A Tow-headed Boy in the Texas Republic

This week I was pleased to discover a package from the Texas State Historical Association in our mailbox. Receiving such packages is one of the perks of being a card-carrying member of the TSHA, and, as is my custom, I promptly dipped into the book I received, which was a copy of The Texas Republic: A Social and Economic History by William Ransom Hogan.

The style of the book, which was published in 1946, is quite entertaining, and the language reminds me of my grandparents, all of whom were born within about a 30 mile radius in North Texas. On the first page, I came across the word "tow-headed," a term I had not heard in a while, though it was occasionally used to describe me as a child. Well, anyway, I am certainly looking forward to reading The Texas Republic, which contains chapters with titles such as "Fighting the Devil on His Own Ground."

If you happen to read my blog with any regularity, you have probably noticed that I very rarely post pictures of myself. Today, however, I have decided to post a picture of my brother and me in our cowboy get-ups in the mid-70s. My brother is wearing twin pistols, and in an act of blatant anachronism, I am firing a machine gun. When this picture was taken, I was probably about two years past "tow-headed."