SOURCE: Anderson, John Q. “Scholarship in Southwestern Humor—Past and Present.” Mississippi Quarterly 17, no. 2 (spring 1964): 67-86.

In the following essay, Anderson surveys the critical reaction to Southwestern humor literature.

An Easterner traveling in the backcountry of the Old Southwest in the 1840's forced his tired horse along a boggy road in an unsettled stretch of country. When the road seemed to disappear in an extended mudhole, he was surprised to see a hat lying in the middle of the road. He bent over in his saddle stirrups and with his riding crop attempted to pick up the hat. To his amazement, he heard a voice and discovered a backwoodsman under the hat. “What are you doing?” the traveler inquired. “Don't worry, stranger,” came the reply; “I've got a horse with a good bottom under me and I'll make it!”¹

A Louisiana version of this tale concerns a backwoodsman...