THE COWBOYS.

Press, Volume XLIV, Issue 6094, 9 November 1887, Page 3

THE COWBOYS.

[Sketched Bt A Cowboy.]

An American paper publishes the follow(Ing letter:—l see a great deal written about ranch life in Texas. Some of it is truei but the bulk of the alleged facts pub-

? lished exist only in the mind of some gifted reporter, with a vivid imagination. Sol j thought that a letter from a genuine cowboy, one who rides the prairie for a living

from one end of the year to the other, thro'

the.cold winter and hot summer alike, '"woula: be of interest, particularly so as being from one who has ridden over nearly all the State of Texas and part of Mexico on the back of a cow pony. In the first place the life is a hard one; tone batmen of faultless constitution can stand it. Invalids and those seeking recreation can doubtless be benefited in health by a trip across the prairie on a cow drive, if they go for that purpose and do not engage as a hand ; but if they ride the backing pony and lasso the -wild bull, sleep in the open air regardless of weather and eat bacon and bread, with black coffee to season it, they will not be benefited much. Soyoumay inform all the young men in your neighbourhood desirous of trying tench' life not to come out here nnless they *re made of. wrought iron considerably hammered. Of course you would like to hear of the •oclety on a wild Texas cow-ranch, where eix-shooters are served for breakfast, bowie knives for dinner, and blood and thunder for supper ! Well, it is simply intelligent and refined. Nowhere can you go to a regular cow-ranch in the State of Texas and not be hospitably received and intelligently entertained. The best is set before Jou and no monetary consideration is thought of. As to the habits of the boys while on a " round-up," why of course the wild, rugged and profitable business makes hold, outspoken, and liberal men. They j are, as a class, clannish, like soldiers; their business must make them so. And, fcj the way, they ere very much like the _ r fSldier. As a rule, thoy are fearless. ! Constant out-door exercise and working with wild and dangerous animals inures them to danger and bodily pain. So you ! may say that they are, as a class, equal to any in Texas. They are nearly all antiprohibitionists, and sometimes, under the influence of "red-eye," they "take in , ' the country towns. Being of this bold outspoken nature, they generally make "Rome howl!" -while "doing up" a place. The refined woman is to them an angel! Of all that has been written about them.

did you ever hear of one mistreating a lady ? I once kn ew a CTOvr( i o f cowboys to follow an emigrant family on the Pecos Kiver seventy-five miles, as a protective guard. The sweet influence of a lady is like the dew of heaven upon their rough, honest natures.

As to the profits of the business, they are large, otherwise no one would follow it. You never heard of " strikers " among the cowboys; they are all well pleased. And yet there is no business where a strike would be so successful. Sometimes one ranchman owns two or three counties-1,000,000 or 1,500,000 acres-and employs from fifty to 100 hands, yet never a word is heard about small pay or of disrespect to the "Boss/ , They hold his interests as their own and the'business is carried on more like a self-protective. CDoperative colony than anything else. Yet there is a " boss " to Whom all look for instruction. He is also judge and jury of the realm. I write this to correct many false reports concerning ranch and ranch life that every now and then appear in the papers. We are not, nor are we considered by Texans to be, a lot of cut-throats. Cowboy. Texas Prairie, August 17,1587.