It Really Happened in East Texas

"The great mansion in which Bob Hayes lives and which he loves passionately, is the width and breadth of the pine hills about which he wrote and over which he traveled daily," according to the late E. B. Germany. He was the industrialist who helped build the steel mills and oil fields of East Texas and who knew the author intimately over long years of their association. The great love he holds for this area is manifested in the material gleamed here from the columns he wrote through his years as East Texas Bureau Chief of The Dallas News. His keen sense of humor, his insight into the minds of the people he loved, the joy he gained in living are all delineated in the compilation of articles as they appeared in The Dallas News through the years. Except for the prying eye of Robert M. Hayes, his insatiable curiosity, and his pleasure in meeting and talking with people, many of the captivating and delightful stories of his time and place would have been lost to posterity, and the people would have been poorer for it. Only in the inimitable manner of a dedicated story teller such as this could life and the people be made real and alive.