A member of the Texas A&M University Press Consortium

McMurry University, Box 637

Abilene, Texas 79697

(325) 793-4697 Fax: (325) 793-4754

 

A fine reading experience that will bring back memories,  both happy and sad, for anyone who has ever lived on a ranch,  and for those who never did, it will show them what they missed. – Elmer Kelton

 

What I Learned on the Ranch

And other Stories from a West Texas Childhood

James Bruce Frazier

Foreword by Donald S. Frazier

ISBN 1-893114-43-0  $18.00 cloth

LC 2003018522

5x7. 160 pgs.  4 b&w photos.

Texas History. Folklore. Ranching.

            Despite the Depression, James Bruce Frazier spent the best years of his childhood on the Cross Ell Ranch just west of Big Spring. Years later, as he reflected on those days, he began writing down the experiences he had, the people he met, the lessons he learned. 

            The stories were passed along to his children and then to his grandchildren and then his great-grandchildren. Frazier died in 1989 at the age of sixty-six, but his stories are as vivid and fresh and colorful as the day he wrote them. His stories touch all the emotions, making the reader laugh out loud one moment as he recalls his first haircut and fight back tears as he tells about his pet riding calf.

            The author proves himself to be more than just a good storyteller. He finds in the experiences important truths, morals, and meanings that are as valid today as they were then. 

           

As a child, James Bruce Frazier lived on the Cross Ell Ranch just west of Big Spring from 1927 until 1934 or 1935, but it would be the place in his heart for all of his sixty-six years. He died in 1989. Donald S. Frazier, who wrote the foreword for What I Learned on the Ranch, is a professor of history at McMurry University and President and CEO of the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation. He is pleased that the McWhiney Foundation Press was able to publish his father’s stories so that children everywhere can know what it was like to grow up in West Texas during that time period.

 

For More Information about the book, contact McWhiney Foundation Press managing editor Carlyn Kahl at 325-793-4697 or ckahl@mcm.edu

 

McWhiney Foundation Press is a member of the Texas A&M University Press Consortium and is operated by the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation in Abilene, Texas.  For further information on McWhiney Foundation Press books, please contact Carly Kahl at (325) 793-4697, by e-mail at ckahl@mcm.edu or visit the web, www.tamu.edu/upress/MCWHINEY/mcgen.html

 

Print media: We would appreciate a tear sheet of your review.

 

 

What people are saying about What I Learned on the Ranch:

 

". . . enchanting."—East Texas Historical Journal

 

Occasionally a book comes along that is hard to put down. . . . If you want a charming little book to enjoy over and over, get a copy. It would make a great book for a young reader or for someone who wants to read a good story."—Jerry Turner, Mexia Daily News

 

". . . simply wonderful reading from start to finish, from first page to last."—Midwest Book Review

 

". . . not only heartwarming, but . . . enjoyable."—Southwest BookViews

 

 

 

Excerpts from

What I Learned on the Ranch

 

Raggs

            When Raggs talked about his mother he would get serious and his blue eyes would puddle up with tears that spilled down his sunburned cheeks disappearing into his hairy face.

 

 

Snip

            Did I really own Snip, or did he just have a trained little boy? Not that it matters. We learned from each other, and maybe that is why every kid needs a horse sometime during his life.

 

 

The Riding Calf

            Riding Calf was smart as a dog, quickly learning new tricks. He could shake hands, kneel to say his prayers, roll over and play dead, and with one end of a rope around his neck, take part in skip-rope. I could ride sitting on him backwards, steering with his tail in my hand. The girls laughed and squealed to see us do that one.

 

 

If I Were Blind

            When you listen, there are pictures in sound all around us, more beautiful than symphonies played by an orchestra on a gilded stage.

 

 

The Jones Place

            The fire had taken everything they had, and still they would sleep in a new house that very night. It had been a good day because we liked ourselves better that night, and we loved our neighbors in a special way.

 

 

Ride Naked in the Moonlight

            Growing up on the ranch taught lessons not found in school, like the one I learned riding naked in the moonlight.

 

 

The Cross Ell Brand

            Cattle brands made an impression on more than the animals that wore them. They set the character of the country and gave folks something to be proud of. It didn’t have to be such a large ranch, just good, clean, and honest.