Mary decorated the yard with flowers, her parlor with the neighborhood's only piano. She was a gentle woman who loved music, had a warm sense of humor and an easy way with people. In fact, she loved people and frequently held square dances at their home that were attended by close and distant neighbors, strangers in the area, and anyone else who might like to come.
When Will was two his only brother died. Soon after that, Clem hired on a new cowboy, a black man, Dan Walker, who was handy with a rope. His wife was hired to help with the children and the house. As soon as Will could handle a rope, Clem began to teach him all he knew about the art of roping. Will took to it like an eagle to flying. He practiced all the time, first lassoing fence posts, and progressing to unsuspecting things that moved.
When he wasn't twirling his rope, Will led the group of playmates whose parents worked on the large ranch. Often their play ended up in some kind of practical joke, something that Will's mind devised with ease. Perhaps Will would stay out of mischief if he had a pony of his own. So, when he was five, he was given his first pony. Whether it kept him out of mischief no one knew, for he was gone much of the time, riding the range.
As long as he was riding the range so much, he might as well take part in a round-up, which he did a few years later, under Dan's watchful eye. But the round-up became a going-away present. Will was to go to school. Since the school was twenty miles away, he would live with a married sister, who watched each morning to be sure Will didn't head towards the prairie instead of the school.
Will was popular in school. He twirled his rope and cracked jokes, but he did not study and his grades were poor. After two years of that, Clem decided Will should attend school with two of his sisters. The school was a Methodist girl's school and the president's son was the only other boy. Will found it just as easy to show off for the girls as he had for boys, and at the end of the year the school president suggested that Will not return.
