I just finished a book titled The Time It Never Rained by Elmer Kelton. The story centers on a very independent rancher in Texas who in the early 1950's refused all government programs of assistance to feed his cattle and sheep, while his neighbors readily accepted help. He had built his ranch to be a sizable, profitable operation when an unrelenting drought settled in. As the story progresses he is forced to whittle down the numbers of livestock and acreage to stay solvent.
A while back I copied a quotation that appeared in the movie Braveheart: Uncompromising men are easy to admire - but compromising men get things done. As I read the book, I thought that fit the main character well. While the community admired him for his independence, they also thought he was not being very smart by refusing some assistance.
The scenes of sheep shearing especially rang true for me as they brought back lots of memories. The main character got extremely irritated when a young man with the shearing crew took hold of a clippers and made lots of bleeding cuts on the ewe's hide. A good shearer does a clean job. I can remember the differences in the shearers Dad used to hire, some were easy on the sheep, and some really cut them up.
Elmer Kelton, the author, is a man I would like to have met. He knew the agricultural industry and because of his career as an ag reporter with a newspaper, he also knew how to write, and write well. He died a couple of years ago and was held in high esteem by the Western Writers of America. In a poll of the organization's membership he was voted number one as the best western author, and the book, The Time It Never Rained, as the fourth best western novel.
An article of remembrance praising Kelton appeared in the Western Writers of America magazine. One of the quotes from admirers stated, "He gave us the real West of stockmen with mulehead horses, wild-hair bulls, broken fences, stove-up hands, the day-in, day-out hard work of cowboying, nutty neighbors - all of it, comic, human, heart-touching.
An article of remembrance praising Kelton appeared in the Western Writers of America magazine. One of the quotes from admirers stated, "He gave us the real West of stockmen with mulehead horses, wild-hair bulls, broken fences, stove-up hands, the day-in, day-out hard work of cowboying, nutty neighbors - all of it, comic, human, heart-touching.
