University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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iw CACTUS TEXAS LITERATURE NUMBER UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AUSTIN

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- I JIJRING THE BONANZA DAYS of California, when a favorite entertainer might ex- pect eagles, double eagles, and half eagles to be tossed at her feet as an accent to applause, a certain soprano had this kind of golden recep- tion. Then she met old Governor Vallejo. After gracious compliments he said, But, madam, you are not the first prima donna, you know, in Cali- fornia. She wondered who could have preceded her across the Great Plains. The coyotes were here a long, long time ago, Governor Vallejo said. He spoke a parable. Historians of nearly anything of Texas and the Southwest usually start in with Spanish discoverers, colonists, mis- sionaries, incidentally bringing in the Indians they were obliged to fight and baptize. As a matter of fact, the northers roared their song, the dry weather locusts sizzled their chorus, and the coy- otes made their music over the lone prairie long before either Indians or Spaniards came. Nature has had a far stronger and more abiding effect on what is now the civilization or culture of Texas than the Spaniards ever had. To consider one representative example of Nature, the coyotes taught their song to the Indians, and when the Indians mingled their blood with the Spaniards, they kept that song. One of the fine harmonies of Texas is to hear the Mexican vaqueros. or cow- boys, sing at night, hear the coyotes respond, and then hear both choruses wail their long-drawn- out, quivering, barbaric notes up to the pulsing stars. It may be some time yet before the rustling of the cottonwood leaves are properly translated, before books interpret the mesquite, the jack rabbit, the rattlesnake, the moss on the live oaks down in the Brazos bottoms, the horned toad in the sand hills overlooking the Pecos, the Spanish dagger, the sweet gum and a thousand other in- habitants of the plant and animal world. Just the same, long, long, before Columbus sailed, the coyote and his mate sang that mournful duet to the ageless Texas moon and stars. , -, '

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THE TEXAS SWORD, bringing to mind the heroes who have wielded it in Texas ' colorful history, is ever in the con- sciousness and tribute of true Texans. As expressed by I- Frank Dobie: . . . the point of Travis ' sword like the moving finger of Time still moves across the earthen floor of the Alamo . . . We are justly proud of our heroic swordsmen. But the Texas pen, reflecting the land as it was and is, from the mournful howl of the coyote to the contented chug of the oil well, deserves a full measure of tribute and recognition, for it has been wielded with the same spirit, individuality, vigor, and courage that has won immortality for our memorable sword. In this, the 1940 Cactus, we do honor to our illustrious Texas penmen, for the point of Texas ' pen like the moving finger of Time still moves across the colorful pages of our literature. .