started in to rag,
And cut her with my trotters till the floor began to sag;
Swung my pardner till she got sea-sick and rushed for a seat;
I balanced to the next one but she dodged me slick and neat.--
Tell you what, I shook the creases from my go-to-meeting pants
When I put the cowboy trimmings on that high-toned dance.
_James Barton Adams._

THE COWBOYS' CHRISTMAS BALL

WAY out in Western Texas, where the Clear Fork's waters flow,
Where the cattle are "a-browzin'" and the Spanish ponies grow;
Where the Norther "comes a-whistlin'" from beyond the Neutral strip
And the prairie dogs are sneezin', as if they had "the Grip";
Where the coyotes come a-howlin' round the ranches after dark,
And the mocking-birds are singin' to the lovely "medder lark";
Where the 'possum and the badger, and rattle-snakes abound,
And the monstrous stars are winkin' o'er a wilderness profound;
Where lonesome, tawny prairies melt into airy streams,
While the Double Mountains slumber in heavenly kinds of dreams;
Where the antelope is grazin' and the lonely plovers call--
It was there that I attended "The Cowboys' Christmas Ball."

The town was Anson City, old Jones's county seat,
Where they raise Polled Angus cattle, and waving whiskered wheat;
Where the air is soft and "bammy," an' dry an' full of health,
And the prairies is explodin' with agricultural wealth;
Where they print the _Texas Western_, that Hec. McCann supplies,
With news and yarns and stories, of most amazin' size;
Where Frank Smith "pulls the badger," on knowin' tender feet,
And Democracy's triumphant, and mighty hard to beat;
Where lives that good old hunter, John Milsap from Lamar,
Who "used to be the sheriff, back East, in Paris, sah!"
'Twas there, I say, at Anson, with the lively "Widder Wall,"
That I went to that reception, "The Cowboys' Christmas Ball."

The boys had left the ranches and come to town in piles;
The ladies--"kinder scatterin'"--had gathered in for miles.
And yet the place was crowded, as I remember well,
'Twas got for the occasion at "The Morning Star Hotel."
The music was a fiddle and a lively tambourine,
And a "viol come imported," by stage from Abilene.
The room was togged out gorgeous--with mistletoe and shawls,
And candles flickered frescoes around the airy walls.
The