The morning call., 1894-01-14

making the most OF MS glIts. HIS n0ml na-
tIon as consul at Damascus in Palestine
people whom he liked and who admired
him. He was in his element among the
Bedawi, the Druses, the Armenians,
Kurds. Turks and Jews, speaking their
languages, familiar with their customs,
traditions and traits. and OF great value IN
playing the part OF mediator.
But especially delightful 10 him was his
access TO the rare Arabic manuscripts OF
the Damascus library, of which he made
great USE His knowledge of Ara bic litera-
ture was profound, and no one can per use
his Arabian Nights" published in ten
volumes, teeming with critical notes and
audaciously presenting everything so that
these Arabs of the ancient Kaliphate live
again for the reader, without admiring the
erudition which could give such master
piece TO modern Europe.
The Journeys he took to Palmyra md
other parts were very adventurous. He
was altogether too just Consul for the
Turks, and a plot 10 assassiEate him in
the desert narrowly failed of accomplish
ment. The Bedouins, even some of the
widest tribes, were devoted friends of
Burton and his wife. An Illustration will
Indicate how he made friends by bis cOur-
age with the children OF the desert. He
went in search of the dreaded Wuld All
tr ribe of 5000 spears, and his escort dropped
off by stealing away, leaving himself and
Mrs. Burton alone.
Burton said TO his wife. who was in the
saddle as a cavalier, Now mind, when
they see US two horsemen, they will come
galloping across the sand in body with
their lances couehed; if we were TO turn
and run they would spear US, but if we sit
our horses, facing them like statues on
parade, just as the Life Guards sit in their
sentry boxes at the Horse Guards at home,
they will take us in with great applause
will cfo ~ Oh
are used to desert maneuvers."
Lady Burton agreed. When they were
deserted, "the whole tribe charged with
their lances cOuched, and we reined and
stood stock sIill, facing the charge but as
soon as they got within few yards they
seemed to recognize the man they were
charging. They Lowered their lances,
opened their ranks to inclose US, and with
one cry of 'Ak-hu Sebbah! (Brother of
the LiOn), jumped off their horses. kissed
our hands, galloped with us jeriding. and
held our StiTrups to alight." They had a
great welcome. Jeriding means such
hOrsemanshIp as Buffalo BilPs men dis
playa mad gallop, throwing the spears
into the air and catching them, picking up
objects from the ground, shooting under
the horses girths, and a hundred odd
cantTips that only the most skillful horse
men could attempt, and the very animals
themselves enter into the spirit of it.
Burton was recalled from Damascus
through some intrigGes operating on the
British Foreign Office. He was afterward
sent to Trieste as Consul. succeeding the
novelist Charles Lever. There he died in
1891. His salary was never more than
$1,000. His books, of which he has written
over eighty volumes, helped out his income
a little. 1t was by Lady Burton's advice
that he became his own publisher of the
Arabian Nights" and the profits were
$4,000. ana there may be great deal
more TO come when republication takes
place. The whole of his works are now 10
be Issued uniformly. He is the author of
a standard work on the sword, and the
bayOnet exercise of the British army is his
invention.
Lady Burton has been greatly blamed
| for destroying some Arabic tales which
were ready for the printer. She was lett
In full authority to deal with his manu-
script as she pleased. She psrused this
work again and again, deliberated, and
destroyed *. Perhaps she was right The
good would have been done to few. The
! erOtic RIGHTEOUSNESS with which the work
abonnded would not have been taken in its
| spirit of character and custom Illustration
by the masses, ana the very erudlte who
want such lore can 90 TO the Arabic for it,
Besides the two volumes of biography
published, Lady Burton promises two
more OF papers, notes. fragments and let
ters. There is much still to learn about
this great MAN. New York: d. Appleton
q Co. For sale at the bookstores.
TOD HILL.
PRAIRIE SoNGS.-Those who read with
pleasure Hamin Garland's main Trav-
eled Roads" will hnd in this volume of
verse the same delicious taste of nature
that added such charm to the authors
prose. Mr.. Garland. although but COM
Daratively a newcomer in the literary field,
occupies foremost place. a place really
un occupied before-the interpreter of the
lights and shades of farm life in the great
West. In this volume be gives ample evil
dence of MS love of nature as seen on the
broad rolling praiTes, now fast losing
their Identity under the hand Of the
tolling husbandman. And listen as
Mr. Garland tells US what these prairies
were like: They were rich in grasses,
bluejOint. crows-fOot and wild oats. Sun
flowers and innumerable and brilliant
flowers grew in the beautiful meadows.
out Of which groves of peoples and
hazel bushes rose like islands out
of shallow seas. These prairies were
intersected by beautiful streams, belted
10 splendid groves of oaks and
NAPLES and Eastwood trees. The prairies
were generally level with long swells like
quiet sea, but in the neigh borhood of
streams they grew more varied and
wooded. Over such prairie groves.
around such tow-headS of pOpple
trees, my brother and | rode, racing
with half-wiid horses, chasing the wild
fox and the prairie wolf, spying out the
massasanga in the grass and munching
hazel nuts in lee of hazel thickets n cold
November days. Those were glorious
daysW
Is 1t to be wondered that these youthful
scenes lett an impress on the mind. which
was to bear fruit in later years. Here is a
specimen bit of verse, I'm August:
From the great trees ocusts cry
In qnavering. estate joy-a boy
shouts a wild eal-a mourning dove
In the blue distance sObs--the wind
WanderS by heavy with odors
OF cOrn and wheat and melon vines;
The trees tremble with delicious Joy as the breeze
Greets them one by one-nOw the oak
Now the great sycamore now the elm
Aud the locusts in brazen chorus cry
Like stricken things. and the rim g-doVe's note
Sobs in the dim distance
And here is another, 1.-THE MONDAY
Plain:
The plain lay under the cloudless sky
In utter anu terrible silence.
n ot sound. not living soul, not q voice
Broke from the russell reach OF sod
save cricket that cried from the deem
OF his Loneliness like lost soul.
Here is something in a different vein:
When the hens begin a-Squawkin'