The Cowgirls

13. My love is a rider

13 My Love is a Qider he songs the cowboys sang on the trail, around the campfire, with the herd, and later into a microphone or on records told a lot about their life-what they wore, what they did, what tickled them and made them laugh, what made them sad, what constituted bravery or cowardice. The songs which spoke of women proved that there were all kinds ofheifers on the range and that cowboys knew them all. Whether the girls approved or not cowboys were often likely to describe the fair sex in terms of cows. In Larry Chittenden's "Cowboy's Christmas Ball" the singercalls "Lock horns ter all them heifers and rustle them like men;/ Saloot yer lovely critters; now swing and let 'em gO."l In another dance song: She ranges in the Live Oak branch; The purtiest heifer at the ranch; With hazel eyes an' golden hair An try to steal 'er ifyou dare.2 Some girls were pretty like Miss Mollie: "She was a lovely western girl, as lovelyas could be;/Shewas so tall, so handsome, so charming, and so fair."3 "The Colorado Trail" declares: Eyes like the morning star, Cheek like a rose, Laura was a pretty girl, God almighty knows.4 183 184: TH E C OWG I RLS Not all cowboys were as kind, however. Lackey Bill says of a Texas girl: "She was a handsome figure though not so very tall;/ Her hairwas red as blazes-I hate itworst ofall."5 Certain habits were noticed in songs. One rancher points out, perhaps with admiration, that "She loved her red liquor which served a man SO."6 Horses often got top billing in a song. "Speckles" is really about a horse, but the cowboy pauses a moment to describe Mollie: "Old Speckles was saddled, I grabbed my gun, picked Mollie up as I passed;/ With the grit of her kind she hung on behind and never a question asked."7 "A Cowboy's Prize" sings ofanother named Mollie. The fellow says that there "neverwas no gal like Mollie," that she was "hottern a hot tamale." True as steel and a real beautyis this prize. It turns out, however, that Mollie is a horse the man won in a rame.s Occasionally cowgirls get equal time with horses. Some girls can ride broncs "slick en keerless/ as everybody knoWS."9 In "The Santa Fe Trail" one cowboy sees a girl on horseback he will never forget: I seen her ride down the arroyo, Way back on the Arkansas sands; She had smiles like an acre ofsunflowers And a quirt in her little brown hand. She mounted her pinto so airy, She rode like she carried the mail; And her eyes near set fire to the prairie, Longside of the Santa Fe Trail.1o "Arizona Boys and Girls" sings ofhow you can tell a good girl. In addition to dipping snuff, a good girl has no trimming, orlaces, and no nonsense. Shewears a "long-eared" bonnet and "She'll marry you ifyou are broke or ifyou have the tin."ll While cowboys seemed to have various opinions in their descriptions of range women, all agreed about unfaithful females . In "The Trail to Mexico" a puncher goes home to find that his sweetheart has married. He swears he will go backWest "Where the girls are few and the boys are true/ And a false MY L 0 V E I S A RID E R: 185 hearted love I never knew," and where the "girls are good day after day and do not live just for pay."12 Many other men found, however, that the range had very nearly cornered the market on infidelity. One tries to marry a rich rancher's daughter. She is "pretty, tall and handsome, both neat and very fair." When her intended crosses the plains she sends him a letter saying she has married someone else.13 Another loved a brown-eyed girl by the last name of Lee in Bell County, Texas. The mother objects and emphasizes her dislike by aiming a six-shooter at the cowboy. He ends the song, I pressed her to my aching heart And kissed her a last farewell, And prayed a permanent prayer to God To send her Ma to hell.14 A drover from Midland falls in love with a "good woman's daughter upon the north side...