Live each day so that you can look every man
in the eye and tell him to go to —-! (1906)
Some things never change. These cowboys and cowgirls have every bit as much gumption and attitude as any modern day Texan. Maybe more!
Free & Easy Cowgirl (1906)
Shooting up the Town (1908)
Among the Cactus, Keep Your Seat (1905)
Western Bachelor’s Home. Wife Wanted. (1906)
These idealized Texans of the past made me think of the closing lines of a combative article that Larry McMurtry (author of Lonesome Dove, among many others) wrote recently for Texas Monthly. He revisited his 1968 writings about the major cities of Texas from his book Narrow Grave. Even now, he describes the writing as “critical but not wholly unaffectionate” and reminisces that while living in Texas over his lifetime he’s been often “affronted” but rarely “bored.”
McMurtry’s closing paragraph concludes brashly:
We have some real cities now; they may not be Bath, or Cheltenham, or Lyon, much less Paris. But they can generally muster more urban manners and more urban smarts than when I wrote about them forty years ago. Real civility is coming, folks.
One day at a time.
Inflammatory? Yes. True? Probably, at least partially. At times, the frontier mentality can still feel alive and well in Texas. Other times, it’s the farthest thing from one’s mind.
Texas is never too far from mind, and this week I’m actually in Dallas for work. I’ve been enjoying every minute with friends and family. So I thought I’d share a recently compiled list of my Dallas favorites.
Check it out and let me know if I’ve missed any great spots in the comments over there. Hope these postcards made you smile!
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Images above from Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library.
