'
lahsd the new commissioners awe OF
the great and important otiice he had
hoen called upon To conduct An in.
| ereasing familiarity with It's workings
aoon restored him TO hts accustomed
placid course OF life. In hls office was
al old. apoctaeied clerk-a consecra.
| ted. informed. able machine, who held
/ his dosk regardless Of changes OF nd,
illustrative heads. Old Kaufman in
structed bis new chief gradually In the
/ knowlcdso Of the department without
/ seeming to do so. and kept the wheels
4 revolving without the slip Of cog,
Indeed, tho department Of insurance,
! statistics and history carried no great
| heft az the burden Of state. Its main
( work was the regulating OF the bust.
usaa done In the state by foreign In
I uuraneo companies, and tho letter Of
the law was TO guide, As for statistics
4 veil. you wrote letters TO county OF,
i feers, and seIssored other peoples re.
( ports, and each year you got out re-
I port Of your own about the corn crop
and the cotton crop and pecans and
I pigs and black and white population,
/ and n great many eolumns OF figures
I beaded bushels" and acres" and
square milSs." etc and there you
were. History The branch was pure.
ly receptive enc Old ladies' inter,
estsd ia the science bothered you
some with hong reports Of proceedings
% thoir historical societies. Some
twenty OF thirty people would write
you each year that they had secured
Sam Hcpgtpn's pocket knife or Santa
Ana's whisky task OF pavy Cruckett's
rtna all absolutely authenticated -
and demanded legislative appropriation
20 purchase, Most II the work IN the
History branch went into pigeon, holes
One slszling August afternoon ID,
commissioner rcclined IN his ofiie,
chair, With bis feet upon the long, OF
ncial table covered with green hilliart
cloth. The commissioner Was slno
king cigar. and dreamily regarding
the uuiyering landscape framed by th'
window that looked upon the treeiesi
capitol grounds, Perhaps he was think
ing OF the rough and ready life he ha,
N.N ~ A. ali Nn.sa ~ 4