Medicine on Texas Plantations
basic economic structure of Texas plantation
life was undermined. The foundations
crumbled, pulling down the framework
of the system, and when the dust
settled, both master and slave had to find
ways to coexist in a world that would
never be the same for either of them.
Elizabeth Silverthorne, author of the awardwinning
Ashbel Smith of Texas, is a free-lance
writer in Salado, Texas.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This article is based on material from Elizabeth
Silverthore's book, Plantation Life in
Texas, scheduled for release in 1986. The book
is the first in the Clayton Wheat Williams Series
to be published by the Texas A&M University
Press.
In recognition of the Texas Sesquicenennial
and in tribute to the people, the times, and
events that have shaped the medical profession,
the March 1986 issue of Texas Medicine
published this article as part of its Heritage
Series.
Las Pastorelas: The Shepherds' Play
ico, D.F., 1911. These are those who
think that Motolinia himself may have
written this play. As time passes, we find
the influence of the new surroundings
manifested in the foods mentioned, in
the use of certain words, and in the character
and type of the shepherds. Nevertheless,
the theology, the demonology,
and much of the beautiful poetry of the
originals come down to us through the
centuries in these pastorelas. They have
become a truly folk development despite
their erudite and learned origins.
In "Source and Dating of New Mexican
Spanish Folk Plays," published in
Western Folklore, October 1957, Professor
John E. Englekirk has set forth a number
of facts concerning this type of material
in New Mexico. He cites data that indicate
that the origin of most of these plays
found today north of the border, and possibly
in Mexico as well, is more recent
than was formerly thought. However,
Sister Joseph Marie presents strong arguments
and documentation favoring the
theory of a rather direct transmission of
centuries-old manuscripts.
It may not be possible to establish even
the approximate date of these manuscripts.
However, whether or not they are
of recent or distant origin, they repre
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