comfortably the people of all the
European nations.

Texas was wild and woolly when Alfred first toured it with a wagon show.
Weatherford was away out west; Dallas was in its swaddling clothes and
Houston was a village. Hunting was good just over the corporation line
and there was no closed season on anything. Charley Gibbs and Henry
Greenwall owned the State. Charley Highsmith was a schoolboy; he had
never owned a dog or looked along the barrels of a double-barreled gun.
Mike Conley was setting type in a printing office run by hand, and Bill
Sterritt was the printer's devil, excepting when ducks were coming in.
Ben McCullough was the only railroad man in north Texas, and George
Green the only Republican in the State. Jake Zurn had not left Germany
and Jim Hogg was a cowboy.

A pair of Texas ponies, an open buggy, a doubled-barreled shotgun, two
dogs and an invalid, were Alfred's constant companions on that tour of
Texas. The invalid who was touring Texas for his health, was a relative
of the managers, a German, refined and scholarly, a high class
gentleman.

This was the introduction:

"Alfred, Mr. Smith is not well. The doctor advised that he live in the
open. He is my guest and I want him to ride with you. I am sure you will
like him. I want this trip to benefit his health. You have the best team
with the company. You can make the route in half the time it requires
the show to drive it. Sleep late in the morning."

Despite this advice, the invalid and Alfred were well on their way by
daylight almost every morning, nor did they make the routes in half the
time the show did. It was more frequently the reverse, particularly if
the shooting was good. The invalid was the wellest sick-man companion
ever toured with. His cheeks were sallow, low in flesh, but the spirit
was there. It was a case of the invalid looking after the nurse. The
vast plains were covered with cattle--Texas steers. The invalid
marvelled at their numbers. While Alfred was scouring the prairie with
dog and gun the invalid would stand erect in the buggy, on the road
side, computing the number of Texas steers within sight. How the cattle
men separated their droves, claiming their cattle, was a wonderment.
Cowboys and Texas steers was a theme on which the invalid never tired
talking. Texas steers were a hobby with him. He would talk with cowboys
for hours, collecting information.

Many nights the circus people in making long drives between exhibitin