ion' is had. Instead of an
oven, fireplace or cooking stove, a rude hole is dug in the ground and a
fire made therein, and the coffee pot, the camp kettle and the skillet
are his only culinary articles used.

"The life of the cowboy is one of considerable daily danger and
excitement. It is hard and full of exposure, but is wild and free, and
the young man who has long been a cowboy has but little taste for any
other occupation. He lives hard, works hard, has but few comforts, and
fewer necessities. He has but little, if any, taste for reading. He
enjoys a coarse practical joke, or a smutty story; loves danger, but
abhors labor of the common kind; never tires of riding, never wants to
walk, no matter how short the distance he desires to go. He would rather
fight with pistols than pray; loves tobacco, liquor and woman better
than any other trinity. His life borders nearly upon that of an Indian.
If he reads anything, it is in most cases a blood and thunder story of
the sensational style. He enjoys his pipe, and relishes a practical joke
on his comrades, or a tale where abounds animal propensity.

"His clothes are few and substantial, scarce in number and often of a
gaudy pattern. The 'sombrero' and large spurs are inevitable
accompaniments. Every house has the appearance of lack of convenience
and comfort, but the most rude and primitive modes of life seem to be
satisfactory to the cowboy. His wages range from $15.00 to $20.00 a
month in specie. Mexicans can be employed for about $12.00 per month.
The cowboy has few wants and fewer necessities, the principal one being
a full supply of tobacco.

"We will here say for the benefit of our Northern readers, that the term
'ranch' is used in the Southwest instead of 'farm,' the ordinary laborer
is termed a 'cowboy,' the horse used a 'cow horse,' and the herd of
horses a 'cavvie yard.'

"The fame of Texas as a stock-growing country went abroad in the land,
and soon after her admission to the Union, unto her were turned the eyes
of many young men born and reared in the older Southern States, who were
poor in this world's goods, but were ambitious to make for themselves a
home and a fortune. Many of this class went to Texas, then a new and
comparatively thin and unsettled country, and began in humblest manner,
perhaps for nominal wages, to lay the foundation for future wealth and
success."

This is a very severe description, and relates to a class of men who
were found in the