The Junior Historian, Volume 2, Number 1, September 1941 Page: 1
16 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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* THE JUNIOR HISTORIAN
*
VOL. II, No. I AUSTIN, TEXAS SEPTEMBER, 1941
PIE BITER
by ANNA HUPER
Wichita Falls High SchoolBACK in the old days there wasn't a
cow outfit along the Red River
that hadn't eaten some of Pie Bit-
er's grub or listened to him sawing on
the fiddle. Pie really could fiddle, and
that was no joke. He could play most
anything, but his specialty was "The
Arkansas Traveler," and no other fiddler
could touch him with a ten-foot pole
when he set out on that tune. In fact
he could play "The Arkansas Traveler"
five different ways, and this is how come.
One night, as it was getting dark and
too late for much more traveling, Pie
stopped at a house. Well, the folks were
real nice to Pie and let him have supper
with them. After supper, the old man
got out his fiddle and started playing
away on "The Arkansas Traveler," and
he played it this way. Then he handed
the fiddle to the old woman, and she
played it this way. The old woman
handed it to her girl Sal, and she played
it this way. Sal handed it to the hired
man, and he played it this way.
"Stranger, can you play the fiddle?"
the hired man asked Pie Biter, handing
him the fiddle. Pie had never fiddled in
his entire life, but he took the fiddle any-
way. First he made a few passes with
the bow, then his foot began to pat, and
d'reckly he was playing "The Arkansas
Traveler" this way. That started Pie
Biter on his career as champion fiddler
of the cow country.
As many dances as he played for, Pie
did very little dancing himself. He was
twenty-five years old before he ever hada pair of boots on, and it was kind of
hard to get used to wearing them, much
less dancing in them. Pie went to many
a dance and stayed until two or three
in the morning before they'd play "The
Barefoot Reel." When the boys struck
up that little tune, Pie joined in and
danced with the greatest of glee.
Polly Point was just about the worst
town in Texas then. Pie rode in there
one day and got into a poker game.
Long toward the middle of the game,
the other players started to rob him, but
Pie just pulled out his guns and turned
all tarnation loose on those crooks, run-
ning them clear out of the country.
Polly Point was plenty tough, but Pie
remarked casually, "They ain't got to
breakfast yet."
Pie Biter had only two talents, cook-
ing and fiddling, and cooking earned
him a better living than fiddling; so he
took to cooking mostly and fiddled in
his spare time. He had cooked for prac-
tically every chuck wagon in the coun-
try. His cooking always satisfied the
ranch folks, but something was always
happening to make him ride on. Take
the time the boss of an outfit fired Pie
because he up and socked him in the nose
for criticizing his biscuits and coffee.
,Pie packed up his tarp and soogins,
loaded them on Paint, and lit out for the
Four Sixes ranch, where he knew he
could get a job. The morning after he
got to their camp, Pie was pretty sleepy
after traveling all night, but he wasn't
sleepy long. All the hands had rode
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Texas State Historical Association. The Junior Historian, Volume 2, Number 1, September 1941, periodical, September 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391317/m1/3/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.