The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-05-25

ing for his coming, hoping to be laden
with the rich argosy of wealth from the
Eldorado Of the west. There vas no
home again for him.
Here was an ''old settler, 4" some of
our new brothers would say upon view
ing bis exterior, that he was rough and
semi-barbarous, when lin truth he had
a fine, elegant, cultivated taste, who
could combine the occupation OF a
Cow p~uncher" and a ranchero with
solutions OF problems in Euclid, study
ing the new testament In the ancient
languages of Greece and Rome, and
varying them with observations Of the
philosophy Of the sidereal heavens.
/ have met among these stockmen
highly educated men, as berders, whose
essays on literature would throw into
the deepening shade some Of the sentl-
mental so-ealled aesthetic slckly nom
sense which society calls poetry.
When l came across the plains In my
prairie schooner In 1860, and used to
take my ratlons OF pork, beans and
bareback, seated on the pole of my
wagon, it sometimes seemed to recur
even to me that 1t was slightly a differ
ent life, than when, in earlier days, l
never soiled my delicate hands, kid
gloved and taper fingers, with work;
penned sonnets to my lady's eyebrows,
and like some lovesick swain In sylvan
bower, a la Spencer's "Faere Queen, -"
sighed my soul away at the moonlight
hour. under the bedroom window of
my inamorata. fancied 1t was a little
different life than wheE l used to study
"hic, hTc, hoe" or PrOpria que Mari
bus" in the Eton Latin grammar, sur
rounded by the stone wall Of a building
LOO years old, where In the times of
the middle ages, the monks of the long,
long ago used to chant their kyric Ele-
ison, Christie Eleison-ord pro noJiS-
and the beautiful Agntts Del qti TOLLS
pcccdti mundi, or somewhat different a
life, this punching cows from writing
dissertations and essays on aesthetic art,
science and bellies letters in the British
quarterlies.
If you wish to do 80, you can find AS
highly educated and refined gentlemen
among the "old settlers" and ''cow
puuchers" of the many years ago, of
these arid plains, rs they were formerly
called, AS you can in those who come
now in their Pullman cars, with Oscar
Wilde aesthetic manners, accompanied
with Patchouli, Essence de Miileileurs
or sealskin sacques, Show me IL family
Of three brothers on the old homestead,
with manly, noble honest pride IN their
hearts; one out of the three will say,
81 must move to the west, the beauti-
full west, there Is not scope for me in
the crowded home of my childhood"
Ten to one, my friends, but that one
will he the bright star in the family,
the self reliant one, the most hopeful,
the manifest of the whole. OF such
men are composed the "Old settlers" of
the great west. Three-fOurths of the
stockmen are ''old settlers" and there
is not u poor man among them. They
all get rich. These stockmen are either
men of indomltable heroism, or else
they have launched ihair b"ri upon a
sea which is singularly calm and pro-
ductive Of immense profits.
Let me travel among these plains,
and call at their cabins, the dug outs
or tents OF these stOCknen or "cow
punchers" rs they Familiarity style
themselves, and | find them, as a class,
the soul Of honor, punctiliously so, and
you cannot insult them more than by
all offer to pay for a meal or a bed. Go
to the east, and they charge you five
cents for II glass Of milk. Whiskty |
never met in n western "cOw~ punchers''
camp in more than about one case in
twenty. If you put on patronizing
airs. and affect contempt for their iso-
lated, b~achelor-llke style Of living, put
on a little superciliousness, and talk
about your learning and French man
ners, they may possibly charge you
double what you would be charged at
the Railroad, Tim Dyer's, Inter Ocean,
Charpiot's or Delmonlco's.
II any of you are new corners from
the east, let me say that the ''old set
tiers" the true, honest, upright, manly
pioneer of the column Of progress will
extend to you a manly, affectionate,
hospitable grip of sympathy and kind
ness, and II he has a little justinable
pride In recounting the hairbreadth
escapes and perils by flood and field,
hair lifting, bear and elk hunting,
~cooning and broncho riding, in reclaim
Ing the wilderness to civilization and
the arts, give him an attentive ear and
a kind word OF encouragement; for
ladies and gentlemen, feel certain, and
do not obl!terate 1t from the tablets Of
your memory, that as Il class, there is
not n grander, warmer, Or more heroic
soul found under the broad dome of the
American Pantheon, than beats under
the shirt bosom of an 'oli settler or
a Cow punCheT."
FRED j. STAXTON.
4 ERVorits Paper.