Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-01-23

marvellous sweetness out of the desert, sheet
! ing the spread encampment with a siivery veil.
! 1t is a wonderful sight The camels seem twice
their natural size among the piled-up fodder Lit
| tie fires spring up, built over stones. Voices
! low; noises lie down one by one-braying of
! donkeys gurgling grunts of camels, bleating of
goats and kids to be sacrificed. Groups
gather closely round the fires, for the night air
nlps. Coffee is made in tiny china cups and the
gaunt heads OF the camels thrust forward over
/ the very shoulders of their owners. They chew
| and chew and chew. Those dark bundles in the
! sand, lying apart by themselves, already
! asleep. wrapped from head to feet in sheets of
{ black and blue and white and yellow. No one
treads on them. The bare feet go silently to and
fro picking their way so carefully. And every
where dark faces CLEAN in the moonlight, eyes
fash like stars and white teeth shine.
Little visits paid from group TO group. A
bearded fellow with face of night enters a cir
Gle where all are seated round the fire and coffee
pot. Are you happy?" Il happy because OF
your existence" Coffee handing him a cup.
| Coffee for ever" he sips it slowly. We out
siders watch and stare and question, yet get
nearer to them Centuries lie between. Their
courtesy is perfect They accept cigarette light
ing it with flint and steel, offering the latter
a present that may not be refused. The young
man. playing his reeds softly to a group of
listeners, hands them over to admirer who
has praised them, with please accept them from
me-" Behind, in the sand, men praying
their knees towards Mecca Sing to us. kindly"
asks Engshman. who knows Arabic of
other man. The singer is shy, but only requires
coaxing and when the Englishman suggests
certain song, the other hesitates. TT is not
pleasing that l should sing such song before
gentlemen and ladies' They don't understand
! a word" Tut l cannot do it Whether they
understand or no. find it not pleasing And.
after this lesson in sweet delicacy, between the
verses of a song he finally chants, always this
question: Does my voice please you, gentle
man." Yet these merely fellaheen the peas
ant toilers of the delta, who accompany the great
Bedouin pilgrimage to the Desert Tomb of Abou
| Seria, Father OF Speed, one of Mahor1et's gem
erals And after midnight or two of
them rise quietly and resume their journey. Our
camels travel better III the nighttime Of they
&C. with their donkeys goats and children. carry
ling all they possess in this world with them The
b unmeasured desert swallows them. No sound
/ comes back They vanish in the moonlight as
+ softly as they came. One thinks of that Bedouin
who loved an Englishman, and paid him the
great honor of taking him home. 'I will show
I>you my home" he said and they travelled three
days and nights across the desert. Beneath
rhinestone boulder he pointed the ground 'sNow
you are in my home" he said proudly and with
the stately dignity Of great prince of the desert
And the Englshman little pile of ashes at
his feet. II summer. tent unnecessary:
the wife and focks We're away. This square foot
OF sand in the enormous wilderness was home