The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 69, July 1965 - April, 1966 Page: 263

Book Note

kook Note
James Emmit McCauley's A Stove-Up Cowboy's Story (Dallas,
Southern Methodist University Press, 1965), a reprint of the
Texas Folklore Society's 1943 edition, will excite anyone who
appreciates and enjoys Andy Adams' Log of a Cowboy. In 1888,
McCauley rode west to fulfill his dream of becoming a cowboy
and went to work on the XIT, participating in a drive to Mon-
tana the next spring. He punched cattle in Texas on the Jumbo,
Figure 8, and two spreads belonging to the St. Louis Cattle Com-
pany until 1898, when he rode further west to work beeves in New
Mexico and Arizona, and to serve in the cavalry. A few years after
the turn of the century, his health broken from fifteen years of
strenuous outdoor life, he hung up his saddle and settled down on
a Texas farm, married, and raised a family. In his years on horse-
back, McCauley travelled from Texas to Montana to California;
he fought Indians, outlaws, and rivals in love; but whatever he
did and wherever he went, he saw the world and reacted to
it as an unpretentious Texas cowboy. He describes his adventures
with a simple eloquence, a dry wit, a plain style, and a deep
understanding. The manuscript was edited grammatically to
aid the reader, but the flavor of the unvarnished, independent
cowboy is preserved to add seasoning to the absorbing story.
Included in the volume are an introduction by John A. Lomax,
who knew McCauley well, and an afterword by Carl Hertzog,
who originally published the book. The only drawback to this
reprint is the lack of an index. But that does not detract from
the narrative; indeed, anyone seeking authentic information on
southwestern cowboy life, or just a well told, action filled story,
will "kindly" like McCauley's reminiscences.
DAVID B. GRACY, II

263