Hello
Smoky!
October, 1944
About the Cover: by Ethel A.
(Ma) Hopkins
Editor of Hoofs and Horns Magazine
Two years ago this month Will James rode to the Last Roundup.
Olaf Wieghorst pays tribute to this great western artist and
his famous horse "Smoky" with this cover picture and
the following inscription:
'TO WILL JAMES: Never met you
person to person, but after reading the first page of 'Smoky'
felt I knew you pretty well. You belonged to the breed of horsemen
who speak the same lingo no matter what corner of the earth they
are from - a breed who would starve to feed his horse. We who
are left behind miss you. Some of us, perhaps, envy you because
where you are there are many old friends - men like Bill Cody,
Charlie Russel, Frederick Remington, Tom Mix, and Will Rogers.
As you neared the home range, knee deep in grass, his main and
tail gently blowing in the breeze, a little blazed-faced, mouse-colored
horse, slick and shiny, nickered as he came out to greet you.
As you yourself put it, "The heart of Smoky had come to
life again, and full size.'"
by Olaf Wieghorst
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