Cowboy  

"Although the cowboy is slowly vanishing, he is still the envy of young and old alike. Many people find more real adventure in bowed legs, buckskin trousers and a sombrero than in all the thrills of modern inventors. This is the reflection of Ken Maynard, star of the First National Pathé picture, “The Devil's Saddle. Slowly, but surely, the great open spaces of America have been conquered by the telephone, the telegraph, the motor car, wireless and most deadly of all , the railways. The cowboy of the west and his brother of the La Plata pampas, the gaucho are engaged in a losing fight against progress. The cowboy of the plains, from Texas to Montana, was a gallant fellow . Dependent on his agility, particularly in the use of a rifle, he used literally to carry his life in his hands. Living close to nature, so to speak, and relying on his own powers to conquer distance, heat, cold, rain , hunger and thirst, his knowledge was little short of astonishing. A good cowboy could find his way about unknown country. He could trace cattle after they had strayed for miles. Away from civilisation , he developed an intuitive knowledge almost accurately described as a sixth sense."--The New Spirit in the Cinema (1930) by Huntly Carter