The Project Gutenberg EBook of Famous Affinities of History V3, by Lyndon Orr

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Famous Affinities of History V3
The Romance of Devotion

Author: Lyndon Orr

Posting Date: August 24, 2009 [EBook #4691]
Release Date: November, 2003
First Posted: March 3, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY V3 ***

Produced by Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines.

FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY

THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION

BY

LYNDON ORR

VOLUME III OF IV.

CONTENTS

THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON
LOLA MONTEZ AND KING LUDWIG OF BAVARIA
LEON GAMBETTA AND LEONIE LEON
LADY BLESSINGTON AND COUNT D'ORSAY
BYRON AND THE COUNTESS GUICCIOLI
THE STORY OF MME. DE STAEL
THE STORY OF KARL MARX
FERDINAND LASSALLE AND HELENE VON DONNIGES
THE STORY OF RACHEL

THE WIVES OF GENERAL HOUSTON

Sixty or seventy years ago it was considered a great joke to chalk up
on any man's house-door, or on his trunk at a coaching-station, the
conspicuous letters "G. T. T." The laugh went round, and every one who
saw the inscription chuckled and said: "They've got it on you, old
hoss!" The three letters meant "gone to Texas"; and for any man to go
to Texas in those days meant his moral, mental, and financial
dilapidation. Either he had plunged into bankruptcy and wished to begin
life over again in a new world, or the sheriff had a warrant for his
arrest.

The very task of reaching Texas was a fearful one. Rivers that overran
their banks, fever-stricken lowlands where gaunt faces peered out from
moldering cabins, bottomless swamps where the mud oozed greasily and
where the alligator could be seen slowly moving his repulsive form--all
this stretched on for hundreds of miles to horrify and sicken the
emigrants who came toiling on foot or struggling upon emaciated horses.
Other daring pioneers came by boat, running all manner of risks upon
the swollen rivers. Still others descended from the mountains of
Tennessee and passed through a more open country and with a greater
certai