The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 338
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
coming to Marlin, Texas, to teach school, but he constantly urged
his brother, Bill, and his father to join him. There is also in this
letter the first reference to the hot political contest of that elec-
tion year, when Hod was an avid Democratic supporter of Hor-
ace Greeley for President and reacted violently to the radical
Republican papers that someone was sending to him, possibly as
a prank.
This letter is also the first to mention some of the disadvantages
of living in Texas: "the squalid poverty of niggers and poor
whites," "the old rattle trap appearance of every thing and
abundance of grog shops" (the foregoing characterizations refer
to Marlin), an Indian raid, and the heat. Despite any discom-
forts, however, Horace was enthusiastic over his new home. In
a letter to his brother in the fall of 1872 he vowed to join the
Texas Rangers, "going right out where the Commanchee dwells
not to make a war treaty neither." There followed two of his
longest and most spirited letters. If his father and brother would
join him, he foresaw wealth and prosperity for them all. He and
his brother would set up a hog ranch, and his father could study
medicine a little more: " . .This country is sadly in need of a
good Phisician Surgeon & Dentist." His neighbors are the "best
most generous people I have met since I left you all at home," and
the country is lush, with "grass knee high, fat cattle and horses."
Still in transports of elation, "Wild Hod" was finally tamed
by "the fever," probably typhoid, though this and the remaining
story are not related in letters. His mother came out to Texas,
took care of him during his illness, and then took him home. Sub-
sequently he taught school for a few years and then served as an
apprentice to a physician and surgeon in his home town. There
followed the big step of his career. He went to Chicago and en-
rolled in the Northwestern University College of Medicine, where
he received his medical degree in 1883. There is little doubt that
the hardihood and resourcefulness inculcated in him by his ad-
venturous and strenuous life on the Texas range helped to prepare
him for the rigors of medical practice, which he performed at
Seattle, Butte, and finally Los Angeles.
CHARLESTON [ILLINOIS] Mar 22nd [1871]
DEAR MA
I will answer your letter now. Night before last Balls Carriage338
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/403/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.