In what we say as to his trade, therefore, or his fashion in the practice of it, we speak in terms of thirty or forty years ago, when wire was unknown, when the round-up still was necessary, and the cowboy's life was indeed that of the open.
By the costume we may often know the man.

The cowboy's costume was harmonious with its surroundings.

It was planned upon lines of such stern utility as to leave no possible thing which we may call dispensable.

The typical cowboy costume could hardly be said to contain a coat and waistcoat.

The heavy woolen shirt, loose and open at the neck, was the common wear at all seasons of the year excepting winter, and one has often seen cowboys in the winter-time engaged in work about the yard or corral of the ranch wearing no other cover for the upper part of the body but one or more of these heavy shirts.