subs. (American).—The upper (or third) deck of a Mississippi steamboat. Hence TEXAS-TENDER = a waiter serving on the TEXAS.
1875. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), Old Times on the Mississippi [The Atlantic Monthly, Jan., 70]. The boiler deck, the hurricane deck, and the TEXAS DECK are fenced and ornamented with clean white railings. Ibid., Feb., 220. Here was … a tidy, white-aproned, black ‘TEXAS-TENDER’ to bring up tarts and ices and coffee during mid-watch, day and night.
1877. E. E. HALE, G.T.T.; or, The Wonderful Adventures of a Pullman, v. His companion joined him, pausing a minute on the step-ladder which leads to the pilot-house from the roof of the TEXAS.
