Neff, John C.

English

University of New Mexico

New Mexico Quarterly
Volume 7 | Issue 2 Article 11
1937
A Visit to Kiowa Ranch
John C. Neff
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Neff, John C.. "A Visit to Kiowa Ranch." New Mexico Quarterly 7, 2 (1937). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol7/iss2/11
isit to Kiowa Ranch
By JOHN C. NEFF
I AM. NOT a nativ of New Mexico, nor do I live there. Butfrom my hom back here in Ohio I pass many hours
thinking about th long weeks I've' known in the Sangre de '
Cristos packing fo four hundred miles, and the months I've
spent on the 'flats s uth of Las Vegas.in roundup time. There
are many tales to e told, but today there stands in my mind
the picture of my .sit to Kiowa Ranch far ~boveTaos where
I went to visit Mr~. D. H. Lawrence.
During two ~ evious winters, I,had come to know John
Middleton Murry, c awrence's friend of the early years, now
a brilliant man 0 letters. He would always have me tell
what little I could about New Mexico and the country from
which Lawrence g t so much. He wanted. to know about the
Indians and the,irreblos and the sun setting over the Jemez
Range and the sm I of wood coming through the air at night.
But like every ma who has not seen the land, he was only
half i~pressed. e will never know "what tied Lawrence
there until he see it for himself. Two years ago, when he
learned that I wa going to spend the summer near Santa
Fe, he begged me 0 visit Mrs. Lawrence and bring her his
best wishes.
That I did, th ugh I wasn't sure that I had any right to
,.go calling at a ho se I didn't even know. When I arrived in
Taos from Santa, e one morning I began to get cold feet.
Almost, I wanted' 0 chuck the whole business. But when I
thought of the hu' dreds of miles I'd come for just this hour,
I shoved aside a~lmY inhibitions and walked boldly into a
store to inquire t way to Kiowa Ranch. 'A young German
woman ove,rhear me and came to my assistance. ' "You
go up, up, up all he way," she said, ,Hand the road is terri-
ble. But she'll b~' appy to sea you, with your greeting from
Murry."
[ 116] ,
f
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Neff: A Visit to Kiowa Ranch
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..
A VISIT TO !<IOWA RANCH [ 117
This was a good start. I didn't concern myself about
how terrible the road might be, 'but I was glad of the encour-
agement in the Germa:n woman's voice. Past-the road to the
Taos Pueblo I drove, and up and over the long winding road
to Arroyo Hondo. The sky was a brilliant onel and the sun
was very warmf Almost to Cristobal I went, and then turned
off in the,direction of the mountains, following the sign
pointing to "Brett.·" The private road was bad. It was so
miserable my car bounded from rock to rock, just missing
. the springy juniper branc.hes. The twists and turns made
the going hard, but in what seemed no time at all I found
myself at the end of the drive.
. There was the house. A lOng, low place with a gabled
metal ~oof and fine colored shutters. A magnificent view
of the westward-sweepirigcountry spread before it, with the
mountains rising strong behind it. Little wonder why Law-
rence ioved the place. Or why he loved to stand and watch
the sun melt into the little gap 'Where the road goes down
toward Santa Fe. Or why he yearned to be back there dur-
ing his last months in far away Europe. I had for many
years been familiar with the beauties of New Mexico and
had accordingly thought I understood Lawrence's love for
the land. But not until I saw the view from Kiowa Ranch
and the house itself did I fully realize what held him to the
country and what in his last years made him say: "I think
New Mexico was the greatest eX'perience from the outside
world that I have ever had."
But there was no one on the porch, and the house seemed
empty. I found a little bell near the portico and was about
to ring when some one called out, "Come in f"
A dark short Italian stood near the door 'of what I pre-
sumed was the kitchen. He bowed, asking wh~t I wanted.
When I told him, he spoke to some one I couldn'fsee, someone
beyond. the door. In Italian he said, "A young stranger
wants to see you." A woman's'voice in gutteral Italian an-
swered him. "Have him come m." And then the man swept
his arm in the direction of the wall beyond the door. Step-
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New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 7 [1937], Iss. 2, Art. 11
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118 ] T keNJW ME Xl CO' QUA R T E R 1- y
ping inside and t+ng.to the right, I saw'sprawled outTen a
bed a large, reddi h, smiling woman. It was Frieda ~aw­
renee, looking mu h older than I had expected to find her.
She was wearing a long print dress and a colored apron.
She greeted me ho pitably, hut when I mentioned that Mid-
dleton Murry had sked'me to se~ her, she jumped from the
l! bed and cried: " ch! Murry! !Yes? Murry! You know
hi 1'" im. ·
..-. . I ..
The ice was b oken. Mrs. Lawrence was all smiles. Her
lips stretched acr ss her face, and she hurried about the
room to bring a ~h ir for me. All th~ while she carried on a
conversation abou Murry and his visits to America. How
was he? Would y u describe him? What does he think of
America'? Sudde ly she went across th~~room. "Ach! Will
you have some of y wine! It is very good." And without
waiting for an an wer, she poured me a long glass and made
me sit by the tabl with the man who was glancing through
a copy of an Italila newspaper. The table was covered with
a red and white c eckered cloth, and there was a large bowl
of fresh dark ch rries and another filled with cakes and
cookies. I sat the e with them eating and drinking and talk-
ing as though the had known me'all their lives. It had been
the most comfort ble entry into a strange house I'd ever
made. The Italil spoke with Mrs. Lawrence in his own lan- .
guage. He wante to knqw what Murry I ~as talking about.
When he was told it was Middleton Murry who had brought
about my visit, h was satisfied and sank back into his chair
. • C
with the paper.
But Mrs. La renee had been ill that winter and was
easily tired. Sh went back to her bed and stretched out
again, still talkiIi about Murry. Presently she began' on
Lawrence, always using his last name. She told h,9w he loved
the Indians' and t ei~ dances, how he used to go down to the
pueblos and sit i the sun to watch them dance. How he
used to stand on: e porch of the house and watch the glow-
ing sun sink dee behind the far mountains. And then she
, .
would exclaire ~n erman and laugh. Sometimes her words
. .
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Neff: A Visit to Kiowa Ranch
Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1937
A VISIT TO KIOWA RANCH [119 -
came sharp and quick, but there was always a twinkle in her
eyes that made me laugh with her. She seemed the easiest
person on earth to get on with. t
In a little while the Italian got up and left the house. But
she would not' hear of my; going, "after how· far you've
come !" We, were not alone long, though, for soon her daugh-
ter and son-in-law who were visiting from England came in.
Naturally, they were interested in hearing about Murry's
lectures in this country and-how they had been received. We
talked about American colleges, contrasting them and com:'
paring them with Cambridge and Oxford. They seemed to
object to our system of education and our noticeable lack, as
they put it, of worthwhile scholarships. TheAmericans
were wonderful people, but oh so slow. The hundreds and
hundreds of colleges, what did they mean? Too much same-
ness, too similar. Their graduates were so slow in grasping·
the real significance of a situation, they so easily misunder- .
stood. They' were thick like oil. '
This' brought Mrs. Lawrence int~ the conversation
again. She put out a cigarette and began. "You must never
read Lawrence while you are young. Too many young people
read him, and they do not know what he is saying. It is so
difficult, then, to explain to them what he is saying. You must
have had experiences and bitter tastes of life before you can
read him with intelligence." And she would- smile and laugh
in her jolly way. "'He was such a great man."
The sOR-in-Iaw interrupted to ask if I'd.. read Sons and
Lovers. He thought, along with the rest of England, that it
was his best book. But Mrs. Lawrence broke.in, saying, "No,
no, you must read The Plumi3d Serpent.· All of Lawrence is
-, .
in that book.' Two years he spent writing it, one winter in
Chapala and the next winter in Oaxaca." I admitted that-
though I liked the earlier "book b;nmensely, I thought The
Plumed Serpent more significant. Sometimes while we were
talking, I had chance to look about the room. It was like an
old kitchen I had once seen in Munich. There were gaily col-
,
ored plates on racks along the 'walls.. Huge pots and pans
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New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 7 [1937], Iss. 2, Art. 11
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.120 ] The N ~ w M E X leo QUA R T E R L Y "
hung in the corner ear the stove, and lively curtains were ,at
the small windows The daughter came round and filled our
glasses with more eep red wine and passed the brown crock'
of cookies. T~~ss~peoPle were hospitable to their finger
tips. But I could ot wear out my welcome. Through the
open door that 10 ed down toward Taos, I could see great
dark clouds han ,ng low over the mountains. A storm
would be coming u· at the end of the afternoon. I thought of
tlie miserable roa back to the highway. It was time to
leave.
As Mrs. Law nce walked with me to the gate, the wind
caught stray ends f her fine long hair and whipped it across
her face. Her ap on sailed out in front of her and her eyes
grew bright'in th'·cooling air. When I turned to bid her
good-bye, her real 'haracter seemed to come to me. She was
standing on a litt e knoll near the gate and her head was
dipped toward th lowering sun. The sun glowing on her
made her a radian ly handsome middle-aged woman. But it '
struck me that she was at once very much like a small happy
child and a woma~ of wide wisdom. Her eyes were twin-
kling and her mo -th laughing, swallowing and laug~ing in
turns. She raised her arm high above her head and -waved
her hand vigorOUSlY. "Good-bye, hmmm, good-bye. .It was
good of you to co . Good-bye !" .
.,
5
Neff: A Visit to Kiowa Ranch
Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1937


A Visit to Kiowa Ranch

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A Visit to Kiowa Ranch

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