Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/265

 sir," said the master of the house, who by this time was completely under the spell of Houston's magnetic presence, "ask a blessing." He asked the blessing, talked cheerfully while eating, telling agreeable incidents, quite captivating the man, his lady, and their children. Supper over, conversation ensued until it was near the usual bed-time, and the man suggested that "Rooms were ready, if the gentlemen were desirous of retiring." "Well," said Gen. Houston, "have you a Bible? It is always my habit to read a portion of Scripture before I retire." The lady of the house was only too glad to get something done which looked like religion in the house, and she soon procured a Bible. Houston read a brief, familiar passage, and made some appropriate comments thereon, then observed: "Having done all I do usually at home, we are ready to retire." He and his staff retired, without exchanging words. In the morning, at breakfast, he again asked a blessing. After breakfast the staff proceeded to get up the teams for travel, while Gen. Houston still conversed with the family. The horses ready, and before any settlement had been made, one of the staff stepped forward, and said, forgetting the injunction, "General, we are ready to start." The man looked up, startled, and inquired, "General! Who?" "General Houston," said the General, "Houston himself." "Are you General Houston?" said the amazed man. Without the slightest exhibition of concern, Houston replied, "I am, sir." "Well," said the entertainer, "I have always said I would kill you on sight; but, sir, any man that can talk to my wife and children as you have talked, ask such a blessing on the meals, read the Bible, and comment on it, as you have done, is always welcome to my house." "Well," says General Houston, "what must we pay you for your trouble and hospitality?" "Nothing, sir. You and your staff can call as often as you please. From this time on I shall be a Houston man." And Col. Scott said that man was an inflexible friend of Gen. Houston ever afterward.

", April 9, 1881.

"My Dear Sir: At the instance of our learned friend, the Rev. G. W. Samson, of New York, 'the pastor of Sam Houston' while a United States Senator, I sit down to write to you concerning our early association and correspondence, and the annexation of Texas.

"When, in 1816, I was appointed a cadet in the United States Military Academy, by request of Andrew Jackson, my guardian, Houston was a lieutenant in the First Infantry, and on duty in the Adjutant-General's office of the Southern Division, commanded by Maj.-Gen. Andrew Jackson, and of which Col. Robert Butler, my gallant cousin, was Adjutant-General. He resigned his commission March 1, 1818, was elected to Congress in 1823, and being then a Lieutenant of Artillery, on topographical service in Washington, I had the pleasure of again meeting my old friend. I soon discovered that he had lost none of his