Note 7 — Front matter (continued 3)

"The Kansas City Journal" recently printed the following cowboy song, with comments, offering it as a side-light on cowboy life and character. The Journal said:

"The night guards of cattle or horse herds were wont to sing to their charges as they slowly rode round and round them, keeping watch. If the cattle stampeded, and were then brought together again and began moving in a circle, which the punchers called 'milling,' and on all occasions of fear or uneasiness among the stock, the boys sang to them, and it had a quieting effect. These night riders were perfect horsemen and seasoned to the trail and range. Their hours were endless; the calls upon them for endurance were almost beyond human strength. Picture a night on a lonely prairie, wild, disconcerting, horse elements, a stampede among half-wild cattle, and it is not hard to know the task that the cowboy confronted. It is something fine to think that in such hours of danger the cattle could be 'crooned' back to normal quiet. Out of such occasions were the cowboy songs born." Then follow the words of

The Dim and Narrow Way.

"Last night as I lay on the prairie, Looking up at the stars in the sky, I wondered if ever a cowboy Would go to that sweet by and by; I wondered if ever a cowboy Would go to that sweet by and by. The trail to that fair mystic region Is narrow and dim so they say, While the broad road that leads to perdition Is posted and blazed all the way; While the broad road that leads to perdition Is posted and blazed all the way. They say there will be a grand round-up, Where cowboys like cattle must stand, To be cut out by riders of judgment, Who are posted and know every brand; To be cut out by riders of judgment, Who are posted and know every brand. Perhaps there will be a stray cowboy, Unbranded by anyone nigh, Who'll be cut out by riders of judgment And shipped to the sweet by and by; Who'll be cut out by riders of judgment And shipped to the sweet by and by."