The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-07-10

willow" which grows along dry ar
royas from New Mexico to Califor-
mia and blooms from June to Octo-
Der. Said he: Were 1 a poet, l would
~canonize the desert willow" The
flower is a delicate pink, monapetal-
GUS, nearly as large a. a sweet pea
blossom, with a scarcely perceptible
fragrance. Blooming all summer in
the desert, it's attractiveness results
largely from contrast with the sur
roundings. We also saw specimens of
a thorny plant without foliage, which
the natives call by a Spanish name
that crown of thorns." 1t
has a trunk and branches of wood
with thorns instead of foliage. The
tradition, in brief, is that the crown
of thorns placed upon the brow of
the Savior was made from this shrub.
and that as a plant accursed it mas
never since borne leaves. The rocky
hills northwest of Carlsbad are said
to greatly resemble those found near
Jerusalem, and to bear much the
same flora.
Slightly changing the subject-or
skipping what led up to tive were
shown the deserted town Phoenix"
once the gambling nell and brothel
annex of Carlsbad. Near it is the Mex
lean suburb with a church and school.
There was a time when saloons and
gambling were excluded from Carls-
bad, and they started a ''little hell
of their own" The high price of lots
in the better part of town also eau
ed the Mexican population to locate
in Phoenix" Finally Father Kemp
ker, a Catholic priest in frail health,
arrived in Carlsbad, and determined
dren away from the evil influences
Of Phoenix" He secured a grant of
twenty acres of land from the compa-
ny which controlled things, and NOV
ed every Mexican family away from
the resort of saloons, gambling hells
and bawdy nouses. Father Kempker
is long since dead, but his influence
continues to dwell in the hearts of
many Carlsbad people. The church
and s~choolhouse in the suburb may
be necessary to keep his memory
alive in the minds of m~aterialists-
but the sweetness and light shed
abroad in the community by mis-
Christian life changed the entire
lives of many, and inspired others to
keep on in the right. Who knows the
end of one mans life? Even on earth
there is no death. We do not believe
the saying that "the good men do is
inferred with their bones." That a
man last week said of Father Kemp
ker, HE was the sweetest man I
ever knew" means that a portion of
that sweetness fingers in the soul of
the man who said it, and will be i'm
parted by him to others.
A law was passed by the last leg
islature to abolish gambling in New
Mexico, and we have no doubt what
ever that Father Kempker helped to
create the public sentiment which
brought this about. J. j. Hagerman
was a dweller in Carlsbad during h
of this priests activity and CO.
operated with him in saving the chill
dren of Phoenix" A younger Hag-
erman as governor of the Territory,
Is given the credit for securing the
abolition of gambling-and if he had
accomplished nothing more than the
passage of this law, his name would
one day be fairly written down in
history of the Territory as the
under whose leadership n OF
the greatest evils that curses man
kind was driven out of New Mexico.
But how long g and by how obscure
a man the first seed of reform in
this territory was sown midst the
thorns of the wayside. who knows.
Ito Be Continued.)
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