Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-07-06

!, because no other law was there. he spent
his money on slver-mounted saddles, gor-
geous heacgear and at rare Intervals on
villainous liquor and fixed faro layouts,
| because these were his only necessities and
his only possible luxurieS
1t Is not surprising under these circum-
stances that the strongest possible tribal
feeling was developed in the cattlemen. 1t
is not surprising that they wore their guns
in convenient positions and became accus-
toned to hanging cattle "rustlers' as a
matter or course. JailS were not numerous
in the old days in the plains country. and
| the six-shooter was the only policeman.
1t Is not surprising either that on their
lnfrequent visits to those frontier settle
ments which were entitled to a place on
the map by virtue of the possession of
numerous saloons and a graveyard apiece
they yielded to an uncomfortable desire to
paint the town. AS the inevitable result of
having held down the safety valve for so
long time 1t became necessary to blow
OF steam 1t was only natural that the
conditions of the cattle business developed
an original code of ethics and morals and
that it evolved distinct type of the human
Individual.
1t would be interesting work for the
psychologist to trace also the influence of
the COW upon the cowboy. The vast herds
that roamed the plains in the old days were
subordinate only to the superior intelli
gence of their human attendants. and not
always subject to that. From association
with them the rider of the plains imbibed
their spirit. They made him brave. reck-
less and self-reIiant He presented the
strongest possible contrast, for example. to
the sheep herder, with whom he waged an
intermittent, fierce and bloody war for the
possession of the free range.
Caring for the sheep.
The sheep tender, like the cowboy lived
alone. far away from companionship and
human associations, but he lived under
very different conditions. His hocks
moved slowly and required little exercise
of skill or vigilance to keep them together
He covered less ground in a month than
the cowboy frequently did in a day His
diet was an UNMARRIED round of mutton, bis
cults and tea, and in time he became like
his sheep-sheepish. The cow punchers
even asserted that they could scent him
at distance by his woolly odor. 1t IS
not surprising. then, that he proved no
match for the active, beef eating and re-
Sourceful cowboy, or that he was almost
invariably worsted in their frequent en-
counters. 1t was only by mute persist
ence and the force of fast multiplying
numbers that the sheep We're able to hold
on to any part of the free range
While the old-time glamour of cowboy
existence lives only in rainbow hued litera-
ture, there remains wide field of useful
ness for the cowboy of today. The work
OF carefully studying breeding conditions,
of testing different varieties of feed and of
riding to market in the caboose of a cattle
train seems tame in comparison with wild
night rides to avert stampedes, exciting
| roundups and terror spreading charges up
| and down the streets of unoffending towns
| with a six-shooter in either hand but
unitarian age places by far the greater
| value upon the former work In the de-
| parture of the passing cowboy literature
| mourns the loss of a highly interesting
character, but in the coming of his success
sor the cattle business is gaining immeas-
uraby.