Arthur Chapman

Out Where the West Begins and Other Western Verses (1917)

• Out where the handclasp’s a little stronger,
  Out where the smile dwells a little longer,
  That’s where the West begins.
  • Out Where the West Begins, st. 1

• We used to run a cow-ranch,
  In all that old term meant,
  But all our ancient glories
  In recent years have went;
  We’re takin’ summer boarders,
  And, puttin’ it quite rude,
  It’s now the cowboy’s province
  To herd the festive dude.
  • The Dude Ranch, st. 1

• The sheep are down at the water, a-drinkin' their bloomin' fill,
  An' me and the dog are dozin', as herders and collies will;
  The world may be movin' somewheres, but here it is standin' still.
  • The Herder's Reverie, st. 1

• It's hard to think that in cities there's men who are goin' to mad,
  Each strivin' to beat his fellows and get what the others had;
  And from this here peaceful viewpoint, such doin's look bad, plum bad.
  • The Herder's Reverie, st. 3

• It was jest another instance of a flaw in work of man;
  A lefty never figgered in the gunman’s battle plan;
  There ain’t no scheme man thinks of that Dame Nature cannot beat —
  So his pupils are unlearnin’ that cute trick they got from Pete.
  • Pete's Error, st. 4

• He is the last of that old guard defending Cattle Land,
  Those knights who jousted for the cause — blood brothers of the brand;
  But now they’ve fenced the water-hole, they’re harrowing the plain,
  They’re changing all the sagebrush flats to fields of waving grain;
  The cowmen will be gone, they say, and there are no recruits —
  Good-bye, brave cattle-puncher in the high-heeled boots!
  • The High-Heeled Boots, st. 3

• Out among the big things —
  The mountains and the plains —
  An hour ain’t important,
  Nor are the hour’s gains;
  The feller in the city
  Is hurried night and day,
  But out among the big things
  He learns the calmer way.
  • Out Among the Big Things, st. 1

• Out among the big things —
  The heights that gleam afar —
  A feller gets to wonder
  What means each distant star;
  He may not get an answer,
  But somehow, every night
  He feels, among the big things,
  That everything’s all right.
  • Out Among the Big Things, st. 3

Cactus Center (1921)

• We welcome folks in Cactus Center if they've got an honest lay;
  If their game ain't too durn crooked, we never stop the play;
  But a get-rich-quicker blew in, with a game we did n't like,
  So we did n't waste the minutes in invitin' him to hike.
  • Discipline in Cactus Center, st. 1

• There ain't no leaves to turn to gold—
  There ain't a tree in sight—
  In other ways the herder's told
  October's come, all right.
  • October on the Sheep Range, st. 1

Unsourced

• Envy is like a fly that passes all the body's sounder parts, and dwells upon the sores.