The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-23
TOYING WITH THE COWBOYS.
SCHEME OF 4 WESTERN LAD TO
RAISE HIS COLLEGE EXPENSES.

self and knew Their Weaknesses.
What is an AbncuS:
From the Philadelphia Times.
Sherman. Tex.-For "a college boy 10 try
to pay part OF his college expenses by
selling books during the summer in moth
ing unusual. hut TO pay for whole col
lege course by selling unabridged die
tionaries TO Texas com3oys is a scheme
that few would have the energy 20 exc
cute However. il is what young Texan
named Tom Wallace has undertaken, and
what he certainly bids fair to accomplish.
For the last two years be has been d stu
dent al one OF the colleges in this town.
and he expects when September rolls
around. 10 enter school again. Up 20 two
years ago. Wallace was himself cowboy
in one Of the Pan Handle counties, with
no higher educational attachments or as
pirations than such as are common 10
cowboys. one day. however. while rum
aging IN the rubbish of the dugout OcCu-
pied by a line rider friend. he came across
an antiquated, much abused copy Of Web
eter's dictionary. How il had ever man
aged to find It's solitary way into such un~
Its back was gone and many of its leaves
We're missing. but there was enough LEI;
10 show young Wallace that 1t was
valuable book. He easily got permission
70 take # home with him. and the result
may well be stated IN his own words:
The more / studied the thing, the more
realized what big fool / was"
From that time on he became anxious to
get an education. Moreover he is getting
it, incidentally, he is having such eXper-
fences and adventures as befall very Few
school boys in their quest OF knowledge.
IT first thought The idea of selling una
bridged dictionaries to Texas cowboys
would seem about on par with that of
selling Milton s poems to Pennsylvania
coal miners, or books on astronomy to the
1ish women Of Billingsgate. However, Wal
lace was a cowboy himself, and under
stood their general condition. lie knew
that the average cowboy of to-day is very
different from his predecessor OF twenty
years ago. For the most part ne is a man
who recognizes his own limitations, and
would really like, IL possible, TO improve
himself He is sull "a little reckless as TO
his finances and his morals, but he is far
from being the wild, rOlliking terror de-
picted In the alleged comic papers OF the
day. Wallace reasoned that ne could easily
sell dictionaries to men of this class by
simply showing them the advantages Of
such things and that by using the proper
amount of keen mother wit and shrewd-
ness he might even sell to the survivals
Of the old-time type of cowboy.
The first thing he did was to save out Of
his wages money enough to get fifty copies
OF a cheaply bound reprint OF the edition
OF 1850. These he got at the wholesale
price of 81 each. After some considera-
ton, he decided TO sell them at the moder-
ate price of s. each. He was at first in
clined TO be satisfied with 81, but realizing
that he might lose some trade by his ina
bility to change IS bills, he decided to
raise the price to accommodate the cur
rency Of his customers. In some manner
he got hold of some circulars advert.s-
ing a much later edition for so. These
he carefully laid away in order to prove
to his customers that he was selling the
books for just half what others were ask
ing. When his books reached him, he had
them hauled 10 his dug-out, and then
waited until the second day OF the month
following. The wisdom of this course l.
obvious. Cowboys. like some other peo-
pie, are paid of on the first Of the month,
but do not always keep their money till
the 30th Tom knew Of a dug-out not far
from his where he could fnd four line
riders. After supper on the day referred
90. he took four Of his dictionaries in a
wheat sack, mounted his pony, and gai-
Hoped over TO the place in question. After
entering, he told briefly the object OF bis
visit
Turned book peddler have you, Tom?"
asked one of the men with a half sneer
"Sorter."
Think you'H make your stake out Of
the job?"
Il hardly know. If every ignorant cow
fellow that needs a dictionary to learn
how to spell should buy one. ia make a
fortune"
The men resented the idea that they
couldn't spell well enough for all practical
purposes. They admitted that they might
fall on certain long tailed, hifalutin'
words that nobody ever had any use for
any way, but on good, Old-fashioned, ev-
cry day words they thought they were all
right. AS a result of the controversy, 1t
was agreed that Tom was TO give out
some common word OF only one syllable.
Every fellow who spelled 1t right was to
have one given to him free. The dtction-
airy itself was TO be the standard of the
spelling. Tom had prepared himself for
just this emergency.
spell 'hough, he said, the hough of
horses leg, you know"
Hook" shouted the first speaker, con-
fidently. ASK me something hard"
The other three spelled it the same way
You're pretty fellows" rejoned Tom
sarcastically. Every kid ought to know
that it's h-o-u-g-h Now. suppose one OF
you fellows was to write your sweetheart
SoIuEtu4i6 dhouN your puIiS getting nufl
in the hough, and was to spell it h-o-c-k
what do you reckon she'd say? Shed
say: 'Darned If III have anything more tc
do with a low-lifed, thick-headed ignor.
ant cuss that can't even spell hough.' You
need Dictionaries
The men were surprised. but there was
nothing for them 10 do but to take their
books and pay for them. The word had
certainly been a familiar one, but the die.
tionary was square in favor of Toms way
of spelling. 1t never occurred either tc
them or to Tom TO see whether their
method might not be recognized also
sales were not always made as easy az
this. but enough We're made to keep the
statesmen from being discouraged. He
started out to read the book through al
odd times, but on account of the vastness
of the undertaking, he resolved to confne
himself mostly to the AS. Perhaps this
was as good luck as any. One day he
struck a young stockman who was said
TO be somewhat interested in a young
lady school teacher in an adjoining dis
trict
Now, I'll just show how ignorant you
are said the willy Wallace. Here on the
very first page you find the word 'abacus
It's something that school teachers use,
Now, suppose the schoolmarm was to ask
some d9v r~n hacLr 10 an.