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The Little Doves.
High on the Up of an old pin# tre«,
Broods a mother dore, with her young ones three,
Warm ov*r them is her soft downy breast,
And they sing so sweetly in their nest:
“ Coo,” say the little ones ; “ Coo,” says she.
Ail in their nest in the old pine tree.
Soundly they sleep through the moonsliiny night,
Each young one covered and tucked in tight ;
Morn wakes them up with the first blush of light,
And they sing to each other with all their might—
“ Coo,” say the little ones: ” Coo,” says she,
All in their nest in the old pine tree.
When in the nest they are all left alone,
While their mother far off for their dinner has flown
Quiet and gentle they nil remain.
Till their mother they see come home again;
Then ** Coo,” say the little ones; “ Coo,” says she,
All in their nest in the old pine tree.
When they are fed by their tender mother,
One will never push nor crowd another;
Each opens widely his own little bill.
And he patiently waits and gets his fill;
Then “ Coo,” say the little ones; “ Coo,” says she,
All in their nest in the old pine tree.
Wisely the mother begins, by and by,
To make her young ones learn to fly ;
Just for a little way over the brink,
Then back to the nest as quick as a wink ;
And “ Coo,” say the little ones; “ Coo,” says she,
All in their nest in the old pine tree.
Fast grow the young ones, day and night,
Till their wings are plumed for a longer flight;
Till unto them at last draws nigh
The time when they all must say good-bye;
Then “ Coo,” say the little ones ; ” Coo,” says she,
And away they fly from the old pine tree.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
JACK DOBELL;
Or, A Boys Adventures in Texas.
A STORY FOR BOYS.
CHAPTER IY.
DESCRIPTION OF GOLIAD—PREPARING TO RE
SIST INVASION—AN EXPEDITION TO CARLOS
RANCH-THE “PADRE” AND HIS FRIENDS—
CAVALIERS DISMOUNTED—RETURN TO GO
LIAD.
BOLIAD, at the time of
which I write, contain
ed a population of about
2,500 Mexicans, profess
edly friendly to the Tex
st they had the upper
who afterwards, upon the
invasion of Texas by Santa Anna,
w proved to be their most cruel and
vindictive foes. Goliad is situated on*the
south bank of the San Antonio river,
about fifty miles from its mouth, and
ninety-five below the city of San Antonio.
The American town of the same name,
that has sprung up of late years, is situ
ated nearly opposite on the northern side
of the river. After the defeat of Santa
Anna, the great majority of the inhabi
tants of the “old town” abandoned the
country and returned to Mexico.
When I last saw it, a few years since,
its population had dwindled down to a
hundred or two miserable peons, and most
of the buildings were gone. The “ Old
Mission,” with its dilapidated walls, half
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
a dozen stone tenements, and a few adobe
huts alone remain to designate the site of
the once populous town of “ Old Goliad.”
It is a healthy locality, and the lands
around it are rich and productive. Thou
sands of fat beeves roamed the prairies in
every direction without an owner to claim
them, and as corn was to be had in abun
dance upon the neighboring “ranches,”
or Mexican cattle farms, we were in no
want of the necessaries of life. Besides,
when the Americans took possession of
the place, some months previous to our
arrival, a large amount of sugar and cof
fee was found in the Mexican Commis
sary Department, which of course we
made no scruple of appropriating to our
own use.
Some five or six weeks after our arrival
at Goliad, undoubted information was ob
tained through friendly Mexicans, that
General Santa Anna Avas preparing to
enter Texas with a large army ; conse
quently all idea of invading Mexico was
abandoned, and wo set to work to render
the fortifications at Goliad as defensible
as possible. We strengthened the walls
around the Mission, wherever defective,
added on several new bastions, and plant
ed our artillery in such a way as to com
mand all the roads by which an enemy
could advance on the place. Every day
we were drilled by our officers for three
hours in the morning and two in the af
ternoon, which was a great bore to me,
*fcts I preferred hunting and fishing; but I
knew it was necessary, and I did not at
tempt to evade my duty. However, the
monotony of this sort of life w r as occa
sionally varied by a scout through the
country.
Once our company was ordered to San
Patricio, an Irish settlement, about fifty
miles southwest of Goliad, for the purpose
of bringing away a couple of small pieces
of artillery left there by the Mexicans.
This we effected without any opposition,
although our spies had informed Colonel
Fannin that a considerable force of Mexi
can guerrillas was in the vicinity of the
place.
A short time afterwards, our company
was ordered to proceed to Carlos Ranch,
a Mexican settlement, about twenty-five
or thirty miles below on the river, and to
make prisoners of certain of the inhabi
tants thereof, who, it was ascertained,
were in the habit of transmitting intelli
gence of our movements to Santa Anna,
and among the number the old “padre”
or priest, of the village. A short distance
below Goliad, we left the road and took
our way through the woods and prairies,
so as to prevent the Mexicans frem get
ting notice of our approach; and about
an hour before daylight, we surrounded
the village and captured the obnoxious
individuals we were sent for.
We then marched about a quarter of a
mile up the river, taking our prisoners
along with us, and halted in a pecan
grove upon the bank, for the purpose of
cooking some breakfast, for which our
night’s tramp had given us all a wolfish
appetite. In a few moments we heard
the most doleful cries and lamentations,
and seeing a large crowd approaching
from the direction of the village, avc has
tily sprang to our arms, supposing that
the Mexicans were about to make an at
tempt to rescue our prisoners ; but as the
crowd came nearer Ave saw that it was
composed principally of Avomen and chil
dren. It seems that they had just found
out that their beloved padre had been
captured by us, and they were coming to
bid him good-bye and obtain his parting
blessing.
Such a scene I never Avitncssed before.
Some throw themselves, Aveeping and
moaning, at his feet, whilst others hung
around him, striving for a kiss of his
hand, or even of the hem of his priestly
robe, as if their happiness in this world
and the Avorld to come depended upon it.
Presently another croAvd approached,
bringing with them plates of hot “ tor
tillas,” (a sort of batter-cake made of
pounded hominy,) pots of coffee, SAveet
meats, etc., which they deposited upon
the grass for the padre’s breakfast, and as
fast as they did so, avc appropriated the
same, and found them a very agrecablo
addition to our coarse fare of ‘ hard tack’
and dried beef. Finding that the padre
stood no chance for his breakfast until
avo had secured ours, the Avomen contin
ued to renew the supplies as fast as they
were disposed of, until even the padre
cried out enough.
We then prepared to resumo our march
towards Goliad, but just as avo Avere on
the e\ r e of starting, some ono remarked
that there Avas a large “ cavallada” of
horses at the village, and that riding was
much more pleasant than Aval king. Wo
all coincided unanimously in this opinion,
and avo ordered some Mexicans who were
standing around to bring us immediately
thirty-five of their best horses, saddled
and bridled. They were afraid torefuso,
as we held their beloved padro and five or
six others as hostages for their good be
havior, and in a very little while the
horses Avere forthcoming, saddlod and
bridled, and ready for mounting. Each
one of us selected the horse that pleasod
him, and at the word of command, wo
sprang into the saddles.
I had hardly got yeated in mine, when