Captain Jeff; or, frontier life in Texas with the Texas Rangers Page: 64
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64 CAPTAIN JEFF, OR
head of the table said: "One hand up," and Captain Jeff slowly
lowered his hand to its natural position, the honored hero of the
occasion.
When the wine banquet was over, the ladies and one or two of
the gentlemen who were strictly temperate, crowded around our Captain
Jeff, heartily shaking his hand and complimenting him for his
courage and devotion to principle so publicly explained.
They said: "We were not nor did not taste the wine, but we
did not have the moral courage to follow your noble example. How
could you do it ?" "It was without any effort on my part; it struck
my ear as a challenge to principle, and in an instant my principle
accepted the challenge, and oh, my dear friends, I was rewarded for
the act a thousand times more than my feble tongue can express."
"Was the reward invisible to all but yourself?" "It was." "Will
you then please give us an explanation?" "I will, and I will do so
as fearless of criticism as I was when I held up my hand. The
moment I held up my hand an angelic face appeared to me as if
suspended in the air in front of me and a little higher than my
head looking me straight in the eyes, and a heavenly radiance of
approval beamed from its every feature, and in that moment my
stature seemed to grow higher and higher and higher and the world.
seemed to be under my feet, and I lost sight of the audience, -the
table, wine and wine glasses, and I can only add that my feelings
were not earthly, but heavenly."
The party was banqueted every day for thirty days in making
the tour of California, and he left the State not knowing whether
California wine was good or bad or indifferent, and he says that
alcoholic liquors is the best tasted of anything that he ever tasted.
We hope the reader will pardon this digression. It seemed to be
necessary in this connection to show up the firmness and devotion
of the man of which we write.
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Maltby, William Jeff. Captain Jeff; or, frontier life in Texas with the Texas Rangers, book, 1906; Colorado, Tex.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth33010/m1/64/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Star of the Republic Museum.