Charles M. Russell Writes New Book of Humorous Tales of the Cattle Days

 

(Published in the Hysham Echo Dec. 3, 1925 & Oct. 11, 2013)

It is just about forty-five years ago that a city-bred youth found his way to the wilds of Montana. He was alone in a strange land with no food, no firearms and no friends. Such was the beginning of the experiences of Charles M. Russell, Montana’s cowboy artist in the great untamed West - the West which he was destined in later years to become such an important part of.

In the years that followed, Mr. Russell took to the range and for a long period was actively associated with the cattle industry in the capacity of a “cowpuncher.” It was while following this calling that the artist gained his knowledge of the old West, of the customs of the redman, the trapper, the cowboy, the rancher, and all those typical frontier types which played so important a role in the days of fenceless prairie and free range.
Mr. Russell was a cowboy. He endured the hardships of privations of a herder’s life, and likewise enjoyed its pleasures. A man of extraordinary memory, the artist has been able to preserve in print as well as on canvas many of the incidents of his frontier experiences.

In this connection, Montanans will welcome this announcement of Mr. Russell’s second book, which is being published under the name, “More Rawhides.” This will be off the press and ready for distribution about December 19.

The artist, in his writings, has created a cowpuncher character, whom he calls Rawhide Hawkins, who tells stories of the days when the cowboy was the dominating figure on these then unbroken Montana plains and foothills.

Russell is not only a great artist and the foremost portrayer in colors of scenes depicting the old West, but is gifted with a sense of humor that in itself, stamps him a genius. The humor in his stories and in the pictures that illustrate them will delight thousands of Montanans, many of whom, as was the case with the Rawhide Rawlins Stories, of the first book, will recognize various characters who appear in the yarns. Some of these are called by name, while others are so portrayed that their friends will at once spot them.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about these books written by Mr. Russell, is their price. Like Mark Twain, who insisted that an edition of his works be put out at a cost that would enable every family in the land to own one, Mr. Russell has insisted that his books be priced at a figure that almost anyone can pay, and finally limited the retail selling price to one dollar, “These are hard times for some folks,” said the artist, “If the book is going to give anyone a laugh and make him forget his trouble for awhile, I want the price low enough so that people to whom a dollar means a dollar will feel that they’re getting their money’s worth.”
And certainly no one ever got a better dollar’s worth of enjoyment from a book than will be contained in “More Rawhides.” The very names of the stories suggest that fun they will hold for the reader. Here are a few of them: “Lepley’s Bear;” “Ranches;” “the Trail of the Reel foot;” “Mormon Murphy’s Confidence;” “Longrope’s Last Guard;” “Dog Eater;” “Safety First. But Where Is It?” “How Lindsay Turned Indian;” “A Savage Santa Claus;” “Fashions;” “Hands Up.” It may be said that these yarns of Mr. Russell’s are not a serious effort at literature on his part. If the truth were known, he wrote them more to amuse himself and the old-timers of the state whom he has known for more than 40 years, than for the public at large, but that every fact and the manner in which they are written makes them of greatest interest to anyone - old-times or newcomer, for they reflect western wit and western fun that were characteristic of Montana men at the times they portray.

“More Rawhides”, and “Rawhide Rawlins Stories” are published by the Montana Newspaper Association, at Great Falls.

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