The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-19
STRAY SALE DAY IN TEXAS.
1T Is THE GREAT GALA EVENT To
THE ORDINARY CITIZEN.


Ever Refused, and strong Induce
mems Are Made to PrOner Them.
A Drummer's Experiences.
Sherman Crex) Letter 20 the Philadeiphia
Times.
To-day Is a gala day in Sherman. as well
as In the county seats OF all the other
Texas counties. First Monday" always
Is. Fourth OF July celebrations may or
may not attract a crowd; Thanksgiving
day may he huge success or a fiat fail
ure, but ''Flrst Monday never falls TO
draw crowd In Texas. It comes twelve
times every year. with much the same
monotonous regularity that attends the
coming OF the full moon. Newcomers to
Texas speak Of II as horse traders day; It's
legal name is stray-sale day. but to the
average Texan 1t Is merely First Mon
day"
The dawn OF this chief among typ.cal
Texas days is not heralded by a blaze OF
trumpets- No such heraldlng Is needed.
Even the most ignorant newcomer from
the east can see that this Is no ordinary
occasion. Long before daylight scattering
squads of men come riding into town.
bringing their ponies with them. It Is a
bring only the pony he rides. Most of
them bring from three to a dozen extra
ones. The whole OF each group is tied to
the same rope, much In the same fashion
as a boy carries fish on a string The av-
erage eaSterner would as soon undertake
10 lead "a group of wild buffaloes roped to-
gether but the Texan doesn't care. 1t Is
a cardinal principle among Texas stock
men that horse can be compelled to do
anything you want him TO do. OF course,
the pony objects to being led, but the
stockman OverlOOks his objection with the
loneliness of perfect Indifference and leads
him on just the same.
AS the morning advances these squads
or riders leading their ponies begin TO
grow larger and more frequent. They
come pouring into town from every direc-
ton, ana all make their way TO COM
mon center-the public square. Long be-
fore noon all the available space Is oc-
cupied. From the iron fence around the
court house yard clear out across the cleo
trio car tracks and close up 10 the side
walks on the four sides, every inch is
taken up. It Is a restless, heavtng ocean
OF ponies surging against a shore of curb
stones. Here and there a big ranch wa
gon stands out blum and bold, like a
bare, rocky island amid tho equine Mood.
To-day the Texas pony Is having his In
ming. For q long time he was king In
Texas but OF late years he has been de-
throned. Only for one day in the month
does he resume his more or less rightful
sway. with him there comes temporarily
the rule of the old and the displacement
OF the new. 1t Is as IL one day of
Texas in the early seventies had been
taken up and put down In the Texas
% the closing nineties. Ordinarily, there
IL nothing about Sherman to remind
one OF the Texas one reads about In the
newspapers. 1t f. merely a beautiful
town OF schools and churches and elegant
residences, with electric cars, electric
lights and many other OF the conveniences
0NN -
There Is not trace Of anything western
or frontierlike about II. To-day things
are far different There Is enough typical
western coloring about the place to-day
to satisfy even Frederick Remington him
self II he were only here to enjoy It.
The merchants of the town do not take
very kindly to this monthly invasion. It
brings very little country trade to their
stores, for the horse traders are too intent
on their own special line OF goods TO think
of anybody else's. Moreover, they block
up streets and passageways until the Ia
dies of the town can hardly force their way
through, and hence suspend their search
for bargains unit! a more favorable time.
From the fact that the invaders are nick
named the Observation-Disclosures brigade
one may draw an inference as to what
their staple food is during their stay I'm
town. Unfortunately cheese and crackers
do not cost much. II they did, perhaps,
the monthly visit of the brigade might
be more acceptable to the merchants. Even
not be happy.
One needs to take only a single glance at
the throng of ponies to understand why II
so seldom happens that one Is redeemed
by its owner during the eight months of
waiting. Most OF them are hardly worth
redeeming. Besides, such Is the scale of
prices that 1t Is frequently cheaper TO walt
until stray sale day and buy one outright
than it is to pay the finder several months
board bill for him. One never realizes how
many degrees of equine disreputableness
and depravity there can be until he takes
in the scenes of a day like this. Every
stray he comes to Is a little scrawnier, a
little more worthless, and a little wicked
er-lookng than the one before. There are
a few very respectable-looking animals
among them, and man sometimes sue
ceeds in getting good, serviceable beast
at ridiculously low figure. The chief
trouble about 1t Is that the Texas pony
like one or two other things in this world
of ours is not always what Il seems to
be He has an unfortunate habit of sudden
~ developing traits of character you would
never suspect him of possessing. You can
easily get g bargain on stray sale day, but
no matter how sober and steady-looking
your bargain may be, he may take II into
his head to break oVery bone in your body
the very first time you put saddle on
him.
Fasteners have rather vague ideas as
to the prices that ponies ought to bring
on occasions like this. There is one cas-
terner however, whose ideas on the sub
iect are now not quite so vague as they
used to be- He looked as II he might have
been a drummer from some of the eastern
cities, but on a recent first Monday he
was taking in the sights on the public
square at Sherman. Evidently he was
amused, and interested as well. Proba-
bly, he thought It a good chance to gain
q bit of experience, such as 1t would do
10 tell to his friends back in the east Sc
Letting a man who stood holding one pony
rather apart from the main throng, he
stepped briskly up to him and remarked:
That's a nice animal you have there. my
friend"
pretty middlin' fair" responded the
Texan, scrutinizing him closely. "Wuz you
wantin' to buy a hossY' a,
"Oh, l don't know. I might buy one II
I could find one to suit me and get him at
a bargain. VIII that fellow work in har-
ness?"
"Darned II I know, stranger. Never
laid eyes on him before. Jest bought him
bout ten minutes ago. If I can borry
some gears and a cart, can mighty soon
find out for you, though"
"Oh, don't put yourself to that much
trouble. Is he gentle enough to rider
ITO ride?" echoed the Texan, as If rath-
er affronted by the question. Course he's
gentle enough to ride. You don't think
I'd put off no wild bosses on you, do you?
Jest let me show you how gentle he is.
D., ~ ma ar.s I'll