Book Description

From ages 17 to 33, Cody Carpenter tries to make a place for his Christian upbringing in the cowboy culture of Texas and New Mexico. With his father's advice to never carry a gun and to read his Bible for help, and his memories of his stern mother's having washed out his mouth with lye soap every time he used a "bad" word such as "heck", he was totally unprepared for the cowboy culture of cussing, gambling, gun fighting, and sex purchasing that existed in Texas and New Mexico at the turn of the 20th Century. The Carpenter Credo, "Work for yourself, never for another: to hire out is but one step above slavery, and the discovery that women were not interested in marrying cowboys, goaded him to try to find ways of becoming a cattle rancher, his own boss with his own herd of registered Hereford cattle. To do so, he had to have help. It came from the C. W. Post, of Post Toasties ad Post City fame. But he had to refuse Post's offer to support his study to be anything he wanted to be: doctor, lawyer, or manager as long as he would find his life's work in the Post Enterprises. Cody's skill in gentling horses contrasted with the cowboy traditions of "breaking" them, setting him apart from the cowboy crew that followed trail drives from Texas to St. Louis and Kansas City. Only the chance to train to be a ramrod saved him from the unbearable ridicule of his trail mates. How he survived to follow his dream is the basis for action, excitement, sadness and laughter that readers will find in this work by a noted poet, author, educator and public speaker who has been named as a Living Legend by the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England.