IN THE WILDERNESS; OR, FORTY-SIX YEARS IN TEXAS AND TWO BY Z. N. MORRELL, AN OLD TEXAN, "The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose."-ISATAH. "What thou seest, write in a book."-REV. Third Edition, Revised. ST. LOUIS: COMMERCIAL PRINTING COMPANY, 405 N. THIRD ST. 1882. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, то R. E. B. Baylor and Hosea Garrett, MY EARLY ASSOCIATES AND CO-WORKERS, IN VIEW OF THEIR VALUABLE SERVICES TO SOCIETY AND THE CAUSE OF RELIGION IN TEXAS, AND AS A TESTIMONY OF MY CONTINUED CHRISTIAN CONFIDENCE This Humble Volume IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. HAVE written this book because I thought I ought to write it. Some of the facts contained in it were known only to me. Many that were known only to me, and a few of my early associates in Texas, who are still living, would be lost when we are dead, and our time is very short. For the past fifteen years I have often been urged to write by those who were anxious to have some of the facts and incidents connected with the early society and the rise of religion in Texas preserved. Last October I was requested to write by the Baptist State Convention of Texas. These friends and brethren did not ask me to write a book; but the work has grown upon me, as I toiled on, until it has assumed this form. I have written under great personal affliction and physical suffering. Had I been able to go on with ministerial duties, the work would never have appeared. Hence I have written when I could do nothing else. The work is written in a narrative style, because I could write in no other way. My memory served me better in this train. |