The Harrison times., 1916-05-06
zone after another great waves OF


plains OF southern France, burying all
before them-helds, meadows, vine
yards, houses, churches, even villages
Leaving behind them only gray bill
lows. TO which clung punches of brack'
en-. a few starved bushes Of scrub oak,
and thickets OF white and purple
gorse. lighting stubbornly for hold
upon the shifting sands, with here and
there some struggling groups of pine,
the protesting remains OF a great for
est which wind and sand, and fire and
water had spared
ION the seaward side the great fur
rows, lying one within the other, were
bare and gray. The western winds lift
ed the light sands and dropped them
| Just beyond the crest to drown and
smother the shrubs which struggled up
/ the leeward side Here and there in
favorable places a few scattered pines
marked the location of the ancient for
est to which the Greeks and the Ro-
mans, perhaps even the Phoenicians,
came for timber and pitch and left
their names on the shore to mark the
limits OF forgotten commerce. They
brought with them not only reckless
greed, but still more reckless fame,
which, cooperating with the steady
western winds and the sand thrown
up by the restless waves, ate away
the forest and left only the shifting
dunes-great sand billows that crept
inch by inch and year by year, entomb-
ing more Of the bright-blossomed bruy-
ere and genets, no matter how brave
ly they fought for existence, leaving
behind them only dry roots, which the
'forestiers' gathered for their hearths.
March Of the Sand Dune.
Whenever the foot of the sand
dune rested, there was hopeless blight.
A little wiry grass grew in the shad-
ow of the heather and gorse, on which
the sheep browsed under the eyes of
solemn-faced shepherds perched on
stills and knitting as they watched
On and on crept the phalanx Of the
terrible dunes, slowly but surely blight
ing all in their path not only Great
ing a desert but destroying hope. AS
long as the winds blew from the west
the dunes marched to the east; the
desert fires ravaged the intervening
spaces; focks grew fewer, the desola-
tion more extreme. In the heart Of
sunny France desert was established,
ever increasing in extent and threat
ening to stretch across its fairest fields
the aridness of the Sahara
Then this consul of the United
States who also was writer told us
how today The dark squadrons of
the pin maritime are posted on thou
sands of sandy slopes faithful gardians
in the shelter of which the vineyards
and wheat fields rest secure. The
gray dunes which were sweeping over
the land have become serried for
tresses which shelter civilization and
prosperity
So ends the gripping story told in
an obscure corner OF an obscure PAM
phlet published as one Of Uncle Sans
daily consular reports.
Books and Presidents.
The White House is always the
White House, but the atmosphere
within it changes as the American
people change their presidents. The
tastes of presidents and the tastes OF
men who are not presidents differ ma
terially. 1t would be possible for
person of comparatively small discern
ment to learn something on entering
the White House of the nature Of the
man who occupies it even II he did
not know so much as the occupants
name.
Mr.. Wilson, like Mr.. Roosevelt, is
a student. Mr.. Taft also was stu
dent, but the studious desires of the
three men have led them in different
directions. The books in the White
House perhaps furnish the best index
by which to Judge of the mental habits
Of the chief executive Of the United
States.
President Wilson was a lawyer be-
fore he became a teacher He still is
a lawyer He has law books about
him standing cheek by jowl, so to
speak, on the shelves with books on
political economy and history. He is
a deep student Of the histories Of all
countries, but he is especially interest
ed in the history Of his own land.
What might be called political history
as differentiated from other records
of the various nations particularly ap-
peals to the presidents mind and In
terest.
OF course, in the library Of Mr.. VIII
son there are scores of books upon
subjects other than those of the law
and history. Poetry is there, with 1t is
good fiction Added to these are many
books on music and the composers Of
music. The presidents family is de-
voted to this art.
Tafts and RooseveIt's Books.
When Mr.. Taft left the White House
to make place for Mr.. Wilson he took
with him a cargo of books" Nearly