TEXAS: Turnabout

When Austin Myers came to Texas from the Republican outer world in 1900, he refused to shuck his political convictions just because he found himself surrounded by infidels. Stubbornly, year after year, he voted the G.O.P. ticket. But last week, at the age of 100, he enrolled as a Democrat. “I expect to live here the rest of my life,” he said, “and I’m tired of being on the losing side.”