Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 327 of 894

INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.

281

LEON BLUM,
GALVESTON.

The muse of history, lifting the veil which tin
has drawn between us and that remote past whi<
fades toward and shades imperceptibly into tl
night of a still deeper past, discloses a state of s
ciety that, to the careless observer and superfici
thinker, has nothing in common with that of the ag
in which we live, and yet the essential difference
more apparent than actual.
From that dim long-ago to the pearl-white glin
mer of the dawn of modern civilization on down t
this time, when the sun of human progress approache
its meridian, the world has been but a vast aren
in which all have had to struggle, and in which th
strong have ever triumphed and the weak have eve
perished. At first, and for many weary centuries
cunning and brute force determined results. Nov
it is mind that sways the destinies of men anc
nations. The weapons used are of later make
Now that the moral sense has been more fully de
veloped, the combats are not so revolting, but the
ability and skill required are greater and the battles
fought equally fierce and unrelenting.
The savage desired to maintain his occupancy of
a piece of soil that suited his purpose, to seize the
flocks of a neighbor or to reduce an adjoining tribe
to slavery
to make others toil for him
deal out
destruction at will and to himself enjoy ease, comfort
and security.' Such was his idea of power and
happiness. The modern ideal is to meet disappointments
and reverses with fortitude and courage,
conquer difficulties, accumulate wealth, be
widely useful and helpful, and maintain, from the
cradle to the grave, a probity of character that will
excite the respect of contemporaries and be a source
of just pride to descendants. It is a loftier ideal,
truly, and one more difficult to attain, but, many
noble-minded men and women have reached it.
The youth, when he girds him for the fight, and
steps out into the world's great arena, little dreams
of what awaits him in the fray. Confidently he
rushes into the mass to struggle with competitors.
How many are disappointed! How many prove too
weak of purpose, of mind, of will! How many
listen to the siren songs of the demons of unrest,
dissipation, vice and idleness! Out of a hundred,
fifty will barely manage to live on to the
final summons by acting as the agents and instruments
of others, thirty, their early hopes
blown aloft like feathers of fancy and whistled

ne down the chill blasts of Destiny's December,
ch will be moderately successful; nineteen prove a
he curse to society and only one gains the laurel
wreath
o
of victory. These are truths that hold good as to
al all pursuits, professions and avocations. Not one
ye quality alone, but many are required for the atis
tainment of what is worthy to be dignified with the
name of success. In commercial pursuits, more,
i
perhaps, that in any other department of human
;o effort, are varied abilities essential. The dangers
Ds that threaten wreck and disaster lie thick upon every
a hand and the competition is nowhere more detere
mined, or the clash of mind with mind keener or
r more constant.
, Natural aptitude, clearness of mental prevision,
v soundness of judgment, capacity alike for planning
I and executing and the power to control men and
make them faithful, willing and capable instruments
for the accomplishment of fixed purposes are some
of the prerequisites necessary for the attainment of
any considerable eminence as a merchant, financier
or in any of the higher commercial walks.
Few men are so widely known in Texas or have
done more for the development of the agricultural,
industrial and trade resources of the State than
Leon Blum, the subject of this brief memoir. He
is a member of the great importing and mercantile
house of Leon but, the pursuit
not being congenial, he ceased to follow it after
serving his time. Believing himself capable of succeeding
in mercantile life, for which he had aptitude,
he at once embarked in it. Believing that
wider and better fields were to be found in the
United States, he set sail for this country in the
spring of 1854, and, arriving in Texas, established
himself in the town of Richmond. The author of
" Triumphant Democracy " never uttered a greater
truth than when he said that the timid, unenterprising
and indolent of foreign countries are con