The love of money can not enter largely into the consideration of the question, for while the work is often of the hardest kind a man can endure and the hours of labor only limited by the men's power of endurance, the wages usually paid are low. From $25 to $35 a month is the average rate of wages for all good men on the range except the foreman, who commands from $60 to $75 a month, according to his ability, the number of men he is to have charge of, and the responsibility of his position generally. Ambition to succeed to this dignity, or a desire to learn the cattle-growing business with a view of engaging in it on their own account, may induce some boys to engage as herders, but the young man who deliberately chooses this occupation is usually one with a superabundance of vim, energy, and enthusiasm; one who chafes under the restraints of society, who is bored and annoyed by the quiet humdrum life of the Eastern village, city, or farm house; one who longs to go where he can breathe fresh air, exercise his arms, legs, and lungs, if need be, without disturbing the peace; one who, in short, requires more room to live in than his birthplace affords.
Many a cowboy of to-day was, in his childhood or youth, the street gamin, the newsboy, the "hard nut" at school; the dare-devil of the rural districts; the hero of daring exploits; the boy who did not fear to climb to the top of the highest tree to punch a squirrel out of his hole; who led the raid on an orchard or watermelon patch on a dark night; who at college was at the head of all wild, reckless frolics, and was also well up in his classes; who led the village marshal or the city policeman many a wild-goose chase and caused them many a sleepless night by his innocent though mischievous pranks. He is the boy who was always ready for a lark of any kind that could produce excitement, fun, or adventure without bringing serious harm to anyone. He was not the vicious, thieving, lying, sneaking boy, but the irrepressible, uncontrollable, wild, harum-scarum chap who led the gang; the champion of the weak; the boy who would fight "at the drop of the hat" in defense of a friend of his own sex or of even a stranger of the opposite sex. These are the boys of ten, twenty, or thirty years ago whom to-day you may find riding wild cayuses on the cattle ranges of the boundless plains.