[ Lewis / Wolfville Nights ]
Alfred Henry Lewis (1855 - 1914) was an American lawyer, journalist, newspaper editor, and writer. Wolfville Nights is one of a series of Western novels.
This work contains only a passing reference to Newfoundlands in the opening paragraphs, wherein a typical cowboy is described - character, clothing, and behavior. This is a new one on me, as I'd always assumed a cowboy's chaps were made of leather:
If he flourish a true Brummel of the plains his leggins will be fronted from instep to belt with the thick pelt, hair outside, of a Newfoundland dog. These "chapps," are meant to protect the cowboy from rain and cold, as well as plum bushes, wire fences and other obstacles inimical, and against which he may lunge while riding headlong in the dark. The hair of the Newfoundland, thick and long and laid the right way, defies the rains; and your cowboy loathes water.
"Brummel" is a reference to George Bryan "Beau" Brummell (1778 - 1840), an Englishman whose main claim to fame was — and is — his high fashion sense; Brummel was the epitome of the Regency dandy. After a brief and undistinguished military career, and after inheriting a substantial sum, Brummel seems to have spent his life in high society, devoting great deals of time, energy, and money to setting the standard for male dress and comportment. Although he died penniless, Brummel's name is used to his day to denote a man, or men's groooming products, considered to be of superior quality or appearance.