*Writer's Corner


Just for fun, a salute to all the writers in the family.  Let's see some poetry, articles, book reviews or references to printed work by Towse relations.  

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"The Old Ranch House"  verse by Chet Dawson about WW Towse's ranchhouse in Chivington, Colorado

List of books authored by Ed. Towse

Poetry and Stories by Steve Naylor on his homepage:   Click here



The following poem was written by Chet Dawson, about returning to the homestead of his grandparents, Walter William and Eunice Griffen Towse, in Chivington, Colorado, where Chet grew up. The house no longer stands. I was there about 1989 with my grandfather (Chet's brother), Charles Dawson. No more windows like "vacant eyes"; just a foundation and a chimney---but still there are memories, and cool clear water in the trough. Among other things, Chet was an adventurer and published cowboy poet. Author of A Cowboy's Forty Years of Gathering Cruse Publishing Co, 1964.  This poem was published in "Horse Lovers' Magazine"

The Old Ranch House

by Chet Dawson



This old ruined house was once a home built by pioneers;
Home of a frontier couple spending their sunset years;
A home where love, peace, success and plenty did prevail,
With friendly open door to travelers on the trail.
Placed in a verdant valley, unspoiled since time began;
A land as God had made it, unmarred by hand of man.
Here a boy rode his stick horse in furious pursuit
Of Indians, buffalo and men of ill repute.
Sometimes he played the sheriff, often e was a scout;
Here held mighty round-ups with the chickens put to rout.
At times he rode his charger with manner proud and bold
In search of high adventure as did the knights of old.
REAL KNIGHTS IN LEATHER ARMOR rode in to spend a night
And swap old tales with Grandpa, much to a boy's delight,
Exciting stories of days when not so long ago
This was the land of Red Men and herds of buffalo.
Here with some regret, a boy laid his stick horse aside
And upon a real saddle mounted horses learned to ride
Through an unfenced sea of grass, a virgin Golden West,
And with a crimson sunset return to home and rest;
To lie out in a hammock; watch the lamps light in the sky,
Dreaming those dreams which only boys can dream and wonder, WHY?
This house now with vacant eyes stares at a barren plain;
Hills ravished by the wind gods, a land of little rain;
Playground of the whirlwinds where dust devils do devise
New ways to torture Mother Earth and new sand hills rise.
Now, no more do meadow larks sing gaily on the wing,
Nor Little People play among wild flowers in the spring;
No more does the Lordly Monarch of the grassy lain
With his harem and their calves come grumbling down the lane
To water; to drink and drink again; to doze and laze
And then content, return to an unfenced range to graze.
Did then some Mystic Red Man by injustice so provoked
Upon this land once his a solemn curse invoked
Against the paleface; iron shod Killer of the Grass;
Denying dream of empire, and has it come to pass?
It is well I think, the Old Ones did not live to see
Children scattered to the winds, a heritage not to be;
This valley wherein they built so well, with so much trust
In future hopes, their works lie perishing in the dust.
Old landmarks gone, vanished all, only this house does stand
With mem'rys, when I was young in this once lovely land.

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Ed. Towse, besides being a prolific newspaper reporter in Wyoming and Hawaii, was also a writer.

The following books can be found at the University of Hawaii Manoa Library:

Lodge le progres de l'oceanie 1841--transcript by Edward Towse, PM, Cover title: Le Tellier's Lodge Mercantile Printing Co 1924. Honolulu.

The Rebellion of 1895--a complete history of the insurrection against the Republic of Hawaii. Hawaiian Star 1895

Japan: Era of Peace Through Justice. Mercantile Press, limited edition of 150 copies

Some Hawaiians Abroad. In Hawaiian Historical papers, no. 11

A Visit to the Volcano. A Chronicle of a round trip on the SS Kinau...through Hilo Forest...Kilauea Crater...Hawaiian Star 1896.



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