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FOLKKAYS
Edward Townsend
McLennan County
District 8
No. of Words 350
File No. 240
Page 1
a Personal interview with J. T. Smith, at one time a cowboy on the Caufield Ranch.
The Caufield Ranch was one of the first ranches that was fenced west of v4tco.
At that time, dancing was the most common amusement, and before and after each big
caw hunt it was the custom for some family to give a dance to speed the parting
cowbcys or to welcome their return. The music was furnished by a single fiddle
or accordion, but sometimes two or three other stringed or wind instruments were
added. Most of the dancers danced only old Virginia reels or cotillions, but some
of each sex were expert "jigger" and some could dance the "round dances" such as the
polka, waltz schottish, etc.
At the time of this story, the dance was given at the foreman's house. It was
the usual type of building, wooden frame with two large rooms and a wide hall between;
long porches stretched across the front and beside the L-shaped rear room. Huge fire-
places of rough stones were at each end of these front rooms.
At one of the dances, according to prevailing custom, a large wash pot of coffee,
surrounded by numerous tin cups, was kept boiling all night under a large tree in front
yard, so that the guests might refresh themselves whenever they wished. While the
cowboys and their sweethearts danced light-heartedly inside the house, some tree
lizards also engaged in dancing in the live oak tree just above the pot of coffee.
About three o'clock that morning, a lady asked Smith to get her a cup of coffee.
He gallantly sprang to do her bidding, but, to his surprise, the pot was almost empty.
He scraped the bottom of the pot, however, and with a sweeping bow presented the steaming
cup to the fair cne. The porch was only dimly lighted from the lamps within the house,
so the lady laughed and talked with Smith while sipping the hot liquid. When she had
almost finished the cup, someone came outside and the beam of the light from the open
door fell full upon the contents of the bottom of the cup. Imagine her borrow and
consternation upon beholding a boiled lizard in the bottom of her cupt Nature brought
that coffee back to the world instantly, while Smith, in the presence of all assembled,
condemned each separate member of the lizard tribe to Hades in language that was not
suitable for Sunday School. (A)