TEXAS COLLECTION
The function of history, as I see it, is to describe and make
understandable the forces which have shaped the destiny of
man and brought him to the present time equipped as he now
is with his ideas and institutions. Prehistoric man carried little
baggage; present day man staggers under his load of ideas,
institutions and tools which have been gathered slowly and
painfully in the long march from then
to now.
History is the
record of how, when and where man acquired this baggage
which we call civilization. History is an invoice of a bill of
goods acquired by purchase and inheritance from the past and
offered to man in the market of the immediate and distant
future.
What I have said seems to apply to history, whether global,
national, state, or local. All of the worthy aims and high pur-
poses stated for history are latent in the general principles
laid down.
If what I have said is true, then it should be quite clear why
intelligent men and women are interested in history. They are
interested for the same reason that a merchant is interested in
the invoice, price and qualities of the goods placed on his shelves.
The intelligent ranchman is much concerned with the pedigree
of his Hereford bull and his palomino stud. Every breeder is
interested in the pedigree -- which is simply the history —of
what he breeds. Man breeds in addition to his own kind some-
thing we call civilization. History is the pedigree of that civ-
ilization and culture.
We would think it very strange of any man who would pay
a high price for a thoroughbred and not demand the papers
with the horse. The papers do not make the thoroughbred a
better horse, but they do make him far more valuable to the
owner and more interesting to others. History is the "papers"
of man; it is the register of his lineage, the record of his per-
formance, and the guarantee of his qualities.
The growing neglect of American history in the colleges of
this country was emphasized in the New
York
Times
of June 21
in both news-story and editorial. In a nation-wide survey it was
discovered that the study of United States history is not re-
quired for the undergraduate degree in 82 per cent of the insti-
tutions of higher learning. The argument that students study
history in the high schools is blasted by the fact that 72 per cent
of the higher institutions do not require history for admission.
This means that many students go through high school and
college without studying the history of the country in which
they live.
In Texas there has been a constant shift away from history
for the past twenty years. Three years ago the history section
was omitted from the program of the Texas State Teachers
Association. This does not mean that history is not still taught
in Texas, but it does mean a tremendous shift in emphasis,
and if there is not a reversal of the present tendency, the teach-
ing of history will gradually die out. It is quite probable that
most of the colleges in Texas still require history as an en-
trance unit, and therefore hold up enrollment. There is no
doubt, however, that many of the public schools are exerting
pressure to have the requirement relaxed.
It is a well known fact that Texas history is taught in only
a few Texas schools. It is an optional subject, carrying one-
half unit credit. In some of the colleges excellent courses in
Texas history are offered to undergraduates. The University
of Texas does not yet offer a course on Texas history to under-
graduates. The University of Texas should offer such a course
as an obligation and an opportunity.
As will be obvious from the Strickland, Williams, and Woldert
articles herein, this issue of The
Quarterly
appears on the
Cuarto-Centennial of the entry of the Moscoso expedition into
Texas. Three articles dealing with the route of Moscoso in
Texas are here presented, and each article suggests a trail for
Moscoso different from the other two. With such wide differ-
ences of opinion, some may question the advisability of trying
to discover just what part of the Texas terrain was covered
by these 1542 conquistadores.
It should not be lost sight of,
however, that each and every one of these studies attempts to
relate Texas of today to Texas four hundred years ago. Whether
or not the job is completely done may not be highly important,
if through such studies we are enabled to learn more about
present day Texas.
Let us take one example. The article written by J. W. Wil-
liams may or may not be a correct representation of the Moscoso
Trail, but no person can read Williams' study without coming
to some greater knowledge of the fundamental nature of Texas
--of what has inhered in our land.
Further interesting comment upon the Trail is furnished by
Rex Strickland, who writes as follows:
The Moscoso is finished and should reach you Tues-
day or Wednesday. I wish that I might have had a
map to accompany the text, but I have not the time in
which to prepare it. However, I feel I have written the
account of the itinerary as I understand it, in such a
way that the reader can follow the trail without diffi-
culty.
You will note I have not spoken ipse
dixit.
I have
suggested a route which I believe is as near the way
followed by the conquistadores
as one can reconstruct
with the meager evidence. Many will disagree. Expo-
nents of the Chamber of Commerce attitude can take
whatever comfort in wishful thinking that they want.
I have worked sincerely, and I have not been guided
by preconceived ideas. If I had followed my own feel-
ings in the matter, I should have routed Moscoso up
Red River, past my own birthplace in the Iron Knobs
of Grayson County. But the data point in another
direction, and there I have carried the Spaniards.
Samuel Wood Geiser of Southern Methodist University,
Dallas, who is known throughout Texas for the exactness of
his historical and scientific researches, writes to correct bio-
graphical statements made concerning John Allen Veatch in
the Biographical
Directory
of
the
Texan
Conventions
and
Con
-
gresses,
1882-18
45.
Dr. John Allen Veatch on the Sabine in early Texas
is not to be confused with John Alexander Veitch of
Nacogdoches (see Veatch's letter to the Land Commis-
sioner of Texas, 13 Jan., 1839). John Allen Veatch
was born in Kentucky (place not known), 5 March,
1808. He was the son of Isaac Veatch (1786-1833), a
Baptist preacher, and his wife, Lucinda Ramsay. He
was the first of 8 children (6 sons and 2 daughters)
of Isaac and Lucinda Veatch. J. A. V.'s mother died in
1822, when he was 14 years old. In a few months, his
father married again, and by this marriage had 7
children: 3 sons and 4 daughters. Of his full brothers,
J. A. V.'s most distinguished one was Gen. Jas. Clifford
Veatch, of Civil War fame, who was the seventh child
of Isaac and Lucinda Veatch. In 1811, James Allen
Veatch went (apparently from Knox County, Ken-
tucky) to present Harrison County, Indiana, with his
family. There his father farmed and preached until
1820. In 1820, Isaac Veatch moved back to Kentucky,
to Meade County. J. A. V.'s mother died Sept. 29,
1822; in that year the family left Kentucky and moved
back to Indiana (Luce Township, Spencer County).
In 1827 Isaac Veatch, father of J. A. V., was elected
to the Indiana Legislature from Spencer County, and
took his seat in December. During the years 1827-29,
J. A. V. studied medicine (apparently by the precep-
torial method). Apparently he joined (about 1829)
Philanthropic Lodge No. 36, A. F. & A. M., at Mount
Vernon, Posey County, Indiana. In 1840 Veatch at-
tended the Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas as a mem-
ber of that lodge (which had demised five years be-
fore, in 1835).
John A. Veatch was a teacher in Louisiana, about
1830-34. He married, sometime in this period, Char-
lotte Sheridan of Louisiana. Scanty and conflicting
records seem to indicate that he had, in order, three
wives. Of his first marriage there were several chil-
dren. Andrew Allen Veatch and Samuel M. Veatch in
later years were with their father in geological work
in California and Nevada; and a son of Andrew Allen
Veatch, John Allen Veatch (b. 1868) was a distin-
guished consulting mining engineer. Among the scat-
tered family records I find that Isaac Veatch and his
son, Ellis (John A. Veatch's brother) went, in 1830, to
New Orleans to visit J. A. V., and Ellis remained with
him until the spring of 1832. In 1831 Isaac Veatch moved
to New Albany, Indiana, and in 1832 to Clarke County,
Indiana, where he resided until his death. John Allen
Veatch seems to have come to Texas sometime in 1834,
for on September 23, 1834, Benjamin Lindsey, alcalde
at San Augustine, wrote a recommendation of him as
a colonist in Vehlein's Grant. He said that Veatch at
this time had a "family of four persons." In 1835
Veatch was a delegate from the jurisdiction of Bevil
to the General Consultation. He did much surveying
in De Zavala's Grant, and received as fees some ten
leagues and twenty-four labors. Charles Wright, com-
ing to Zavala in 1837, was for some time a surveyor
under Veatch; and they were life-time friends. Of
Veatch's early children, those born before
1840,
seem
to have been born in Louisiana; Kate (born in 1840)
seems to have been the first one born in Texas.
In September, 1840, Dr. M. C. Leavenworth, U. S.
Army surgeon, interested in botany, visited Veatch at
his home, "about forty miles west of the Sabine River."
Sam Houston, president of Texas, nominated J. A. V.
as notary public for Liberty County, but on December
12, 1840, the senate rejected the nomination.
Charles Wright left East Texas in the summer of
1845, to become vice-principal of the male department
of Rutersville College, and Veatch thereafter had to
continue his botanical studies alone. In 1846 and 1847,
Veatch was first lieutenant in Lamar's Independent
Volunteer Company. He was captain in the regiment
of Texas Mounted Volunteers for frontier defense
(P. H. Bell, colonel) from September, 1847, to Sep-
tember, 1848. The Lamar
Papers
have several letters
and references to Veatch. On October 10, 1847, he was
with his company at Wolf Creek; and on October 24,
1847, he was "shoeing horses and getting ready." On
February 23, 1848, he was at Presidio del Rio Grande,
and on May 26 at Eagle Pass. In a letter to Lamar
on that date he says that he is studying botany and
mineralogy, and is getting ready for some mineral
analyses. He is hourly expecting the arrival of Charles
Wright. Veatch was back at San Antonio on Decem-
ber 17, 1848. He bought land in the neighborhood of
San Antonio (v., the Lamar
Papers).
The Census Schedules for 1850 list his family of five
children, and his wife, "Ann M. Veatch" (born 1808) ;
his children were Alfred, Ada, Kate, Fanny, and James.
Ann Veatch is said to have been born in Virginia.
Veatch seems to have soon after gone to California in
the "Gold Rush." On April 15, 1851, Bishop George W.
Freeman baptized "two children of Mrs. Veatch" at
her home at or near San Antonio. On September 9,
1853, Ann M. Veatch filed, in Béxar County, Texas, a
petition for divorce from J. A. V., on the grounds
of continued abandonment. In the meantime, Veatch
seems to have been active in scientific matters in Cali-
fornia. In 1855, he was elected a corresponding mem-
ber of the California Academy of Sciences, at San
Francisco; in 1856 he discovered the extensive borax
deposits of Lake County, California; he was living in
Red Bluff, California, 1856-7. He visited the mud vol-
canoes of the California desert in July, 1857; and read
a paper on them before the California Academy of
Sciences on December 7 of that year. June 28, 1857,
was published the "Report of Dr. John A. Veatch to
the Borax Company of California"--an English com-
pany that capitalized Veatch's discoveries of the pre-
ceding year. Silliman's Journal
[(II), 27,
288-95] in
1858 published Veatch's paper, "Note of a Visit to the
Mud Volcanies of the California Desert, in the Month
of July, 1857." In 1858, Veatch was elected Curator
of Conchology in the California Academy of Sciences,
and held the place until 1861. In 1859 he read a paper,
(June 17, 1859) on the "Occurrence of Boracic Acid
in the Sea-Water of the Pacific." This paper was pub-
lished with a slightly altered title, in Chemical
News,
4,
1861, 16. About 1858 Veatch explored the Carros
Islands off the coast of Lower California; Dr. A. Kel-
logg published his botanical findings, and Veatch him-
self published an article, "About Carros Island," in
the Hesperian
(San Francisco), v. 3,
1860, 529-34.
San Francisco directories show him there as a physi-
cian or a geologist, 1859-62, and 1867-68. In 1862-64,
he was living in Virginia City, Nevada, evidently in
the practice of medicine, while his son, Andrew Allen
Veatch, was superintendent of the reduction works,
central mill. With his son Samuel, Veatch maintained
an office as consulting geologist at 712 Montgomery
Street, San Francisco, from 1863 to 1866, and at 314
Bush Street, from 1867 to 1869. There is no listing
of "Veatch" in the San Francisco City Directory from
1869 to 1881.
In 1868, J. A. Veatch was living at Port Trinidad,
Humboldt County, California. At this time he pub-
lished "Earthquakes in San Francisco, and Especially
on Their Direction" (Mining
&
Scientific
Press,
March
31, 1868). In the fall of 1868 he went to Salem, Oregon,
to seek at the hands of the State legislature the office
of State Geologist of Oregon; but in this he was un-
successful. He in the meantime studied the gold de-
posits and other mineral resources of Oregon. The
legislature that met that fall was recalcitrant, in re-
bellion against the Governor, and no appointment was
made. Two years later, Professor Thomas Condon
(1822-1907), professor of natural history at the State
University of Oregon, applied for and secured the place.
In 1869, J. A. Veatch secured the position of profes-
sor of chemistry, toxicology, and materia medica in
the Willamette University Medical School (founded a
year before Veatch came to Oregon). His work at the
time appeared to be acceptable, but was done under
pioneer conditions. During the year, his (third?) wife
died. He died in East Portland, a suburb of Portland
(where the medical school was located), of pneumonia,
on the 24th of April, 1870; and was buried with Ma-
sonic ceremonies in Lone Fir Cemetery (south half of
lot 15, block 7) on the following day. Members of the
local groups of Good Templars and Ancient United
Order of Druids (of which Veatch was an officer)
participated in the ceremonies.
Dr. Geiser would like readers of The
Quarterly
to give him
names and addresses of descendants of Dr. John A. Veatch,
substantiated statements as to the names of Veatch's wives,
and any information or suggestions which extend or correct
the above sketch. Dr. Geiser plans to publish an extended ac-
count of Veatch early in 1943.
The
Albany
News
("The Oldest Journalistic Venture West of
the Brazos") for September 10, carried a complete reprint of
Charlie Jeffries' "The Lights of the Alamo," from the July
Quarterly
with the following comment: "This article was handed
The
News
by a local member of the Texas State Historical Asso-
ciation. It proved so timely that it is being here reproduced."
Located in the shadow of old Fort Griffin, The
Albany
News
has long been known to the Association for its sensitiveness to
the history of Texas and its own locale.
Clara H. Lewis of the Bureau of Business Research, The
University of Texas, would like information concerning the
early history of the manufacture of clothing in Texas. Miss
Lewis writes:
The manufacture of clothing in Texas began with
the production of men's work clothing. Of the 312
such factories reported to the Census Bureau in 1939,
43 are located in Texas. Other census reports give the
number of plants in Texas, the earliest mention of
the clothing industry in the State being in the 1890
Census which reported four factories.
We have been asked to furnish some historical data
concerning the clothing industry in the State and
would like to know just when the first plants were
established, where located, what products were manu-
factured and what became of the plants.
It has been suggested that we point out if possible
the economic and social factors which determined or
influenced the location or change of location of the
early factories.
I shall be grateful for any information you may be
able to supply.
The four factories established between 1880 and 1890 should
come within the memory of a number of Texans. Information
should be sent direct to the inquirer at the above address.
The
Junior
Historian
entered its third year of publication in
September. The September number alone would justify the orig-
inal confidence of the Association that the young people of Texas
could and would write well the history of their own communi-
ties if given an outlet for their writings.
The lead article is "Good-bye, Cedar Mills," by Jane Combs
of Whitesboro who, last year for the second time, won a first
place in the writing contest. This is the story of a Grayson
County community now about to be inundated by the waters
of the Denison reservoir.
Bobbe White of Arlington writes on "The Oak Branch Ranch
and Palominos," the story of her ranch home and an intro-
duction to palominos that will warm the heart of any person
who ever liked a horse.
Calvin Ashley of Wichita Falls High School writes an animal
story, "Heaven and Hell in Texas," which should be catalogued
as literature comparable with that which has lived for cen-
turies in The
Arabian
Nights.
In the editorial, Roy Bedichek, Texas naturalist, compares
history to science, while Stanley Vestal, Southwestern writer
and recent author of Big-Foot
Wallace,
contributes a direc-
tional article on "The Qualifications of a Writer." Vestal's
article makes sense--it gives young people the type of direc-
tion they can use and understand.
"In recognition of their interest in the youth of the state,"
the September issue is dedicated to the Daughters of the Re-
public of Texas, who furnished the publication costs for this
number.
The
Junior
Historian
subscription is $1.00 for the school year.
Any member of the Association will enjoy the magazine; the
enterprise is also worthy of substantial support.
The Sons of the Republic of Texas have recently announced
an Historical Essay Writing Contest in which all white Junior
and Senior high school students in Texas are eligible to com-
pete; $175 in prizes are offered for the three best essays on
"The Siege and Fall of the Alamo." The primary purpose of
the essay contest is to promote interest in Texas history. It is
maintained annually with funds donated by George A. Hill, Jr.,
of Houston and is in honor of his grandfather, James Monroe
Hill, a San Jacinto veteran. School officials, teachers, and stu-
dents should address inquiries to Houston Wade, Treasurer of
the Sons of the Republic of Texas, 2314 Morse Street, Houston,
Texas.
Members of the Noah Tevis Chapter of Junior Historians at
Beaumont have been among the prize winners in this contest
for the past three years.
The Sooner Book Award of one thousand dollars offered by
William Morrow and Company, Publishers, through Paul R.
Reynolds and Sons, Literary Agents, 599 Fifth Avenue, New
York City, ought to be mentioned here for the good example
it sets and the inherent possibilities within it which might be
advantageously followed in Texas. The contest is open to all
writers of this region who have satisfactorily completed one
or more of the courses in Professional Writing offered by the
University of Oklahoma, either in residence or by correspond-
ence. The manuscript submitted must be suitable for book pub-
lication and may be fiction or non-fiction. The closing date of
the contest is February 1, 1943. This is a real opportunity
for young Southwestern writers of history, and several younger
members of the Association are known to be contemplating
entries. Those interested should communicate with the literary
agents at the above address. A similar contest sponsored
through Texas institutions might bring forth a number of
distinctive contributions.
Norton McGiffin is proving himself a highly versatile mem-
ber of the Association. The July 27 The
Dallas
Morning
News
announced that McGifnn was inaugurating a new 12:30 p.m.
program, "The Story Behind the Day's News," to be broadcast
daily over WFAA, Dallas; WBAP, Fort Worth; and the Texas
Quality Network stations. McGiffin is also Professor of English
and History at N. T. A. C, Arlington. The use of the trained
historian in analyzing the news is a rapidly developing feature
of American radio, which is honestly trying to meet the present
popular demand for more history. While not before his classes
or the mike, McGiffin manages to further some of his graduate
studies in history, through which he plans a doctoral disserta-
tion on some special phases of the cattle industry in Texas.
Joe Frantz, Archivist of the San Jacinto Museum of History,
writes:
Everything is going along fine down here. Our at-
tendance has held up surprisingly well, and the influx
of museum materials has continued unabated. For the
last four weeks I have been inundated by a flood of
old drug store materials--from La Grange and New
Braunfels -- and by several boxes of manuscripts,
scrapbooks, and photographs from a pioneer German
family whose father formerly kept "The Texas Travel-
ling Men's Museum" at La Grange.
Announcement has recently been made that the Mrs. Simon
Baruch University Prize of $1,000, offered by the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, has been awarded to John Stor-
mont, of Schreiner Institute, Kerrville, for his doctoral disserta-
tion, "The Economic Stake of the North in the Preservation
of the Union in 1861." Stormont's thesis was submitted to
The University of Texas in 1941.
Dr. P. I. Nixon of San Antonio, Vice-President of the Asso-
ciation, has become known to a wide audience in Texas through
his researches in medical history and practice in Texas and
through his interest in Texana in general.
Booksellers from Boston to San Francisco are in virtually
unanimous accord that Texas books are more in demand than
those of any other state. It is the laymen rather than the pro-
fessional historians who create this market.
An informal paper presented by Dr. Nixon at a summer
meeting of the San Antonio Historical Association explains so
well the Texana "fever" that it merits being reproduced here
in its entirety.
A book-collector is considered by his acquaintances
as a crank, by his friends as a nuisance, by his family
as a spendthrift, and by the booksellers as a blessing
from heaven. That book-collecting can become a mania,
no one can deny; that it can be a delightful hobby, all
will agree; that fur coats and spring hats are rare in
the families of collectors is obvious to even the casual
observer.
Most collectors of Texana cannot date the beginning
of their interest in Texas books to a definite day or
definite incident. Not so with Mrs. Nixon and me.
Our interest began late one afternoon in June, 1930,
as two boys trundled a wheelbarrow across Courtland
Place. It was summer and Travis School was out. The
boys of the neighborhood were footloose and eager to
spend their pent-up energy, which theoretically had
been applied on their books for nine months, in non-
scholastic directions. Our twin boys, having reached
the age of nine, were deciding that their allowance of
ten cents a week was not carrying them as far as boys
of their mature age should go. So they cast about for
some way to increase their income. They hit on the
plan of collecting old papers and magazines to be sold
to the junk man who conveniently lived a block away.
In their way they were about to become business men.
On the afternoon mentioned, Mrs. Nixon and I were
sitting on the front gallery when we saw these boys
crossing the street with a wheelbarrow full of papers.
Their spirits were high, they were travelling fast,
their shirt-tails were flapping in the wind; they had
at least ten cents worth of goods to be sold to the junk
man. When they proudly poured out the papers on
the ground, they told us they got their load in and
around Mr. Anderson's garbage can. Mrs. Nixon, with
an eye solely to utility, picked out two old books from
the unimposing pile. The backs were off, the paper
was stained, the pages were torn, the map was gone.
She had picked up a copy of George Wilkins Kendall's
Narrative
of
the
Texan
Santa
Fe
Expedition,
edition
of 1858.
Prior to this time we knew next to nothing about
Texas history. We knew that battles had been fought
at Goliad and San Jacinto. We knew that the Alamo
was in San Antonio and not in Dallas. But the Grass
Fight and the Salt War meant nothing to us. We had
heard of Sam Houston and Jim Bowie and Davy
Crockett and Stephen F. Austin. But we had never
heard of Abel Morgan or Amos Pollard or Pamelia
Mann or Juan Cortinas.
A few days after the wheelbarrow incident, I saw
Mrs. Nixon reading the old book. And she read it day
after day. She was so absorbed that for the first time
in her life she neglected her family and her household.
She talked very little. For hours on end she would
be speechless--many husbands would consider this re-
ward enough for any book-collector. When she had
finished the second volume and made her contacts with
the outside world again, she began to insist that I read
the book. I put her off day after day but finally was
forced to make the effort. Mine was a half-hearted,
reluctant approach. I had intended to skim the surface
very superficially. So I read the preface of four pages
and then I too became enthralled. Then it was I who
became uncommunicative and indifferent to the respon-
sibilities of the household.
Our boys rescued George Wilkins Kendall from Mr.
Anderson's garbage can. George Wilkins Kendall res-
cued us from the guilt of being ignorant of the his-
tory of Texas, a state that is unparalleled in her his-
tory, her traditions, her people; a state that is even
now fighting and winning about 50 per cent of the
present war.
From this beginning we gradually at first, rapidly
later, increased our interest in Texas and books about
Texas. We began to look about. We found that we had
Frank Dobie's Vaquero
of
the
Brush
Country
and Dr.
Barker's Life
of
Stephen
F.
Austin,
but had never
read them intelligently. Mrs. Nixon found, at her home
in Mineola, Sweet and Knox's Texas
Sifting
s,
Penny-
backer's History
of
Texas
and Lester's The
Great
Galveston
Disaster.
Not wanting the city of Luling
to be outdone by the town of Mineola, I found in my
father's library copies of Graves' Andrew
Jackson
Potter,
Morrell's Flowers
and
Fruits
in
the
Wilder
-
ness,
Brown's Indian
Wars
and
Pioneers
of
Texas,
and
two histories of Southwest Texas which today might
wrongly be classified as mug-books.
Next we began to frequent the book stores, first in
San Antonio and then in other cities. And where is
human nature so weak as in a bookstore! Dallas,
Houston, Austin, Galveston, New Orleans, Richmond,
Washington, Baltimore, Denver--wherever we went,
we made the rounds of the second-hand bookstores. In
Denver Mrs. Nixon on one of her rounds picked up
for a song two copies of Corner's San
Antonio
de
Béxar,
and back in San Antonio where their true value
was recognized traded them for a beautiful set of
Brown's History
of
Texas.
In Denver; too, I found a
fine copy of Yoakum's History
of
Texas
at Rosenstock's
Bookstore; the price was not cheap, but it would never
be cheaper. It was the day before we were scheduled
to leave for home and our money was running low.
I wanted the Yoakum, but I didn't want to be too
selfish. So I sheepishly asked Mrs. Nixon and the boys
whether they would be willing to start home one day
early. Knowing full well that I would buy the books
anyway, they decided that they would rather be in
San Antonio with food than in Denver without.
The next symptom of our bibliomania developed
from book catalogs. We seemed to have gotten on the
mailing list of every dealer from San Francisco to New
York—Arthur H. Clark, Wright Howes, Smith, Old
Hickory, Argosy, Goodspeed--we heard from all of
them. It is an astounding thing how good a desirable
book can look to a book-collector by merely seeing its
name on a printed page. The Mason and Dixon Line
meant nothing to us. We were not like Dr. J. S. Lank-
ford, whom many of you will recall was never fully
reconstructed. His last years were truly a study in
courage. He had repeated apoplectic strokes but still
he continued to see his patients as he lay bedridden.
One day he was especially cheerful. "Nixon," he said,
"I'm going to walk again. I ordered a contraption--I
am ashamed to admit it--from a damned Yankee out-
fit in New York." The next time I saw him he was
still in bed. When asked about his new walker, he re-
plied, "I sent it back. I couldn't get the thing through
the door."
And then Dudley Dobie got hold of us. That made
our mania complete. One of my medical heroes, Sir
William Osler, has said that a man is sane morally at
thirty, rich mentally at forty and wise spiritually at
fifty, or never. A book-collector is never sane, rich or
wise after Dudley gets through with him. His ap-
proach was so skillful and studied that it is impossible
to state how it began. At first he feigned illness to
gain admittance to my office. He would walk in with
his arm in a sling or grasping his mid-section in des-
perate agony. But as his tentacles enmeshed me and
my immunity to his salesmanship evaporated, he be-
came more bold. He would walk in and greetings would
hardly be over before I would find myself phoning
Mrs. Nixon, "The old biscuit eater is in town."
Dudley is a real book salesman. He knows books
and he loves books. I rarely see him without being
poorer in purse but richer by far in knowledge and
books. But he has other accomplishments. I will put
him against any man his size or any size to hold up
his end of a table loaded with the food he likes and
I have never seen anything he doesn't like. Hot biscuits
and whitebrush honey call forth his best efforts. In
confirmation of his knowledge of the finer points in
Texas history, he delights to demonstrate Dr. Gideon
Lincecum's technique of eating venison and honey:
taking the meat in one hand and dipping it in honey,
he would then grasp the free end of the meat with
his teeth and cut off with his pocketknife a good lib-
eral bite of a most delectable morsel.
With supper over and all appetites satisfied, box
after box of Texas books would be brought in. Dudley
has a way of laying his books out so that they prac-
tically sell themselves. But if you don't begin to lay
aside a few volumes, he will begin by saying that no
Yoakum is complete without a Wooten, that this Ban-
croft would look well beside a Brown on the shelf, that
Bartlett's Personal
Narrative
and Kennedy's Texas
would fill the space between Anson Jones and Henry
Smith, and so on, visit after visit. He has a group of
adjectives which he uses to clinch his sales: "compre-
hensive," "essential," "rare," and "revealing." By the
time he has reached "revealing," you have bought the
book.
All this time Mrs. Nixon's interest and enthusiasm
were developing apace. Her inbred qualms of economy
harassed her at times but these were soon overcome
and books more valuable perhaps than we could afford
were welcomed. Eugene Field has said that in that
section of paradise set aside expressly for book-collec-
tors there will be no women. He is very wrong; there
will be at least one woman there. Indeed, I hope many
women will gain admission; for who will care for the
archives if not Miss Winnie Allen? Who will keep the
records of the Historical Association if admission is
denied to Mrs. Crowther, Mrs. Webb, and Mrs. Morris?
Who will tell the tales of the cowboys of paradise if the
Gage gal doesn't get in? And where would be the
dignity, the culture and the charm of that place with-
out Miss Ruth Coit? So I hope that many women are
admitted to book-lovers' paradise.
Most of our books were acquired by purchase, and
good Texas books are not cheap. A good many were
by gift and a few by lift. There is a special technique
of prompting gift books but lack of time prevents its
description. By lift is meant to tuck a book under your
arm and walk out making the casual statement that
you are taking the book where it will be appreciated
and that the former owner can call for it when he wants
it. He rarely calls.
Our rewards have been many. When the height of
the depression came most men were grieving or drink-
ing or going without sleep. They couldn't forget their
losses. Many nights found me with our books at two
or three in the morning, developing the story of medi-
cine in San Antonio. The feelings which a book-lover
has as he fondles the books he loves at 2 a. m. must
be closely akin to those of the solitary drinker with a
full bottle by his side: both have the makings of a
maniac, both have an intense appetite, each has the
materials to satiate that appetite to the fullest and no
one can say him nay.
On one occasion Isaac Newton was asked to become
a member of the Royal Society. He declined, explain-
ing that he was afraid that such membership might
increase the circle of his friends. We have not per-
mitted our books to isolate us to any such extent; but
many times amidst the superficialities of modern life
we have found ourselves being reproved by the memory
of these words:
Thou fool! to seek companions in a crowd!
Into thy room, and there upon thy knees,
Before they bookshelves, humbly thank thy God,
That thou hast friends like these!
The question of the preservation of the historical marker
for Coffee's Trading House in Preston Bend (mentioned in
this department in July) has been satisfactorily arranged
through the negotiations of L. W. Kemp, President of the
Association. The Texas State Board of Control has authorized
the removal of the marker to a spot about one mile west of its
present location. The War Department will undertake the actual
removal without expense to the state.
Louis Lenz of Shreveport, Louisiana, was among the out-of-
state members attending the annual meeting of the Association.
His geniality and charming stories made him a center of at-
traction in the talk following each formal session.
Born in De Witt County, Mr. Lenz has followed the fortunes
of oil on four continents and in twelve foreign countries, but
his hobby remains Texas. He has a sizable collection of Texas
books and domuments.
In response to the inquiry regarding General Thomas Jeffer-
son Chambers made in this department in the last issue, a de-
scendant of the General, B. M. Saladee, 3414 Bridle Path,
Austin, states that he has accumulated a large amount of bio-
graphical material on his ancestor and would be glad to give
available information to any interested parties.
The part which Texas is taking in the present war almost
staggers the imagination--we have become an armed camp from
Texarkana to El Paso, from the Panhandle to the Rio Grande.
The daily papers are crowded for space to record the part
played by Texas and Texans. "Texas furnishes the only known
twin Brigadier Generals," and "Texas organizes the first com-
mando unit in the nation," and like headlines, are seen daily.
Not even a small fraction of these happenings can be recorded
by the Texas Collection--the history of Texas in World War II
will eventually require many volumes, but at least this one item
ought to be set down here for the historical record.
War in Texas a hundred years ago was total war. The Texas
women loaded muzzle-loaders for the men. Today Texas women
fight again. The first commissioned officer in the WAVES for
the Eighth Naval District was a Texas girl, Virginia A. Hillyard,
a history major and a former student of the University. En-
sign Hillyard now carries on the best traditions of a fighting
Texas navy and of a fighting Texas family.
In the effort to present all available Moscoso material upon
the Cuarto Centennial of the expedition it has been necessary
to postpone the continuation of Ohland Morton's biography of
General Manuel de Mier y Terán to a coming issue.
That we are living in a world of rapid and unexpected
changes is nowhere more forcefully demonstrated for me than
in the announcement which follows.
August 12, I received a cable offering me appointment from
one to five years as Harmsworth Professor in American History
at Oxford. Lord Halifax and others urged acceptance "as a
great public service at the present time." In the face of such
requests and in spite of the fact that my own personal affairs
and those of the Association would have inclined me toward
staying in Texas, I gave a ready acceptance.
It is my hope that I may be able to do something in interpret-
ing America to the English and also, from time to time, send
back reports on English life in war-time. In this way I believe
that I can perhaps render a service in interpreting the two
great English-speaking peoples to each other. If I can do this
I shall fulfill the purpose of the Harmsworth Professorship.
I have been to England before and I came back a Texan;
again I shall return a Texan.
Bailey Carroll will substitute for me in my absence. I leave
many loose ends of things now in progress in the Association
work and ask for him the same full measure of cooperation
which the members of the Association have given me. From
every standpoint the work of the Association is justifiable both
in peace and in war.
How to cite:
Walter Prescott Webb, "Texas Collection", Volume 46, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v046/n2/contrib_DIVL2318.html
[Accessed Mon Nov 23 10:35:40 CST 2009]
