The Meeker herald., 1898-02-26
sENTINENT OF THE COWBOY.
Holiday Yeatures obssrvsd ~ ~
Rough Westeznsr.
rr,.s % Make TAa.kssivias - II
Was At tHon,e-PanBkis Pies Hse-
tuso-Mot Like His MetAsR AaAes
Bat He Mast Have Ths0.

Hat He Mast Have Ths0.
Eastern folks do not give the cowboy
credit for much sentiment, but he has,
nevertheless, q store OF 1t. On ordinary
occasions 1t is not much In svidencr,
perhaps, and q chance observer spend
ing . month among the men on q
ranch might think it lacking alto
cether. For he might break brea.l
with them for week without hearing
a dozen words interchangedi between
any two of the company. Certainly
the traveller would think such lot Of
men the last in the world to look to for
sentiment, but let him wait till Thanks
giving time approaches. He will see O
change.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are
feast days little too close together.
As 1t is, one or the other suffers
through interference or absorption.
With the cowboy in the northwest. q,
any rate Thanksgiving has oil the bes:
of it for the simple reason that 1t comes
first. 1t is with the turkey as with
other things. first come first served:
and although Christmas day 10 celes
brated handsomely. it has by no means
the eclat Of Thanksgiving, because it
lags month behind.
As the great feast day approaches
the chief idea with the cow-puncher is
to make things look like home. He
knows what home means better than
most folk, because for years and years
he has not had one. When this home
feeling creeps over him no one need
doubt his sentiment-he is manifestly
choke-full. He would risk his neck,
his horses neck, too, which is more, to
get a pumpkin for an attempt at pie.
such as "they used to make back at
home
The pie when made Is hardly such n
one as mother would display with
pride. II it was no cow-puncher would
admi, it, He would just eat it.
Pumpkins are often scarce near the
cowboys camp, and to procure one
means n long. hard ride, and possibly
some fnesse, but when it comes to gun
work the cowboy is all fEesse. He
would better get two while he is about
1t, for they will balance better over his
saddle.
One cowboy, who had been sent eff
on a recruiting expedition few days
before Thanksgiving, found few
days before starting back for camp
that he "was going to have - CT .
time if he,ever got them two bottles c.
bug juice through without bustin.'
After much cogitatiou and experiment.
ing with the various bundles he had
accumulated be tapped his pumpkins
and dug them out. Then he put the
liuuor where the seeds had been,
plugged the holes and went ON Ms way
swearing.
at was little rough on the liquor"
he allowed afterward, "but we had
the best pies as ever was eat"
Sometimes a pumpkir is not easily
managed, and two wouldibe mpossfbie
for the northwestern curcurbi,a pep
attains q diameter Of three or four feet
II It IL not watched. When raiding one
Of these monsters, as he must do when
smaller fruits cannot be fol.-d, the
cowboy puts q double hitch on the
stem with his rope, which is fas, TO th,
saddle horn and tugs IT along on the
Btouuu, trusting " ooN anu uSss-
work" to bring enough of it into camp
for the making Of at least one pie.
With three-foot pumpkin tagging
behind, q double blanket stuffed with
whatever odds and ends OF sustcnancc
were in sight when he reached his for 4
aging ground, and rolled up, army
style. into loop and hung about his
neck, = bag Of corn over the other
shoulder or hugged close to him iu
front. sundry canteens and saddle bot
ties dangling about him, and possibly
winter cabbage in his hat, the cowboy
is an object to contemplate as he steals
toward camp in the casly morning
moonlight.
OF course in the northwest there is
plenty Of game and'even turkeys, where
the hills are grown with brush ard
woods. Whatever can be got in the
way Of bird or beast or fish, if trout or
salmon are running. will be brought in.
Everything but horsehesh. That would
be worse than cannibalism to the cow
boy thinking. Sometimes a bear is
bagged, but not often nowadays.
though. and he cooks stringier than he
used to. Z.
A tenderfoot surveyor volunteeredito
rustic up something one day just be-
fore Thanksgiving. He would be shoot
ing that bear yet il one Of the boys had
not found him, for he was putting the
nineteenth bullet into fat fellcsY that
had just risen on the trail ten Yards
ahead Of him. He was very white aud |