St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-06-27
REAL LIVE COWBOYS.
On the Drive, in the Camp and at
the Roundup.
Men Who Daily Risk Life and Limb In
the Performance of Duty-Cowboys
Graduates of Colleges-Some
Mistakes Corrected.

"Do / know the cowboys? Young
man. think l do. When you have
worked with them. camped with them,
and been among them for years on the
drive. on the plains, and on and of
duty. you might say you know them"
The speaker was Henry Exall. a
Texas cattleman, who has been spend
ing several days in the city at the
Seventh Avenue Hotel.
The Texas cowboy" he continued,
sis the most thoroughly misunderstood
man. outside of the localities where he
is known, on the face Of the earth.
know him in all his alleged terrors, and
as a class there are no nobler-hearted
or honorable men in the world. Brave
to rashness and generous to a fault, if
you should be thrown among them YOU
would find them ever ready to share
their last crust with YOU, or lie down at
night with you on the same blanket.
why, young man, see here" and
the Texas man twitched his chair
around until he could put his foot upon
window sill. Say that have 10000
cattle which am about to send over
land from Texas into Montana to fatten
for the market. Those cattle will be on
the drive from the 1st of April until the
middle of September. They are divided
into three herds, with dozen or sixteen
men with each herd. l entrust those
cattle in the hands of gang of cow
boys. For six months | know absolutely
nothing of my stock. trust their hon
esty to the extent of many thousands of
dollars without a contract. without
bond. with no earthly hold upon them
legally or morally beyond the fact that
| am paving them S35 or $40 month
TO protect my interests. And these are
the men pictured in the East as outcasts
of civilization. 1 trust absolutely to
their judgment in getting those cattle
through a wild and unbroken country
without loss or injury. trust as abso-
lutely to their bravery and endurance
In the face of danger"
'.Danger?n
Danger! Yes, indeed. A man to
be cowboy must be brave man. For
instance, we are on a drive. These
slab-sided. long horned Texas cattle are
as wild as deers naturally, and. being
in an unknown country, are as nervous
and as timid as sheep. The slightest
noise may startle them into stampede
We have been on the drive all day and
night is coming on. 1t is cold and
We have reached the point
where we intend to round up for the
night The men commence TO ride |
around the drove. singing, shouting,
and whistling to encourage the animals |
by the sounds they are familiar |
with, and TO drown any noise of an un-
usual character which might provoke a |
Round and round the cattle |
they ride until the whole drove is trav-
cling in circle. Slowly the COWBOYS |
close in on them, still shouting and |
singing, until finally the cattle become
quiet, and after time lie down and |
commence chewing their cuds wth ap-
parent contentment. A stampede of |
cattle is a terrible thing to the cowboys.
and may be brought on by the most
trivial cause. The slightest noise of an
unusual nature, the barking of coyote,
The snap of pistol. the cracking of a
twig will bring some wild-eyed steer to
his feet in terror. Another instant and
he whole drove are painting and bel
owing in the widest fear. They are
ready to follow the lead of any animal
hat makes a break. Then the cool
hess and self-possession of the cowboy
5 called into play. They still continue
heir wild gallop around the frightened
lroye, endeavoring to reassure them.
md quiet them once more. May he
hey will succeed after an hour or two.
md the animals will again be at rest.
But the chances are that they can not be
iuieted so easily. A break is made in
'ome direction. Here comes the hero
s,n of the cowboy. These cattle are as
bind and unreasoning in their fright as
pair of runaway horses. They
,now no danger but from behind. and
I. they did they could not stop for
ne surgino sea of maddened animals