Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-04-17
To be Continued.
THE REAL COWBOY.
No Longer an Animated sattery--But
a Bronco Buster Still.

mo Longer an animated DatteTy--out
Bronco Buster Still.
1t is quite true that the cowboy Of
today is not college man, nor one at
all familiar with the manners and
customs of polite society, says Out
West. Neither does he go about his
daily task with a brace Of six shooters
slung at his hips and a repeating rifle
held in the crook of his arm.
Rarbed wire fences, steam railroads,
police courts and penitentiaries have
rendered such appurtenances super
fuous And Immediately after pay
day lie does not swoop down upon
the nearest town, shoot out the lights
and take part in a gun fight or two.
For the $50 or $40 a month which
he receives strict attention to the
duties of his job is expected. and in
these days of strenuous competition n
job is a precious thing. The life Of
the modern cowboy is as full of hard
and monotonous work as that of an
eastern farmland, and there is very
little difference in the intellectual and
social standing of the two.
Though thousands of cattle are
grazed on the plains of the southwest,
very few are shipped direct from the
range to the market. The places of
individual cattle kings have been TAX
en- by great stock companies which
t,,on Of N
various parts Of the west.
A few years ago a dry season in
southern Arizona meant the death of
many cattle and very frequently the
financial ruin of their owners The
old timers still tell stories of having
walked for incredible distances on the
carcasses of dead steers
But all that is past-they do things
differently now. Let a dry year come
upon the southwestern ranges and
the cattle are hustled on board train
and transported to the cattle COM
panies' ranges in Colorado or Mon
tana or Dakota, where the season is
good and the feed abundant.
No long drives Of hundreds of miles
in search of new range as in the old
days. Simply day or two of round
ing up, then a few hours drive to the
nearest shipping station on the rail-
road. Then perhaps a day in town
for the cowboys and back again to the
home ranch and the regular grind.
Though the cowboy is not a college
graduate he is by no means an ignor-
anus. Usually he is American born
and fairly we'll read, taking the same
active interest in current topics and
politics that other American citizens
do. AS a general rule he has been rails
ed in the section in which he is en-
ployed and is of youthful appearance.
He differs very little from the average
American working youth, western
dialect stories to the contrary not.
withstanding.
In all cowboy bunkhouses there is
pile of current magazines, the con"
tents of which are devOured with
avidity. And one is not infrequentlY
treated to the amusing spectacle of q
youthful cowboy becoming so enam
ored of the kind of punchers pictured
in modern fiction that he purchases
pair of utterly useless sixshooters,
commences to walk with a swagger
and to initiate the dialect of Red
Saunders.
But if marksbanship is no longer i
qualification of the coWpuncher
horsemanship is. The modern cattle
man is as proud of his ability to ride
anything on four legs as was ever the
bronco buster Of bygone days, and
this is the first fact impressed upon a
! Itenderfoot.