Cowboy Life on the Sidetrack: Being an Extremely Humorous & Sarcastic Story of the Trials & Tribulations Endured by a Party of Stockmen Making a Shipment from the West to the East. — John Shaqi
Cowboy Life on the Sidetrack: Being an Extremely Humorous & Sarcastic Story of the Trials & Tribulations Endured by a Party of Stockmen Making a Shipment from the West to the East.Benton, Frank
General
Cowboy Life on the Sidetrack: Being an Extremely Humorous & Sarcastic Story of the Trials & Tribulations Endured by a Party of Stockmen Making a Shipment from the West to the East.
Benton, Frank
Benton, Frank, 1853-1921 -- Anecdotes; Cattle trade -- West (U.S.) -- Anecdotes; Cowboys -- West (U.S.) -- Anecdotes; Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Anecdotes; West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs -- Anecdotes
He said: "Fellow sheepmen and what few other citizens there are in
Wyoming: What's the matter with the sheep business? Have we deteriorated
in the eyes of the world in the last two thousand years? Who writes
poetry of the sheep and sheepherder of the present time? What artist
puts priceless paintings on canvass of the sheep business to-day? Why,
fellow sheepmen, in ancient times all the poetry that was written was of
the shepherd and his flock, and in every palace, in the most conspicuous
place, was a picture of a tall shepherd with venerable beard and flowing
locks, with his serape thrown carelessly over his shoulder, a long
shepherd's crook in his hand, leading his sheep over the hill into some
fresher pasture. And when the people saw the original of this painting
in ye ancient time appearing over the hill in the sunset glow, they
cried: 'Lo, behold the shepherd cometh.' Now what do they say? This is
what you hear: 'Well, look at that lousy sheepherding scoundrel coming
over the divide with his sheep. Boys, get your black masks and the wagon
spokes.'
"Now," he says, "wouldn't that Ram you? What would our party have
amounted to in Wyoming if I hadn't Bucked everything in sight? I've
Lambed the stuffing out of the Democrats and Pulled Wool over the eyes
of the would-be party leaders till we have Pretty Good Grazing and Fair
We(a)thers.
"In a few days we will be called on to decide a great question at the
polls, whether Billy Bryan will build your house out of cold, clammy,
frosty silver bricks, or whether we will have houses built out of all
wool. You must make a choice between the two. If you vote for me, it
means a good, warm woolen house, good woolen underclothes, good woolen
overclothes."
Judge Carey tried to say something about a gold plank, but everybody
frowned at him so that he slunk off in the crowd and shortly afterwards
was seen in a back alley having a heart-to-heart talk with two
bow-legged cowpunchers who, while they did not know much about any kind
of gold, let alone a big gold standard, knew anything was better than
all this talk about sheep and wool.
Senator W---- kept talking as long as he could keep the Governor and the
U. P. president making music. He said everybody who voted right could
sit on his right hand with the sheep, otherwise they would have to
associate with the goats on his left that was herded by Billy Bryan.
Some of the crowd grumbled about associating with either one, but the
Senator said there was no choice if they stayed in Wyoming.
A carriage now dashed up, all emblazoned with a coat-of-arms, which
consisted of a panel of barbed wire fence with a rampant sheep leaning
against it. The Senator entered this carriage, rolled away and the crowd
followed him.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account