San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-09-02
THE son OF THE SHEIK.

Inc smell OF the warm slime on the Jellffe
river and the sweet, heavy and sickening
odor that exhaled into the unspeakable
heat of the desert air from the punches of
dead and scorched water reeds is with me
yet; also the sight of the long stretch of
dry mud bank, rising by shallow and barely
perceptible degrees TO the edge of the desert
sands, and thus disclosed by the shrinkage
of the Jeliffe during the hot months. Ha!
| can remember just how those mud banks
looked. They were very broad and very
black - except where they touched the
desert, and there the sand had sifted over
them in light, transparent sprinklings-
and in rapidly drying under the sun of the
Sahara had cracked and warped into thou
sands of tiny concave cakes that looked for
all the world like little saucers in which
Indian ink has been mixed. or you are an
artist, as was Thevenot, you will the better
understand this.)
Then there was the reach of the desert
that drew off on either hand, and that
rolled away, ever so gently, toward the
place where the hollow sky dropped out of
sight behind the shimmering horizon,
swelling grandly and gradually like some
mighty breast, which, painting for breath
in the horrible heat, had risen in final
gasp, and had then, in the midst of it, sud
denly stiffened and become rigid, while on
this colorless bosom of the desert, where
nothing stirred but the waxing light in
the morning and the waning light in the
night, lay tumbled red and gray rocks,
with thin drifts of sand in their riffs and
crevices and gray-green cacti squatting or
sprawling in their blue shadows. And
there was nothing mOre-nOthing, moth
ing. nOthing-eXcept the appalling heat
and the maddening silence.
And in the midst of it alive.
Now, I'VE" broadly and generally speak
ing, were the small right wing of General
Pawtrot's division of the African service
speaking less broadly and less generally
we" were the advance guard of said divis-
ION. and speaking in the narrowest and
most particular sense I'VE" were the party
of war correspondents, specials, extras, art
It's, etc, who were accompanying said ad-
vance guard of said wing of said army of
said service for reasons herein to be set
forth
As the long, fat. black scow of the COM
missariat went crawling up the torpid
river, with the advance guard struggling
along upon the right, eve" lay upon the
deck under the shadow of the scow's avn
ing and talked and drank kouscoussow.
forget now what had led up to it, but
Ponscarne had said that the Arabs were
patriotic, when Bah Azzoun cut in and said
something which ! shall repeat as soon as
have told you about Bah Azzoun himself.
Briefly, then, Bah Azzoun had been born
twenty-nine years before this time at
Tlemcen, of Kabyle parents-his papa was
a sheik-had been transplanted to France
at the age of ten, and had fOurished there
in a truly remarkable manner. He had
graduated fifth from the POlytechnique;
he had written books that had been "cour.
rounees par PAcademie:" he had become
naturaIized he had been prominent in
politics-no one can cut a wide swath in
Paris in anything without hitting against
Ia politique, he had occupied important pc
sitiOns in two embassies; he was a diplO-
mat OF no mean qualities; he had lots of
influence, he dressed in faultless French
fashion. he had owned Crusader; he had
lost money on him: he had applied to the
government for the office of "Souschef DIES
bureaux-Arabes dams POran," in order to
recoup. he had obtained it; he had come
OIL with ''us," and WAS now on this, his
first visit TO his fatherlaud since his tenth
year. on his way to his post.
VOLTA Bah AzZOun.
And when Ponscarine had spoken thus
about the patriotism of the Arabs, Bah
AzZuun made him answer, THE Arabs are
not sufficiently educated to be true pa
triOts
"Bahp' said SantandeT, "a man does not
require to be educated in order to be
patriot. And, indeed, the rudest nations
have ever been the most devOtedly patri
otto
Yes" said Bah AzICun, but it is a
narrow and II very selfish patriotism.
Il can't see that" put in POnscarine. "A
patriot is like an egg-he is either good or
bad There is no such thing as a good |
enough egg; there is no such thing rs a |
good enough patriot if a man is one at |
all, he is ii perfect one"
I agree answered Bah Azzoun. yet |
patriotism can he more or less narrow.
Listen and will eXplain''-he raised him |
self from the deck on his elbow, and ges- |
tured with the amber mouthpieca of his I
chibOuk. "ln looking backward upon the ]
gradual development of patriotism in the |
minds Of men since the days when they /
first hogan to band together, you can see |
It pass through five very distinct stages |
Patriotism, first, was but love of family
OF parents and kindred, but then as the /
family grows aud expands into the tribe,
It, too-as merely large family-becomes |
the object of affection, of patriotic devo-
ton This is the second stage-the stage
of the tribe, the clan, the gems; men call
themselves of the Gothic tribe, of the Clan
Chattan, of the Gems Fabianus. In the
third stage the tribe has sought protection
behind the Enclosure of walls. 1t is the
age. of cities, patriotism is the devotion
to the city. Men are Athenians ere
Grecians. Romans ere Italians, Carthagin-
lans ere Africans. In the next period pa