Attacked by Wild Longhorn Cows

Sometimes at night, my mom would tell me stories about when she was a little girl, living in Texas. 

One of the stories she would tell me was about the wild Longhorn cattle chasing the buckboard when she went to school.

Since Mom was born in 1903, and lived in the backwoods of Texas, the children were taken to school with a horse and buckboard. 

They had to go through the cattle range to get to the schoolhouse, and sometimes, the longhorns would see the buckboard and chase after it.   The driver would then whip the horses into a headlong run; but the longhorns were very fast, too, and would race alongside of the buckboard, and try to attack it and turn it over.

All of the poor little children would of course be terrified, and hiding on the floor of the wagon, fearing for their very lives.

The driver carried a big bullwhip to fight off the longhorns with, but that usually just made them more angry and determined to tip the buckboard over. 

Eventually, they would get tired of chasing the wagon, and the children would make it safely to school; but this was an occurrence that could happen anytime, so the children were always on the watch for the longhorns.

Mom was an excellent storyteller, so  I could vividly imagine the herd of longhorn cattle, wild-eyed, and frothing at the mouth, chasing after the buckboard, while the driver bravely tried to fight them off with his bullwhip. 

Many years later, Robin confided to me that Grandma had told her the same stories when she was little; and that is why, to this very day; Robin and I are both terrified of cows ! !