The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-09-28

so1idifed Here are rocks adues and igneous.
rocks spntered and twisted, and showings of grit
stones. congomeraes shales, salts and syenite ba-
salt.
STREAMS ARE POISONED
Here, too, are streams poisoned with wearings
of copper with salts, arsenic and borax, and vast
beds of sand and gypsum covered with an alkaline
crust and dry lakes, white as snow on whose lonely
breasts the sand lies fine as dust The weird soil
tude. the great silence, the grim desolation, the
waste places and barren deserts accused and for
saken of man, abandoned to the horned toad, the
tarantula and the snake, terrfy the soul and raise
a barrier to exploration The only drinking water
to be found over an area of hundreds of miles is
in rock depressions and in holes here and there in
the mountains where the rain has collected in nat
ural tanks hidden from solar rays and partially
protected from evaporation. But there are sea-
sons when for years, rain falls and then in this
awesome peninsular furnace the air is burning the
sand as hot as volcanic ash and the silence like un
to that which was when God said "Let there be
light" The deserts of this mysterious land are
regions of sand where earth and sky form a circle
as distinct as that traced by a sweep of the com
pass
WHERE MAN ENTERS AT HIS PERIL.
Into this desoation of sterility and solitude man
enters at his peril for here the deadly horned rat
tlesnake the white scorpion, thirst and sweatless
heat invite him to his ruin and offer constant me-
mace to life If with determined purpose he dares
his fate and attempts the crossing of the parched
and desolate land the white glare reflected from
the treacherous sand threatens him with blindness
At times he encounters the deadly sandstorms of
this awful wilderness of aridity, the driving and
sion to his breathing If the water he carries fail
him, he may find depression half full of mockery
and disappointment, for it's waters hold in solu-
ton alkali, alum or arsenic and bear madness or
death in their aluring appearance.
If night overtake him and sleep Cypress him lie
must be careful where he takes his rest lest storm
break upon him and bury him under its ever shift
ing sands and if he sleeps well he may never awake
And these storms capricious, for after wecom-
ing the unhappy man to a hospitabe grave in the
desert and covering him with a mound many feet
high and of liberal circumference they not sat
isfed to let him rest in peace, for months later it
may be years. they scatter the dune and expose the
mummifed body. There are here no vultures to
air and lives putrefaction, and there is here no
decomposing flesh. The carcass of man or beast
is dried by solar suction, the skin is parched and
blackened and tightens on the bones the teeth
show white for the lips are gone with contraction,
the eyes are burned out and the sockets filed with
sand, and the hair is matted dry and sand-sprink-
led If the lonely man be so unfortunate as to es-
cape death by sufocation he awakes with the dawn.
Dawn on the desert while the stars still glow in
cerulean blue. 1t is vision of transcendent beauty
for toward the east the sky is bathed in a sea of
amber, light blue and roseate The stiffness is in
tense, illimitable, it is the preternatural
SHALL THE DEAD RISE AGAIN?
The man has lost all appreciation of the beauti-
full, the divine silence has no charm for him, II
suggests the grave. Twilight expands into day.
the instinct of life of sef-preservation dominates
him, he rises and answers the call of the mountains
which allure him by their apparent nearness. The
remorseless times his pace with his if he stands
still the stands STILL if he moves forward thu
sun moves with him, if he runs the sun pursues
and to the lost man staggering in the desert it il
as if the air was atire and his brain abaze Thu
pallor of mental anguish and physical pain ar,
ashening his skin; his eyes are wild and shot will
blood his features are drawn and his face is neigh
Dor to death. And now he searches for his knit
and cuts away his boots, for his feet are swollel
shockngly, his hair is beginning to bleach his gal
is stumbling and the strong man of yesterday il
aging rapidly, Reason, for some time has beer
bidding him goodbye, it is gone, and ouly TIL
primal instinct of self-preservation remains will
him in his horrible isolation from human aid Il
this lonely wilderness the cruel sun pours down hi
intolerabe rays till the very air vbraes with
CT heat. Nothing moves, nothing agitates the aw
some silence, there is no motion in the heavens il
the dumb dead air or on the eayrh The madma1
tries TO shout but his throat can only return
hoarse cultural and his blackened tongue hangs
oct as he gasps for breath. Hunger is CRAVING
him thirst is devouring him and he does not know
it. The cells of his brain are filed with fire, hi