Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-11-11
Tie WHITE DEA1H.
A Living Panorama of the Ever Moving
~ t-.. sand Hills,

.H sanu
The White Death is naked, gleam-
ing, shifting flood Of sand, moving ever
inland from the ocean shore inch by
inch, foot by foot, in huge white waves
of glistening grit ineXorable as fate,
silent as the grave, swallowing and de-
stroying everything that lies before it
in its way The wind blows the shift
ing surface up'the crest of each tewer-,
ing wave and over the edge in a spark
ling. mist Beyond the crest the dry
mist falls, and so the wave moves stead
lily, resistlessly forward, enveloping all
things in a universal white Standing
at the edge of marshy fiat, the, eye
looks far away across the levelof coarse
sedge-grass to the white line of the
sand hills and the black line of pine
woods in the distance Here and there
the fiat is lush. and green, where shall
low lakes, blooming with. white lilies
and blue arrow-heads, battle the arid
soil; here and there it is burned yellow
and brown, where the hot, smooth sand,
stretching in from the ocean shore,
drinks up water and life, and leaves all
dead. That level fiat, reaching far away
into the distance, is like the plane Of
life one has to traveE the black streak
of gloomy pine woods is the Valley of
Shadows, and the white waving line of
sand is "a likeness of Death; andas in
real life, so here-ncither death nor its
shadow looks sinister from suchia dis
tance.s "i.l i'. t.'f @l,. t
To travel across the level fat is a
mimic image of the journey Of life.
The, lakes, so pretty in the distance, are
muddy, and smell rank and dank to the
nostrils; they are full of tadpoles and
lizards and crawling things. Here and
there little deserts of arid sand are
passed; they burn the soles, of the feet,
and scorch the face with a reflected
glare, and mosquitoes rise in clouds,
like petty troubles, to bite and sting.
There quicksands under the feet where
the grass looks the freshest and the
greenest, and hiding the dead levels of
sand, mirage covers the desolation
with soulless sheet of visionary water.
First come the hot black shadows
the shadows OF the pines--and then the
| foothills as it were of death. All is
breathless silence, except for the Shrek
ing of the fsh-hawk high in the air.
and the strange mysterious whispering
of the ceasclessly moving and shifting
sand. Here and there stark gray tree
trunk, already dead in the clutch of the
oncoming death, reaches helpless skelc-
ton arms up into the air. Each is an
empty hollow shell of bark; each is
soulless and void of life, excepting, per-
haps, for nest of woodpecllers or of
mice-a squalid metempsychosis of the
spirit of the pine-tree.
Beyond the foothills lies, grim and
still, the silent bosom of the White
Death-hills and valleys of lifeless sand,
binding, burning, parched and dry.
The air is like the blast from fiery
furnace, and breathless curtain of ST
lence stretches between the glare Oh
the sky above and the whispering white
ness beneath. The sliding feet sinl,
deep into the shifting surface, and the
| traveller stands face to face with Israfael
in simile, .F.s" H...r.
So the Gates of Death are passed, and
the journey is ended.
Then suddenly, as the head rises
above the crest of the last white wave
all is instantly transformed The last
hill is climbed with painting breath,
and then Death itself is left behind,
Before the eye that stretches away
the eternal ocean, glorious purple
sparkling with dancing white caps and
dotted with shining sails, The cease
less surf shouts jubilantly on the beach
and the cool pure air rushes upward,
bathing the hot face like the breath OF
newer and purer life. The ocean, the
sails, the rushing breeze, all tell OF
something vast and limitless that lies
beyond. ................-. tI.,u.
Behind was left the limited plain
bounded by the black shadows and the
White Death. Before is an image oi
limitless immensity. Pyle, il
Harper's Magazine.