Shorty's Yarns : Western Stories and Poems of Bruce Kiskaddon

Set in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, the stories are a loosely tied string of old timer's yarns with a continuing cast of engaging characters, whom Kiskaddon avoids reducing to cowboy stereotypes. They include, as Siems describes them, "Kiskaddon himself as the character Shorty. As a common waddy with a small man's feistiness and a young man's mischief, Shorty encounters the wicked world with a succession of companions: Bill, high-headed and a bit of an outlaw; Rildy Briggs, untamable and unstoppable young cowgirl; and Ike, an old-fashioned dandy and 'a very fortunate person.' More or less in the background is the Boss-actually a series of Bosses-generally affectionately respected as long as he remains democratic in his dealings with the waddies. Buffoonery is provided by a succession of pompous characters, from townspeople who look down their noses on wild, unwashed waddies to professors from the East who have read books on how ranches should be run." Contents......Page 6 List of Illustrations & Poems......Page 8 Introduction ~ An Uncommon Waddy......Page 10 Acknowledgments......Page 22 A Note on the Text......Page 23 After the Fall Roundup......Page 24 1 Autobiography......Page 26 Startin' Out......Page 30 Rough Hands......Page 32 Hair Cuttin'......Page 33 Wolves......Page 34 Reptiles......Page 35 Old Time Country School Days......Page 36 The Traveling School Master......Page 37 It Was a Draw!......Page 38 The Cow Boy's Shirt Tail......Page 40 Concernin’ Bill......Page 42 Bill’s Injun Trouble......Page 43 Bill Meets a Funeral......Page 44 Bill Doctors the Chimleys......Page 46 City Folks Go Bear Huntin’......Page 48 Bill Plays Ghost......Page 49 That Letter......Page 52 Bill’s Joke Goes Wrong......Page 54 Bill Has Luck......Page 55 Bill Goes to Turkey Creek Dance......Page 57 Bill Takes the Mules to Pre[a]chin’......Page 59 The Preacher Loses His Team......Page 60 Bill Leaves for the High Country......Page 62 Shorty Is Bill’s Secretary......Page 63 Going to Summer Camp......Page 66 Bill Turns Pugilist......Page 68 Bill Does a Fan Dance......Page 70 Bill Buys Some Medicine......Page 72 Bill Visits a Married Friend......Page 74 The Rock Creek Dance......Page 77 Bill and the Medicine Man Get Quarantined......Page 79 Bill Adjusts Matrimonial Affairs......Page 80 Bill Has Trouble......Page 82 Bill Says Goodbye......Page 84 Ridin' School......Page 88 Introducing the Professor......Page 90 Rildy Brings the Portfolio......Page 92 The Second Perfessor Arrives......Page 94 Zeb Loses a Trick......Page 96 Rildy and Zeb Have a Date......Page 98 Shorty Rescues the Second Perfessor......Page 100 The Perfessor Buys a Horse . . . and a Dog......Page 102 Eph and the Perfessor Says Good Bye......Page 104 Shorty Turns Diplomat......Page 106 Shorty’s Boss Buys a Mule Team......Page 108 Thinkin'......Page 112 Shorty Goes Home for Armistice Day......Page 114 Shorty Finishes His Visit......Page 117 All Dressed Up......Page 120 Shorty Meets Some Missourians......Page 122 Shorty Meets a Fool for Luck......Page 123 Shorty Hears Ike Analyse Words......Page 125 The Boss Buys a Mare......Page 127 He Was After a Road Runner......Page 129 Shorty and Ike Meet the Boss’s Nephews......Page 131 The Other Feller's Beef......Page 134 Shorty Corrects a Mistake......Page 136 The Fortune Teller Sends Ike Fishing......Page 138 Ike Has Trouble With His Hat......Page 141 Ike Meets a Romance......Page 143 Cap’n Beasley Goes in for Cattle......Page 145 Stockings and Watches......Page 148 The Wrangler......Page 152 Ricky Comes and Goes......Page 154 Cap Takes to Mules......Page 157 Squint Comes and Goes......Page 159 Cap and Morton Each Tell One......Page 163 Stickin’ to One Idee......Page 165 Hell Among the Yearlin’s......Page 167 Ike Gets a New Job......Page 171 The Old Timers......Page 174 Shorty’s Boss Buys Purebred Bulls......Page 176 Bruce Kiskaddon Visits Old Friends in Arizona......Page 178 Afterword for the City Dweller ~ The Old Night Hawk......Page 181 Notes......Page 186 In the world of cowboy poetry, no poet is better known or more widely appreciated than Bruce Kiskaddon. Though he died in 1950 his poems have been at the forefront of the cowboy poetry revival that began in the 1980s and have been reprinted frequently in published collections and anthologies. What is less known is that Kiskaddon during his lifetime also published stories. These humorous, realistic prose sketches of cowboy life were almost lost, but they are in their own right gems of literary Americana on a par with the poems. Originally published in the Western Livestock Journal between 1932 and 1939, the short stories drew on Kiskaddon's own experience of ranching in the Southwest and Australia to portray real life on the range. Bill Siems has recovered these stories and compiled and introduced them in this new collection, to which he has added a selection of Kiskaddon's poems and the original drawings that accompanied them, by Katherine Field, a fine, underappreciated western artist. Set in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, the stories are a loosely tied string of old timer's yarns with a continuing cast of engaging characters, whom Kiskaddon avoids reducing to cowboy stereotypes. They include, as Siems describes them, ""Kiskaddon himself as the character Shorty. As a common waddy with a small man's feistiness and a young man's mischief, Shorty encounters the wicked world with a succession of companions: Bill, high-headed and a bit of an outlaw; Rildy Briggs, untamable and unstoppable young cowgirl; and Ike, an old-fashioned dandy and 'a very fortunate person.' More or less in the background is the Boss-actually a series of Bosses-generally affectionately respected as long as he remains democratic in his dealings with the waddies. Buffoonery is provided by a succession of pompous characters, from townspeople who look down their noses on wild, unwashed waddies to professors from the East who have read books on how ranches should be run."" The short stories of Bruce Kiskaddon, one of the most famous cowboy poets of the American 20th century. Compiled and introduced by Bill Siems in this new collection, to which he has added a selection of Kiskaddon's poems and the original drawings that accompanied them, by Katherine Field, a fine, underappreciated western artist Recently discovered stories of southwestern cowboy life in the 1890-1910 era, written by America's premier cowboy poet, Bruce Kiskaddon