The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-11-28
a WYOMING THANKSGIVING.

self" quoth the Second Travelling Man
Not even a wishbone TO grace the oc-
oasion, groaned tie First Travelling
Man. and my favorite -part-over-the-
fence utterly lost in the chaos
~ hat $ thanksgiving in q hotel any
y-ay? dissusfedly supplemented the Sec
ond Travelling Man. Say. you watch
me get of the road when 1 have 4 chance.
III lock like q comet, III go 50 swift"
Wen never leave our happy
! hone no E-o-ore, chanted the F'irs-
I Travelling Nan. Then he sighed.
The Second Travelling Man also sighed.
and regarded the boneless turkey with q
mournful eye.
Last Thanksgiving. renainisceneed the
! First Travelling Man. x wasn't at home
either-5ut I had the time Of my life. 1
! LANDED in a little town at the end Of a
/ railroad line in Wyoming the day BEFORE
! Ihanksgiv ing-ho,ne 2,ees miles away. and
hnothlng in sight 10 De thankful Tor.
But 1 must say that I'd rather be up
/ against one Of those little raw western
+ towns any old day. for hospitality. than
1 If big city and "A high-t0ned hotel
/ Here you turn in your money and they
/ turn you out a nrst-class dyspeptic
stomach. brain and temper. out West
! there You can't spend your money for
much besides whisky. and since 1 got
MAJ ried L cont so II for that sort OF
thing.
Anyway. that day I guess I was a pref
T. fine photograph of homesick WHY.
and when l got done talking business to
the man l had to see he sort Of tum-
( bled to the circumstances and asked me
what / had on for the feast day.
" Nothing but hotel says T.
Then. says he. with clap on the
back that made me cough then. youH
come out to the ranch with US tomorrow
~
their giris-quiet little time, you know
Want to-
Did /? oh. say, I didn't jump at that
invite. I simply fell on It and held it
there, so it wouldn't get away.
we got OF the next morning about 10
o'clock-two big springless wagons pack
cd fun of the liveliest crowd / ever got
mixed UP with. We had to sit pretty
close, but I can't say I minded.
Were they good-looking?" innocently
inquired the Second Travelling Man.
Hey? oh, yes, Wen, they were toll
eTable-a little hefty when we made a
sharp turn, and one of them lepned too
strenuously against me. l didn't feel
much more important than grease spot
by and by-but that was all in the run
ming.
On the way out some of the boys sug-
sested a race, but one of the wagons
racked a key OF beer, and they were
afraid it might be lost on the road. 1
can tell you that beer had more loving
attention than any lady-beer's pretty ex-
penslve out Wyoming
Il was pretty glad they decided against
The race. The roads out there arnt any
bOulevards.
Say. I've been to twenty-course
languages on the bin Of fare. and
see-it-nOw-yOu-don't act in passing the
oatables, but I never came across such
richness as 1 saw piled promiscuously on
those two tables in the ranch-house.
There was turkey, of course. mallard
dUcks, venison. fresh beef and mutton
not one or two ducks. but dozens of EN-.
launches OF deer. a side Of beef and il
seemed to me there was q turkey for
every guest And piei Cake! Jam, DiI
you ever eat chokeberry jelly? Well. you
don't know what's good. Gimme choke
berry jelly or gimme death
II always thought I was a pretty good
Dunisher. but ! wouldn't want to get in
a race with one of those western COW
punchers. They went through the bill of
fare ike q Kansas cyclone. Fierceiy the
hattie ragged. and through IL all was
heard the steady champ Of jaws Each
man seemed to CONS der il his b0unden
duty to surround as much edible material
as his capacity would warrant and they
IN acted as though the first one done
would get prize. Gas-tank Bill set the
Dace-to this day 1 don't see how ne
could eat so fast. so much, and talk SO
continually.
In satisfying the inner person I cane
say that the ladies were at all back
yard. either. and I'm pretty sure that
none of them sought the pantry after
ward TO MI up.
AS for mel was hungry. and I start
20 fin to demolish things with vim.
gan with my coat buttOned but it was
rot long before the situation grew strain
q. ] had put on my Prince Albert
which is pretty tight anyway The but
ems actually popped open when ] started
o unfasten them.
After dinner those Eever-tired cowmen
md sheepmen and substantial western
s7aidcns repaired to The barn FOR dance. /
out there the barn is the chief feature
y0u i7now-higgest and best of all the
ranch buildings The loft had been nicely !
scared, and while il WAS rather cool at /
irst. we soon warmed to the work In Z
act the gentlemen discarded their coats.
md the ladies' perspired grandly in the /
,ause
Wen. I'd eaten until my eyes stuck out. !
bit 7 vas game. And 1 had the exer-
Use of my life up in that barn loft
Zone OF your fancy gliding over waxed /
cors 20 the Uudulating waves cf a heav-
My orchestral we had an accordion. q /
lrmonica, and a two-stringcd middle ma /
1ipulated by a man with three dngers
oHelifaes they disagreed about the tune.
ud occasionally the ACCORDION got left |
p tire way and chen hurried 70 catch up /
10 on the whole they managed O. keep (
Kings going ~ "a lope
II hoped ard I Skipped and J jumped 4
roikacd ana ! waltzed ana ] chasseed /
eriuned and I sweated ard ] ached and /
when the word went around that ne aus 4
p-cious moment fer opening tie kcg of /
ser was at hand-well, / was ready for /
be refreshments.
But where was the beer 1t had been
-7refuiiy slowed in the safest " all safe 1
faces. but nor a trace of beer or even 4
-eg remained. Man eyed man sasui =.
onsly There was gnashing n teeth and :
rauch iuprecltion- There was some ari--
nai ard picturesque swearias-bnt no
1cerf
ut was the shady side os nidai~h
rhsn we began 20 think 70 home CorsiE-
-ia1 my aching limbs. rs piled 3 u ue
70 those sprlnsiesz wagons and thought
y The road ahead PRAYED thar uur
ownvard ErosrFss might De- slow and 4
71leuu one Hut BET So thou-ht oar
1river. who ~ sooner struck tne open
zd than b. challenged TIE other waeou
- race.
Remember. Try friend that 7as
rinsless wagon. The Sorrows ~ yyer-
bar were ~ nothing so mine. f-u bar
-Cun Bill over rncks g foot hieh through
lsei-s. across dlapGated bridges. cling-
rg - tle e 70 ht.s on u-r wheel
ty-hanp. rattle, ciatter tiurrf-
-ir ut7p fQrte-afclr 3 he'd heel
itce6-fsr ssfety rsrii ly-aa-s,es-l r-vo
dmssis re.iecusy aad irna artial-
= di3rt i-aew witch wagon vas eaf--
ui r EsF thfr Z cared fHfrs /