The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-27
WHY THE COWBOYS COSTUME.

The cow punchers legs must be tended from
the thorny miles of the Rio Grande, the thous-
and mongrel shrubs that lace their bristles
together stiff over the country-the mesquite
the shin-oak, the cats-claw, the Spanish dagger
wide-spreading, from six inches 20 ten feet
high every vegetable vicious with an embroid-
cry of teeth and nails; continent of peevish
thicket called chaparral, as we indiscrim-
inately call dog with too many sorts of
grandfathers cur. Into this sawmill dives
the wild steer through paths and passages
known to himself, and after him the pursuing
man must also dive at tie that would tear his
flesh to ribbons If the blades and points could
get hold of him. But he cases his leg againstthe
hostile chaparral from thigh 70 ankle in chaps
-leathern brooches, next door to armor; his
daily bread Is scarcely more needfui to him.
Soon his barbaric pleasure in fnery sews tough
leather fringe along their sides and the leather
flap OF the pocket becomes stamped with
heavy rose. Sagging in q slant upon his hips
leans his leather belt of cartridges bucklei
with jaunty arrogance, and though he uses his
pistol with murderous skill 1t is pretty, with
ivory or mother-of-peaTI for a handle. His
arm must be loose to swing his looped rope free
and drop its moose over the neck OF the animal
that bounds in front of his rushing pony.
Therefore he rides in a loose flannel shirt that
will not cramp him as he whirls the coils; but
the handkerchief knotted at his throat, though
1t is there to prevent sunburn, viii in time
OF prosperity be chosen for its color and soft
texture, scarf TO draw the eye OF woman. His
heavy splendid saddle is, in its shape and lux
ury of straps and leather thongs, the COM
pletest instrument for night and day travel,
anG the freightlng along with you OF board and
lodging, that any nomad has so far devised.
With its trappings and stamped leather, its
horn and high cantle, we are well ac
quainted. 1t must stand the strain of eight
hundred sudden pounds of live beef tearing at
IL for freedom lit must be the anchor that shall
not drag during the furious RACES of such a
typhoon. For the cattle of the wilderness have
ton n fUa
through rocks and forests, never seeing the
face OF man from the day when as little calves
they were branded. And some were never brand
ed at all. They have grown up in company with
the deer, and like the deer they fly at the ap-
proach of the horseman. Then, if he has rid
den out to gather these waits from their re-
mote untenanted pastures and bring them in
to be counted and driven to sale, he must
abandon himself to the headlong pursuit. The
open easy plain with its harmless footing lies
behind, the steep valley narrows up to an en-
tering wedge among the rocks, and into these
untoward regions rush the beeves. The shale
and detritus of shelving landslides, the slip
perry knobs in the beds OF brooks. the uncertain
edges OF the .jumping-off place, all lie in the
road of the days necessity, and where the
steer goes, goes the cow-puncher, too-balanc-
ing, swaying, doubling upon his shrewd pony.
The moose uneoiling flies swinging through
the air and closes around the throat-or per-
haps only the hind-leg-of the quarry. In the
shock of stopping short or of leaning to circle,
the riders stirrups must be long and his seat a
forked plant poise on the horses back no grip
OF the knee viii answer in these contortions
his leg must have its straight length, a lever OF
muscle and sinew to yield or close yiselike on
the pony's ribs; and when the steer feels that
he IS taken and the rope tightens from the
saddle horn, then must the gearing be solid,
else, like fisherman floundering with snapped
rod and tangled line, the cow-puncher will
nave misiortunes to repair and nothing to
repair them with.-From 1.-THE Evolution OF
the Cow puncher," by Owen Wister, in Harpers
Magazine for September.