Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-09
THE COWBOY HAS GONE;
LIVES ONLY IN MOVIES"
The Buffalo, Indian. Stage Coach,
Pony Express, Like the Cattle
"Rustlcr," Have Vanished.

II is "A curious circumstance that the
American cowboy of the quirt and the
big Mexican spurs is found more often
in the pages of fiction or upon the cine
photographic screen than on the plains OF
the West One might travel all the way
| from Chicago to San francisco, or from
! San Diego To Kansas City and not see
| cowboy Of this type, that rs 10 say the
| kind Of "puncher' who moves within the
stirring, but exaggerated dreams OF
| Anplo-Saxon boyhood The typical
| cowboy has changed with the changing
| conditions of the West. He has vanished
practically, from the beaten track. Roads
| and fields, cireumscribed sheep farms,
towns and cities, long since cut through
the old~time ranges which sometimes
| constituted whole counties and States and
swallowed up ATTITUDES and lonrltudes.
Barbed wire aud the fences of juniper or
| dwarf cedar brought to an end the re-
splendently picturesque life of the lordly
ranchmen Of California and 1exas with
| their vast herds and their scoref nf poems
| and hangcrs-on With its passing went
| the great tricks. as the vauueros moved
| northwar,l along the COW trails with their
| herds to Montana Those, too. were the
real cowboys whom Emerson Ilough has
| lmnurtallzcd. the men of whom one
catches "a stirring glimpse m The Nlr-
| ginian and the cow-town setting of
| Medicine Bow
One NAV As we'll frankly confess il
| that captivating West Of Romance. of the
cowboy in his "chaps. of the poker play
ing. picturesque languaged resl-shirted
hero of the plain. calmly holding at bay
a "nunch of bad men. or dealing out
| swift iuatice to horse thief Is almost as
| extinct rs tho dolo Like the West of the
| stage coach and pony express, at the
| hnld-up and the Red indian. II has moved
from the plains into the pm res Of rnelolra-
| matte fiction Cowboy literature of the
| present cay II should he borne m mind.
,s not necessarily actual photography:
rather is u the barking back 10 n fine. IN
splritInr past, IN order 70 portray
primitive condition which has helped 10
inspire and mold the life of = people
The cowboy is such good theme Tor \
story that writers have shaped the thcme
TO III the present time The Illusion of
time and place is complete II Is complete
N The Country Cod Forgot Whom \
Mans Man and Partner of Blossom
Range One Is silre after a co,lrTe 81
tthis class of literature or Of the Movies,
that the plains are mostly populated
with the cowboy who - now soft and
lovablc as = child. now pltlloas. wolflike
| if reused or thwartd There . something
So highly fascinating IN the type that one
ins,lnctivcly begins to set m rs a stan-
iard for the rest If humanity this steel
like icthal man ~ the magnihoentlF
audaclo,Ia rcpuec. who with the energy of
the Rockies. can vet display sell re-
s,raint that leaves hlh placed and m
runlcd in tho face oi odds Tint would
| overwhclm the average man
1 al. 4 fff fFr9 4t4y
,,st as there is = certain kind Of phot .
nlav. that docs not da Ilsticc 70 the cow
bov. II diptnris him and shows rs fake
nrc4cntmcnt a man Who Is always N
love with impoal lr eowEirla and always
dealing out rough justice - hrs enemies
with q gun Tic Is merely The familiar
| stage villain m the newer setting of the
| romantic srrni- -morlhund West He be
longs ~ reality 20 the literature of the
short story. which falsely presents hun
to the East as the present day type But
| today the cattlrInan Is moro likely 10 be
in ovcralls than IN chaps. 70 ride iarm
horse than 4 hrnncho
Much for which the original eouhov
stands 10 our generation however, per
talnS to the realm Of idcalsm The
Greeks made of their heroes halt gods-
half men. because. hv entiowlnp them with
these particular qualities. they were aile
10 sec IN them the godlike beings they
themselves fam would be There IS no
reason ia believe that the COWBOY will
ever wholly pass from literature as he IS
passing from real lite. lie stands tor An
age which produced certain typlcailN
national characteristics that have lcaven-
cd all America and which have become
part OF It's distinct heritage Christian
Science Monitor