The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1908-03-12
IN SOUTH AMERICA.
Mrs. Swain Delights Audience With
Description Of the Andes.

pendent of February 10 says;
'At. the meeting of the Woolston
Literary and Scientific Society, held
at the Oswald Hall, Woolston,on, Tues
day last. Mrs. Swain, the wife OF the
American Consul, read a paper on her
experiences during q tour through
South America. The discourse was
lucid in style, happy In conception,
and brilliant in treatment. Mrs.
Swain, who, by the way, holds the de-
grees Of B. S. G. and B. Lit, is one
of the finest word painters we have
ever heard. Her descriptive passages
glow with life and color, and in the
exposition of an, interesting subject
she displayed the gift OF the observer
united to the temperament of a
poet. With the space at our disposal
we can only touch upon compare
lively limited section of this most ex-
cellent lecture. Mrs. Swalm's intro
ductory remarks were eloquent OF the
intellectual treat in store for her hear
els. who were as numerous as they
were enthusiastic. Il suppose" she
remarked, there are few people in the
world who have not built castles In
Spain or somewhere else at some time
in their lives, presumably in childhood
or youth, am sorry for the child or
youth who never has built such cas-.
tles-who never has had visions OF
impossible things. And pity even
more the man or, woman who takes
pride in a spirit of narrow unitarian
ism from which the dreams of life
have all been banished, and whose
ideals fail to run anead of their real
ization as long as life lasts. Because
ii is through image and dream that
the mind of man finds its strength and
it's inspiration. 1t is in the vision
and the dream that the soul peers
through widening vistas into the be
You'd; the same today as among the
prophets and seers of old. And so
believe in dream. To me the right
kind of dreaming is the most real, the
least evanescent, and the most fruit
mary journeys are the best journeys
we ever make; normal journeys are
never half so good. Now | am going
to ask you to go with me in thought
tonight to a region OF the world where
as child, | made my imaginary jour
neys. and where later ! travelled anC
lived for a great many years" Thus
in language which was both eloquent
and suggestive, and strongly tinget
with a poetic idealism, did Mrs.Swaln
introduce her subject. Dealing will
the preliminary impression made up
on her by her first glimpse of Soutl
America, she said it could be summed
b, ,iIp in word-vastness. 'Vastnes'
of creation, vastness of nature, vast
NESS of the cause and meaning of thu
thugs of the world This was boil
thd first and last impression. OtheI
places seem big, but not in that ON
nipotent, giantish way South America
does. Other places diminish as they
become familiar, South America is al
ways big, vast, stupendous - every
thing is ON cyclopean scale. The
traveller does not realize this universe
bigness all at once, because he does
not see everything at once. But
little by little the fact takes hold o
him." Proceeding, the lecturer deal
IN q superlatiyely interesting manne
with the more notable Of the physica
features of this great continent q!
they presented themselves to her il
ner travels. Dealing with the enor
nous plains to be found in Soutl
America, she said: The wooded por
lions of the plain are more interesting
to most people than the pampus, o
open spaces, because one sees ther'
tropical or semi-tropical nature in it
most riotous and eXuberant play. Ii
brazil and Paraguay | have riddei
through miles of 'nard wood forest ;
thousand years old; tall, thick battal
ions of trees treading on each other:
toes, and dashed together by creeping
and climbing vines into very jungle
OF impenetrable fertilization. Unde
our feet was spread carpet of rart
plants, textile and medicinal, and Owe
our heads trailed thousands of gay
hued orchids, while crammed int
every odd crevice were cocoa and col
fee trees, tall tree geraniums, enor
nous bushes of flaming poinsettia
and a thousand shrubs and bushes
plants and trees, such as the imagina
ton itself can hardly picture ~.
One sees why in these great Edens o
the world the worship of nature wa
an instructive worship to primitive
man. One understands now how nat
urally under the primary yearning
of the human soul for the eternal thu
mind of man has reached out through
the seen to the unseen, through TIN
objects OF nature, through pantheism
through big and little gods and spirit
and devils, always in that innate ant
Unsuitable quest of immortality ant
eternity. And, indeed in these re
gions of perpetual sunshine who cal
help slipping the sacred herb in homo
of that bright luminary of the SIX.
who endows the earth with so mucl
life and fertility? Aye, the sun wor
shippers We're not ungrateful heath
ems; at least, we feel as we wande
in their footsteps through these, thu
ancient seats of this primitive ant