Happy Lummis Day
Charles Fletcher Lummis (1859-1928)
Charles Lummis
Charlie Lummis walked out from Ohio
Along the railroad tracks
There was a snow storm, broken arm
But he had to go
more than 3000 miles.
Down to LA
That’s where he’d stay
While working at the fledgling LA Times
Until a stroke
Would paralyze
A shoulder and the arm on his left side
He moved out to New Mexico to recuperate
He wrote about corruption
He kept his eyes wide open
As he rode the plaines
They sent a hit-man out
He found a home
With the pueblo
He live with them beside the Rio Grande
Until the man
Upon his trail
Shot a load of buckshot in his hide
But Charlie Lummis survived to write more books
Founded the Southwest Museum
Got a private troubadour
And he loved to cook
He built a house of stone
A bacchanal
El Alisal
He could not seem to keep it in his pants
He lost a wife
And then two more
He liked to watch the ladies when they danced
By the side of the 110
The trees are growing
By the side of the 110
El Alisal
By the side of the 110
The Lummis House
By the side of the 110
El Alisal
Charlie Lummis fought for the rights of man
And for the Spanish Mission
He called on Roosevelt as a childhood friend
To help the Indian
He lost his job
And then his health
Maybe he pushed too hard, was too intense
Ran out of cash
But in the end
The world and fields are bursting with his friends
By the side of the 110
The trees are growing
By the side of the 110
El Alisal
By the side of the 110
The Lummis House
By the side of the 110
El Alisal!
Charles F. Lummis Home & Garden
And a skillful wood worker. Somewhere I came across a photo of Lummis with John Muir