"I'll commit no
crime. There comes a time in the life of every human being that their
life is lived over. It is in that hour when the coffin lid is shut down.
Just before the funeral when earth has seen the last of you, your life
is lived over in the conversation which recounts your deeds upon earth.
I will do no forgiving, but I will do no killing."

In comparison with the loss of a wife, all other bereavements pale. She
has filled so large a sphere in your life you think of the past when
your lives were entwined, of the days when life was a beautiful pathway
of flowers. The sun shone on the flowers, the stars hung overhead. You
think of her now as you thought of her then in all the gentleness of her
beauty. You think of her now as the mother of your child. No thorns are
remembered. The heart whose beat measured an eternity of love to you
lies under your feet but the love of her still lives in your being. You
forget the injury, you forget the disgrace, you forget all of the
present, only remembering the happiness of the past. You know she lives
in a world where sunshine has been overshadowed by clouds, yet you love
her all the more, although to you she is even further removed than by
death.

Such were the last days of Peter Sells. It is well the old way of
satisfying honor is giving way. Yet with all its brutality it had the
merit of protecting the home. Only those who were close to Peter Sells
knew of the burden he bore, the weight of sorrow that cut short a life
that has left its impress of nobleness upon all who were privileged to
share his confidence and friendship.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

In the land of the sage and the cottonwood,
The cactus plant and the sand,
When you've just dropped in from the effete East
There's a greeting that's simply grand;
It's when some giant comes up to you,
With a hand that weighs a ton,
And cries as he smites you on the back;
"Why, you derned old son of a gun!"

Texas, quoting Col. Bailey of the _Houston Post_, "is a symphony, a vast
hunk of mellifluence, an eternal melody of loveliness, a grand anthem of
agglomerated and majestic beneficence. Texas is heaven on earth and sea
and sky set to music."

With ample room to spare, Texas would accommodate either
Austria-Hungary, Germany and France; and if it were populated as thickly
as is Belgium it would have a population of over 265,000,000.

The State of Texas could accommodate