Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-03
THREE DREAMS IN A DESERT,

AS I travelled across an African plain
the sun shone down holly. Then
drew my horse up under a mimosa-
tree, and | took the saddle from him
and left him to feed among the parched
bushes. And all to right and left
stretched the brown earth. And I sat
down under the tree because the heat
beat tiercely. and all along the horizon
the air throbbed. And after while a
heavy drowsiness came over me, and
laid my head down against my sad
die, and l fell asleep there. And in
my sleep | had curious dream.
| thought [ stood on the border of a
great desert, and the sand blew about
everywhere. And | thought | saw
two great figures like beasts of burden
of the desert, and one lay upon the
sand with its neck stretched out, and
one stood by it. And [ looked curl
ously at the one that lay upon the
ground, for it had a great burden on
its back. and the sand was thick about
it, so that it seemed to have piled over
it for centuries.
And | looked very curiously at it.
And there stood one beside me watch
ing. And | said to him, ''What is this
huge creature who lies on the sand?n
And he said, This is woman; she
that bears men in her body"
And | said, why does she lie here
motionless with the sand piled around
her?"
And he answered, "Listen, I will tell
you! Ages and ages long she has lain
The oldest, Oldest man living has never
seen her move; the oldest, oldest book
records that she lay here then, as she
lies here now, with the sand about her.
But listen! Older than the oldest
book, older than the oldest recorded
memory of man, on the rocks of Lam
guage, on the hard-baked clay of
Ancient Custom, now crumbling to
decay, are found the marks of her foot
steps! Side by side with his who stands
beside her you may trace them: and
you know that she who now lies there
once wondered free over the rocks with
him."
And I said, ''Why does she lie there
nowpn
And he said, II take it, ages ago the
Age of dominion of muscular-force
found her, and when she stopped low
to give suck to her young, and her
back was broad, he put his burden Of
Subsection on to it, and tied it on with
the broad band of Inevitable Necessity.
Then she looked at the earth and the
sky, and knew there was no hope for
her; and she lay down on the sand
with the burden she could not loosen.
Ever since she has lain here. And the
ages have come and the ages have
gone, but the band of Inevitable Neces-
sity has not been cut"
And / looked and saw in her eyes
the terrible patience of the centuries;
the ground was wet with her tears, and
her nostrils blew up the sand.
And l said, Has she ever tried to
move?"
Aud he said, Sometimes limb has
quivered. But she is wise; she knows
she cannot rise with the burden on
her.
And | said, ''Why does not he who
stands by her leave her and 90 on?'
And he said, He cannot. Look
n
And 1 saw a broad band passing
along the ground from one to the 9TH
er, and it bound them together.
He SAID, "While she lies there he
must stand and look across the desert "
And | said, Does he know why he
cannot move?h
And he said, mo"
And | heard sound of something
cracking, and | looked and [ saw the
band that bound the burden on to he1
back broken asunder; and the burden
rolled on the ground.
And | said, What is this?"
And he said, The Age-of-muscular.
force is dead. The Age-of-nervous
force has killed him with the knife he
held in his hand; and silently and in
visibly he has crept up to the woman
and with that knife of Mechanical In
vention he has cut the band that bounC
the burden to her back. The Inevita
bic Necessity is broken. She might
rise now
And | saw that she still lay motion
less on the sand, with her eyes oper
and her neck stretched out. And she
seemed to look for something on the
far-off border of the desert that never
came. And | wondered if she were
awake or asleep. And as l looked hel
body quivered, and light came int
her eyes, like when a sunbeam break
into dark room.
| said, What is it?''
He whispered, Hush! the though
has come to her, Might l not rise?'n
And l looked. And she raised he
head from the sand, and | saw the den
where her neck had lain so long
And she looked at the earth, and sh,
looked at the sky, and she looked a
him who stood by her; but he looked
out across the desert.
And saw the body CULVER; and sh
pressed her front knees to the earth
and her veins stood out; and l cried
''She is going to rise!'
But only her sides heaved. and sh
lay still where she was.
But her head she held up; she di
not lay it down again. And he besid