Friday, October 06, 2023

Etiquette among cattle

     "You are working cattle for a neighbor, and from what I hear you are known as a man who is good with a gun. Yet you have the manners of a gentleman."

    I smiled at him. "Sir, manners do not care who wears them, no more than clothes. Manners can be acquired, clothes can be bought."

    "Yes, yes, of course. But there is a certain style, sir, a certain style. One knows a gentleman, sir."

    "I've not noticed that it matters to the cattle, sir, if a man has a good horse and knows how to swing a rope. I don't believe they have any preference as to whether a man is a gentleman or not."

(from The Man From the Broken Hills, by Louis L'Amour)

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