The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-08-01
lie 1ENpEREoor IN wYoMINe.

the halI-Open door OF the Managing Ed
tors sanctum. after which ne deliberately
and with extreme care seated himsel
upon the softest chair therein.
well, he sighed, I'm back
q see" replied the managing editor.
Where you been?
Casper, Wyoming" said the ten6erfoot.
| Couldn't you go little farther" face
tiously inquired the managing editor
Went as far as my pockesbook would
let me-" retorted the tenderfoot- BE
sides. I've got some uncles and cousins
and aunts out there. =.
Here he shifted his position slightly,
with an accompanying groan-
'-Sick?" unsympathetically asked the
managing editor.
Riding horseback explained the ten
derfoot. ''One OF those measly little
sIeepy-eyed, white-faced broncos. Had q
hack like an arch in suspension bridg ,.
Kicked in four directions at once. See
sawed with both ends and made me think
Of my happy childhood, while l held onto
the saddleho with both hands and said
prayer words in different arrangement
from what my mother taught me. And
when he finally lit on the ground il jar
red the marrow in my spinal column Say.
you ought to see me, 1 look like an Eas-
ter egg with my clothes off,
The tenderfoot groaned again. and the
managing editor leaned back III his chair
and yelled.
oh. say" he gasped. You're godi
You are."
The tenderfoot looked battered and con-
tinued.
Il stuck, though-but it's spoiled my
handsome. symmetrical shape. Been
walking bow-legged ever since.
You know. I always wanted to get out
west, so when l got my two weeks leave
! Of absence / counted over my shekels and
decided 1 had enough to get me out to
| Casper and back. 1 therefore packed my
grip, wired one Of my Uncles | was COM
ing, and choo-chooed out OF the railway
! station that same evening.
| 1T takes two nights and two days TO
set to Casper. and l wouldn't walk mile
TO view the scenery on the way until az
| ter We passed the Wyoming state line.
From there on l found sections worth
seeing. 1t get billy and rocky, and sandy
! and sage buShy and cactusy and snakcy.
| l cant help but think there must have
! been & vast set there In past ages. We
| went through part Of the Wyoming bad
lands. l might remark that they are pos
| itiveiy Obnoxious-especiaiiy the rattle
| snakes. l saw one fourteen feet long,
two feet wide and
Forget it, suggested the managing ed
itor.
well. 7 don't want TO build residence
| in the Wyoming bad lands. insisted
the tenderfoot. 1T is horrible-horrible-
the essence of hopelessnes-a glazing, pit
less, poisonous. waterless hades for
| damned souls. Yet they say there are no
more fertile lands in the world if there
| was only water there. And further on.
| where there is water, and wherever the
slim irrigation canals wind thir way. there
are green fields and trees and flowers.
Teddy Roosevelt knew what be was doing
| when he put that irrigation business
f4l-.
welt, you ought to hear what the wild and
| woolly west thinks about him. 1 didn {
see cowboy out there who hadn't slept
| side by side with Teddy when he was
roughing it.
Il don't know what I expected of Cas-
per. Maybe L thought it was made up Of
| tents, canvas-top wagons. yelling COW boys
| and dirty Indians. If l did l was disap-
| pointed. When first set foot in the place
I thought I'd got turned around and was
| back in Chicago. Honesti Lively? IL has
| three big hotels brimful all the time:
| three department stores doing a rushing
business every day in the week; a whole
! block Of saloons that are rolling in wealth
and working overtime; two banks, two
newspapers. and $50 Inhabitants. every
| one of whom tends to his business so ac-
lively that he constantly keeps the air
| stirring violently around him. That must
| be why ils so windy in Casper Going out
| on the street was like turning the corner
of the Masonic temple at home here
Il had prepared myself to do without a
bath until my return to civilization. What
| was my astonishment TO find a modern
| bathroom, with all attachments in my
uncles house-running hot and cold
wateri He also had telephone In the
/ house. You can have your choice of gas
or electric lights. and Uncle Charlie is
even talking of installing hot water
heating plant in his house this fall. How
! is that for frontier town in the wilds of
| Wyoming?
There isn't a poor man in Casper
wouldn't mind living there. It's the same
altitude as Denver, and a sick person is
| a curiosity. The name of the masculine
! element is Charlie. This includes horses.
/ dogs and Cinnamon. Occasionally YOU
1 fird q Bill. Anyone with a more high
/ flown front name is looked upon with sus-
picion. didn't tell them that mine IS Al
geraon.
The native masculine costume Of Cas-
per consists of a 81 pair of boots a $50
| hat and a Decent pair of overalls-'bout
/ 81 p for shirts I guess. I didn't see many
cowboys. They cal, EN- sheepmen now.
! Everything's sheep out there. Casper ism I
| a stockyards. but once in a while bunch
| of cattle went by the house. and once
! got mixed up with a bunch Of sheep. II
Marys little lamb smeIed anything like
it I don't wonder that the teacher OBJ
jected.
The native Casperlte IS not a modest
man. His voice is large. and when he
| talks you don't have TO ask him twice
what ne said. II you happen to be stand
| ing a mile across the prarie away from
/ him. He is partial to exsggerating the
/ truth. His children are the finest his
\ wife the best cook his ranch the biggest
/ his crops the largest his sheep the most
numerous. his state the best, his politics
the only kind IN the whole union. He
wouldn't change shoes with Pierpont Nor
! cannot on your life. He's honest and
! big-hearted and open-handed- I like the
native Casperite.
| The women of Wyoming votes she
wears divided skirts when she rides horse
back. so you may know that she rides in
| The fashionable attitude. She doesn't pow
der her face and frizz her hair. She's big
/ laughs il isn't a windy giggie. She can
1 hit a rabbit on the jump with a -. and
she knows how to fry sage chicken and
/ bake rabbit pie. She rears a numerous
and husky. progeny, and, 10 express II
mildly. she rules the roost-
Fruit is scarce out there. ard bananas
/ are 80 cents a dozen. so they buy en- by
/ the bunch. The Casper taste runs 70
/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for breakfast, bananas
/ for dinner and bananas fOr super. And
say-talk about feed, Maybe you don I
think they feed q fellow down there"
Il don't see that you are any fatter.
/ interposed the managing editor.
THE bronco did that" mournfuliv re-
turned the tenderfoot i lost twenty
{ pounds in persipartion. epiderrnfs and fat