



Produced by Annie McGuire








[Illustration: HARPER'S ROUND TABLE]

Copyright, 1896, by HARPER & BROTHERS. All Rights Reserved.

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PUBLISHED WEEKLY. NEW YORK, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1896. FIVE CENTS A COPY.

VOL. XVII.--NO. 858. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.

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[Illustration]

HOW TO START IN LIFE.

RANCHING.

BY HON. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.


There are in every community young men to whom life at the desk or
behind the counter is unutterably dreary and unattractive, and who long
for some out-of-door occupation which shall, if possible, contain a
spice of excitement. These young men can be divided into two
classes--first, those who, if they get a chance to try the life for
which they long, will speedily betray their utter inability to lead it;
and, secondly, those who possess the physical capacity and the peculiar
mental make-up necessary for success in an employment far out of the
usual paths of civilized occupations. A great many of these young men
think of ranching as a business which they might possibly take up, and
what I am about to say is meant as much for a warning to one class as
for advice to the other.

Ranching is a rather indefinite term. In a good many parts of the West a
ranch simply means a farm; but I shall not use it in this sense, since
the advantages and disadvantages of a farmer's life, whether it be led
in New Jersey or Iowa, have often been dwelt upon by men infinitely more
competent than I am to pass judgment.