A new history of Texas for schools : also for general reading and for teachers preparing themselves for examination Page: 100 of 412
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84
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
to hunt food, leaving some men at home to guard the women and
children from the Indians, who are very hostile. Game is now so
scarce that we often hunt all day for a deer or turkey, and return at
night empty-handed. It would make your heart ache to see the poor
little half-naked children, who have eaten nothing during the day,
watch for the return of the hunters at night. As soon as they catch
the first glimpse of them, they run to meet them. If the hunters re-
turn with a deer or turkey, the children are almost wild with delight;
if the hunters are empty-handed, the children stop in their courses,
their countenances fall, the tears well up in their eyes and roll down
their pale cheeks."
The dress of the people varies according to the length of time they
have been in Texas. Acting on my mother's advice, I brought clothes
enough to last us several years; others have done the same, but the
great majority brought scanty wardrobes. The question of buying
dry-goods here is a serious one. Calico costs seventy-five cents per
yard! As money is scarce with us all, a lady seldom has more than
one Texas calico dress. Men and women sometimes dress in skins.
The society is just what you might expect from the mixture of
people we have here. Last Sunday we paid a long-promised visit to
Mr. V. and family; he was a classmate of my husband at Yale.
They are living in a shed built under a cluster of trees, as their log
house is not yet finished. There were no windows, but the light had
plenty of room to come in at the cracks. In that one little room there
were four beds,-as white and inviting looking as any in Richmond,-
china, glassware, a few pieces of silver, and several books. All was as
neat as wax. Mrs. V. was dressed in a neat linen wrapper and a
lace cap, while Mr. V. was also in faultless attire. Now, that is one
side of the picture; here is the other. The next day we had occasion
to stop for dinner at Mr. K.'s. He and his wife were dressed in
skins. The cabin was dirty; the rickety old bed was still dirtier;
the bill of fare consisted of fried bacon, black coffee, and corn-bread.
The host took Mr. R. aside and asked him: "Say, stranger, what
was your name afore you came down here? and what did you do
to make you come?" Mr. Ray answered: "I came for health, and
my name was as it is now, Henry Ray." It was easy to see that
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Pennybacker, Anna J. Hardwicke. A new history of Texas for schools : also for general reading and for teachers preparing themselves for examination, book, 1895; Palestine, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2388/m1/100/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .