Inside this issue:

The chapter and chorus meet  every Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the First Methodist Church Activity Center
on the corner of Poyntz and  6th Street, Manhattan, Kansas.

Bulletin is published by the Manhattan Kansas Chapter and Chorus

   Our show theme "Cowboy Joe" may present some challenges musically and for some visually.  I'm one of those city-dwellers whose knowledge of horses and horsepower is limited to the four wheeled kind that had those horses hidden under the hood of an automobile.  Yes, I even helped assemble some of those when I financed my college education by doing my duty on the assembly line watching those horse powered vehicles pass by - 50 each hour.

    So here I am trying to look like and act like an old cowhand.  It's hard to do  My efforts have to be very elementary, so I went to the children's section of the library to become educated to this process.  Ah, yes, there was this thin, simply written book titled The Cowboys' Handbook by Tod Cody.  This Tod was even descended from William F. Cody. (Buffalo Bill).

   For a youngster who aspires to be a cowboy he must look like one.  Here's what he had to say about some of the attire that cowboys wear:  A cowboy's clothes and equipment had to be hard-wearing.  Most wore the same things for months.  Mud-caked and smelly, these clothes were often burned at the end of the journey.  What do you wear when you're riding the range? 

Here's Tod's commentary:  The hat.  Early Texas cowboys favored high-crown hats whose wide brim served as a sunshade and an umbrella.  The low-crowned were ideal for windy regions.  A cowboy's hat sometimes served as a water bucket.  It could also be used to signal to other cowboys, beat trail dust off your clothes and to hold food for your horse.  A true cowboy wears his hat when he's sleeping.  Cowboys shirts are usually made of heavy flannel cloth-ideal because it is hard wearing, doesn't show the dirt and soaks up sweat. 

   Cowboys originally refused to wear jeans because they were worn by miners and farm laborers.  Trousers made of thick woolen material are more comfortable to wear on horseback.  Chaps are more than decorative.  These thick leather leg coverings protect your legs from cow horns, rope burns, scrapes and scratches.  The pointed toes and high heals of boots are designed for riding, not for walking.  Pointed toes let the boot slide easily into the stirrup and slip free if the cowboy is thrown from his horse. The bandana can be used as a filter in a dust storm or soaked in water, rolled up into a wad, placed under the hat to keep cool during a hot spell.  Whether you bring out your Bonanza episodes or flip through pages of cowboy lore, you and I will find many ways to just look like a cowboy.

Just look like a cowboy

By Sam Kvasnica

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