742 



TEXAS. 



THAXTER, CELIA. 



effort to prove to the other races of the world their ca- 

 pacity for national as well as for local self-government, 

 this convention does hereby urgently recommend to 

 the Republican party of the nation and of each State 

 respectively zealous advocacy of the early purchase, 

 for a just consideration, by the United States, of Low- 

 er California, Sonpra, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo 

 Leon, and Tamaulipas. 



That, after having acquired title to said territory 

 the United States shall subdivide the same in such a 

 manner as best insure its early development and en- 

 lightened Government. 



That the said territory be designated as a territorial 

 republic. 



The following ticket was named: For Gov- 

 ernor, J. B. Smitz ; Land Commissioner, Thomas 

 Breen ; Lieutenant-Governor, M. W. Mann ; At- 

 torney-General, W. H . Atwell ; Comptroller, 

 Tom P. Johnson ; Treasurer, H. K. Davis ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, S. D. 

 Swinford; and Judge of the Supreme Court, 

 Lock McDaniel. 



The regular Democratic State Convention was 

 held in Dallas, on Aug. 14 to 17. A majority 

 platform, containing the following paragraphs, 

 was adopted by a majority vote : 



We hold to the use of both gold and silver as the 

 standard money of the country, and the equal coin- 

 age of both metals without discrimination against 

 either metal or charge for mintage; but the dollar 

 unit of coinage of both metals must be of equal in- 

 trinsic and exchangeable value, or be adjusted through 

 international agreement or by such safeguards of 

 legislation as shall insure the maintenance of parity 

 of the 2 metals, and the equal power of every dollar 

 at all times in the markets and in payment of debts, 

 and we demand that all paper currency shall be kept 

 at par with and redeemable in such coin. We insist 

 upon this policy as especially necessary for the pro- 

 tection of farmers and laboring classes, the first and 

 most defenseless victims of unstable money and a 

 fluctuating currency. 



We demand of Congress the passage of such tariff 

 legislation as may be in strict accordance with the 

 principles announced in our last national platform, and 

 denounce all attempts to secure special protection or 

 privileges for any particular class or classes as unwise, 

 unpatriotic, and undemocratic. 



We commend the action of the public officials in 

 seeking to recover lands unlawfully obtained by 

 railroad companies from the State for sidings and 

 switches. 



A minority platform, regarded as anti-Cleve- 

 land, advocating a free and unlimited coinage of 

 both metals at the ratio of 16 to 1, and favoring 

 the immediate restoration of silver coinage as it 

 existed prior to 1873, failed of adoption : The fol- 

 lowing ticket was named : For Governor, Charles 

 A. Culberson ; Lieutenant-Governor, George T. 

 Jester ; Attorney-General, Martin M. Crane ; Com- 

 missioner of the General Land Office, Andrew J. 

 Baker ; Comptroller, Richard W. Finley ; Treas- 

 urer, W. B. Wortham ; Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, James M. Carlisle : Chief Justice of 

 the Supreme Court, Reuben R. Gaines ; Asso- 

 ciate Justices of the Supreme Court, Thomas J. 

 Brown and Leroy G. Denman : Judges of the 

 Court of Criminal Appeals J. M. Hurt, W. L. 

 Davidson, and John N. Henderson. 



The Republican Convention met in Dallas, on 

 Aug. 28-29, and adopted a platform that con- 

 tains the following : 



We condemn the letter of President Cleveland to 

 Congressman Catch ings as prolonging a condition of 



uncertainty which has paralyzed the industries of the 

 country for the past two years, and we approve his 

 action in interposing the national authority to sup- 

 press the late riots in Chicago and elsewhere. 



We favor equal accommodations for all races, and 

 condemn that policy of the Texas Democracy which 

 has reduced the per capita appropriation of the State 

 school from $4.50 two years ago to $3 or less at the 

 present. 



We denounce in unmeasured terms the acts of the 

 Democratic administration invading and depleting 

 the permanent school fund as an assault upon the 

 noblest heritage left by the fathers to the children of 

 Texas. 



We denounce the Democratic methods of finance, 

 the depletion of the State treasury, and their utter 

 incapacity in providing State revenues and caring for 

 the State's credit. 



The condition of our sheep and cattle industries 

 demands a national revision of the State laws gov- 

 erning the lease and sale of State lands. 



The following ticket was nominated : For Gov- 

 ernor, William E. Makemson : Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, R. B. Rentfro ; Attorney-General, J. A. 

 Hurley ; Commissioner of the General Land 

 Office, Edward Anderson : Comptroller, D. A. 

 Tomlinson ; Treasurer, J. G. Lowder ; Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction, A. H. Colwell; 

 Chief Justice, J. M. McCormick ; Associate 

 Justices, C. H. Maris and C. 0. Harris; Judges 

 of the Criminal Appeals Court, W. K. Homan, 

 Henry Terrell, and C. G. White. 



Besides the foregoing, candidates for Congress, 

 for the State Legislature, and for local offices were 

 selected at local conventions. The election was 

 held on Nov. 6, when the Democratic State ticket 

 was elected. The official count of the vote for 

 Governor and Lieutenant-Governor will not be 

 available until the meeting of the Legislature. 



The Democratic candidates for Congress were 

 elected with one exception, the Twelfth District, 

 where a Republican was chosen. The Legisla- 

 ture will stand as follows : Senate Democrats 

 29. Populists 2; House Democrats 104. Pop- 

 ulists 22, Republicans 2, with 2 Republican 

 claimants for Democratic seats. 



THAXTER, CELIA, an American poet, born 

 in Portsmouth, N. H., June 29, 1836; died on Ap- 

 pledore Island, Isles of Shoals, Aug. 26, 1894. 

 Mrs. Thaxter was the daughter of Thomas B. 

 Laighton, an editor and politician of her native 

 city, where many of his name reside. He was a 

 man of ability, but gruff in disposition and 

 quick to take offense, and, being disappointed in 

 some political ambition, obtained an appoint- 

 ment as keeper of the White Island light, Isles 

 of Shoals. To this place he removed his family 

 when Celia was scarcely five years old, vowing 

 never again to set foot on the mainland. Celia 

 passed her childhood on the island, which is 

 little more than a rock, with only her 2 brothers 

 as playmates, and unconsciously absorbed that 

 love for the sea and the freer aspects of Nature 

 which has inspired her writings. About ten years 

 after their arrival her father gave up the light- 

 house and purchased Appledore Island, then 

 known as Hog Island, where a house suitable for 

 the entertainment of sportsmen and other sum- 

 mer visitors was erected. Among the earliest of 

 these visitors was Levi Lincoln Thaxter, of Wa- 

 tertown, Mass. An attachment grew up between 

 the girl and this gentleman, the first of her own 

 station in life whom she had seen, and the mar- 



