Show T ape adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF high heels H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY this is a story abou thigh heels and horses and about a fellow who had one foot in the stirrup and one foot in the grave the guy is le lee e burgess of toms river N J and if any of you fellows think like I 1 used to that high heels are no good for anybody but women and not any too good for them lee will give you an argument on the subject lee knows at least one good reason for wearing high heels arid and for men wearing them at that I 1 when lee was in his early twenties and that was back in the fall of 1919 he spent a few months on a ranch near the little town of walden colo A city greenhorn he was vastly impressed by the scenery by the cattle business and by the life he saw going on around him a gut but most of all he says did I 1 admire the cow punchers and the easy way they handled the spirited cow ponies they rode I 1 fairly ached to emulate them learned to stick on a horses back lee says theres no finer more generous or more openhearted open hearted class of men than the cow punchers they gave him their friendship and along with it all kinds of good food advice on the handling r felt as if his leg lee were being torn from its socket of 01 f horses they started him riding on safe docile ponies and although he be was quite awkward at it he be soon learned to stick on a horses back well enough to go riding with the boys rounding up strays cutting out calves and doing the thousand and one odd jobs that man and horse have to do on a big ranch As I 1 progressed says lee 1 I quite naturally changed from the slower more patient ponies to faster more highly organized animals my seat improved and with greater ease in the saddle my confidence in myself grew by leaps and bounds and quite often its nothing more than a little too much confidence that leads you into one of those good old fashioned hair raising adventures one bitterly cold day bays says lee when the air was as clear r and sharp as thin glass it was decided to move some head of cattle from the home ranch down to the old ranch for winter i feeding I 1 asked a to be included in the crew and felt mighty proud when I 1 was accepted by the foreman with the temperature at forty below zero it was a job to keep warm I 1 dressed in heavy underwear mackinaw blanket pants hair chaps wool lined coat I 1 mittens and cap it was all I 1 could do to navigate in all this haberdashery having put on an two pairs of heavy woolen socks my feet were too large for the tight riding boots I 1 usually wore so I 1 slipped on some some tili big work shoes and buckled my spurs to them and that was an error that lee nearly paid for with his life for those shoes had flat heels and not the high ones with which western riding boots are generally equipped horse had bad disposition the h horse 0 arse lee had chosen to ride was bill a big rangy buckskin fast ott on his feet but not noted tor for his good disposition they rode over i i to I 1 the I 1 cattle corral and the boys left lee at the gate ready to swing it open 0 pe a when the jhb animals were bunched up for the drive sitting on his norse horse he got colder and stiff stiffer er every he waited finally the b herd ba was a bunched and headed for the gate big heavy hereford cattle lowing bawling and making wild dashes hither and yon herefo hereford cattle says lee are peculiar they will wiil not attack a mounted counte man burthey are deadly to one afoot I 1 know this and since the gate was heavy and I 1 was all bound up in excess clothing I 1 slipped off bill to io swing it open the next thing lee knew he be heard a yell from the foreman and looked up to see the herd almost on top of him someone yelled get on that horse yub tub want ta is get killed and lee moved plenty fast he put his bis toot foot in the stirrup and swung himself on his bis horse but because he be was stiff and cold and ham by alot a lot of excess clothing his right toot foot quite swing clear instead he gave bill a rake across the hindquarters hind quarters with his bis spur and bill jumped lee lost his bis hold the next minute he be was on the ground hanging by his left foot to the stirrup his low heel had slipped through and his bis ankle was held in the bow as if he be had had on a leg iron bill started to run says lee with the cattle pounding right on i behind my head was dragging at the horses heels and his steel shoes r S a dually y stirred my hair I 1 knew that to put my arms over my head was w as to have them smashed mk my only hope was to work my foot tree free and take my chances with the cattle the horse ran taster faster and faster as he be became more frightened at my weight dragging alongside con arary to reports my sins did not troop before my mind at this time all I 1 thought of was to get my f oot foot free for my leg felt as if it were being dragged from its socket lee says he could fairly feel death reach out and clutch at him one fate had him fast by the toot foot dragging him to doom another thundered along behind him if he wriggled from the grasp of the one he was sure to fall fail under the pounding hoofs of the other to right and left he be could glimpse the legs of other horses about him and knew his friends the cow punchers were doing their best to save him but I 1 knew too he says that help possibly bome come from them the cattle seemed to have fallen away somewhere hut but I 1 still had to get loose from my horse I 1 kept tugging on my imprisoned foot and suddenly there was a snap the lace broke my shoe came off and I 1 was lying on the ground quiet motionless believe me for a moment I 1 most comfortable man in the world the boys were around me helping me up IU ill never forget the foreman a young man with a fair skin tor for the freckles stood out on his paper white face like legal seals ona on a state document they carried me to the ranch house and when the reaction set in I 1 was a pretty sick boy tor for a while the foreman told me he never expected to see me come out alive A short time before on a neighboring ranch had been dragged by the foot in a like manner but his frenzied pony had literally kicked his body to shreds and that brings us around to lees argument about high heels you see when on a punchers boots not for show but to keep the foot from slicing through the stirrup and prevent just the sort of accident that almost had lee up before the celestial bar of justice cashing in his chips for a first payment on a harp copyright service |