Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-04-01
f0r the MONITOR
LIFE IN TEXAS.

/
of living is different The surface is
nearly as rough as that of Vermont
High, brush covered hills, rocky bluffs,
and deep ravines make farming imprac-
ticable IN many places. but offer ex-
cellent pasturage. The streams are re-
markably clear and sparkling, and afford
the purest of water. The people are a
compound of ignorance. Incidence, vic
iousness, and hospitality, the equal of
which, | think, cannot be found In any
other state of the Union Hospitality is
a Southern virtue but in regard to their
other peculiarities. think the Texans
are much indebted to the fact that their
state has always been convenient asy-
lum for the horse thieves and despera-
does of neighboring states Their man.
ner OF life corresponds with their gene
raj character. Outside Of the towns,
everything has a sort of tumble-down
don t-care-if-I-don't look. Farming is
carried on to the extent of raising suffi-
Gent grain to eat, and cotton enough to
pay state debts, and that is about all
All their spare time is put in loafing
around the saloons. No Texan consid-
ers himself fully equipped unless he is
possessed of pony and revolver With
these he is as Independent as his neigh
Dor who has thousand cattle on the
range.
] The practice of carrying weapons is
universal. 1t is common sight to see
men loafng around the stores all day
with one or two loaded revolvers strap
ped on. Shooting affrays are common,
one Texan assuring me that there was
Right smart of shooting but not as
much as there ought to be- A young
man was confined in Basque county jail
for horse stealing at the time we were in
Texas a friend brought him bundle
of clothing which the sheriff wished to
examine; the man objected, and finding
he could not gain his point, pulled out
his revolver and commenced shooting,
but was secured before he had done any
damage. It is a singular fact that most
men in shooting affray, will miss a
man four times out of FIVE, at ten PAGES,
with revolver
Texans seem to consider horse stealing
the worst of crimes. A noted desperate
from Louisiana came to live on the Bra
EOS. He had sixteen marks on the han
die of his revolver, which he said was
the number of negroes he had killed
with it. He was known to have COM
mitted several such murders on the Bra
zos, but no action was taken in regard
to him until he commenced stealing
horses then the planters offered a re.
ward for him dead or alive, and he was
brought in dead. An incident in rela
ton to this affair, will illustrate how lit
tie regard some desperadoes have for the
taking of life One party wishing tc
get the reward-not finding their man
killed man that answered the descrip-
ton, and having disfgured the face SC
that it gould not be recognized, brought
him in and claimed the reward
Ehe most prolific source of trouble il
Texas, is cattle stealing. All the cattle
run at large on the range They arc
usually gathered in the spring, and the
ear mark and brand put on the yearlings
and they receive no more care till the
next spring; but few of the large cattle
owners know how many cattle they have
: and stolen cattle might not be missed
for a year, if at all, consequently steal
ing becomes almost universal. There are
t men who have driven thousands of cattle
TO Kansas and sold them. who did no
own hundred head of cattle in Texas
A few years ago drover could star
from Southern Texas, and increase hi;
7 herd several hundred head before he lief
the state. But now, most of the large
! cattle owners have agents on the trail.
| south of Red River, to watch their brands
There is a legal way of stealing cat
Y tie. which though rather slow is prett,
safe way. 1t very often happens tina
e all the yearlings are not brought il
r when the cattle are branded. Then ;
few men who have neither cattle no
1 scruples start out, one with wagon t,
g carry the branding irons and apparatus
for heating them, the others mounted OIL
e good horses. The horsemen look owe
e the cattle, and if an unbranded yearlins
is found, ride after it and catching it b,
+ the tail, give the horse touch with tn
S spur and it is thrown headlong to tn
S ground and held till the wagon come
e up the brand put on, and it gets VI
7 the property of another man.
S The dairy business is not a success IL
: Texas Most of the planters will hav
5 a few COWS broke to milk, and keeping
S the calves in pen, prevents the COW
/ from straying off. At milking time
: boy will go out on horseback and brinl
:. the COWS in on run. The women, a
|, here in Kansas, do the most of the milk
! ing. The cows give but little, and tina
IS not willingly; but woman IS equal t
the emergency. A cord is put aroun
e the calls neck, and it is allowed to sue
e till the COW commences to give down tn
It milk, then it is pulled away and hitche
n and the milking commences. | thin
/. they must have curious ideas in regar
= to ''woman's mission | remember on
Is rainy day while passing a farm house
Re of seeing girl. thirteen or fourteen year
9. of age, in the COW yard in front Of tn
!, house, barefooted and bareheaded, stand
e ing in the water up to her ankles milk
re ing COW while the men were enjoy
r. ing their pipes on the porch. | don
1T think the women of that rancho are in f.
D vor of more rights.
e In Texas the fright smart of Mis-
d souri, is changed to fright sharp. Ear
le is universally pronounced wear" sit
lie so many years of corn for feed ) OF
<, describing brand it is an .'underbit'' c
lie swallow fork in the year" | saw on
IS model farm in the state. 1t was on
N slope of high prairie, and on what wa
I'd naturally rather poor land but its owl
lie er had damned the branch above it. an
st brought the water to the upper end {