TEXAS STATE LIBRARY
74
be fully content to know that it has fallen into the hands of one who was her husband's friend in misfortune.' '-The gentleman, how- ever, refused to take the watch; but not being unwilling to retain in his possession some slight memorial of the man whom he h~d long loved and admired, he detached one of the seals from the 'Cham, and said to the General '' I will keep this trinket as a friendly remem- brance-<lr if you will have it so, as collateral security for payment of the horse."-" Rather as a momento "-replied the General-of a hopeless debt."- \Ve do not know that these two individuals ever met again. We are inclined to think that this was their last earthly interview. From their first acquaintance they had been devoted friends; and were not dissimilar in.many of their traits of character; both of them being: eminently distinguished for their frankness, fearlessness and liber- ality.-The disinterestedness and self-sacrifising disposition of Gen- era'! Long was proverbial in those days; and the generous temper- and warm-heartedness of his friend is abundantly manifested by the event just related. They were, indeed, well worthy of each others attachment and confidence; and the conduct of the' latter in making the timely present which he did, was one of those glorious offsprings of a noble nature, which, in spite of their infrequency, still serve to restrain us from that sweeping denunciation which we have too many temptation to launch against poor, miserable humanity. They spring up in the dreary journey of life, like refreshing fountains in an arid desert; and the memory of him who is capable of such con- duct, should not be permitted to perish like that of the great mass of mankind who live for themselves alone, and die without the con- solation of having ever extended a helping hand to any human being beyond their own, immediate families. "T'hc individual alluded to- the person who presented the horse to General Long-was Josiah Bell; a ,man of many noble and exalted qualities; a Kentuckian by birth; but a citizen of Natchitoches at the time of this transaction. Not long after this event, Bell paid a visit to his native State; and was doomed, while there, to the sa,me kind of indignity and harrass- ment which his friend had expeTienced in Natchitoches. He had been unfortunate in business previous to his leaving Kentucky; and as soon as it was known that he had returned to the State, he was beset by the bumb-baliffs of the country, and literally divested of everything seizable by law. In his great extremity, he was compelled to part with the cherished relic-the watch seal-which he had received, from General Long. This trinket, however, did not fall into undeserving hands, as we judge from the following circumstance. It so hap- pened that many years after these events, this very seal was recognised by l\frs Long as she was gliding in a Steamer down the Mississippi river. The meeting with it so unexpectedly, after the lapse of a long period, could not fail to awaken many mournful recollections of the past; 'and it was natural under the circumstances, that she should have a strong desire to enquire about it, and to le:arn something of its history. For this purpose she sought an introduction to the stranger who wore it. In answer to her questions, the gentleman stated that he had obtained the seal from an old acquaintance in_
Powered by FlippingBook