The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-03-23

Every command is roared and shouted;
or an idea seems to prevail that oxen,
zig and little, are deaf as adders, and
AN eve be made TO heal except at the
up of the voice. In a still winter day.
lou may near a grown-up oN-tcanster
caring at his patient beasts VIC miles
way and a calf-brcakcr not half his
iZe may be heard more than half as far.
Then, on some frosty Saturday, when
ne little nub by-horned fellows have
earned their lessons. they are hitched to
sled, and made to haul light loads, a
title wood, or some of the boys-the
river still holding to the rope, and
lourishing his whip as q drum-major.
Once in q while the little oxen of the
uture take matters into their own hoofs,
Indmakc a strike for freedom, up setting
he sled and scattering its load, and drag
ring their driver head long through TIE
now.
But they nave to submit ut last and
three or four years hence, you would
Never think from their solemn looks and
Iober pace that they ever had thought
pf such rcbcllious freaks. They were
he boys calves, but fathers oxen.
Misunderstanding a clt is almost as
rood as breaking steers, only there is
10 sled-riding to be had in this.
Till lately the young fellow has had
he freedom of the fields, digging in the
first SHOWS for a part of his living. and
with his rough life has grown as shaggy
coated as a Shetland pony, with as many
burrs stuck in his short foretop as It
will hold for if there is an overlooked
burdock on all the farm, every one of
The horse kind running at large viii find
it, and each get more than his share of
burrs matted and twisted into his fore
top and name
Now, he is coaxed and driven into q
shed or stable, and fooled or forced to
put his head into a long, stout, rope
halter. Then he is got into the clear,
open meadow, and his first lesson be-
gins. The boys all lay hold of the
rope at a safe distance from the aston
ished pupil, and pull steadily upon him.
Just now he would rather go n way
than straight and holds back with all
his legs braced forward, his neck
stretched to its utmost, and his head on
a line with il, like a stubborn little
donkey who has lost something in ears,
but nothing in willfulness, and gained
a little in tail. AT last he yields a little
to the uncomfortable strain, and takes
a few reluctant steps forward, then
rears and plunges and throws himself,
and is drawn struggling headlong
through the snow, until he tires of such
rough usage and founders to his feet.
Then he repeats his bracing tactics,
the boys bracing as stoutly against him,
till he suddenly gives way and they go
tumbling all in a heap.
If the boys tire out before the colt
gives up, there are other days coming,
and sooner or later he submits and in
part compensation for not having his
own way, he has a warn stall in the
barn, and eats from a manger, just like
a horse, and is petted and tondled, and
grows to be great friends with his young
masters-at last to be Gathers horse"
instead of "our colt"
But by and by the long winter-this
play-day of the year for the f%arm-boy-
comes to an end, to make way for spring
spring which brings to him work out
of all reasonable proportion to the
amount of play at least SO the farm
boy is likely to think.-RoWland E.
Robinson in December Wide At0dke.
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