The Austin Statesman (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 50, No. 39, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 12, 1921 Page: 2 of 8
eight pages : ill. ; page 20 x 16 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
TUESDAY, JULY IZ, 192.
THE AUSTIN STATESMAN
i
REMINISCENCES OF OLD TIMERS
By MARY JIMPERIEFF.
cigarette
t’S
o
I
Men, Here It Is
Three-Piece Wool Suits
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE METZ.
■ -------
TO $15.00 SUITS, NOW
$12.50
$ 8.65
TO $12.50 SUITS, NOW
TO $15.00 SUITS. NOW... . . .$10.75
sorts had he waited to Uve ia these it can get converted, even as a way-
TO $18.00 SUITS, NOW
.$13.50
$35.25
TO $50.00 SUITS, NOW
The Ku Klux Klan helped wonderfully
TO $65.00 SUITS, NOW......$45.00
The laws were strict and
No Charge for Alterations
the law. the
E. M. Scarbrough & Sons
MORTUARY
MISS BETTIE BREWSTER
AUJSTIN
r
circus posters say— vaudeville is as-
C. A. BLONQUIST
i. end the real vaudevitle
ci
JO
HAVE YOUR CAR ,
Se
tiro trouble
causes
‘aa
CREASED TUBES
WEARE
■
,i
ABLE TO HANDLE
Cm
NUMBER
ANY AND ALL
6
KINDS
OF AUTOMOBILE
PAINTING
AT REASONABLE
as we
PRICES
were
IF YOU INTEND TO
PAINT
YOUR CAR
DRIVE BY AND WE
WILL GLADLY
PHONE 5223
)
ESTIMATE THE COST
Austin National Bank
$8,000,000.
Resources over
Authorized Sales and Service
505-11 Colo.
Phone 5384
4
II
A
Lucky
Strike
ourselves
reversed.
EQUIPPED PAINT
DEPARTMENT
TO $22.50 SUITS, NOW......$15.50
TO $25.00 SUITS, NOW......$19.50
TO $30.00 SUITS, NOW......$22.50
human in all our dealings. To be served
would like to be served if the positions
L
PAINTED
IN OUR FULLY
Ut EAST SEVENTH ST. AUSTIN, TEXAS
Michelin Tubes, being made ring-shaped
like the casing itself, fit perfectly.
Other tubes, however, being simply pieces
of straight tubing cemented at the ends,
wrinkle and crease when placed in the tire.
As the air pressure of inflation increases,
these wrinkles become smaller, sharper
and hence more serious. Cut tubes are the
inevitable result.
and will always make, for character.
There was one genius who would no
doubt have been an oil promoter of
wa
Art
dep
-
It:
TO $22.50 SUITS. NOW......$14.75
TO $25.00 SUITS. NOW......$19.50
TO $35.00 SUITS, NOW......$22.50
TO $40.00 SUITS, NOW..... $27.50
TO $45.00 SUITS. NOW......$3325
itle-
and
. Have
Austin i
P
inti
shl
Me
mo
me
5l
Tubable Suits
(Excepting Seersuckers)
TO $10.00 SUITS. NOW......$6.65
The Big Clothing Sale
Including Palm Beach, Palmetta, Spanish Linen, White Poplin, Silk
Shantungs, Mohair, Cool Cloth, Tropical oWrsteds and
High-Grade Spring Weight Woolens
Better”
Manager Jeffries Signs Contract
With “Big Time” Circuit to
Open Here Sept 8.
i ,
R B. McMordie of Gatesville, has
been appointea superintendent of the
Home for Neglected and Dependent
Children at Waco. It wan announced
by the Board of Control today.
Michelin Ring-Shaped Tube* are absolute-
ly free from such trouble*—one of many
reasons why we urge- you to buy Michelin
Tubes.
kittens lay aieapUy purring in front
' , meant—Home!
To serve the depositor better today and be more genu-
inely helpful than yesterday is our keen desire. To bet-
ter our best efforts to please. To create more friendly
relation* between us. To be, if possible, more and more
“Better
and
j Throw on us the burden of the safe keeping of your fund* and the
intelligent co-operation of assisting you to unravel your financial problem*.
Test us out in any way you please. Whether it is a Savings, a Commercial
or a Household Checking Account you will always find us eager to please.
joyed aliee by those who have "nerves"
and those who are just ntrrf.
A. & M. PRESIDENT
EXPLAINS BUDGET
FOR COLLEGE’S NEEDS
Dr. W. B. Bizzen, president of Texas
A. & M. College, appeared before the
Senate and House appropriations com-
mittees this morning and explained
the budget for his institution as pre-
pared by the Board of Control. Action
of the committees on the budget is not
expected until late today.
Dr. F. M. Bralley, president of Col-
lege of Industrial Arts will also ap-
pear before the committee today.
sen
Ma
tat
if t
Dr.
the
F
can
- r
the
ora
an<
cia
-
"a
OF THF WORK
BEN M. BARKER.
1 •
eh,
Pot
tad
ferred himself to the Congregational.
However, hl* religion is of th* sort
be keeps in the house with him. and is
an echo of the mother-tenching of
early days:
"Be henest and correct and polite
to ecerybody."
Isn't that of itself enough to take you
back to the days when lamps glowed.
thin*. ■ - L
Forsificatione Down. Decorations Up.
Mr. and Mrs. Met* have been iving -gm —, —e -
in their present tome for more than 1 of the lo* fire and home
fro
Me
shi
the
at
vis
abl
Bitt
and
(9,7
.Daughter of Colonel Brewster,
famous in Texas history and who
was first secretary of tate under
General Houston and a member of
Jeff Dayis‘ cabinet.
Mtao Brewster was one of the first
if not the first woman to hold a nosi-
tloa in the State Capitol.
Funeral seryices will be held from
St. Austin's Parish. Wednesday at »
a. m. Pallbearers are Mr. C. M. Calo-
wav. Juaee Blakeslee, Robert Hamby.
D. F. Kelleher. Wm. McNamara and
James Belger.
days instead of those. He took money
from gullible negroes to whom he
promised freedom by way of Mexico.
Before he could remove his victims.
The funeral services of C. A. Bion-
quist wil be held Wednesday at 1
P m. from the family home in El Roy
and at 1 p. m. from the El Roy Luth-
eran church. Pall bearers will be A.
O. Moo land K. T. Nelson, Emil Wissen
Andrew Johnson, Lewin Johnson and
John Fagerqulst Interment will be
in El Roy Cemetery^______
GATESVILLE MAN HEADS
STATE’S HOME FOR CHILDREN
artists of Europe and America will be
on the circuit once more
; them summer months ths
______la the "coolin* house" for the
people of Austin. Mr. Jertress is al-
— »■ starring. Well, the picture is worth
... .... . a record house, for it is one of the
A "Dizser and better"—the way the cleverest of light plays and win be en-
"Take all my cattle, boys. I’ll give
ancanitzatspnd"fwnot But
strictly enforced, but sometimes a
pumpkin with a candle inside upon a
rails as being "Gibson." This
man kept a store of dry goc
negroes who bad trusted him with in that
their money to Louisiana, to the
MICHELIN
has overcome tho connona
101
an
Its
cen
TIRE
Ao dre —
meen that photograph at
In* this detined metroe:
however, it was aiscovered that hia - And then the daya of reconstruction,
tntentions were to take these same — — — -..... ....
—Size* for almost all men—Regular*, Stout*, Slims, Longs, Short*—Men, the opportunity
is your*—It'* time to buy!—AND BUY RIGHT!
ways looktng for new Interests for the
patrons ot thi theater and every one
in a while they get something they
are not expectin*, but something moat
delightul 2 . .. .
This week it is a wondertut violinist.
Dashotr, who playa three bolos during
the afternoon and ovenine. at MM, 7
and * o’cloek. Mr. Dashott is a pro-
tege of Mr. Jettresa, aad during his
visit in Austin plays for these per-
forma mees. He will be here during
the week, and thome who heard him
yesterday are just "wild" over his mar-
velous genius.
And, by the way. there was a rec-
ord house to eee "Mamma's Artair"
last night with Constance Talmadge
presence. But It
groceries on the corner of Fifth Street
and Congress. He paid Napoleon a
dollar and a half a week for his clerk
tng. which waa considered pretty good
for a boy of twelve. You might say
that at thia time. Napoleon was paying
his own tuition at nchool.
Then the war broke out. With the
Indiana on the one hand; with the
negroes anticipating freedom within:
with the toll of battle on the other,
life waa no laughing matter in those
day.a Even fourteen-year-old Napo-
leon waa oonacrlpted into the service
of the Southern State* Hi accom-
panied a man and a lot of Confederate
mules. Mr. Met* insists that the mules
were Confederates—to Loutstnna. He
stayed there one year. So did the mules
Then this entire Confederate detach-1
meat journeyed back, Napoleon drop- 1
ning off In Austin and the mules jour- :
Keying on to another State, strictly
southern, however.
Poor Little Gideon's Band!
The old men and the young boys—
fifteen or so, as was Napoleon—con -
etituted the "Home Guard' 'of those
Arya All the men were on the battle
line. If there were any slackers, they
were summarily dealt with. One would
come into Austin from th* country.
"Why Aint you in the army? would
come the quention—on the street in a
storw—anywhere And before any re-
ply were peeethte. an ax handle de-
acendea on the hend of the questioned
and he awoke to find himaeie la the
rorvice. In the meantime th* "Haase
Guard" kept on the lookout for the
Indians who conducted warfare, as
some landlords esetwet hompitatty
these days, and in addition to this
might duty. Napoleon made cartridge* ;
Many and varied are the recollee- l
lions of Mr. Metz of those vitally im-
portant days. And, somehow, there «■
not much of the gladness of life in
what he has to tei At the best, the
heart is thrilled with the mursge and
foruitude at thee* who stood fast in
the purpose they believed right and
maintained the principles which made.
sheriff, the men who were lawfully
bound to legitimate duty who did the
actual work, according to Mr. Metz and
his recollections. a
In 1881 Napoleon Bonaparte Mets
married. Mise Annie Behrens became
bls bride—and she is still that.
"What is the sweetest thing in Hfe.
Mr. Metz? I asked, waiting to bear
some sage bit of wisdom or philosophy.
But in silence he jerked an indicative
thumb toward the chair next hia where
the little bride sat. Then the tears
came to his eyes. He can not speak
of his mother without crying, for he
is not well now and his nerve has been
shaken by enfeebling illness. That's
the reason we can't have a more re-
cent picture of him, folks. He can not
go up the stairs to get to a studio, and
this little picture of him in his own
back yard shows him as he was Just
a few years ago before sickness had
wrought its change.
"My mother first" he uttered past
the thing in his throat he was trying
so hard to control, "and then—" again
the silent gesture.
too aggressive negro's fence post
served to “shed" the community of his
; Even General Sam Houston could do
1 nothing with them, and he could get
' along with the Indiana when no white
j man could. But they— the Comanche*
. —would have killed him if he had gone
near them.”
“Do you remember General Hous-
ton?"
"Tea, I shook hands with him once.
It was «t» barbecue. General Hous-
ton made a speech, and many of us
shook hands with him that day. He
was one grand, old man "
When Napoleon waa a baby, he had
a carriage and everything, but the said
i carriage was made of a soap box on
1 wheels. His older brothers and sisters
took him out in this equtppage, but
one day they deserted him upon
hearing something that sounded Ilk*
; Indians coming. Fortunately, It proved
a false alarm, and the youngsters
returned home in good spirits and
: minus the baby. And when they re-
I turned to look for him. they found him
i in hia soap box, just exactly where
they had left him. Had the Indiana
come, the uttle tot would have suf-
fered a change of residence, no doubt,
and a life very different from the one
he has spent in his home town among
his own kind. But destiny had him
sootted for the oldest native, and so
here he ia, safe and sound and serena
—Austin’a oldest native.
mostly because be kept on the lookout
for a girl like his mother. It was hard
to find her. For his mother was truly
a wonderful woman. Nor was she
lacking in aggressiveness ana sound
reckoning. She was ill when the move
to pave Congress avenue was afoot.
Her son hesitated to bind her to the
assessment—so heavy for a widow to
taka on. Four hundred and fifty dol-
lars. Just for the space in front at
what had cost only $400—so rapidly
did values increase in Austin real «a-
tate.
"Sign, my Cear, by all means Let
them pave, and we wtll pay." So spoke
she from her sickbed. And he did. and
they did. and it was all paid
Only I am mistakon to say "they
did." That was not the spirit of Aus-
tin's own in those days. We did. Mr,
Metx and his wife do not regard the
accomplishments ot thelr city the work
of another generation. We paid, aad
we paved. And that goes for every-
i)
ward son mistakenly happy in hia own
self destructive course can ba con-
verted into the obedient, law abiding
heir at his magnanimous father.
sured to Austin next fall. Manager
E C. Jettress of the Majestic yester-
day signed up the Big Tim* Vaude-
ville. with Its many changes and new
features, for the coming season, which
wm begin a uttle earlier than usual
The season starts in Fort Worth the
last of August bringing Austin’s first
performance on Sept .
Mr. Jettress said tsday that the
standard wi be higher this year and
that there wlU be more real vaudeville
than for several seasons past.
The big "gur show that were sight-
ly overdone last staeon will not be so
I'ACE TWO__
the caparity of having much to do with
the success of the occasion, he attend*
ed "There ws plenty to eat," he re-
members. "Ham and turkeys and
chickens and everything. And then
they danced. Round dances and quad-
rilles and waltzes. No, they didn't
have the minuet, an they didn’t have
the fox trot. Times were happier
then.”
Mr. Meta has not devoted his life to
catering, nor to hauling water. He
was a carpenter until his health failed.
New he takes life easy—or tries to,
and bears with wonderful courtesy
those who seek him out to ask him
to reminisce He was born in the
Episcopal Church, but later trans-
__
BIGGER AND BETTER
VAUDEVIIF SEASON
thirty-seven years. It is a dear Uttle
place with a ball through the center
and rooms on either side. All its fur-
nishings and adornments breathe of •
days which mean something in the
lives of eaeh. Until recently it had a ’
brick lining inside.
“The Indians were so bad.” again
says Mr. Metz, “we had to line the
houses with brick to be safe.”
But they took the brick out because
it sunk and cracked and crumbled.
Now shiplap and nice wallpaper adorn
where the brick once protected. The
present is good to live in, feels this
son of Austin, and Austin is so good to
live in that he has never been else-
where—except on that Confederate trip
with the Confederate mules into Louis-
iana. He has never had an/ desire vo
go elsewhere.
The streets, the trees, the houses
which have been and which are, ail
bear significance to Austin’s own son;
and the river—why, that’s an old friend.
Napoleon remembers well going to the
river with a little cart to fin barrels
with water which he sold to folks who
could not afford to dig wells for them-
selves Fifty cents a barrel to some
points, so much as a dollar a barrel to
further points.
“But we were happier then,” he
maintains. Yet he admits the advan-
tage of pulling over streets which do
not require the conscription of oxen
for the purpose of pulling wheels out
of deep mud. If anyone had told me
that I would live to see paved streets
in Austin.” he declared emphatically, .
“I would have said they were razy."
Paved streets and public schools:
Mr. Metx has never had children of hia
own, yet he was glad when the public
schools were organized. It was during
Governor Davis' administration that
the schools were opened, Mr. Metz re-
calls. Colnel DeGrass was the first ?
superintendent of public instruetion, .
and the schoolhouses were scattered
here and there in the growing city. “In
rented places—little bouses and shacks
until they could build.”
Mr. Metz recalls only one inaugura-
tion—that of Governor Coke. At that
time Mr. Metz was assistant to the fa-
He was 34 before he married, and mous caterer of that day. And in
market and resell them. His own whit
brethren dealt quick Justice to this
man—-and there is rope in this story.
Mrs. Henry W. Metz—that’s Napo-
leon's mother, you remember—contin-
ued to do business at the little store
her husband had established, and one
day a man came in to talk business.
For $450 and a plug of tobacco he
would sell her the lot and whatever
stood on it upon which the Chamber
of Commerce stands now. Mrs. Metz
declined. Next day the real estate man
returned and offered the site to Mrs.
Metx for $400 and a plug of tobacco.
She thought better of his proposition,
carefully inspected his warranty deed
and the likes, and bought the place and
moved there. This proved her very
best investment in life. Her own in-
come during the closing years of her
life, and now her baby boy’s sole in-
come, derived from the lease of this lot.
That same year, however, she con-
cluded the purchase of twelve other
lots. These were on what is now Nine-
teenth street, just back of the capital,
and for them she paid just $12—per
dollar per lot—or per lot per dollar.
You sort o’get tangled when you con-
template it, don’t you, now?
Dollars were about as hard to ne-
gotiate in those days as I find them
to be in these days. It seems they
were worth only 60 cents apiece, and
when they were paper or silver, out-
siders would not take them at all. Then
gold had to be tendered. That was
tough.
Dollars were not all that were scarce,
either. Coffee was not to be had, and
its substitutes attempted in—or, rather,
out of sweet potatoes, and bariey. Tea
was mimicked by mesquite leaves and
liveoak leaves. Beef was plentiful,
however, and by this exercise of civil
economy: If you wanted beef, go out
and get IL
His All for the Cause.
If it had—that is. if the live animal
had a mark upon his brow or else-
where, he belonged to some one. that
was pretty nigh sure; but how were
you going to find out? Some of the
“home guard” got a couple of oxen one
day . Out came Colonel Boldn.
“What are you boys doing, taking
my work oxen and killing them?”
“Well, Colonel," came the reply, man
to man. “the men are off to the war,
and the children and women need
heef--
They got no further.
, olis as it appeared in 1144? Well,
that’s the way it looked when Henry
: W. Meta with his family moved here
i that year. It took them throe weeks
; to make the trip from Galveston to
. the corner on Congress avenue where
< tho United Cigar Store now stands. It
! would seem that the oxen took one
week and the Indians took the other
: two week* But Mr. Metz got here
' just the same, and not empty handed
i either. He brought some merchandise
• with him-at least, that’s what they
! called it, and some of it was apples
eeHing at two dollars a dozen.
This brave hearted pioneer had five
. children when he came to Austin, and
3 three years after his arrival there was
added to the little family a promising
boy who the fond parents called Na-
poleon Bonaparte Meta. October 18th.
1847. is the exact birthday, and you
, will see this makes Napoleon Bona-
i parte soon to be seventy-four years
old. and also makes him, I believe.
f Austin’s oldest native.
Most of the recollections of Mr. Metz
of those early days are of the Indians.
। who were, as ho says, "bad." The little
I town—or village, you might say—had
• to expand always within its natural
I and constructed fortifications. Progress
. was more or Iess seriously hampered
I by the limitation of fear, and the un-
certainties of life and living.
'J “My, my,” I ejaculated with rare
understanding of things I knew noth-
i ing of—( did you get that?) “What
' made the Indians so unfriendly?" And
I L recalled De Roto and other branches.
| - "Oh. they were Comanches. Just
' naturally bloodthirsty. They were bad.
"Mother o‛ Mine! Mother o’ Mine!"
Napoleon's father died when he—the
father—was only thirty-eight years of
age. So Napoleon has no clear recol-
lections of him; but he has more than
recollections of fhe-wopderful mother
who lived her brave life, clear t9 1905.
There is a picture of her in the
homey little home on the corner of
Second afreet and Brzos. As she
was when a happy wife and mother, in
radiant development of refined woman-
hood. Her dress and the jewels
adorning her plainly Indicate knowl-
edge of a way of living which must
have made the struggle which followed
her husband's death all the harder to
bear. For struggle it was, but she
made it gamely. To give her husband
Christian burial in becoming order, she
paid a guard ten dollars to protect
the grave digger who worked to make
the departed comrade’s last resting
place. “The Indians were so bad,”
adds Napoleon by way of explanation.
There were n0 public schools in the
days which were Napoleon's school
daya and here again the wonderful
sour age of the mother was manifest.
It was hard for a woman of her ex-
perience and training to wash and iron
and do all the work.—especially in the
atmosphere of those days when labor
was despised. But she did it—did all
her work, and did business in the lit-
tle store, too, In order to send Napoleon
to school—to a private teacher, who
charged six dollars a month for his
ministrations. And she kept it up for
three years. Napoleon contributed his
own courage to the Struggle of those
days. He didn’t fight Indians just
exactly, but he went to school with
boys who could afford to eat oranges,
when oranges were twenty- five cents
each. He went to school with boys
who wore dainty clothtag while he —he
wore suspenders his mother made for
him out of bed ticking, and when they
would, by reason of age, drag, Napo-
leon just took a knot in them, and
kept on keeping on.
After school hours, little Napoleon
worked for a man whose name he re-
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Austin Statesman (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 50, No. 39, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 12, 1921, newspaper, July 12, 1921; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1534481/m1/2/: accessed June 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .