Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1912-03-23
The Lure of the Desert
Mrs. w. r. Edwards.

/
hungry, and alone, they sought a
cheap hotel.
And Westley seems to be one OF
them,' asserted grandfather
That night the promoters rubbed
their hands with satisfaction over
their cards and wine in the best
hotel.
With the charges demanded for fill
ing, and location fees, grandfather
savings were reduced several hun
dreds of dollars; and the Harrison
family was richer by sixteen hundred
acres of sage brush.
Counseling together the family de-
cided to remain in town until spring
opened up before moving to their
lands.
Grandfather and William spent the
remainder of the winter loafing; hear
Ing many stories; for and against the
country.
They learned that some OF the PEG.
pie had been waiting for water sew
enteen years; also, that the town was
an old sheep town thirty years old
modernized; that the surrounding
lands had been taken over, and over
again, and given up by the so-called
"Tenderfoot; that the settlers who
came when the railroad was first
built, had filed upon all the water
from the creeks, and had In conso.
quence grown rich; their ranches be-
ing covered with fruit, grain, and al
lalfa; flocks and herds roaming over
the free grazing lands In the foot
hills.
There were the commodious ranch
houses standing in we'll kept lawns
dotted with shrubbery, just as Uncle
Wesley had told them. but where
do we come in, William" enquired
grandfather, instantly realizing that
without water, the poor homestead
ers case is hopeless.
The fairy wand that unlocks all the
treasure hidden away in the soil Is
The irrigation ditch.
While they stood on the street cor
ners, watching the loads of wool. al
falfa, and carriages coming in from
the favored ranchers, their anxiety DO
dered upon Impotence to 20 and do
likewise.
To the new conner, and thinker, the
charm of the West lies in Its status
or Wildness; its possibilities strike
che eye arousing within his dormant
nature, an enthusiasm not hitherto
thought he possessed.
Spring In the Desert
One morning realizing that spring
had come with her gentle zephyrs,
and robe of green, the Harrison fam
ly began preparations for the remov-
Al to their lands; having previously
Quilt according to their means.
AS they left the town, after driving
some miles into the desert, on look
ng back toward the wildness, a WIS.,
on of beauty greeted their eyes.
The Goddess of the Desert, arose
to them; Haunting her robe
If emerald, spangled with wild flow
RS; standing a moment coquetishly
llluring, encircled in her grandeur.
vanishing from their view,
Ike a beautiful inspiration, as the
um s rays changed its halo, sinking
into its former desolation; from
Which she had risen to wear her
rown OF glory for one short half
our.
Turning their eyes to the noun
aims, they saw there clinging like
lies to wall whole settlements.
The fascination of the country, des-
TT, and mountain, its composite life
town, ranch and claim, has CON-
letely captured me; Its very vastness
ives 1t charm. | am hopelessly
nd forever child of the desert"
aid William with enthusiasm.
AS they neared their future home;
vening closed in around them. Owls
Ike solitary phantoms flew through
Re lonely desert. Antlers of deer
" whitening among the dense tan
les of the heavy growth of sage,
hich blotted out all sense of di.
,ction, splicing the air with its pun
emit odors. Stretching as far as the
1e could see, in every direction, the
road expanse of prairie; the intense
lence broken only by the distant
entrilistic homesick wall of the coy
%.
The moon almost full hung In the
Ky, bringing into view all the stars
hich had been hiding in the heavens
oh! we are nothing in the midst
nothing!' cried Lorain. What a
In raf1A