Poems of West Texas Life

By Flora Smith Dean

The soul of a poet, the mind of a dreamer,
Eyes that see visions afar.
But her hands are the work-worn hands of a doer,
The keeper of things that are.

As a West Texas homesteader, Flora Smith Dean worked hard to provide for her children, yet still took time to grow flowers, sing songs, regale her children with stories of the old days, and read the Bible. Because her life was not easy, she penned most of her poems after a long day of hard work. Later in life, after her husband’s health issues, Flora tended the farm during the day while still writing poetry to capture stories of the past, express a connection with God, and elicit emotional memories of that era.

In a collection of original poems compiled by her son, Joseph, and shared in thematic categories to best tell her story, others receive a candid glimpse into the lives of the early settlers in West Texas through her lyrical reflections and Joseph’s additional thoughts. Within her writings, Flora offers insight into the hardships she faced, her community, and faith and family connections, ultimately bringing to life a period that is often overlooked and oversimplified in modern times.

Poems of West Texas Life is a collection of poems and insights by a descendent that share a candid glimpse into the experiences and hardships of an early settler in West Texas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Sep 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9781489746900

Flora Smith Dean

Flora Smith Dean (1897–1980) was an early homesteader on the plains in West Texas. In Poems of West Texas Life, her son, Joseph, shares a collection of Flora’s original verses that provide glimpses of her life while highlighting her deep feelings of love, compassion, joy, sorrow, and strong faith in God.

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 Flora Smith Dean.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

LifeRich Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.liferichpublishing.com

844-686-9607

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4689-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4691-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4690-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023916730

LifeRich Publishing rev. date:  09/15/2023

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgments

1. The Poet’s Life and Family

2. The Old West

3. Early Married Life

4. The Hard Years

5. Of and for Children

6. Farming

7. Family and Philosophy

8. Flowers

9. The War Years

10. Faith and Belief

11. Consolation

12. Personal Loss and Memories

13. The Last Years

14. The Legacy

FOREWORD

This is a collection of poems written by my mother, Flora Dean. I frequently provide additional lines to acquaint the reader with the times and circumstances under which the poet found herself when writing these poems. I loved and still love my mother as almost everyone loves their mothers. I would like to immortalize her memory to the best of my ability. However, she had already done this in her writings. I can only act as her conduit, making her writing available for others to read and enjoy.

The following, in her own words, describes this book far better than I could, even though this is far from what she had in mind when she wrote these lines.

THIS IS MY DIARY

Ever so often, along the road

That mortals usually tread,

I pause awhile and rest my load,

And cease the toil for bread.

And here in these pages may you find

The fruit of an inspired hour.

The unburdening of a tired mind,

Or a vision seen from a tower.

A bit of emotion, strong and deep,

Or the surge of a hidden joy,

Memories my soul would strive to keep,

Lest time and life destroy.

Here in these pages I will write,

And you who have the key,

May read it all in black and white,

My secret diary!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My mother, Flora, wrote her poems on whatever paper was at hand and made copies the same way. As she had no particular filing system and her poems were often gifts, acquisition was a lengthy process.

Thanks to all the family members, especially Mary Waters and Madeline Pearson, for their assistance in this acquisition process.

Image%2001.jpgm1.jpg

1

THE POET’S LIFE

AND FAMILY

To better understand and appreciate Mother’s poetry, one must know where and how she lived since all her writings were directly influenced by the events in her life.

Flora May Smith was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 1, 1897. She moved to Crosby County, Texas, with her family in March 1910. They moved by rail to the nearest railroad depot, Silverton, Texas, and then completed the move by mule-drawn freight wagons the last sixty miles. Their destination was a farm with no improvements except a barn and a well on a piece of flat prairie.

They stayed in a barn until they could build a house. Water was from an eighty-foot-deep well and was pumped by a windmill into a barrel that overflowed into a stock watering trough and then into a ground tank or pond.

Using horse-drawn plows, they broke the sod and planted crops. They fenced the land to control their livestock and keep out other livestock. They planted a garden and acquired hogs, chickens, and a milk cow. And like all pioneers before them, they raised much of their own food. Everything boughten, such as sugar, coffee, and flour, was hauled in by the mule trains.

The nearest town, Cone, was five miles away and consisted of a one-room school and a general store with a post office. Mother went to the Cone school in a buggy with her brother and three sisters. She finished the seventh grade there, which was the limit of available schooling. She must have been an eager student for she continued to expand her knowledge at every opportunity for the rest of her life. She also conveyed that knowledge to her children at every opportunity and challenged them to learn all they could.

At the age of seventeen, Mother married Elijah Dean, who was seven years her senior. They lived on the Dean family farm, which was adjacent to the Smiths; their houses were less than a quarter of a mile apart.

Farming with horses was hard, slow work. Results were uncertain given an annual rainfall average of only fifteen inches. However, the new ground was fertile, and when there was sufficient rain, it produced a good crop. Their early years together were happy ones. They made a living and started a family. Daughters Mary and Madeline were born in 1917 and 1919, respectively.

A large part of farmwork at that time was done by the farmer’s wife. She planted and cared for the vegetable garden (watering, weeding, and harvesting). Knowing Mother’s love of flowers, I am sure she also had a flower garden. I am also certain she spent much time and effort canning and otherwise preserving the harvest from the vegetable garden.

Housekeeping was not an easy task either. Farmwives swept bare wood floors, washed clothes on a scrub board with water heated on a kerosene stove or in a pot over a cow-chip fire in the yard, and dried clothes on an outside clothesline in summer and winter. And, of course, water was carried in buckets from the well to the house and wherever else it was needed.

The housewife also milked the cows, fed the pigs and chickens, and gathered eggs. Her work in these areas was lessened some as children became able to help.

During those early married years, Grandmother Dean became ill. After spending some time in a clinic, it became apparent she would not recover. She returned home, where Mother cared for her until she died in September 1920. Grandfather Dean continued to live with my parents off and on until he died in 1929.

Since all this occurred before my time, and there are few records of anything but dates, it was with great pleasure that I received a letter in 1980 (after Mother died) from my dear aunt Helen, who married Dad’s brother, Ben. Her letter documented some of her recollections of that time on the farm. The following is from her letter:

I first met them when, married barely six months, my husband took me up to the farm to meet his people. Your grandmother Dean was gravely ill and under sedation most of the time. Your mother was young, around twenty-one years old, a rosy-cheeked lass who moved quickly and who had such a cheerful outlook. She and I were friends immediately. From that time on, I loved your mother and grieved that more could not be done to help during those bad years (bad years financially, and with time, physically for Lige [short for Elijah]), but they were loving years otherwise. The capacity for loving and caring that she displayed for her husband and children was one of the inspiring happenings of those young years for me. I never saw her faith falter that her God was a good and loving God. I am sure she believed that if she had faith in Him, He would take care of them. With her help and her untiring effort, He did … in all of the most important things in life.

Dad was a strong man, large in stature, and a hard worker. Working under the hot sun during the harvest in 1925, he became overheated and suffered sunstroke on three occasions. These sunstrokes are the probable cause of the epilepsy that developed shortly thereafter and became progressively worse.

Because of Dad’s illness, he was unable to continue working with horses and machinery for safety reasons. So the family left the farm in 1926 and moved to the small town of Ralls, fourteen miles away. Dad worked at odd jobs and in the garden, and Mother took in washing and ironing to make a living. Before leaving the farm, a son, Richard, was born in 1921. The last year or two on the farm were difficult financially, and so were the years in Ralls. Quoting again from Aunt Helen’s letter:

I wonder if you do not remember your father only as he was after his illness had taken a heavy toll on him. I remember how young and strong and clean cut he was that year before the first signs of his disease were evident. His eyes were so blue and his hair so blond, and everything about him spoke of friendliness and kindness. Your mother adored him as he did her. The unkindness of people in the community, even though that unkindness came from ignorance, did more damage I thought than did the illness itself. I have always felt so greatly honored to have had Flora’s friendship.

Aunt Helen and Mother were much alike in many ways and were always the best of friends.

During those years in Ralls, two sons were born: John in December 1925, and I was born in September 1928.

Medicine in those days offered little in the way of treating epilepsy until Luminal (phenobarbital) became available. It controlled Dad’s seizures but with the side effect of drowsiness. However, with this medicine, they were able to return to the farm in 1929, moving into a different house on part of the same Dean farm. They had some native grass pasture for livestock