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The book might
be called: What To Do Until the Drought Comes. It's an unvarnished,
unsentimental look at the real Texas Frontier and as a subject,
it's about as serious as it gets. Using interviews, diaries and
published sources, Mr. Fairchild, a psychology professor at Texas
A & M University, Canyon, Texas, explores a rarely discussed subject
- the suffocating and omnipresent loneliness of the Panhandle frontier.
The frontier was a place of spiritual as well as material deprivation,
despite the awe-inspiring sky and landscape.
Since contemporary West Texas and Panhandle life offers many*
distractions and diversions, the book deals with the late 19th century
and early 20th century - the times of the pioneer and hopeful immigrant.
Despite the seriousness of the subject there is something uplifting
or memorable on nearly every page.
Diet, infant mortality, burial procedures and etiquette, mourning,
and the importance of friendship and neighborliness are all covered
by these sobering and sometimes heartrending personal accounts.
Also discussed is the way men dealt with these problems and benefits,
which predictably, was quite different from women.
The subjects of the book are shown without any romantic embellishment
- as people living, coping and struggling in a harsh and unforgiving
landscape. Using the actual writings as source material allows for
an easy and personal connection with the reader.
The scarcity of settlers in the Panhandle (.06 per square mile in
1880) allowed people to actually know every individual in nine counties.
One woman said that she truly felt that her nearest neighbor was
God, while another grew to appreciate her only companions - three
chickens that a cowboy had given her. Another practiced playing
the piano on her husband's desk - probably a laughable scene under
other circumstances.
Cowboys rode miles to attend dances or just to see a woman from
a distance. Although this is familiar cowboy behavior that you'd
expect to see in the movies, what writer could invent a story of
cowboys riding miles just to see or hold a baby that they had only
heard about - a baby belonging to complete strangers?
Thankfully, the second part of the book is a little lighter and
covers the camp or brush arbor meetings / revivals and comes close
to explaining why West Texas has so many churches. Here the reader
is relieved to find that there was some fun to be had when families
would bring their children, dogs and even most of their furniture
to these semi-annual events. Getting a year or six months worth
of friendship and/ or religion crowded into a few short days is
something few societies experience.
Rather than a cover photograph there's a bleak and dismal landscape
painting by Harry Carnohan during The Great Depression. This might
limit the book's appeal as a gift, but it remains a great reference
for writers, sociologists and anyone who takes seriously the study
of Texas and Texans. The details of everyday pioneer life are valuable
and passages and quotes taken from the letters and diaries are well-
chosen. It's a contribution to any West Texas library - personal
or public.
You might have to find yourself in the right mood to start reading,
but it's not an easy book to forget. It reads like a novel without
the drone of academia and Mr. Fairchild's profession is never apparent
- although it explains the depth and coverage of the subject.
It's a sober and unromantic homage to settlers of the Panhandle
and is highly recommended.
*In West Texas, more than none is
many.
© John Troesser
December 2002
See Texas Panhandle
West Texas
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