51
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
No. 703 [1838 before Apr. 7, M. B. LAMAR, HOUSTON?]. LIFE OF JAMES LONG 64
General Long's
attempted settlement
of
Texas.
Chapter 1st.
In the Spring of eighteen hundred and fifteen, there dwelt in the "vicinity of Natches, a juvenile Belle of great vivacity and loveliness, ·whose wit and beauty were heightened by the refinement of her ,manners and the purity of her sentiments. Though young in years, she was not a minor in mental accomplishments; and attracting the ·admiration of all, she was wooed, unwon by Beaux of the highest renown. She had now arrived at that age when the laws of Mississippi require a parentless child to choose a guardian.-Accident lead to the choice which she made; and whether it was a prudent and judicious one, the reader must determine when he hears the sequel. Tying a sun-bonnet of green silk under her fair, round chin, and slinging her satchel on her arm, she was about to obey the summons of the Academy bell, when she was suddenly stopped by a little negro ·girl, who announced in a joyo·us mood, that a stranger had just gone into the sick man's room. "And what is that to me?" said the youthful beauty, "do his friends not call upon him every day?"- '' But this is the handsomest man in the world,'' replied the un- =sophisticated servant, '' and I want you to see him before you go 'to school." Now the handsomest man in the, world was certainly a sight worth seeing, for which a Belle in her teens might very well 6 4Lamar spent considerable time and effort in collecting material for a life of James Long. The results of these exertions are in his papers in a ·1arge quantity of notes and in seven folios of what appears to be the final ·form of a biography. The first part of these folios has been printed in Foote, H. S., Texas and the Texans, 1, 198; it is reprinted here for the sake :of completeness. The latter part of Long's life was never completed by La• ·mar, but from notes in no. 501 of this collection, and from two other folios .of notes found with the final drafts mentioned above, the editor has at• tempted to complete the work.. These two folios have been lettered "X" and "Y" respectively, and will be referred to by those letters. Though Lamar's style is often excessively flowery and verbose, the docu- ments which he had collected concerning Long and the detailed account of ,Mrs.. Long's experiences at Bolivar Point (most probably obtained from. Mrs. Long) have convinced the editor that the document is worth printing.
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