The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1919-04-22
SILENT PASSING OF
WESTERN COWBOYS
Slowly the Men Of the
Plains are Passing
From Our Land
SOME INVITATIONS

Breathes there man, or woman,
with heart so dead that it does not
have a responsive thrill for the term
"cowboy?" For nearly everyone the
world over is to some extent inter-
ested in this splendid type of man
hood. Many, however, deem them
to be but delightful product of the
creative mind, to be met up with only
in the "best sellers; while others
swallow all they read about these
heroes, hook, bait and sinker. There
is still another class, who speak of
the cowboy always in the past tense
AS something that is not, but was
or these beliefs, the latter is more
nearly correct, for as type the cow
boy is becoming extinct, and like the
H. c. of L., we lay it to the war.
Brought from the obscurity of
some out-Of-the-way cowtown to be-
come national figures, to traverse
Europe, and to acquire the most CO.'S
mopOlitan of airs, our western boys
are returning to us completely bereft
of that delightfully."- naive prospective
that marks the men of the plains.
And to be entirely just to the God of
Mars, he is not altogether responsible
for this metamorphosis, for in ante
bellum days, the buckaroo was fast
disappearing from the hills and
prairies. And more than any other
factor of civilization, the automobile
is the direct cause of this sad state
of affairs. But this transition deals
with the future. Just now we can
view the change with equanimity, as
we have yet the older generation,
men who were over military age and
are empire builders in their own
right.
Let us suppose you are an east
erner, off at last on that long
dreamed of excursion to the wild
and woody west" If, when arriving
at your destination, no drunken
cowboys with their snorting, plung-
ing mounts, hail your arrival as a
tenderfoot, do not despair. Do not
form the hasty, yet natural, conclu-
sion that there are no cowboys, that
your most cherished illusion is a
gross fallacy.. But watch alertly,
for they are everywhere about you.
Perhaps the Chauffeur who drives you
so skillfully to the hotel was, himself
a rider of the range; or the waiter
who serves your salad may be a
wizard with the rope.
On your first stroll thru the streets
of any western town, you will meet, !
on every corner, young men CARRIED |
quite as your moving-picture educa-
ton tells you cowboys should be. |
And doubtless you will weave many |
a romance about them. Mostly very
young, pink of cheek and bright of |
eye, attired in more cowboyish cos
tunes than the veriest cowboy ever
dreamed of, few, indeed, of them can
swing a rope and fewer still were
ever in on branding" or rode at
a roundup. But very bravely they
copy the ACCOMPLISHMENTS, if not the
deeds, Of their out-of-door heroes.
Consequently you Toy waste much
time incoming over these masuuerad-
ers while the real thing passes you
unnoticed and unknown. Oh, you of
little experience, Judge not the
species of the bird by it's plumage-
especially western birds!
Inc true COWBOY Is possessed of |
a wide streak of recklessness, in
clined to be rash and trifle Quixotic,
he is the very incarnation of the
freedom of his environment. All
pluck, mettle and backbone is this
product of the west; one unconsci-
ously admires the irrepressible spirit
and audacity.
Yet he is always of one type
rugged, gritty, and tough as leather.
His most notable trait is-all fiction
to the contrary-modesty. That is
why, l think, with the present craze
FOR western things, the real ranger ,
has dotted his spurs, chaps, and
fashy bandana. But let me say right {
here, the task of relinquishing the
sombrero and casting it into the dis ,
card, has proven too much for many
Of them. The Hindu clings to his
urban, the Chinaman to his queue.
out even more does the true cowboy {
love his picturesque headpiece. The {