The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-25

appear W Y "h'0N wv" PN"N '"''"sh i"Ck
~ condensation.
In the ever increasing mass OF printed matter
o6crcd to the public day by day, one species of
hook is always welcome, and to-day attains a
higher general average OF excellence than ever
before-thc ook that treats OF nature and the
outdoor life. While the sensational novelist
tseps his typcwriters more busy than ever, and
a., Young woman who combines an imperfect
knowledge of n few physiological facts with a
iofty disregard Of style or grammar continues
IN reel of reams OF fiction with her usual
regularity, an ever increasing number of
cultured and observant mon and women
.,ek to lead us out into tho pleasant
atmosphere Of woods and fields, and, rs
their work is necessarily the product OF some
thought and patient observation, it is sci.
dom that We do not find 1t worth our while to
follow, In wild Neighbors" (Macmillans),
Mr.. Ernest Ingcrsoll writes n series OF essays on
the habits and characteristics of tho gray squir-
rel. puma, coyote, badger, raccoon, and other
OF our wild animals. and by combining the re-
suits OF much original observation with some
Appropriate extracts from Thoreau, DIR. Abbott,
Kennicott. and other writer's, has produced q
number OF interesting chapters, which are sat
i,factorily illustrated.
In the history Of the pioneer days Of the West
there are few chapters better worth the writing
than that WHICH ueulS Win inc rlbe ana CROWN
OF the great cattle industry. and yet there is no
figure OF those days. except perhaps the Indian.
that has been the object OF more literary mis-
representation than has the cowboy. He has
been freely pictured as the embodiment Of Ii
ccnse and uproarious ~iniquity. whose only
serious occupations are draw poker and whole
sale murder, and whose language, especially
manufactured for him by the ingenious hui
morist. is rs picturesque and highly colored as
II 10 absurd and impossible. That this cheerful
gentleman Is q gross caricature Of the
real man has been shown by Mr..
Roosevelt and other writer's, and now in The
Story OF the Cowboy" the latest volume in the
"story Of tho West" series lAppletons), Mr.. E.
Hough. combining actual knowledge with some
power Of graphic expression, gives n true pic
ture OF this fast vanishing representative of a
Eeat human industry. The book opens with q
brief history of the Long Trail, that. starting
from Mexico. stretched across the plains of
Texas westward to Utah and Nevada, east
ward to Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. and as
far north as the British possessions. and over
which camo the first herds from Mexico,
whose descendants, increasing and multiplying.
were gradually spread abroad. till to-day. in
their hundreds of thousands, they cover a third
OF the entire territory of the United States:-
while tho trails have been blocked. tho ranges
traversed by barbed wire. and the cowboy finds
his old-time occupation almost gone. The
ranch in the South is contrasted with that in
the North, and all the incidents Of the cowboys
daily life are described. and " Springtime," One
Eyed Davis, Hard Winter johnson. Straight
Goods Allen, and tho rest arc more interesting
and more like human beings than the wild and
wonderful creations of imaginative humorists
Of the draw poker and private graveyard order.
There 10 no attempt to idealiZe the cowboy, cattle
man. COW puncher. or whatever we may choose to
call him. and full justice is done 10 his talent for
making trouble and generally raising CAIN
but the other side of the picture is also given.
He was the widest of all the wild men Of the
West, and he rose rapidly into q reputation
which. unjust and inaccurate as it is to-day. has
tung to him ever since, SO that people will have
10 other cowboy but him Of the uncouth garb
Ind the wild. desperate bearing; him who
Bwears, shoots. carouses, and COMFORTS himself
IS q general terror This notion of the COW.
boy Is erotesauo in its injustice. but none the
less IL at one time had a certain founda-
ton. %. The powerful excitements Of
vile liquor and viler women stirred in
TO q malignant activity all the evil
clements OF untutored and rugged natures. and
tho results in many cases were lamentable
enough. 1t is strange that the records OF those
days are the ones that should be chosen by the
public to be held as the measure OF the Ameri-
can cowboy. Those days were brief. and they
are long since gone by. He has atoned for them
by q quarter of q century of faithful labor. and
It 10 timc the atonemcnt were written for him in
the minds Of the people by The side Of the record
OF his SINS" He has had his day and Is already
receding into the shadows OF past years, and
Mr.. Hough's interesting story of him fittingly
closes with this passage:
A ha ridea n faunty erecf yirila atronu with
hs eye nxed. perhaps. on the ridge miles away. from
which presently there may shine q small red light to
hold his gaze. he now looks about him at the build.
ings OF the little town. The dust of his riding
HingleS with the dusk OF night. We cannot see which
b the one or thu other. We can only hear the hoof
beats passing. boldly and steadily still. but growing
fainter. fainter. and moro faint.
In "The Three Partners; or, the Big Strike on
Heavy Tree Hill" Houghton. Miffiln & CO...
which was recently published in the Sunday Sun.
there is something Of the old magic with which
Mr.. Bret Harte delighted the world in his first
stories Of the forty.niners and the early Califor-
nian days. Demores. the dreamer. the practical
Stacey and the boy Barker. who make their
pile and 90 out into the world to spend 1t, arc
chiyalrous types of the kind this author has
drawn 90 often and 30 well, and their adj
ventures arc as interesting as ever. Mr..
Jack Hamlin. light Of heart and splck
and span as usual, acts as the kindly Deus
er Machina and restores a runaway wife to her
Borrowing husband. upsets the bad mans best
laid plans, and makes himself generally useful
IN his old. good-natured way, while Mr.. Steptoe,
who combines cla~im-jumping with murder, rob
berry, and other forms Of crime, and whose real
name is Horncastle. is a villain Of the most sat
istying sort. No reader will. we imagine. feel
the least regret when Mr.. Hamlin puts a bullet
In this had mana brain Nor nnIy Ia the world