Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1860-01-19
sun to die among bis kindred, ending life

"Go and gamer all our suhstance;---we de-
part from out tho land"
Then they journeycd to the Desert with a
great and numerous train,
TO his old nomsdic instinct trusting life and
wealth again.
1t was now the sixth days journey, when
they met the moving sand, l.
On the great wind Of the Desert, driving
Ger that arid land;
And the air was red aud fervid with the
Simoom's fiery breath;-
None could see his nearest fellow In the
sitting blast of death. 1v.
Blinded men from prostrate camels piled the
stores to windward round,
And within the barrier berdeJ, on the hot,
unstable ground.
Two whole days the great wind lasted when
the living Of the train 'a .H r--~
From the hot drifts dug the camels aud re.
sumed their way again.
But the lines Of care grew deeper on the
masters swsrthy cheek,
While around the weakest tainted and the
strongest waxed weak;
And the water'skns were empty, and
silent murmur ran r-I
From the faint, bew ildered servants through
the struggling csravan:--
"Let the land we left be blessed!--thst to
which we 60, sccurst!--
From our pleasant wells Of water came we
here 10 die of thirst!"
But the master stilled the murmur with his
stesdfast, quiet eye:--
"God is great" he said, devou,ly, ,-'when
He wills it, we shall de-"
AS he spake, he swept the Desert with his
vision clear and calm,
And along the far horizon saw the green
crest OF the plsm.
Man and beast, with weak steps quckened,
hssted to the lonely well,
And around it, faint and painting, in CRATE
fu tumult fell.
Many days they stayed and rested and amidst
his fer,ent prayer
Abdel.ilussan poudereh deeply that strange
bonu ~hlcn he Id MIN there.
Then there came an aged stranger, Journey
Ing with his caravan;
And when each had each sauted, Abdel-
Hussan thus began:--
"Knowest thou this well of water, lies it
on the travelled wuysl"
And be answered." From the highway thou
art distant many days.
sWhere thou seest this wei OF W aterwhere
these thorns and pllm.trees stand,
Once the Desert swept unbroken in waste
OF burning sand
There was neither life nor he:bage. no,
drop Of water lay,
All along the arid valley where thou scest
this well day.
"S xty years have wrought their changes
since man Of wealth and pride,
With his servants and his camels, here
amidst his riches, died.
"As we journeyed Ger the Desert, dead be-
meath the blazing sky,
Here saw them, beasts and masters, in O
comlnon burial lio;
"Thirty men and eighty camels did the
shrouding sand nfold,
And we gathered up their treasure, spices,
precious stones, and gold;
Then we heuped the sand above them. and
beneath the burning sun,
With friendly care we finished what the
winds had well begun.
"Still hold that masters treasure, and his
record, and his name; ..'
Long waited for his kindred but no kind
red ever came.
"Time, who beareth all things onword .hih'
er bore our steps again,
When around this spot we're. scattered
whitened bones OF beasts and meni
"And from out the heaving hillocks of the
mingled sand mould ), -.
Lo! the little palms were spripglng, which
to-day are great and old.
"From the shrubs We held the camels; for
felt that life of man,
Breaking to new forms Of being, through
that tender herbage ran. .
"In the graves of men and camels long the
dates unheeded lay,
Till their germs of life commanded larger
life from that decay;
Sand the falling dows, arrested, nourished
every tender shoot,
While beneath, the hidden mois ture gather.
ed TO each wandering root
$50 they grew; and have watched them,
as we journeyed, year by year;
And we digged this well beneath them,
where thou seest it, fresh and clear.
"Thus from waste and loss and sorrow still
are joy and beauty born,
Like tho fruitage Of these palm trees and
the blossom OF the thorn;
"Lfe from death, and good from eyil!-irom
that buried caravan
Springs the lifeto save the living, many
weak. dsspsiring man."
As he ended, Abdel- Hassan, quiverinp
through his aged frame,
A Ask cd in acrants slnw and hroLan .,K,..,