A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



The "doghouse," a classic title which the boys 

 have bestowed on their home, the bunkhouse, is a 

 point of absorbing interest for all ranch children. 

 Here they are teased and petted and properly 

 spoiled; no fence, latched door or set of material 

 regulations and no amount of punishment are effect- 

 ive in keeping children away from the "doghouse;" 

 after they begin to toddle, and commonly, long be- 

 fore that period they are carried there by the boys 

 to learn the delights, the privileges, and their own 

 power of tyranny. 



I have said some pleasant things about cowboys 

 in this series, but candor and a desire to be truthful 

 force me to admit that often, in the moral and in- 

 tellectual environment of the "doghouse," a child 

 may pick up some chance word or expression which 

 is not strictly good form. I have known of that 

 possibility, however, in more effete circles — after- 

 noon teas and ladies' bridge clubs, for instance, and 

 even Sunday school. But I have never known a 

 cowboy deliberately to teach a child to "cuss." Any 

 one who has had much .to do with handling cattle 

 knows that at times there is no other outlet than a 

 little mild profanity. I have even fallen into it 

 myself, in distressing circumstances, and once I heard 

 a preacher swear. 



Curley often had his mouth washed with good 

 clean home-made soap for bringing certain gems 

 into the family circle after prolonged visits to the 



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