'The Kansas Dream' - Rediscovered poem provides glimpse into history of Kansas prohibition

Found at the Lawrence Antique Mall, this old, stained book of poems holds the thoughts and ideas of Nathan Franklin “Frank” Horrell, along with different historical events as seen through his eyes, all told through poetry. Frank was a Kansas farmer who, according to his obituary, was a life-long Douglas County resident who was born on November 26, 1878, dying just a couple weeks shy of his 88th birthday on November 12, 1966 in Ottawa, Kansas.

“He was graduated from Baldwin High School in 1900 and was poet of his class,” Frank’s obituary reads. “This interest in writing poetry continued throughout his life. His poetry community, politics, church, reflected his interest in his home, economics and world. Several are humorous.”

The Dedication in the front of the book is to Frank’s late son, Virgil Horrell, who died a few months before Frank in January. The Dedication reads:

“Frank Horrell’s lifelong desire was to have his poems published in book form. Throughout the years many of his poems have been printed in Douglas County papers. They will be familiar to his friends who enjoyed reading them and have requested that they be published in book form.

“This book, published after his death in 1966, is a memorial to his life and work.

–C & RH”

The book, copyrighted in 1967, was split into ten sections: Poems of the church, poems of the grange, poems of school, poems of history, poems of philosophy, poems of patriotism, poems of humor, poems of farm life, poems of comments of the times, and poems of seasons and weather.

One poem, titled, ‘The Kansas Dream’, found in the section, ‘Poems of Comments of the Times’, provides a glimpse into Kansas prohibition as seen through the eyes of Frank–a poem that is noted in the book to have been set to music and sung in Lawrence.

The Kansas Dream

Our fathers dreamed in the days of yore
Of a place they called “Out West”.
A place where the sunflowers love to grow
And the prairie hen built her nest.
They longed for the home of the pioneer
On the bank of the winding stream.
A place where folks had room to grow–
And that was the Kansas dream.

They came with hearts full of faith and trust
And a courage ever new.
They built a state where the boys and girls
Could rise to the ideals true.
They outlawed drink with it’s ugly brood
Of all things low and mean.
They sought for youth the larger life
And that is the Kansas dream.

We see our state by crime assailed
And liquor creeping in.
We wage the battle for the right
The victory we must win.
O hearts still loyal to the flag
And the dream our fathers knew
Remember when you cast your vote
It all depends on YOU.

Kansas has had prohibition of alcohol since 1880, being the first state in the United States to enact statewide constitutional prohibition. Lasting longer than any other state, prohibition in Kansas lasted from 1881 to 1948. Frank, having lived from the age of 2 years old to about 70 years old in a prohibition state, likely believed prohibition to be a good thing, reflecting a more positive take on it as seen in the poem where he describes alcohol with words like “ugly brood” and “all things low and mean”. He makes it seem as though the prohibition of alcohol was part of the reason Kansas was good, stating in the poem that “boys and girls could rise to the ideals true” and that by doing this, those that built the state “sought for youth the larger life”.

Frank was buried in the Sutton Cemetery in Baldwin City, Kansas, next to his late wife, Florence, who passed in 1948.