Life of a Cowboy

1895

FULL OF HARDSHIPS AND RISKS, WITH A FEW PLEASURES.

A Cowboy Must Know His Trade as Thoroughly as a Carpenter Knows His — The Danger From Blizzards When Riding the Lines on the Sandy Plains.

By Theodore Roosevelt

Probably every man who has had a ranch in the west has received a multitude of applications from people who wish to get on that ranch. Most easterners seem not to know that a cowboy's business requires special training, and that a hardy, vigorous young follow without any training can no more start in offhand as a cowboy than he could start in offhand as a carpenter. Moreover, a man who isn't a good cowboy is worse than a nuisance, because the average cowboy needs ten horses for his work, and if he doesn't do the work the ten horses are wasted. A man to be proficient in the business must be not only a good horseman, but must be able to rope well, to read brands, to understand cattle and must have a good knowledge of plains-craft. Ordinarily the work does not imply long continued physical exertion, like the work of a woodchopper, but it is often very monotonous, and it is also often fraught with hardship and danger.

Nevertheless, in the spring, summer and early fall the life is a very exciting and pleasant one for those who have mastered the work. There is an attraction in the wild, lonely country, and the entire freedom of an existence spent mostly on horseback. After one gets used to it the rough little shack seems comfortable enough, and for much of the year the ranch wagon is the cow puncher's home. To many a hardy, vigorous fellow the roundup is ordinarily rather a picnic.

The men are fed well, and though they do not have much sleep yet the easiest of all forms of labor is sitting in the saddle, and the long rides in the morning to gather in the cattle and the furious galloping and chasing round the herd when cutting out the beef steers and cows and calves in the afternoon possess a great charm for men fond of vigorous exercise and of life in the open. Of course even in summer there are unpleasant experiences. A stampede at night in a thunderstorm is usually too exciting to be agreeable, and fighting fire is very wearing work, while there is always a liability to misadventure. A man may have now and then to make a dry camp. He may get injured by an unusually vicious horse, or be damaged in the rush of a stampeded herd, or be drowned in the quicksands of some treacherous plains river. Still, take it as a whole, in good weather the life is pleasant enough.

But in the iron winter the work is very hard and very dangerous. The last roundups, which take place in November on the northern plains, are not agreeable. The nights are very long, and the freezing misery of standing guard round a cattle herd does not tend to make them seem shorter. In fine weather nobody wants a tent, but it is not pleasant after a 24 hours' cold rain to toss the damp blankets on the sod ground and creep into them. Of course, the tarpaulin has kept out most of the wet, but it does not keep out all, and then some nights there is a heavy snowfall, and when you throw back the tarpaulin in the morning the snow gets down the back of your neck, and much dexterity is needed while drawing on your boots and trousers not to let the snow get into the blankets. The ground is like iron after the heavy frosts, and though the horses, being worn down and thin, are much less lively and vicious than in spring, yet if they do "act mean" they are more liable to slip and hurt themselves, and more apt to hurt their rider if they throw him.

Early in December the last of the season's work ends. Most of the cowboys are discharged, and they may then go into town, or build a little shack and hunt for a livelihood, or stay around the ranches, doing any odd job that turns up for their board. A few, however, are kept on to ride lines and keep track of the cattle in the snow. Those men must needs be of vigorous constitution and thoroughly able to grapple with every exigency of plains life, for they are certain to have some pretty tough experiences before spring if the winter is at all severe.

In riding lines each man has a definite beat. Of course in good weather the task is a perfectly easy one. The rider lets his pony jog along until he comes to the end of his beat. If any cattle have crossed the line, he sees their tracks, and following rounds them up and drives them back into the country where it is desired they shall range during the winter. If no cattle come near the line, he simply goes to the end of his beat and comes back again, but if a blizzard catches him he may find it an almost impossible task to avoid getting lost. All landmarks are shrouded from sight, and while the blizzard is in its height it is out of the question to make head against it. Of course if the day is a very bad one the rider won't go out at all, but often he has to take his chances, and the snow may begin to fall and the wind to blow just when he is at the farthest point of his beat. Then back he comes over the long stretches of sand colored, lifeless prairie sward as fast as his pony can go. The snow comes first in puffs and little drifts — not the soft flakes of an eastern snowstorm, but fine ice dust, which feels almost like sand when blown against the face. Heavier and heavier blow the gusts, thicker and thicker the snowclouds, and finally the storm moans and shrieks and drives the icy flakes in almost level lines. The rider is then lucky if he can find his camp. Unless he knows exactly where he is, and unless the landmarks are very conspicuous, it is out of the question for him to do so. The only resource is to drift before the storm exactly as the cattle do, until he finally strikes some sheltered place, under the lee of a big rock or in a hollow where there is a bunch of thick timber. Here he will dismount, tie his horse (which shelters itself all that it can, and then stands with drooping head, tail toward the wind), and himself cower down under the horse blankets in the most sheltered spot he can find. There is no small difficulty in lighting a fire, and, indeed, unless the shelter is good, such a feat is impossible. Without any fire, if the cold is at all intense, the man's chances for life are not good, but often the blizzards blow ever almost as quickly as they rise. As a rule, the cow puncher who is very shifty and full of expedients turns up at the home ranch or the line camps a couple of days later, perhaps a little frost bitten, and certainly very hungry and uncomfortable, but not materially the worse for wear.


"Footman" and "Groom"

The extra manservant who is stationed on a carriage beside the coachman is often called by his employer a footman. This, according to the Anglican standard, to which we bow our submissive heads, is a misnomer. He is the groom.

Our War

1910

The war we wage must be waged against misconduct, against wrong-doing wherever it is found; and we must stand heartily for the rights of every decent man, whether he be a man of great wealth or a man who earns a livelihood as a wage worker or a tiller of the soil. — Theodore Roosevelt.


Embarrassing Habit

Hiccoughs are distinctly mortifying to the victim. As they are signs of poor digestion and may mean bad stomach trouble, if of frequent occurrence, they should be treated medicinally. For temporary cures try gradually dissolving a small lump of sugar on the tongue. Slow sipping of hot water is also good, or gargling the throat with ice water. (1910 advice).

Plunges Into Dark Shaft

Missouri, 1915

Mrs. Fred C. Pettis and her 13-year-old daughter, Gladys, were passing thru a patch of weeds near a persimmon grove at Chitwood, Mo. Suddenly a reptile writhed in front of them. Frightened, Gladys ran. The mother ran to where the girl had disappeared and found the mouth of an old deserted shaft. "Gladys! Gladys!" cried Mrs. Pettis, frantic with fear. No answer. The mother fled to a nearby mining plant for help. Soon several men with ropes were at the mouth of the shaft. They got busy at once to find the body of the child.

A rope was fastened around one of the men and his companions were in the act of lowering him into the dark hole when the frantic mother screamed and then fainted. Gladys had stepped out of the shaft and coolly remarked: "Gee, but its cold and wet down there."

Altho the shaft is said to have been 200 feet deep, it was filled to within twenty feet of the top with water. The child had doubtless hit the water head first, and when her mother called she didn't hear her, of course. When the girl had come to the top of the water her hand had grasped a piece of the cribbing which is placed two inches apart all the way up the shaft and, using this makeshift ladder as a hand and foot hold she had climbed to the top. She was none the worse for her plunge into the cold water.


Get Letter From Roosevelt

BONNER SPRINGS, Kan., Dec. 16. — Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt has just sent a letter from Oyster Bay to Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Smith, congratulating them on the event of their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary.

Expect Come-Back of Old-Time Coffee Shop

1920

Roosevelt Enterprise Causing Comment

NEW YORK, Jan. 2. — Shall the coffee house of Shakespeare, of Ben Jonson, and eke of Addison and Steele, come back? Statesmen and publicists and writers once foregathered there, and also, if we may accept the verdict of A. Pope, known also as "The Little Wasp of Twickenham," also the politicians with their "half-shut eyes."

Undoubtedly the vogue of the coffee houses will be increased with the interest which the sons of the late Col. Theodore Roosevelt have taken in the founding of a chain of establishments dedicated to the revival of a time-honored institution.

A great many hotels throughout the country have converted their barrooms into coffee shops and tea rooms. The Salvation Army and similar organizations have taken over properly formerly occupied by saloons and established coffee rooms. Throughout the west sagacious business men have purchased property and created coffee houses. The acuteness of their judgment in divining the trend of the popular taste for beverages is manifest in the huge profits they are making.

All the Roosevelt sons have given their names and support to a project for reinstating the coffee house of the type which existed before there were modern saloons. Theodore, Jr., and Archibald and Kermit and their brother-in-law, Dr. Richard Derby, and their cousin, Philip, are sponsors for the Cafe Paulista, a Brazilian coffee house in the Roaring Forties (108 West Forty-fourth street), which is to be succeeded by a chain of similar establishments which are to displace abodes of the demon rum. The first venture of the Roosevelts has had such financial success that two more coffee houses are to be opened by them in New York City at once.

The enterprise is under the management of a Brazilian who several years ago left the staff of the consulate of his native land to establish in Broad street a place where the genuine Brazilian coffee could be had. One day Kermit Roosevelt dropped in there to get a cup of the rich, dark concoction there vended, and became so enamored of it that he was easily induced to embark in the present enterprise and to induce his kith and kin to join him.

Not only will these coffee houses help Americanization, but they will spread culture as well. Already the first one has a set of the Century dictionary, and when the bookcase is finished other volumes will appear. The intelligent clientele can take down that immortal work, "A. B. Cell," for instance, and find plenty of words to keep it busy.

Drank 75 Cups Daily

Art and literature is all over the green walls. Here is a portrait of the gifted Voltaire, credited with drinking 75 glasses of coffee a day.

"Who is that with the low collar?" asked a patron the other night, nodding toward a portrait on the wall.

"Shakespeare," was the prompt reply. "He wrote of coffee that 'Thou art all the comfort that the gods will diet me with.' What more, senor, could the honorable William have wished?"

Oil paintings depict the gathering of the bean of Brazil, and there are also views of the plantations and of the harbor of Rio de Janiero. The making of coffee is here held as a fine art. The beans are roasted on the premises in the most approved manner, and every few minutes fresh coffee is made in pots for tall urns are barred.

One may take his ease in such inns as these of the Rooseveltian chain are to be, for at each table is a small compartment with letter paper and envelopes, all duly printed with the name of the cafe, on which one may write as though he were sitting in his own club. The social features of the establishment are already being developed and the manager thinks, too, that it may rival the Tontine coffee houses, where the New York stock exchange was formed, or Lloyd's, where came into being a mighty underwriting enterprise.

It is the plan to serve cakes, sandwiches, pastry, as is now being done, and each day some distinctively Brazilian dish.

An Old Institution

Coffee houses date back to the thirteenth century, and their popularity up until a century ago was remarkable. The first coffee house on record was established at Mocha in 1285.

From the continent coffee houses were introduced into England. Critics agree that the first one opened in London was the shop of Pasqua Rosee in 1652. Others rapidly followed, of which the most famous were Will's, Tom's, St. James', White's, and Button's. They became the meeting places of men of intellect, each catering to a certain class. For example, Will's was the gathering place for famous writers.

The Whigs gathered at St. James', while the Tories frequented Button's. Great rivalry existed among the various coffee houses over the efforts made to build up the most select clientele. Dryden held forth in state at Will's, with a number of lesser dignitaries listening to his heroic couplets. Later Addison, Steele, Swift and Pope each built up circles of followers, who would congregate at the various coffee houses.

Mountain Lions and Wolves Annoy Stockmen

1906

Cattle and Sheep Destroyed in Oklahoma by Animals from Game Preserve

Washington. — The Wichita reserve in Oklahoma, which President Roosevelt set apart as a refuge for game, is overrun with wolves and mountain lions, and many complaints have been received from cattle and sheep raisers.

John Goff, the hunter who acted as the president's guide on his hunting trip of a year ago, even with his skill, has not been able to exterminate the lions, and cattlemen and sheep raisers are hoping that the president will make another trip to that section and that he will bring with him all his friends capable of handling a rifle.

Practically similar conditions exist in the Gila reservation in New Mexico. Stockmen complain that because of the establishment of these reserves where wolves and mountain lions take refuge and cannot be hunted, they have increased to such an extent as seriously to threaten their business. Before the establishment of game refuges, stockmen by offering bounties for the scalps of wolves and mountain lions managed to keep them down.

Stockmen say that unless the government takes some action looking toward the extermination of these beasts it will not be possible for them to continue grazing their herds in or near the reserves.

Theodore Roosevelt Files to Become U.S. Citizen

1905

ROOSEVELT TO BE CITIZEN

Omaha, Neb., Aug. 19. — In the district court here yesterday Theodore Roosevelt filed an application to be admitted to citizenship in the United States. Roosevelt says he is not related to the president. He was a subject of Emperor Franz Joseph, of Austria, served in the Austrian army for several years and came to this country ten years ago. He served with President Roosevelt's rough riders during the Spanish-American war and is a great admirer of the chief executive.

He is now living in the sand hills in the western part of Nebraska and desires to become a citizen of the United States in order that he may file on government lands in Cherry county.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Aug. 19, 1905, p. 4.

A Freudian Slip – The Hungry Man's Mistake

1915

Prof. Sigmund Freud, the eminent German scholar, has made a study of lingual blunders, spoken and printed, and has embodied the result in his book, "Psychopathology." As an example of blundering speech, caused by subconscious cerebration, he gives the following:

"A wealthy, but not very generous American host, invited his friends to an evening party. Everything went well until about midnight, when there was an intermission for supper. To the disappointment of many of the guests, there was no real supper; instead, they were regaled with thin sandwiches and lemonade.

"As it was during a presidential campaign, the conversation turned upon the different candidates, and as the discussion grew warmer, one of the guests, an ardent Progressive, remarked to the host, 'You may say what you please about Roosevelt, but there is one thing he can always be relied upon to do; he always gives you a square meal.' He meant, of course, to say a 'square deal.' The assembled guests burst into a roar of laughter, to the great embarrassment both of the speaker and of the host." — Youth's Companion.

Press Comments: With the Advent of Spring...

March 7, 1903

PRESS COMMENT

Boston Transcript: This week has started running the sap of the maple; also, that of spring poetry.

Atchison Globe: Some young men think they are so sweet that they expect a girl to hold their hands all the time.

Denver News: After all, Mr. Carnegie is liable to die poor — that is, if the physicians' bills are paid before his death.

St Louis Globe-Democrat: With the advent of spring the Rock Island railroad is putting out some new shoots.

San Antonio Express: The get-rich- quick schemes appear to be about as great failures as Mr. Carnegie's get-poor plans.

Cincinnati Enquirer: "Old Bill Sewell," the Maine guide, got away from Washington without having a cabinet position thrust upon him.

Denver Post: President Roosevelt's expressed belief in large families may or may not exert considerable influence on Utah's presidential Vote in 1904.

New York Press: When a man gets the grip he can drink a quart of whiskey to cure it, but all a woman can do is to cry because blowing her nose makes it red.

Washington Post: King Edward is aboard the St. Louis exposition band wagon all right. It's a graceful recognition of the service rendered by the Missouri mule in South Africa.

St. Paul Globe: Let's see — It's too early for the Kansas wheat crop to be destroyed by drought, and too late for the Florida orange crop to be ruined by frost. What is there to complain of at the present time?

Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune: Astronomer Sir John Mitchell of Greenwich estimates that the tail of the biggest comet of them all doesn't weigh a pound. This may be taken as evidence of the weighwardness of scientific men.

Oklahoma State Capital: It is not announced why the Kansas woman who is being sued for divorce only kissed her husband three times in thirteen months. It may have been because they were the only times she found him in a joint boozeless condition.

President Theodore Roosevelt's Many Wounds

1903

Has Received an Uncommon Number During His Strenuous Life

Such a collection of scars as that borne by President Roosevelt was never owned by an American chief executive before. He is the "most wounded" president of the United States. Fifteen injuries of a more or loss serious nature have been received by him since he reached manhood.

During his football days he received many bruises, and during his ranching career in the West he got three ribs broken. Later, in the Bad Lands, he had a bone broken in his shoulder from a fall from a vicious horse.

He was attacked by a grizzly bear while hunting in Idaho in 1889 and escaped by a narrow margin. Two years before that he was chased by an infuriated steer in the Big Horn country of Wyoming. He grabbed the steer by the horns, vaulted to its back and rode it for two miles.

On more recent hunting trips in Colorado he has had encounters with mountain lions in which his quickness of hand frequently saved his life.

He was slightly wounded in the hand during the Cuban campaign, and he barely escaped death in the trolley accident at Pittsfield. His leg was so injured that an operation for abscess had to be performed later.

President Roosevelt's last two injuries have been received at the hands of his intimate friend, Gen. Leonard Wood, in single stick and rapier play, which they used as exercise almost daily. A few weeks ago Gen. Wood thrust his rapier through the president's mask, bruising him severely on the forehead and narrowly missing his left eye. A week later the two friends were in a vigorous bout with the single sticks in an improvised gymnasium near the top of the white house. The play became rather heated, and in the rapid play the president caught a heavy cut on the wrist. He had to shake hands with his left hand at the recent white house reception. — Boston Post.

Who Coined the Term "Rough Rider"?

1903

WHO COINED "ROUGH RIDER?"

Probability That It Was the Celebrated Authoress, "Ouida."

"While I was reading the other night," said a scholarly Washingtonian to a Post reporter, "I was brought face to face with another instance of the probable truth of the old saying that there is nothing new in the world. Every one is familiar with the term 'rough rider.' It is a phrase which was contributed in no slight degree to the popularity of the president. It is something to conjure by, and it gives a direct answer to the question, 'What's a name?' You can't tell me that the volunteer cavalry would have been watched with as much interest if they had been known only by their official designation.

"If my memory serves me correctly, Col. W. F. Cody, known as 'Buffalo Bill,' is credited with originating the term 'Rough Rider.' He knows the value of a name as well as any one, and at the time his word was not disputed. It may have been original with him, but he certainly was not the first to use it. As I said, the other night I Was reading: I am not ashamed to say that I was reading Ouida. I had picked up a copy of 'Idalia,' and had been reading some of her extravagant tributes to the hero, Erceldonne, when I caught the phrase 'rough rider.' That startled me, but I might have forgotten all about it if it had not been repeated a few pages later on. She had used it in all the significance it acquired during the Spanish-American war.

"As I do not know of its use prior to its appearance in 'Idalia,' which was published at least thirty years ago, I suppose we had better give Ouida the credit for originating the name that has aided in making one man president of the United States."

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 5, 1903, page 6.

Meeting Teddy Roosevelt, Crippled for Life

1903

At the army and navy reception the White House, says the Washington Post, a woman visiting the city from the far West went to shake hands with President Roosevelt. She was buffeted and knocked about, and after a struggle of half an hour reached Col. Bingham. As she was introduced, she said:

"Mr. President, I've had an awful time getting here. I think one of my feet will be crippled for life."

"De-light-ed, madam, de-light-ed," said the president, shaking hands and bowing profoundly.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 4, 1903, page 5.

I Like to See an Autoist

I like to see an autoist
Adjust his spectacles and twist
Himself into that posture grand
Assumed when he starts overland
a mile.

And then to watch him crawling in
Between the wheels as black as sin
To fix the compos mentis spring,
And tie the dudad with a string
meanwhile.

I love to see him cock his ear
Just when the thing declines to steer,
And watch his corruscated brow
When telling me me just when and how
it quits.

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Nothing contributes so much to promote the art of ambidexterity in a fat man as to have both suspenders break at the same time.
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Mr. Roosevelt is introducing American farm machinery into Africa. His lion gun is a "check roar."
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The less agitation in any country, the more contentment; the less disquiet, the more prosperity.
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"It is more blessed to give than to receive." This is especially applicable in regard to giving advice.
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A Will and a Way
A little slip of a girl built like a wasp will marry a great, big, two-fisted lummux with feet like a ham and a head as big as a horse, and in less than a year she will wind him around her finger like a hank of floss and make him kowtow like a bootblack before a Chinese Mandarin. He has strength enough to throw a cow over a barn, but she has will power, ambition, and energy enough to run a church, half the charitable institutions and societies in the town and a battleship to boot if it were necessary.
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Can You Can a Knothole?
The photographer has succeeded in putting a market value on shadows, the phonograph has bottled the echo and given it commercial value, the butchers have utilized the squeal of the hog and the curl in its tail, and about all that is left in the field of science that has not been commercialized is the canned knothole and the storage of heat so it can be corked up in August and tapped in the winter when "Boreas" comes down from Medicine Hat with his tail rolled over his back and his hind leg kicking apertures in the atmosphere.

--The Iowa Homestead, February 3, 1910, page 12, "Wheat and Chaff" by E. N. Bailey

Roosevelt Had Narrow Escape

A Large Rhinoceros was Almost Upon Him.

MANY ANIMALS KILLED

The Rhino Made the Forty-Fifth Animal that has Fallen Under their Accurate Aim.

NAIROBI, British East Africa, May 10.—Colonel Theodore Roosevelt today undoubtedly owes his life to the coolness and unerring aim which the combination yesterday brought to death a large bull rhinoceros that was furiously charging upon him.

Roosevelt fired a bullet into the brain of the rhinoceros when it was but 14 paces from him and rushing forward like a wild engine. The bullet was fatal, but so fierce was the rush of the rhino that it plunged on almost to the feet of the Colonel before falling dead.

The rhino made the 45th animal that has been killed by Roosevelt and Kermit.

--Warren Evening Mirror, Warren, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1909, page 1.