“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 wildest parts of Texas shortly after the war.  It certainly does not adequately describe the cowboy of the last twenty years.  Another writer, who was himself for more than a quarter of a century engaged in the work of herding cattle, gives a much fairer description of the cowboy.  He divides those entitled to this name into three classes, and argues that there is something noble about the name.  He also claims that in view of the peculiar associations, privations, surroundings and temptations of the cowboy, he is entitled to much credit for the way in which he has retained the best characteristics of human nature, in spite of his absence from the refining influences of civilization.