G. T. T. Gone to Texas: Letters from Our Boys

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Preface

"Weill Well!! Well I! I" (crescendo) was the long-drawn-out exclamation of a Northern friend of ours, when more than four years ago a younger brother of mine told him that he was just allowing his eldest son, a boy of eighteen, to start alone for Texas, there to seek his fortune. Our friend's eyes opened wider and wider, and filled with pity not untouched by scorn, as he added — "and you call yourself sane — for an Englishman ! "

My brother could only reply by a look of enquiry and an interrogative " Well ? ^'

" G — T — T," replied our friend, severely emphasising each letter, "stands for Gone to Texas. When we want to say shortly that it's all up with a fellow, we just say, * G. T. T.,' just as you'd say gone to the devil, or the dogs, over here."

My brother could only suggest that our friend must be thinking of the " Lone Star " State, in the palmy times of slavery and filibustering, before the Mexican war ; but his kindly soul refused to be appeased.

" And then to let the poor boy go in the steerage," he remonstrated, in a tone of real pity, somewhat modified when he was assured that the " poor

VI PREFACE.

boy" had insisted on taking his own passage and going in the steerage to save his money; being of opinion that as he was deliberately going in for a hard rough life the sooner he began it the better, and that as for the people in the steerage, "they didn't bite."

So my eldest nephew, Willy, sailed for New York in the steerage of a Cunard packet, and on landing went to see our friend Mr. A. Hewitt, M.C. for that city, as he had been told to do. That old and valued friend, struck by his youthful appearance, did all in his power to dissuade him ; or at any rate to keep him in New York till there had been time to hear from his cousin, who had been driving cattle in those parts for some years. Master Willy was however too resolutely bent on making his plunge to brook any delay, and so started for the south-west within twenty-four hours. He meant to win off his own bat, and was impatient to be " facing the music."

The opening letter of this volume takes up the story from the day of his landing in America. It will however, I think, make what follows a little clearer, as well as possibly more useful, if I add a few more words of introduction.

Two years before, in consequence of very serious losses, my brother had broken up his establishment, and gone with his three boys into a small four-roomed house in one of the suburbs of London, sending his only daughter (the writer of Part V)

PREFACE. VU

to live with her grandmother. In this tiny lodging they had to do everything for themselves, including cooking; and the boys, on being told frankly that their prospects in life were changed, took to their new surroundings cheerfully, and with zest. All three were then at public schools ; the two elder at Marlborough and Cheltenham, the youngest at Westminster, where he was allowed to remain, having good hope of a scholarship, which he gained soon afterwards. The two elder left their schools at once, and, learned professions being now out of the question for them, openings of another kind had to be sought. Willy was taken as his junior clerk by Mr. AUender, the Managing Director of the Aylesbury Dairy Co., in which post he got a thorough grounding and drilling in office and administrative work on a large scale, and a salary of £50 a-year to start with. In this capacity he worked hard and well ; his salary was twice raised in the eighteen months of his service. During that time he kept his own counsel ; never spent a penny more than he could help; and by the end of it had saved ;^i3o. Then, after consulting his father, he sent in his resignation, having obtained leave to carry out the purpose he had quietly formed, of going out to the West to seek his fortune.

I must own myself to having done what I could to dissuade him, as I found that his employer was thoroughly satisfied with, and sorry to lose him ;

Vlll PREFACE.

and that in another year or so he would be in receipt of a salary of £250, with good prospects of further promotion. However I quite changed my mind on finding how resolutely he had been looking forward to, and preparing for, a pioneer's life. He asked for no assistance, indeed declined what I could offer him, having determined to make his own small savings sufficient to start upon. He had no illusions whatever about the life he had chosen ; knew perfectly well that he would have to live under harder conditions in many respects than a farm-labourer or navvy in England ; and that it might be years before these conditions would be materially altered. But his mind was made up that the game was worth the candle, that he could trust himself to go through with his experiment and to play it fairly out in any case. He was confident however that he would have a good ranche of his own by the time he was of age.

How far his self-confidence was justified, and his ambition realised, readers will judge for themselves. After taking a short holiday at home to see friends and relatives, he sailed in Sept. 1878; and Part I of this volume starts with his first letter to his father, to whom also all the following letters in this part are addressed. They chronicle his first doings and impressions.

By the end of six months he had made a tour with a sheep-man, to whom he hired himself, across the Rio Grande and in Southern Texas ; had

PREFACE. IX

visited a number of ranches, and learnt, in his own opinion and words, " everything almost — ploughing and harrowing and all the rest of it." Part II tells how he made his first investment in land, and imported some English sheep, in the resolve to teach the natives how to do their business better in the future. A longer experience, and contact with the hard facts of bush and prairie farming, somewhat modified theseviews, and taught him that six months' training does not tell for a great deal in the tough wrestle with old mother earth. However, he made light of the falls she gave him, scarcely indeed allowed his friends at home to know that he had had a fall at all, and within a year had got a farm of his own, a one-roomed shanty with a lean-to to live in, and gear enough of one kind or another to keep him going and give hope for the future.

In 1879 his youngest brother Harry, called familiarly the Doctor from his taste for natural science, joined him, throwing up his Westminster scholarship. This sacrifice involved an entire change of plans and prospects, but it again was deliberately made, and has not been repented. The long hours of work by gaslight in Dean's Yard had begun to tell on his eyesight, so he visited Willy on the ranche, and there found his eyes rapidly improving. This decided him, and he stayed with his brother. His eyes have now become quite strong, and the use their owner is making of them may be gathered from his letters.

X PREFACE.

It was not till some two years later that Gerard, familiarly known as Chico, made up his mind to cast in his lot with his elder and younger brother. For some three years he had been working in the studio of Mr. G. Watts, R.A., an old family friend, who with rare kindness had taken him as a pupil without fee or premium, and devoted much time to teaching him. I may not be an impartial judge, but his work latterly seemed to me to show considerable promise, an opinion shared I believe by his kind instructor. So he too went off to Texas, as may be read in Part VI of this book, and is now in partnership with Willy and the Doctor, and quite content with his prospects.

For some years yet the brothers will have "to put in all their time " on the ranche, at shearing and herding, clearing and planting ; but neither of them has the least idea of giving up his old tastes and pursuits in the long run. They have already got their books out of the packing-cases, and in odds and ends of time, Willy is faithful to his fiddle, Chico to his pencil, brushes, and palette, and the Doctor to his science and photography. They believe that whatever is really essential to the life of a cultivated gentleman may be had in due time on a Texas farm, and is quite consistent with hard labour and rough fare.

I think I am bound to add that neither of them had the least idea until within the last few months that their letters home were ever likely to get into

PREFACE. XI

print. Indeed, when the proposal was made to them, it was not without considerable reluctance on their part that their consent was obtained. I am glad that it has been, as I believe that this little book may be of great use at the present time to a number of young Englishmen ; very possibly to some of their own old school-fellows. For every year it becomes more clear that the openings in England for young men in our upper and middle classes are quite insufficient. The learned professions, the Army and Navy, and the Civil Service are besieged by candidates, of whom there are a dozen for every vacancy. It is the same with every branch of trade and commerce, in which moreover the intense competition has brought about a condition of things which must, I should think, make any parent, or otherwise responsible person, pause before allowing a boy to take his chance of making an honest living in them.

The pressure of this state of things has been driving numbers of our boys to the Colonies and America for some years past, and must do so more and more in those which are coming. It would be well I think if the nation took the matter in hand, and treated colonisation scientifically with a view to making the most of our splendid material. There can be no doubt that, with a very moderate amount of care and foresight, such an effort would pay its own way almost at once, and its influence on the future of England — the new feeling of loyalty to

XU PREFACE.

the old country which would spring up all round the world — would be of inestimable value. But in the present state of parties and of Parliament it is out of the question, and so long as the great work is left to drift on, and get itself done as best it can, there can be no more useful help to it than to furnish trustworthy details of the life which young emigrants will have to lead in the first years of their experiment.

And nothing is more difficult to get than such trustworthy details. There is indeed scarcely a British colony, or a State of the Union, which has not an agency in this country, engaged in distributing the most glowing accounts of the unrivalled riches, above ground and beneath, which are waiting to be picked up in their respective territories. And I am far from saying that many of the documents so circulated are not carefully prepared and their contents to a great extent justified by the facts. But they are not what is needed. Not one of them that ever I saw tells a youngster how he will be housed and fed, what wages he may hope to earn, what sort of company he will be thrown amongst.

And this is precisely what the boys' letters will do. They may be left to the study of their contemporaries at home, with this warning however to young readers. The hopeful and cheery spirit which runs through them may to some extent divert the attention of such persons from the hard facts. These, however, are there plainly enough ;

PREFACE. XIU

and foremost amongst them this one stands out, that the life must be one of very severe physical labour for years, amidst surroundings which will try their mettle to the utmost. To those who will accept these surroundings, and face them in the same hopeful and cheery spirit, one may say without fear. Follow their lead. But if any one has reason to doubt himself on this point — if he has yearnings after the fleshpots in the midst of which he has grown up, and is only induced to leave them because he sees no hope at home of getting an adequate supply — let him by all means stop where he is. The backwoods and prairies are no place for him ; and he will only bring discredit on himself and his country by adding one more to the long roll of young Englishmen who drift away to the gambling and drinking saloons, which unhappily are to be found in abundance on the outskirts of civilisation in every new country under the sun.

T. Hughes,

Part I. The Pioneer's Letters

PROSPECTING IN

TEXAS AND MEXICO.

"\Mien all the world is young, lads, And all the trees are green, "With every goose a swan, lads.

And every lass a queen, Then, Hey for boot and horse ! lads,

And round the world away, Young blood will have its course, lads, And every dog his day."

Chas. Kingsley,

B

THE START.

Sweeny's Hotel, New York,

Sunday, Sept. 15, 1878.

I- Here I am at last, and have just been pitching Sept. 1878

ing. , to

into bacon and eggs, and stewed tomatoes, and Jan. 1879. coffee and iced water. We had a splendid passage ; they say it was the quickest the " Erin " has had. We got into dock at about 2 o'clock, and after the saloon passengers had gone off we were barged down to Castle Garden. What a farce the overhauling by U. S. Customs is. Whether because it is Sunday or not I don't know, but they just opened a few things, and put a very large signature on in chalk, and hurried you on. I was hardly sick at all, and enjoyed the voyage immensely, especially the awfully barbaric manner in which we were fed! Very few had plates ; they used the table (or board with high edges which rejoiced in that name), and as for spoons — never heard of them, "Weren't

hands good enough!" Half the 1 steerage were i

Part I. Irish, the rest all sorts of nations. Some of the se ospecting. j^j^j^ could eat. A quart of soup, a quart and aja

half of potatoes, about 4 lbs. of meat, and a gallon of "plum duff" (or pudding) was what some of them -seemed to stow. And at tea it was veryinteresting to watch them. I made a special study of one last night. He was the happy possessor of a soup plate and large cup, both of which he filled to overflowing with tea, and then divided his butter into two (they give you about half-a-pound) and put one lot in the cup, the other in the plate, and then divided his bread between them, and mopped it up with a spoon. What a place this is I Nothing but the jingling of car-bells to be heard. I was very much struck with the white steamers on the river with the working contrivance at top. I could see ten all at once, scudding about between New York and Jersey City. They guide awfully well. I cannot say what I am intending to do as yet. I have read those papers you gave me through, and fancy sheep-ranching, which they say is most profitable, and which I know a lot of young English fellows have gone in for, will be what I shall strike at. At all events, whatever it is, I know you can trust me to put my best foot foremost, and I will write as soon as I have anything to say. I met

THE START— NEW YORK. 5

IT I. an old mountain fellow on board. He comes from Sept. 1878 cting. Utah, where, I believe, he gardens fruit, but he was Jan. 1879. very close on all subjects. He was very quaint. He had been visiting England for a few weeks, and so, as he had not seen his brother for twentythree years, "just looked in for half-an-hour,'^ as he told me. He explained all about "homesteading" and "preempting," &c. He became a citizen of the U. S., but is an Englishman by birth. I asked him if it were profitable to recant after becoming a citizen? So he says, "Well, it's just this-wise; when yeVe once become a 'Merican citizen ye'll never want to go back again — No, Sir 1 " He says England is too '* overcrowded for him, Yes, Sir\'' He was a dumpy and broad little man, with a sort of wideawake twice as broad as himself, and always had his hands in his pockets and his legs apart. I expect my next move will be to San Francisco, from whence I shall " look round."

Philadelphia Station,

Thursday, Sept. 19, 1878.

I seem to be blest with a very small share of diflficulties, and if any block does occur it worries me to discuss it with any one, as it has always

Prospecting.

GONE TO TEXAS.

Part I. been an intense pleasure to me to do everything Se for myself without help. . . . Mr. Hewitt was very jai kind. I had quite a fight to get away, and I expect he thought I was too young to go by myself, and wanted me to go into the country with him till he could hear where Jem was, which I suppose would have taken a month or so. My train starts in twenty-five minutes, so I am oflf to get some tea and my bag checked.

Central Hotel, San Antonio, Sept. 27, 1878.

Here I am at last, after an awfully hot dusty journey from New York. I stayed a little time in Philadelphia, and am glad I did so. They are building some new public buildings there, which are, I suppose, to answer much the same purpose as our Law Courts. They are very fine. It is a tremendous block with a huge court in the middle, and is built of polished Scotch marble ; and going into the court quite takes away your breath, it is so cool. The Quarantine officers were awfully strict all the way; each large town sent out its officer to make every one sign and swear they had not been in any yellow fever district since July 20th.

THE RUN DOWN TO TEXAS. 7

T I. They turned out three men at Waller, a small Sept. 1878 cting. pij^^g between Hempstead and Houston. I have Jan. 1879. since seen two of them, and they say they let them come on after airing their heels on the platform for twelve hours. I got a health certificate at St. Louis without trouble, but every town after satisfied its conscience by making me sign as well ; sometimes at night, when I was in the middle of a — well, as sound a sleep as you can get with your head and body in a lump and your legs somewhere over the back of another seat. We passed some very amusing "cities," Log City, and Lairetta City. They were both in the middle of the prairie, and all the city was a small pile of logs thrown on the ground, and a sign-board with the name of the city on it ; not a house, or an animal, or a human being anywhere within ten miles ! I went to

Mr. L 's yesterday. He knows Jem intimately,

and has given me the run of his rooms, and I have

been introduced to a Capt. T , an Englishman

with a large ranche, and am going to be introduced to another man to-morrow. Jem is driving cattle north, and is not expected back here for some weeks. It has been awfully hot here lately. Yesterday it was ninety in a " cool " room. I am in excellent health and spirits, and do not feel the

Part I. heat SO much as I did in Spain. The chief amuse- Sept respecting. ^^^^ hcTc secms to be getting up party squabbles Jan. of every and any kind, and they say in the papers "A rare good time may be expected," which means there will probably be plenty of row. They never seem to think of the business part of the concern. . . . One of the things the Yankees do well is boot-making; they do make comfortable

boots and walking-shoes. Mr. L is going to

show me a place on the river where I may get a swim. He is very jolly and amusing. He says he riles old Jem by making fun of the English and their way of speaking. Jem is very popular here, every one in the town knows him.

A Bnishwood Prairie,

2 miles from San Antonio,

Here I ^m, camping out with a lot of sheep. The brother of the landlord of my hotel introduced me to a man named W , who has been

sheep-raising and selling for ten years, and has just made enough to live on comfortably. I think we shall work together very well. There are a few men in the sheep business who have a name^ and sell their sheep at 85 to $15; whereas men

THE FIRST VIEW OF SHEEP-RAISING. 9

I. like W get only $1 to $2^, and they say, Sept. 1878

" Oh, it's just this a way y'know, they get a name, Jan. 1879. and then they get big prices, that's where it is!" They casually admit that they (the big men) had some good rams from somewhere and improved their stock ; but they utterly fail to see the connection between this and the "name" they "get." For next season we are going to have a couple of rams out from England and just "fix" that missing link. Will you get all possible particulars for me as to shipping them in London, freight, &c. ; and let me know whether they can be shipped to Galveston or Corpus Christi direct (I shall probably not be able to get to either place to find out for some time, and no one knows anything about anything a yard away from him in this part of the country).

We came out here the day before yesterday.

W took me to the yard where his " buggy " was.

It is the oddest old rattletrap I ever saw, and he ties a horse and a mule in. They are not nearly the same size or colour. All the harness is made up of old bits of strap and rope, and I don't think any one could " fix " the horses but himself. He throws all the harness down by the buggy, and if a buckle or anything gets lost it don^t scare lO GONE TO TEXAS.

Part I. him ; he says, " Oh, never mind, guess I'll fix it Sept. rospec ng. gQjj^ejjQ^s '» Well, sir, we started off in this thing Jan. :

right for this place as the crow flies. This is a large prairie overgrown with tall prickly bushes,

and W , whose ranche is loo miles away South,

has brought a few thousand sheep here to sell to the people of San Antonio. If that buggy's wheels were only a yard or two nearer its body it would be better. As it is, they get away amongst the bushes; you suddenly feel a heave, and see the two on the left side riding over the top of a bush ; you cling on to the rail for life, down comes that side, and the other (a plucky pair they are) sees if he can't away higher than the first. And then you find half the harness has unhitched itself from the crooked nails and things. I have now been out here two nights, and like it very much. We shall start for his ranche as soon as all the sheep are sold, which may be a day or a week. I am not going to take any wages, but then he keeps me and feeds me and teaches me, and I leave when I like, and of course the rams (which we shall want about next April) will come out at his expense. The first night we had a run. The moon went down about ii o'clock, and at 11.30 the flock had started off on the rampage towards

SHEEP-MEN. THE TWO CLASSES. 11

RT I. a Mexican flock a mile off, and we were afraid they sept. 1878 ^^^^^S' ;vould get mixed, so we had a run to round them jan. 1879. up and get them back before they reached the others. The next morning the Mexican came over to breakfast and lassoed a kid, which thirty seconds afterwards was airing six component parts on trees, and a seventh in a stew-pot on the fire, and we set to. We have black coffee, and onions, and bread, which we bake ourselves, and potatoes and bacon.

W works himself, so I expect to learn lots under

him. Sheep-men here are, for the most part, of

two kinds : the men like W , who work, and who

never make any improvements, and men who seldom see their ranche and have herders ; and they could make improvements if they were only to attend to it themselves. The men who make it pay are the ones who combine the two kinds — so I guess we look like cutting up smart, anyways we'll try. It is awfully, hot still. I have a bathe in a creek just here, and am rigged out a la herdboy. My coat and pants, which are briar and water proof, light, and cool, and look like brown silk, cost $3 J together! and hat, with two-mile brim, $ i. One ought to come with nothing and get rigged out here : they know better what is needed, and one gets just the things one wants. I am awfully

I a GONE TO TEXAS.

Part I. well. I expect I shall work with W some- Sept. ii

ProsDectin&r. ^^

' where under two years ; then I'll get across to Jan. i8 England and get a few rams and come back and run second to none, or turn toes up. Of course I am reckoning that I don't get leaded by any of these shot which (they say) occasionally get about so thick you can't see the sun. Our camp here

consists of the buggy and pair aforesaid, W 's

boy, a bright lad of twelve, three camp water-barrels, three stew-pans, which act as ovens, &c., &c., a few blankets, and a few odds and ends, viz. a knife and fork or two, and tin boxes of salt and sugar.

P.S. We shall want the rams about the end of March, and they will have to come to New York. We should like to know freight. I shall write to Allender asking prices of rams, and telling him I want him to get one of his farmer friends to pick us two next Spring. And if you can get us freight particulars now, I will get you to start them from London for us when we want them.

Brashwood Prairie,

I expect English rams will cost too much for

W by the time they get here, so I shan't

bother Allender in the matter until I want mine.

A STORM ON THE PRAIRIE. 1 3

•

\RT I. You might get the price of a good one for me, Sept. 1878

^^ ^" ' that I may tell W . I haven't any idea. I Jan. 1879.

suppose though they would come to £25, or more.

W 's boy was taken very feverish a day or two

ago, and I have been taking the flock out. There are 1500, and when out feeding they cover half-amile diameter, and they always go on walking, and by the time you get to the head the tail will have twiddled round and started. They licked me at first, but I can manage them now. We had a storm the night before last. It was lightning half way round the horizon, and then blew up in a few minutes and just let us have it. I fixed up under the wagon. The animals started in the middle of it, and then it was a case of mackintosh and top-boots I Some of the ewes are dropping lambs, and it's fine to see those kids trying to get through long grass when they are half-an-hour old. They jump, and spike themselves, and fall on their noses, and repeat the process until