E. A. Brininstool’s, “Christmas Week in Sagebrush” appeared in his 1914 book, Trail Dust of a Maverick. The poem, as many cowboy genre poems do, offers a delightful, rhythmic cadence in cowboy dialect, dramatizing the small town of Sagebrush as it fills with the cowboys and their families and friends during the week of Christmas.
First Stanza: “It is Christmas week in Sagebrush, and the old town's only store”
The speaker first focuses on the “old town’s only store,” which is doing a booming business this week, so big that it’s never seen “sence it was opened, such a run o’ trade before.” All the ranchers in the vicinity have come into town to spend their “dinero.”
And they will not return home until they have spent every cent. They won’t forget their children on this shopping extravaganza as they are “Buyin' gim-cracks for the young'uns to put on the Christmas tree.”
Second Stanza “The cowboys ride in muffled in their wolf-skin coats and chaps”
The speaker describes the cowboys as they ride into town; they are “muffled in their wolf-skin coats and chaps.” And their wives are all bundled up in “extry furs and wraps,” because they don’t want to get caught in a storm that might come whipping up as they make their journey into town.
Getting caught in a “norther” would be a devilish experience, “fer a blizzard on the prairy’s purty apt to raise the deuce.” But traveling all wrapped up in their wintry best should protect them.
Third Stanza: “The ponies that are standin' all a-shiver at the rack”
As the cowboys, families, and friends do their gallivanting through town, the horses stand lined up “at the rack,” and they are shivering, wishing to be on the move again: they “Champ their bits, and paw and nicker for their riders to come back.”
And not only is the little general store busy, but the entertainment establishments are also full of activity. The “poker joints” are filled with revelers playing cards, as well as “faro and roulette” while “the booze-joints are a-grabbin' all the punchers they can get.”
Fourth Stanza “The picter show is crowded full o' riders off the range”
The movie theatre is full of viewers “watchin' actor cowboys doin' stunts that's new and strange.” The audience is whoopin’ and hollerin’ at the screen because the actors “go through lots o' monkey bizness that a cow ranch never seen.” The critical eye of the cowboy is sharp in detecting the levels of reality vs play-acting.
Fifth Stanza: “From the dance halls comes the echoes of a squeaky violin”
Adult entertainment is also in evidence as “the dance halls” emit the “echoes of a squeaky violin, and “the painted dames are ropin' all the gay cowpunchers in.”
Christmas week seems to offer something for everybody, and no cow puncher will get back on his horse “to ride the wintry ranges” until he has spent every red cent.
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
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