the English army.
The fighting with Tosti was no sooner ended
than Harold received news of the landing of the
Normans, and flushed with success, but with a
shattered army and against the advice of some of
his nobles, he started at once to give battle to
William.
The two armies met at Hastings, and after
fighting hard for a whole day with varying suc
cess, Harold was killed just at night fall, and the
English were driven from the field.
William quickly followed up his victory; tak
ing Dover and leaving it strongly fortified for a
base of supplies, he pushed on to London, and
was crowned King of England on Christmas Day
t 066. His reign was at first just and the people
were contented, but before its close the spirit of
the military conqueror became all too prominent,
and the English were reduced to almost a condi
tion of slavery.
SAM HOUSTON.
Beneath the soil of the Lone Star State lies the
body of its former president and framer, Sam
Houston. The name of this man who thirty
years ago filled the first place in the office of
his [state, now comes with a strange sound
to the ears of this generation. At the name
Houston, many will ask, "Who was he ?"
It was he who wrested Texas from Santa Anna,
governed it as its president, and after main
taining its independence for ten years, vol
untarily handed it over to the United States a
republic almost as large as the thirteen original
states.
Houston was formerly a native of Virginia, poor
and uneducated, passing his early life on the ex
treme borders of civilization or among the Indians.
When he reentered civilization, he came through
that medium by which many others have come,—
the army, where he gained great reputation as a
THE FREE LANCE.
military hero. When he settled in Tennessee,
which was then a border state, his military re
nown, ready eloquence and popular manners fi
nally won for him the highest office of the State,
that of Governor.
The pinnacle of his ambition • was reached.
About this time he married ; but in his case mar
riage was a failure ; the bride suddenty left. He,
the same day resigned his governorship and left
also. The next morning he was on his way to
become chief of an Indian tribe. Many ascribed
his resort to Indian life to the innate depravity
and savagery of his nature, but in reality there was
more lying under this action than they all im
agined. He was scheming to free Texas. When
Santa Anna, the Mexican president, shortly after
wards declared a war of extermination against
the Texans and was executing it with an over
powering force, Houston appeared in the
eleventh hour, took charge of an untrained band
of Texans and by maneuvering, succeeded in an
nihilating the greater part of the Mexican army,
besides capturing their commander and president.
Houston's dream was realized. Texas was
now an independent republic and he its president.
He had formed a government out of chaos,
through his sagacity, patience and elevation saving
it from ruin, was its representative at the National
Capitol from the time he delivered it to the
Union until x 859, and at the time when every
thing was pointing toward secession was elected
its governor, his platform being "the Constitu
tion and the Union."
Here he used all the power of his voice and
pen to thwart the secession of the state, but his
efforts were of no avail and when he refused to
take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy
he was ostracised by the people he had liberated
and honored.
Three years after at the age of seventy he died
broken and impoverished, a striking example of
the vanity of humane ambition and the fickleness
of human fame.