January, 1892.
(Some place in Texas)
I left St. Louis last night, Wednesday, and went to bed
and slept for twelve hours. To-day has been most trying and I
shall be very glad to get on dry land again. The snow has
ceased although the papers say this is the coldest snap they
have had in San Antonio in ten years. It might have waited a
month for me I think. It has been a most dreary trip from
a car window point of view. Now that the snow has gone, there
is mud and ice and pine trees and colored people, but no
cowboys as yet. They talk nothing but Chili and war and they
make such funny mistakes. We have a G. A. R. excursion on the
train, consisting of one fat and prosperous G. A. R. the rest
of the excursion having backed out on account of Garza who the
salient warriors imagine as a roaring lion seeking whom he may
devour. One old chap with white hair came on board at a
desolate station and asked for "the boys in blue" and was very
much disgusted when he found that "that grasshopper Garza" had
scared them away — He had tramped five miles through the mud
to greet a possible comrade and was much chagrined. The
excursion shook hands with him and they took a drink together.
The excursion tells me he is a glass manufacturer, an owner of
a slate quarry and the best embalmer of bodies in the country.
He says he can keep them four years and does so "for
specimens" those that are left on his hands and others he
purchases from the morgue. He has a son who is an actor and
he fills me full of the most harrowing tales of Indian warfare
and the details of the undertaking business. He is
so
funny
about the latter that I weep with laughter and he cannot see
why — Joe Jefferson and I went to a matinee on Wednesday and
saw Robson in "She stoops to Conquer." The house was
absolutely packed and when Joe came in the box they yelled and
applauded and he nodded to them in the most fatherly, friendly
way as though to say "How are you, I don't just remember your
name but I'm glad to see you — " It was so much sweeter than if
he had got up and bowed as I would have done.
SAN ANTONIO
I knew more about Texas than the Texans and when they
told me I would find summer here I smiled knowingly — That is
all the smiling I have done — -Did you ever see a stage set for
a garden or wood scene by daylight or Coney Island in
March — that is what the glorious, beautiful baking city of San
Antonio is like. There is mud and mud and mud — in cans, in
the gardens of the Mexicans and snow around the palms and
palmettos — Does the sun shine anywhere? Are people ever
warm — It is raw, ugly and muddy, the Mexicans are merely
dirty and not picturesque. I am greatly disappointed. But I
have set my teeth hard and I will go on and see it through to
the bitter end — But I will not write anything for publication
until I can take a more cheerful view of it. I already have
reached the stage where I admit the laugh is on me — But there
is still London to look forward to and this may get better
when the sun comes out — -I went to the fort to-day and was
most courteously received. But they told me I should go on to
Laredo, if I expected to see any campaigning — There is no
fighting nor is any expected but they say they will give me a
horse and I can ride around the chaparral as long as I want.
I will write you from Laredo, where I go to-morrow, Saturday —
DICK.
At Laredo Richard left the beaten track of the traveller,
and with Trooper Tyler, who acted as his guide, joined Captain
Hardie in his search for Garza. The famous revolutionist was
supposed to be in hiding this side of the border, and the
Mexican Government
had asked the United States to find him and return him to the
officials of his own country.
