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Texas Fathers Tell Tall Texas Tales

Father's Day always brings back "Tall Texas Tales" told us by our fathers and grandfathers.

My father, Raymond Rose, used to tell stories about his great-uncle Noah Hamilton Rose. Noah lived in Texas from l874 to l952, and was a noted Texas photographer and publisher of The Album of Gunfighters. According to Noah Rose, pictures of such outlaws as Jesse and Frank James, Billy the Kid, Belle Starr, Jim and Bob Younger, and the Dalton gang were most in demand. Following closely in popularity were pictures of the Texas Rangers, Indians, and pioneers. He eventually collected over 2,000 images. With his childhood friend John Marvin Hunter, Noah Rose published the Album in l951 and it first went on sale at Joske's department store in downtown San Antonio right near the Alamo Plaza. His collection of photographs was sold and is currently in the collection of the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Of course, behind every picture is a story. What good is a picture without an exciting story to go with it, right? Storytelling is an art form as old as humanity itself. The main entertainment around Texas campfires since the dawn of time and more recently expressed in books, movies, and even video games, the old-fashioned art of storytelling is part of gatherings around the globe.

Who better to keep story-telling alive than us--the good ole Texas fathers and grandfathers? In Denton, Texas, every spring, the art of the story is brought to life at the annual Texas Storytelling Festival. "Story-telling is a legacy we have for our children," says the festival director. "There's an old African-American saying: 'You're not dead till your name and your story are forgotten.' So we keep the story alive." Thursday night offers ghost tales, Friday night the Late Night Liars Club, Saturday is war stories, and Sunday morning features sacred tales. The festival even includes prose and poems about life here in the great State of Texas. Here are some story poems that I as a Texas father and now grandfather wrote and dedicate to my son, Richard Douglas Rose, and grandson, Brennan Alan Hosford.

"IT AIN'T BRAGGIN'"

Every Texan likes to boast

It's the TEXAS thing to do--

But before you accuse us falsely

"It ain't Braggin'"--if it's true!

Texas has a lot to boast about

From bluebonnets to the Alamo too;

So if you hear me braggin'--

"It ain't Braggin'"--it's Texas TRUE!

"A TEXAS TREE TALKS"

There's an ancient old Texas pecan tree

If it could talk, it would boast many tales to tell;

Now it stands quiet--a new sprawling mall built

Within yards of its Texas trunk--

Passers-by still stop to rest in its ancient shade--

But no one will ever know what the pecan tree knows--

Because it will never, never ever tell!

"CHURCH IN THE LONE STAR BAR"

(A true Texas Tale)

The Cowboy Preacher was a-preachin'

His round face rumpled and red--

"Now lay those pistols down here, boys,

Cuz we're havin' church in here," he said.

The Texas Lone Star Bar grew quiet.

"OK, now, stop--we're goin' to pray--

O Lord," said the Cowboy Preacher,

"Touch this bunch of bad boys today.

"These guys say we don't need a church-house

But we know--that You think they do--

So right now, God--I'll give a hunnerd bucks

And I know all these cowboys will too!

Lord, you know my horse is fast and furious

And I'm real handy with raw cowboy ropes--

So make these fellas mighty generous, Lord

As I pass my hat past these tipsy cow-pokes."

Soon the offering was Texas Lone Star history

The boys at gunpoint their best buck did give

That's how Pecos City got a new church-house

"The Lord taketh away and the Lord doth give!"

Douglas Rose
Grand Prairie, Texas
Published: November 14, 2005