The Parker post., 1912-10-05
THE LURE OF
THE DESERT
THERE is AN iNDEFINABLE
CHARM TO LIFE IN THE DES-
ERT COUNTRY, AND A GREAT
DEGREE OF CONTENTMENT.

Is it the climate? Is it the broad
er, freer atmosphere of life? Is it
the cosmopolitanism if the people;
their lack of provincialism, the more
open-handed, sympathetic spirit prev
alent? Is it the absence of discom-
forts endured elsewhere; of humid.
depressing heat, of mosquitoes, of
frequent rains, of the restrictions
and conventions that surround exist
ence in the older and more populous
communities or parts of the country?
What, in reality, is the secret of the
desert country's hold upon those who
have looked upon it's wide, unat-
tractive expanse and inhaled it's dust
for any extended period of time?
asks the Goldfie1d News.
Friends and relatives in the east
or on the coast think and write:
How can you find contentment in
the ostracism and discomforts of the
desert country? How can people who
have lived in cities, who have been
accustomed to their clubs, to good
music, to theaters, and all that goes
to make for enjoyment in life, how
can they bare to leave all this and
settle in a mining camp on the des-
ert, cut off from all the Injuries that
have seemed a part of their exist
ance, isolated from their former asso-
ciates, exiled from civilization?'
One answer that would doubtless
be Offered by many to these ques-
tions will not do. 1t is most decid
edly not alone the lure of sudden
wealth, the fever of gain, that sup
piles the motive for men and women
to give UP city life and remain on
the desert. There is an indefinable
charm to life in the desert country
which is none the less real because
it is not rapidly accounted for. Far
nearer the rule than the exception is
it for man or woman going to east
ern city or coast for vacation, after
a year spent on the desert, to curtail
that vacation, out of sheer home
sickness and hasten back to the dust
and SagebruSh No happier homes
and no greater degree of content
ment can be found anywhere than i'm
the mining camps. The metropolis of
fnrC 1itt1n in Of Twin
forts that cannot be had here; chill
dren thrive and grow strong on the
desert; the schools of the mining
towns are unsurpassed anywhere; the
death rate is far lower than in the
cities and conditions are ideal for
the preservation of health in young
and old. The people are law7abid
ing and breaches of the peace are
more rare than in larger and older
communities.
The visitor to the coast resort lies
on the baking sand, breathes a hot,
humid blast, fights myriads of fleas,
nurses sun-blistered skin and longs
IOI IHS COOl VI UIl0 u0SoIL pldL0duS
he has left. The tripper who goes
a-fishing often suffocates in the day
time, agitates his mosquito bites all
night, endures discomforts that keep
him in misery, lives on most unpala-
table food and blesses the train that
has brought him home to camp, the
while he lies cheerfully of the glori-
GUS time he has had. The men who
have made money in mining afford,
perhaps, the best example the
power of the desert lure Invaria-
oily they come back. By hundreds
these men have made their stake
and have gone to the great cities,
there TO buy and build costly homes,
or to the farming countries to invest
in ranches, orchards or the like, But
the call of the desert will not be
gainSaid, and almost without excep-
ton these men have come back, Ell
ther to delve in the earth or to es-
tablish their homes Other interests
may prevail with them for time,
but in the end to those who have
come under the deserts charm, it's
call is all-potent.