Cowboy Songs And Other Frontier Ballads

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THE COWBOY'S CHRISTMAS BALL *
W AY out in Western Texas, where the Clear Fork's waters flow,
Where the cattle are a-browzin' and the Spanish ponies grow;
Where the Northers come a-whistlin' from beyond the Neutral Strip;
And the prairie dogs are sneezin', as though they had the grip;
Where the coyotes come a-howlin' round the ranches after dark,
And the mockin' birds are singin' to the lovely med-derlark;
Where the 'possum and the badger and the rattle­snakes abound,
And the monstrous stars are winkin' o'er a wilder­ness profound;
Where lonesome, tawny prairies melt into airy streams,
•This poem, one of the best in Larry Chittenden's Ranch Verses, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, has been set to music by the cowboys and its phraseology slightly changed, as this copy will show, by oral transmission. I have heard it in New Mexico and it has been sent to me from various places,— always as a song. None of those who sent in the song knew that it was already in print.
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