The West American Scientist. 



#ur Story teller. 



THE CHILD OF THE ALAMO. 



One glorious night in February, 

 1836, the little settlement of San An- 

 tonio was strangely disturbed, at a 

 time when it should have been 

 wrapped in its usual quiet slumber. 

 It was midnight, and all lovers of 

 the history of the ' ' Lone Star State, ' ' 

 as Texas is often called, will remem- 

 ber the evil cause of this disturbance. 

 A messenger had ridden, an hour 

 before, into the plaza, and straight to 

 the little fort of which Colonel Travis 

 was commander, with the news that 

 Santa Ana, the hated and dreaded 

 leader of the Mexican troops, was 

 marching down upon them, and was 

 now only a few miles distant. 



These plazas or squares, of which 

 there are several, are made in a 

 peculiar manner. The settlers com- 

 ing to the new country, and finding 

 that they were fated to be almost 

 constantly at war with their neigh- 

 bors, the Mexicans, made the walls 

 of their homes serve as fortifcations, 

 by building them around and facing 

 a large square, which usually had a 

 fort on one side where they could 

 gather for additional safety. The 

 streets leading from these plazas 

 never ran straight out, but were all 

 placed at angles. The object in this 

 was that no cannon could be placed 

 in a position to sweep the plaza. 



Fort Alamo was the name of the 

 post of which Travis, Bowie and 

 David Crocket, men all celebrated in 

 history, were the brave commanders. 



After the messenger had held a 

 short conference with Travis, the 

 shrill blast of the trumpet and the 

 solemn rolling of the drum, called: 

 ' ' Danger ! Danger ! " to the peo- 

 ple sleeping in their homes. Then 

 might be heard the sounds of pre- 

 paration for battle; might be seen 

 by the starlight, dusky forms hurry- 

 ing to the Alamo from all directions, 

 seeking safety within its dark walls. 

 At last all was ready, and then came 

 the waiting in suspense for the ad- 

 vancing of Santa Ana and his men; 



of listening with strained ears for the 

 tramping of cavalry over the plain. 

 All was silent. . 



Suddenly one of the watchers 

 called out that the enemy was at 

 hand and might now be seen in the 

 faint light of the early dawn. A 

 soldier happening to look down into 

 the deserted plaza, from one of the 

 iron-barred windows, saw two dark 

 figures running toward the old fort. 

 One appeared to be a woman, while 

 the other, a man, seemed to carry 

 something white in his arms. 

 The soldier was waiting at the door 

 when they came up, and immediately, 

 the pass word having been given, 

 admitted them. The great doors 

 swung to, not a moment too soon, 

 for at that instant the enemy galloped 

 into the plaza. 



When Jack Brown, the soldier who 

 had opened the doors for them, 

 turned to see who the new comers 

 might be, he saw an old black 

 "Mammy" vigorously fanning her- 

 self with her huge apron, and ejacu- 

 lating at regular intervals, the words: 

 " O, Lawsy ! " The man was no- 

 where to be seen, he had probably 

 gone from the room into the main 

 building, for he was one of the 

 soldiers. 



Clinging to " Mammy's " skirt, and 

 looking up at him, Jack saw a beauti- 

 ful child, little Lillian, as she was 

 called by every one who knew her- 

 A fair baby of three summers, or 

 rather springtimes, for she reminded 

 one of the spring with her golden 

 curls like a halo about her sweet 

 little face. - 



For ten days and nights the battle 

 raged. Often during the starlight 

 nights of that terrible siege,' ' Mammy' ' 

 would take her little charge to one of 

 the narrow windows for a breath of 

 fresh air. Little Lillian would sit on 

 the deep sill and clap her bits of 

 white hands, and tell "Mammy 

 tories," (as she said) about " 'e pitty 

 tars," and would pick out two of the 

 brightest, those were mamma's eyes, 

 watching her baby. «• Then she would 

 laugh and talk about the fires of the 

 Mexican camp; but Mammy shook 

 her turbaned head and said: 



