Show PASSING OF COWBOY Loved of all the nation as an Institution Insti-tution particularly American and worshiped wor-shiped by the small boy the day of the cowboy is passing The dashing swashbuckler with his leggings his swaggering sombrero his belt revolvers and lariat will soon bono bo-no more he is vanishing from the plains a victim of the coming of amore a-more modern way of doing things The knell of the cowboys passing existence Is sounded In tho decision to abandon the reunion of cowpunchers f U I C r Ib Ir fu I I I I J Shooting Up a Town for many years an annual event in Texas This used to be hold at Seymour Texas It was an event to which the whole southwest looked forward and cowboys from half a dozen states made long trips in the saddle In order or-der to bo on hand for this reunion it had been planned to hold it as usual this spring but those who had it in charge found lip little Interest that they started an investigation to IIml out what had become of all the lowboys Their discoveries were depressing from the standpoint of the small boy who In dlmo novels and pictures has worshiped the deeds of the sharp shooting bronco busting fearless men of tho plains So widely has tho cowboy boon scattered scat-tered by changed conditions that like Othello ho could truthfully say that his occupation is gone Not more than a few hundred cowboys could by any a possibility have been brought to Seymour Sey-mour and as this would have been as far short ot n true reunion ns a swallow swal-low Is from composing a summer It was reluctantly decided to have no conplnve and this means likely that the old picturesque institution has passed for all time Seymour now the center of cultivated culti-vated and agricultural section was a dozen years ago given over to grazing gra-zing Iu 1897 it was the scene of the largest gathering of cowboys ever seen In this country The men from ranches in Texas indian In-dian Territory and Oklahoma rode to the gathering and more than 20000 cowboys and COO Indians rallied to the camp and pitched their tents In Seymour The Influx of the settlers to the Panhandle and the ranch territory terri-tory of western Texas had at that time just begun and the advance ol the farmer who was destined to take the soil from the cattle grazer was yet in the future On the second night of the reunion Seymour saw the remarkable spectacle spec-tacle of 20000 cowboys riding back Into town at breakneck speed each man with his slxshootor out nnd firIng fir-Ing Into the air Tho bombardment lasted for more than nn hour and tho spitting of the flashes and the detonation of the shots made a most thrilling effect So great a success was the whole affair that it was resolved to make it an annual event and It looked as though tho spirit of the western life had been saved by getting the comrades com-rades together onco more Heal estate operators found that a lot of the land used for grazing could under proper conditions be turned Into In-to the most fertile farm land nail yield n far greater profit Tho life of Texas underwent a change The farmer began to take the place of the cattleman nnd even whore the latter managed to main I tam o his way he began to apply new methods to tho care of his herds limo autmobllo began to be seen In the west At first the cowboy laughed What could tho motor car do to push him out of his calling It couldnt tame n broncho It couldnt shoot and certainly was unable to throw a lariat limit tho auto got ovor the road fast It could niako n round of the ranch at far greater speed And it wasnt like u horse It never tired out und an automobile of fair size could take around four men who could do timework time-work of a dozen under the primitive i conditions of tho west |