Buck-Skin Breeches

        On the Big Muddy River in Jackson County, there lived in the "good old days" a well-to-do family who had a beautiful daughter, who was the admiration of the young men for miles around. There came to court her one winter's evening one of the young men of the neighborhood, dressed in the best that pioneer life afforded. As is, of course, always the case when a young man goes to see his best girl, the hours passed swiftly by and it was time for him to go home, but it began to rain and he was persuaded to stay all night. When he was shown his apartment, he bade the lovely girl "good night," hastily undressed, carelessly dropped his buck-skin breeches on the floor and was soon in a snug, warm bed and since it was late, he soon fell asleep.

       It became a cold, blustery night. The rain and sleet blew into his room and completely covered his breeches, much of it going inside. As it turned colder his breeches were frozen so stiff that he could make them stand alone. Imagine his consternation, if you can, when he awoke the next morning and found his Sunday breeches in that condition. What was he to do? What would you do? He tried to put them on, but it was out of the question. Taking them in his hands, he went to the room of the mother and father of the girl, where there was the only fire-place in the house. He sat them against the jamb to thaw out and to dry while he scampered back to bed. Trouble enough it seemed to him, but it was only the beginning, for as they thawed out next the fire, they naturally fell that way and fell in. Finally, the father began to smell burning leather and jumped out of bed, but too late to save the young man's breeches. They were damaged beyond use. The young man was in- formed of the accident but what could he do except to stay in bed until another pair could be fixed up for him and that is just what he did. The father came to the rescue and lent him a pair, and without much ceremony the boy turned his steps homeward. Just what the girl thought of this unusual performance, neither history nor tradition tells us, but we are told that it was a long time before he had the courage to even look at the girl again and that he finally married another girl! Waller.

Buckskin Clothing in the Old West