He, likewise, considered it his first duty to take possession of Nassau, but Schubert was not inclined to surrender. Then Spies determined to attack the place by night and drive off the holders. He did not find it such an easy matter; a fight took place and one Rohrdorf, a young artist, one of Schubert's men, was killed, though the aggressors were repelled without having accomplished anything. As soon as this affair became known the local officers interposed; it was all very well for the officers of the society to dispute and squabble among themselves, but when riot and disorder held sway it was time for the state to assert her authority. Spies was indicted for murder, but so great was the exasperation against him in Fayette County that he dared not come within its boundaries, nor would he have had the least chance for justice if he had then been tried. He dared not face his infuriated countrymen, and was counseled by his friends to flee to the Guadalupe Mountains. This he did and was pursued, but unsuccessfully, by the sheriff and his deputies. He was in hiding for some time until the excitement had calmed down, when he returned, stood his trial and was honorably acquitted. It was on this occasion that the real life of Schubert was unmasked, and the pretended physician was proved to be the obscure cigar-maker, Strohberg, of Cassel. This caused a reaction in favor of Spies, and he once more stood high in popular favor. He afterwards married a Mexican girl, an Indian captive; he ransomed her from her captors and had her well educated. She was both pretty and intelligent, and very apt at her studies. The marriage has been as happy as it was romantic, and they are now comfortable and contented in their home in Missouri.

The Schubert-Spies imbroglio did not tend to further the settlement of the affairs of the society. Everything was in discouraging disorderno one knew who was head and who was servant. Schubert would have liked to dispose of the property of the society, but after he was exposed in his true colors no one paid the least attention to him. Official matters in the colony were in a wretched plight, yet the colonists worked steadily on and the men who had been in the Mexican war came back and founded homes with the money they had earned.

In 1848 the numbers of the colony were again increased by a large body of German students, professors, lawyers and scientific men. They had been concerned in the liberal movement of that year, resulting in uprisings and revolutions. They flocked here from the Fatherland, bringing with them their books and household furniture, their silver and house linen. They purchased their land and on advantageous terms, but knowing little of agriculture and being entirely new to such a mode of life, for a long

time they made but a bare living; yet hard and meagre as was their fare, they clung to their ancient belongings and would part with nothing, not even to secure themselves proper clothing. Thus strange contrasts would often be presented-a Herr, with his coat and pants made from an old blanket, sitting smoking his fine meerschaum and reading some priceless volume from his rare old library; his wife clad in a cotton gown patched and darned, putting their coarse food on a table which would have delighted a connoisseur in the antique-a table a prize in itself, covered with the marvelous hand-spun linen of Germany and set with silver of a century back. There in a log house, rough-hewed on the outer side and plastered within with clay and shell, is found an entire furnishing of cherry wood hand-carved and hand-polished by countless rubbings with wax and oil; queer tables upheld by griffins; high, square-backed sofas with rolled arms; odd brackets and foot-stools and stately canopied bedsteads. They brought with them, too, their family portraits, and many a titled lord and lady smile down from the walls upon their democratic descendants.

The men of 1848 did not better matters in the way of a peaceable adjustment of the society affairs. New parties sprang up and countless dissensions arose; feeling ran high, and in the midst of it a new claimant for the Comal tract appeared on the scene. Under this man, Martin, began the Jesuitical era, which, though of short duration, was too long for the peace of mind of the colonists. Martin was the last legal representative of the Society of Mayence, or rather of the Catholic Church, which, he said, had bought all right, title and claim to this New Braunfels settlement. He was master of the Chambers to the Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt, and put on a great deal of style and ceremony, wearing full court dress and his side sword in visiting Governor Wood, who was as plain as Martin was pretentious. He wanted the state government to have all the colonists' land turned over to the Church, claiming that the purchase money had been already advanced. This scheme failed however, for the Church defaulted in some of its payments and the Emigration Society refused to make over their rights.

This was the last act in the drama of the Mayence Society. They had come to a standstill. The Plantation Nassau was attached by Roeder for money advanced the officers of the company; it was sold by order of the district court and the proceeds divided among the creditors. The place is now known as "Roeder's Mill," and but few in Texas have the slightest idea of the peculiar interest which attaches to that locality.

The contract between the state and Fisher and Miller having become void for non-performance, those gentlemen sued the Society of Mayence

for damages; they claimed all the land originally granted them by Texas, and brought their suit against the society and all claiming under the society's title. It is difficult to see what ground they had for this, as all their interests and privileges had been bought from them at a heavy price, and even if the contract had been fully carried out, Fisher would not have obtained the premium sections, but they would have accrued to the Society of Mayence. However, as "les absens sont toujours tort," the case was brought to trial in the court-house of New Braunfels; the society having no official representative in Texas, the Duke of Nassau and Prince Frederick of Prussia were cited to appear at that place on a certain day and answer their suit. It is needless to say that those august personages were not present, and Messrs. Fisher and Miller gained their case. This, however, would have had no practical result if it had not been that the state released the land of the immigrants from its claim, arising out of the failure of the society to colonize within the stipulated time. Texas appointed a commission, who confirmed the settlers in their title, apportioning the land among them, but giving the alternate and premium sections to Fisher, when in justice they should have belonged to the society, it having fairly purchased them from him. The old colonists are still bitter on this point, and score up many other grievances against this man who was made secretary of the advisory council. They claim that much

of the two hundred thousand florins that were paid over to him for their establishment and support went into his own pockets, while he left them

to starve.

The first legislature of Texas created the county of Comal and incorporated the city of New Braunfels; afterwards a mayor and city council were elected. From the time that the dissensions about the society officers ceased, an era of prosperity dawned for the colonists, and by 1850 they were basking in the full sunshine of assured success. Fine crops blessed their endeavors, and new sources of industry opened everywhere before them. Shiploads of immigrants again landed at Galveston and Indianola, but now their friends met and welcomed them to well-appointed homes and comfortable providing. They brought money with them and purchased land, always around or about the original settlements; and so they spread, extending far beyond Fredricksburg, occupying the valleys of the primitive rocks and the rich lands of the Llano. Other towns sprang up all over the state, and the German settlements increased steadily in number until 1860, when all immigration ceased. The colonists were uncompromisingly republican in sentiment, and were totally opposed to southern politics, remaining adherents to the federal cause throughout the civil war. The constantly increasing immigration did not confine itself to the towns; the Germans made model farmers, settling up county after county, and bestowing prosperity upon every section where they made their homes. Fayette county, in which was the Plantation Nassau, boasts now of thirtyfour hundred farms within her borders.

In Comal, of which New Braunfels is the county seat, the crops never fail, and no spot on earth can be fairer. Rising at its highest point eleven hundred feet above the sea, its surface undulates and is broken into mountain, hill and valley, irrigated by gushing springs and lovely, rapid branches, creeks and rivers, whose waters are deliciously cold and clear as the atmosphere. Here grow all forest trees which are desirable; here the pecan, the walnut and the hickory drop each year their burden of nuts, and the mulberry offers its feast to the birds of the air. Here the wild plum makes the woods redolent with its fragrance, and grapes climb and cluster on the mountain and in the valley, throwing their graceful tendrils from tree to tree along the river's edge, swaying long branches and purple fruit over the mirror of the stream. Upon its meadows graze thousands of cattle, and its hills are white with browsing sheep. Its gardens blossom in beauty, and its fields yield all grains in abundance, and are white each year with southern snow, that fleecy staple which keeps busy the looms of the world. The entire county is dotted with farms, thrifty, clean, picturesque; they

enliven the valleys, nestle among the hills, stretch along the mountains' sides. There is no land to be bought here; the early settlers hold it all, and as their sons and daughters marry they are given a portion of the family acres, and settle down around the old homestead. So the population grows by natural increase, and these New Braunfels girls are much. sought after for wives, having the reputation of being notable housekeepers, besides possessing the genuine German type of beauty. The farmers here are all well-to-do and many of them wealthy. They love to accumulate money, and their living costs but little; yet there is much gayety and genuine enjoyment in their lives. They are sociable, and are fond of meeting together to enjoy the pleasures of the dance and a glass of beer or wine. Dance houses are scattered all over the county, and merry parties go from one place to another, from the valleys up into the mountains, and, meeting at some certain house, pass the time gayly together, the young dancing, the old singing songs or cracking jokes over their beer. Every family manufactures its own wine, yet they are very temperate; few cases of drunkenness are known, and broils are almost unheard of. Indeed, this is a peace-loving and law-abiding community-in proof whereof may be mentioned that in 1878 a handsome stone jail was erected in New Braunfels, but from that day to this it has never had an occupant!

In spite of decades spent on American soil, in the midst of Americans, this people preserve unto to-day their peculiar customs, their distinctive mode of life and their native tongue. Every one speaks German and many cannot understand English. There are but two American families to be found amongst them, and the few negroes who have drifted into the community are completely Germanized.

When the colonists found that a prosperous future was assured they turned their attention to the arts. They built schools and churches; heretofore divine service had been held, according to the rites of the German Episcopal Church, beneath a fine grove of elm and hackberry trees. Of these but three remain, which stand clustered together, on one of the streets that lead down from the Sophienberg. They organized, too, a dramatic corps [page 277] and singing societies, and the first German-Texan Saengerfest" celebrated in the state took place at Herman Seele's lovely farm "Elisenruh " (Eliza's Rest) in the first building erected for such a purpose in Texas. From this, these societies spread into various towns, and now this festival is hailed each year with as much delight by Americans as by Germans.

The inhabitants still keep up their home festivals as they do their home customs; notably the Schützen Fest, Mai Fest and Ernte Fest

VOL. XX.-No. 5.-25