Wednesday, April 23, 1997
There's a barbarian in the library
CROSS PLAINS - One of the good things about this community
is its downtown library, which is housed in a former store.
More than 10,000 titles rest on the shelves here, a lot, I
think, for a town of 1,048 citizens. Through a cooperative agreement
with the Abilene Public Library, readers have access to even more
books.
When I walked into the library last week, the new librarian,
Cherry Shults, and Joan McCowan, a library board member, were
looking things over and trying to figure out how to make the library
even better.
For one thing, McCowan has agreed to loan the building next
door, which she owns, to the library for storage or for other
purposes as needed.
Secondly, the worn-out orange carpet and yellow bookshelves
are set to be replaced.
"I hate yellow shelves, and we're not having orange carpet
again either," McCowan said with determination.
Callahan County and the city contribute to the library, but
the library is owned and funded by a local group called Friends
of the Library, which sponsors book sales and collects donations.
The library is a pretty busy place during its operation hours
of 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
"We lend out about 30 to 70 books a day," Shults
said.
The library is now 18 years old. Before that, Cross Plains
had no public library.
One of the people who lived here when there was no library
was Robert E. Howard. Howard, you may recall, wrote "Conan
the Barbarian", many other books of that ilk, numerous westerns
and two or three volumes of poetry. Howard's books, and books
related to Howard, fill five of the library's shelves.
Howard lived in Cross Plains from the age of 13 to the age
of 30 when he committed suicide. His life there spanned the years
1919-1936. The white frame house where Howard lived with his physician
father and terminally ill mother is within half a mile of the
library. The house is the place where Howard wrote all of his
books and is where he died. It is on the National Registry of
Historic Places.
The Cross Plains Library owns Howard's original manuscripts.
"You can only touch them if you are wearing cotton gloves,"
McCowan said of the manuscripts.
Howard's fans still come to Cross Plains, especially during
Robert E. Howard Day, which will be held June 14 this year.
"I never did think much of his novels," McCowan said
as we thumbed through some of Howard's books. "But I think
his poetry is great."
POLO TALK
ALBANY - I wish I had been on the Musselman Brothers Lazy 5
Ranch when Polo on the Prairie players Tommy Lee Jones and Rob
Junell took time to climb down from their polo ponies to chat
with a few busloads of local school children about their sport.
That was Friday, the day before the actual event.
Jones, of course, is better known as a movie actor than polo
player, and Junell, of San Angelo, is better known as State Rep.
Junell.
"Hey! It was neat!" said Eastland Independent School
District Assistant Superintendent Donald Hughes, sounding like
a student himself.
Hughes said he went to the event with 100 sixth-graders from
Eastland Middle School. Also attending the preliminary matches
were students from St. John's Episcopal School in Abilene.
"The kids knew Tommy Lee Jones from the movie "Batman,"
Hughes said. "I tell you, the kids were all eyes and ears.
But they were well behaved too."
Jones and Junell fielded questions for about 15 minutes answering
questions about horses, mallets, rules, and officials.
By the way, I am told Saturday's Polo on the Prairie, which
benefited from perfect weather, was the most successful in its
11-year history. Co-chairman Henry and Melinda Musselman, and
Mary Ann McCloud think as many as 1,500 patrons may have crowded
under the big tent. This column covers the cities and communities
of this part of West Texas. To contact Ken Ellsworth, call (800)
588-6397 or (915) 673-4271, Ext. 381, or write to P.O. Box 30,
Abilene, TX 79604.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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