The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-04-19

tlonsand miles IN o straight
"a line. II your course Is a
lllbH A(lII crooked one, II is likely that
tlllt both the distance and your.
XII NH rate Of speed may be vastly
SfktNiaa Increased. Clouds there sail
8 NlItyi458I 5sereiiely sagainsts the wind.
/ 70 Y1Il The whip.poor;will delivers
ENh1lli| its disconsolate, cryywith the
.R}lR(Nl|Il notes exactly reversed from
- ~ = those of his northern broths
Eer.a Given a drought and "a subsequent
lively rain, and 10! from d glazed and:
stony soil will spring in a single night,
sblossomed lilies, mfraculously fair.
Tom Green county was once the stand.
ard OF measurement. I have forgot.
ten how MANY New Jerseys and Rhode
5lslnnds It was that could have been;
slowed away and lost In itsSs chaparrai.,
/ But the Legislative Ak has slashed Tom
Green into a handful Of counties hard
" larger than European Kingdoms. The
Legislature lconyenes at Austin, near
the center OF the state n 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 well.buttoned over.
Coat and kicks the snow from his well
creased boots ready for the same Jour
ney. All this merely to hint that the
big ,ex.republic OF the southwest forms
a STABLE. star on the flag, and to pre-;
pare for the corollary thai. things
sometimes happen there uncut to pat
tern. and unfettered by metes and
bounds. al I. 4!
The. commissioner Of insurance. sta;
tistics and history of the state Of
Texas was an official Of no very great
or very small Importance. The past
tense is used, for he Is commissioner
Of insurance alone. Statistics and his,
tory are no longer proper nouns in the
government records. K Isl.
In the year lSs-!the governor ap-
pointed Luke Coonrod Standifer to be
head OF this department. Standifer,
was then gflfty.lve years Of age. and q
Texan to the core, His father had been
one OF the states earliest settlers and
pioneers. standlfer himself had served
the common wealth as Indian lighter,
soldier, ranger and legislator. Much
learning he did not claim. but he had
drank pretty deep Of the spring Of ex:
perience. Il 4. 4. y ~ i I,
II other grounds were less abundant,
Texas should be well up In the lists Of
glory as the grateful republic. For
both as republic and state. it has bust;
'ly heaped ,hpnors and solid rewards
upon its sous who. rescued II; from the
wilderness.lt1B tiif IA 4 Z a.;Giitsli. 81
wherefore and therefore. Luke
Coonrod. standifer, son, OF Ezra standli
fer, ef;Tarfy ran lmqon.pNre Demo.
sented. poritioh of thd 6dhdco ensraph-
ical map, was appointed commissioner
OF insurance statistics aad history.
! .Standifet accepted ythehl honor. With
some doubt as TO the nature Of the, Of
fee he Sas TO I'LL and his capacity for!
filling it-but he accepted, and by wire.
He Immediately set out from the little
country town where he maintained
land was rcelygmaiutained, BY a
somnolent and unfruitful Office Of sur
ireying and map-drawlng. Before de-
parting. he: had looked up under the
U.s. SIS and HIS in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica" what Information and prep
aratton toward his official duties that
those weighty volumes afforded.
!. A few weeks OF incumbency dimln-
ished the new commissioners awe OF
the great and important office he hadi
been called upon to conduct. An in-t
creasing familiarity With Its workings,
soon restored him to his accustonedi
placid course Of life. In his office wasi
an old. specialized clerk-a consecra.
ted. informed, able machine. who held
his desk regardless Of changes Of ad-
ministrative heads, Old Kaufman In,
structed his new chief gradually In the
knowledge Of the department without,
seeming to do SO. and kept the wheels
revolving without the slip Of a cog.
j Indeed, the department Of insurance,
statistics and history carried no great
heft Of the burden sof, state. It's main,
work was thesregulating OF the bust
ness done in the state by foreign In
strance companies. and the letter OF
tho law was to guide. As for statistics
well. you wrote letters to county Of
flcers, and scissored other peoples re-
ports. and each year you got out re.
port of your own about the corn crop
and the cotton crop and pecans and
pigs and black and white population
and great many. columns OF figures
headed bushels" and acres" aud
square. miles," etc.-and there you
were. History The branch was pure
ly a receptive one. F. Old ladies' inter,
ested In the science bothered youl
some with long reports OF proceedings
Of their historical societies. Some,
twenty or thirty people would write
you each year, that they had secured
Sam Houston's pocket knife or Santa
Ana's wffshy:tlask or Davy Crockett's
rlAe--all absolutely authenticated
and demanded legislative appropriation
to purchase. Most Of the work in the
history branch went into pigeon. holes.
Nv. et,,,lt,. = a, -. y go Il, u