COWBOY CAMP MEETINGS

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It's Summer, and time for the cowboy camp meetings.

The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in Britain, and once common in some parts of the United States, wherein people would travel from a large area to a particular site to camp out, listen to itinerant preachers,  pray and sing. This suited the frontier lifestyle well, as such areas often lacked traditional churches and offered few other types of diversion from work. The practice was a major component of the Second Great Awakening, a rapid increase in the popularity of various Protestant denominations in the United States in the early 19th century.
 Cowboy Camp Meetings are still held
in various parts of the American West,

where they continue to fill a religious need among people whose

remote locations and work necessities often make traditional

"church-going" difficult, if not impossible.
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Below is a song from a 1946 Roy Rogers/Dale Evans
film titled Rainbow Over Texas.
The Sons of the Pioneers sing (and act here) with Ken Carson as the lead vocalist, Hugh Farr as the Preacher, with Shug Fisher, Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan, and Karl Farr as the congregation.
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The Last Roundup

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I'm heading for the last roundup
Gonna saddle old Paint for the last time and ride
So long, old pal, it's time your tears were dried
I'm heading for the last roundup.

CHORUS:
Git along little doggie, git along, git along
Git along little doggie, git along, git along
Git along little doggie, git along, git along
Git along little doggie, git along, git along

I'm heading for the last roundup
To the far away ranch of the Boss in the sky
Where the strays are counted and branded there go I
I'm heading for the last roundup

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There's generally "three-squares" served,

and you can bet the menu includes beef BAR-B-Q - lots of it!

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A COWBOY'S PRAYER

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This prayer/verse has been around for a while,

and many folks, particularly in the western U.S.A.,

are familiar with it, and may have a copy hanging

or taped up somewhere in the house.  It's used a lot

in memorial/funeral services.  But we're having

a number of overseas visitors to the blog lately,

and so we thought it a good idea to post it - 

it's well written; that's why it's still around.   

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 A Cowboy's Prayer

.by Badger Clark

(Written for Mother)

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Oh Lord, I've never lived where churches grow.

I loved creation better as it stood

That day You finished it so long ago

And looked upon Your work and called it good.

I know that others find You in the light

That's sifted down through tinted window panes,

And yet I seem to feel You near tonight

In this dim, quiet starlight on the plains.
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I thank You, Lord, that I am placed so well,

That You have made my freedom so complete;

That I'm no slave of whistle, clock or bell,

Nor weak-eyed prisoner of wall and street,

Just let me live my life as I've begun

And give me work that's open to the sky;

Make me a pardner of the wind and sun,

And I won't ask a life that's soft or high.
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Let me be easy on the man that's down;

Let me be square and generous with all.

I'm careless sometimes, Lord, when I'm in town,

But never let 'em say I'm mean or small!

Make me as big and open as the plains,

As honest as the hawse between my knees,

Clean as the wind that blows behind the rains,

Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze!
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Forgive me, Lord, if sometimes I forget.

You know about the reasons that are hid.

You understand the things that gall and fret;

You know me better than my mother did.

Just keep an eye on all that's done and said

And right me, sometimes, when I turn aside,

And guide me down the long, dim trail ahead

That stretches upward toward the Great Divide.

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Here's A YouTube video of Johnny Cash
reciting the prayer, with Dutch subtitles.
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