Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-03-27
San Juan, P. R., Feb. %. 1901.

San Juan, P. r., Feb. %. 1901.
Oh, for a whisk of cold weather! Oh,
for dash of snowhakes in my face!
Oh, for the snap of an icy pavement be-
meath my footsteps! / an tired of the
flowers, the green leaves, and the sweet
soft breath of summer playing about.
There is the boundless sea shimmeling
in silver to the blue horizon; there is
the mountain crest yelled in the white
drapery of cloud; and there is a
stretch of cocoa forest, whose pensive
silence touches the heart with dream
of something far away. Oh, how the
good Lord has touched Porto Rico with
color, and form and perspective, and
the silence of His love! 1t seems as II
he never made anything ugly in this
island. His loving art is lavished on
hill and valley, on bay and stream, on
coral reef and sandy beach, on plain
and woodland. and over them all He
has spread a summer morning. sit
at my window and see these things
and drink them in at every glance, till
l get so full of them that l sigh for
bleak hills, for fields of snow, for roofs
fringed with icicles, and for freezing
blast blown from some big, black
cloud.
am not finding fault. don't
blame the sun. If l want frosts anu
SHOWS must not follow him. This is
his kingdom His sceptre is ray of
light. Very beautiful are the badges of
his sway-perennial bloom. mild, blue
skies, and soft, sweet airs-but these
do not make up the richness of life.
That lies in contrasts. What would the
beauty of June be worth if it were not
for December? What does a flower
amount to if it becomes an everyday
matter-of fact like boulder? And the
rosy sunset, dream of the portals OF
Heaven, how less grand il never rag
ing storm cloud tore along its tinted
corridores. And so, / want grand
old winter in my year-something that
will make the blood tingle and the
nerves spunk up. These are not rheto-
rical whims, dear reader, that weary
you with. Anglo-Saxon must have the
frost. 1t belongs to that soul-force
which resolves and does. Banana per-
tains to the tropics, where one sits
and dreams and rests from the labors
of tomorrow that never comes. Lotus
eating is pleasant, but the lotus grows
only where the sun forever mellows
the soil. II soon makes northerner
droop, and lie signs for something that
frost has changed into ambrosia.
1t is This everlasting ethereal mild
ness, this delicious monotony, so beau
tiful in anticipation and so gorgeous in
dreams that makes one who has been
accustomed to poke up a roaring fire
to Keep his blood from freezing wish he
could do so again. Now, don't think |
am homesick. One who accepts var
iegateG lie must enjoy every phase OF
it with a stout heart or he is very fool
ish. The winter is passing like fair
dream. sometimes | wonder if it is
at all reSi Certainly, one could not
have imagined four years ago that We
would all oe down here in this gentle
lesson is learned and the splendid isle
teaching the Borinquen the lesson OF
the Star Spangled Banner. When that
cline, nudging aside the Latin and
become nebula in the galaxy of the
Union. then, / suppose, we can all s.
back TO our sleighriding and poking Up
the fires ard leave Porto Rico as Il
pleasant {. eam as well as a fond hope
1t will lie The conservatory of the t.