Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1886-12-09
A Cowboy Dance.

promised to tell you something G
the social event Of the season, cow
boy danse. which took place the 25th
OF last month on Shipman's ranch on
the Mizpah. 1t was the first Monta-
ma dance ever attended, and it PROV
ed al, good as play. Nineteen COW
boys assembled to participate IN
festivities, and nineteen numbers We.
sold for 81 so each, this being thesum
necessary to deiray expenses. Each
received as he paid his share num-
bered tickct. and when that number
was called by the master ofeeremo.
| MES, he was expected to get partner
and dance. The available females
were seven, five single and two mar
ried. The dancing commenced at 9
o'clock in the evening and was kept
up without a moments respite I'M
| till seven o'clock the next morn
| ing. One set only could dance at
| time, but the seven females were kept
on their feet about all night, as they
were obliged to keep the nineteen
males constantly supplied with part
| ners from their number. They were
danced plenty" / assure you, though
| they did not seem TO mind, but rather
expected and enjoyed it. There were
| three musicians, or as one cowboy
told me on my way down, ''There is
| to be one violin and two fiddles."
However. only one fiddler played at
time while the other two rested. On
| account of the excess OF the masculine
sex, aud from the fact that but one
set could dance at time / did not
dance more than once an hour, though
| the manager called my name with inn
partiality and | took my place on the
floor as regularly as it was called out.
For this, however, was not sorry, as
it gave me a chance to look on, and
looking on was more entertaining
than the dancing The modus
| operandi of securing a partner was
something as follows: A cowboy walk
ed up to girl and said briefly "let's
| dance" and without further ado took
his place in the set, hands in his peck
| cts, leaving the girl to follow him.
Then the fiddler struck out and the
| prompter called the changes singing
/ ditty containing his directions, in tune
with the melody that the fiddler was
grinding out. When the tune and dit
ty were familiar, all hands joined in.
A great many OF the changes and
terms were strange to my eastern
ears. The most frequent call was ''al-
finland" which translated, means all
men to the left. ''Swing pards" was
| another frequent Injunction, and the
boys did it with will, fairly tax.
ing the girls of their feetl As little
outside refreshment the boys had six
bottles OF Nixon's fire water out in the
| barn.
As the dance proceeded, and the
boys got warmed up by dancing and
| whisky, the fun grew fast and furi-
Gus. Soon they could not go with
out their ''chaw." After supper, at
midnight, saw the four men in the
set squirting streams of tobacco juice
right and left Just as it happened,
and laying.down to their sport with
! infinite gusto. danced four times,
once each with Texas widow, a
Cherokee half-breed, and girl who
herds bucks, and once with an Irish
rustler, ''fair, fat and forty" and
might add of the symmetrical pro-
portions of hogshead. We were
furnished three good meals: supper
! when we arrived; supper again at mid
| night, and hot breakfast in the
| morning
At daylight, after eating heartily,
the boys mounted their horses and
rode home, distance varying from Is
to 40 miles, all declaring that they
had "had a hellroaring good time. !"