1914

In the New York Times of February 3 there was an article telling about a reunion of cowboys in Elko, Nev. They were there to swap yarns and rhymes, so the story went. What caught my eye was the last poem and, especially, the name of the man who wrote it it was none other than our own Gail Gardner! Gail, who was 92 on Christmas Day, was a busy man during his earlier days, working as a clerk, cattleman, cowboy, and postmaster in Prescott, Ariz., for 27 years, to name but a few of his activities. I will close this month's notes with the Times note about Gail and a poem written by him:

"One of the best-loved of the old-time cowboy poets is Gail I. Gardner, now in his nineties and living in Prescott, Ariz., who concludes a poem called 'Real Cowboy Life' with this advice:

If you ever have a youngster And he wants to foller stock, The best thing you can do for him Is to brain him with a rock. Or if rocks ain't very handy You kin shove him down the well; Bo not let him be a cowboy; For he's better off in hell."

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