as any man I had met on the frontier. I was informed that he never attempted to hurt well-behaved people, and that he often submitted to the grossest kind of insults from some of his intimates. Men of his acquaintance had been known to slap him in the face, and he would take no notice, but walk away as if nothing had happened. With others, however, he would have no mercy, but would produce a pistol or knife at the slightest provocation. Tom was rather noted for his polite tearing towards the ladies, which I considered as an evidence that he was not as bad, by any means, as he might have been.
My friend, who had gone to look for lodgings for me, returned, and said that he had secured me a very good room. I accordingly left the hotel, and had reason to congratulate myself in my change of quarters. My landlady was a Pennsylvanian, and was disposed to do all in her power to make me comfortable, and to assist me in carrying out the object I had in view in taking up my residence in Austin. She introduced me to a restaurant-keeper, who agreed to supply me with my meals, and also to a number of the prominent people of the place—the judge, the doctor, the Methodist minister, and others.
Queer People.
The aristocracy of Austin was made up of an odd lot of people, who, however, had the best possible opinion of themselves, even if they did use bad grammar, swear hard, and drink unlimited quantities of whiskey. I, however, always had a happy faculty of adapting myself to circumstances, and I was soon on excellent terms with most of my new acquaintances.
Among my friends was an individual of about sixty years of age, who, from his conversation, seemed to have been at one time accustomed to mingle in really good society. He was a widower, and was extensively engaged in mining operations. I had not known him more than a couple of days be fore he asked me to marry him, and offered to give me an interest in his mines if I would accept him. I thought that this was a rather abrupt style of courtship, and felt constrained to decline. He took my refusal good-naturedly enough, and was evidently not sufficiently in love with me to break his heart because he could not get me.
Subsequently I met a gentleman who paid me attention, and to whom I became sincerely attached. We were married in a
