Excerpt from The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days Just why my father moved, at the close of the civil war, from Georgia to Texas, is to this good hour a mystery to me. While we did not exactly belong to the poor whites, we classed with them in poverty, being renters; but I am inclined to think my parents were intellectually superior to that common type of the South. Both were foreign born, my mother being Scotch and my father a north of Ireland man, - as I remember him, now, impulsive, hasty in action, ...
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Excerpt from The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days Just why my father moved, at the close of the civil war, from Georgia to Texas, is to this good hour a mystery to me. While we did not exactly belong to the poor whites, we classed with them in poverty, being renters; but I am inclined to think my parents were intellectually superior to that common type of the South. Both were foreign born, my mother being Scotch and my father a north of Ireland man, - as I remember him, now, impulsive, hasty in action, and slow to confess a fault. It was his impulsiveness that led him to volunteer and serve four years in the Confederate army, - trying years to my mother, with a brood of seven children to feed, garb, and house. The war brought me my initiation as a cowboy, of which I have now, after the long lapse of years, the greater portion of which were spent with cattle, a distinct recollection. Sherman's army, in its march to the sea, passed through our county, devastating that section for miles in its passing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at ... This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Add this copy of The Log of A Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days to cart. $17.04, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2015 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of The Log of a Cowboy: a Narrative of the Old Trail Days to cart. $34.01, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by CreateSpace Independent Publis.
I bought this book because of it being recommended by J. Frank Dobie. It certainly did not disappoint! It is an excellent account of the hardships endured on long cattle drives from Texas in the last half of the 1800s.
Ron62
Jun 30, 2009
Time Machine to the Old West
If you only read one book about the American cowboy - read this classic. The true experience of driving thousands of head of cattle from south Texas to Montana told so vividly by a young cowboy that a willing reader can actually begin to feel what it was really like.
ChuckElchlepp
Aug 30, 2007
Doubtless one of the Finest Westerns Ever Wrote
I'm here to tell ya folks, this book, hands down, is an amazing journey for a reader willing to live for a heap of pages in the truest original Western way of life on the cattle trails 'tween Mexico and Canada. I mean this is a serious, no malarky or hollywood kind of read.
I immediately went looking for this book, in its original form from 1903 or as close as I could get a printing to that date before I even finished the book that I was reading where this book was mentioned on the back cover. I was reading "Dakota Cowboy", by Ike Blasingame. My goodness gracious, now that's another great, and mighty authentic western book if'n you're really lookin' for some good and REAL stuff to delve into and live for a while. Ike starts his book off by dedicating it to his wife, who, as he states, wrote while he talked.
But back to Log of a Cowboy. It isn't a "log" book like another fantastic journey book that I've read titled "Crossing Antarctica" by Jon Bowermaster and Will Steger, but more so a very well written story of the ride all these cowhands took. You're right there with them the whole time, and you'll find it real hard to set this book down once you get into it. so plan on settin' some time aside and kickin' back for a good read with this epic of a story from days far-too-long-since-past.
It also offers some occasional insight as to the decline of all things good for this truly wonderful country of ours, the U.S. of A. years down the road when they see parts of the west being infected with the disease of emigration of whites. I'm white, but I don't condone for a second what all the whiteys did back then to the indigenous people of this land - and eventually to the land itself. "Founded" by a lost idiot from England - Columbus. What a great way to start a nation. Don't get me wrong, I love the America I grew up in, but that's long gone now. God Help Us All.
So in short, buy this book from Alibris if there are any more available. I'll read my copy doubtless countless more times over the rest of my life. I couldn't recommend it more. It really is a great book. I thoroughly enjoy the ride ya take with these boys, and they're only "boys" in age. Just like Chris LeDoux sang: "It Ain't The Years, It's The Miles." That really applies to this book for sure. Especially for those of us who mainly have only rodeoed out on the ranges of cow outfits we've worked on and not in front of crowds of pilgrims. Thank God for Chris LeDoux though too.
