The Virginian

Bronco Buster - Frederic Remington

I'm reading Caroline Furlong's post about books and she mentions The Virginian. Ho boy, that triggered a memory. High school English class, Bexley, Ohio, 1965, Miss Pfaff presiding. We were supposed to be reading this book all along but I had been avoiding it. It finally came to a head and me and another kid (Danny Metzger, maybe?) were threatened with a Horrible Fate if we did not sit down and read the dang book. Me, I stayed up all night reading the dang thing. The next day Miss Pfaff interrogates us. She asks if we read the book. We both claimed that we did. I know I did. After we escaped the Horrible Fate, Danny confessed to me that he had not read it. It was a pretty good story.

I remember one particular scene. The new guy and a cowboy approach the local hotel / tavern / restaurant and wash their hands outside the door. There is a grungy towel hanging there, so the cowboy asks the young woman at the door for a fresh one, which she supplies. Our new guy soon learned that you didn't get a fresh towel each time you showed up, you only got one when the towel had reached a certain state of grunginess.