THE BATTALION.
25
this held of action he wrought a work, the appreciation of the
value of which will increase with the passing of years, and
he here sowed seeds destined to bring forth fruit an hundred
fold, not only in time, but in the great harvest of eternity.
Any man or youth living 'in daily contact with such a
man cmd moving in scenes dominated by his strong, yet gra
cious personality, must have as inevitably felt the influence
of his character and example as he would feel on yonder cam
pus today the splendor of the sunshine which lights with
beauty and brightness the world about him.
He was not a man ot words, but of action, not of profes-
■sions and promises, but of deeds well done.
When many other and older men read with norror of the
barbarism of the savage on the frontier and appealed to the
government for protection, lie, a youth with the down upon
his lip, forsaking classic halls bared his young bosom to savage
herds and rode forth like a destroying whirlwind to average
the wrongs and protect the lives of his countrymen. When the
South summond her sons to her defense against an invading .
foe he halted not to consider or to. take counsel with any man,
but when first his country’s call was heard his answer came
back strong and clear, I am ready, and his plume floated amid
the smoke of an hundred battles, and no knight of the age of
chivalry, ever flashed brighter blade or heroism.
When his people, whom he had served in subordinate
civil stations, bid him go up higher, and over all opposition
swept him with wild acclaim into the gubernatorial chair of
Texas; he seized the helm of State with the hands of a master
and his administration shone with a lustre unsurpassed by
that of any man who proceeded or has succeeded him. . When
he surrendered that high trust, amid the plaudits of the peo
ple he had so faithfully served, be was called to that station
which he surrendered only when God called him hence.
His record here is written in the history of the past six