Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1916-04-28

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 few scattered pines
marked the location of the ancient for
est to which the Greeks and the Ro-
mans, perhaps even the Phoenlclans'
came for timber and pitch and left
their names on the. shore TO mark the
limits of forgotten commerce. Ihey
brought with them not only reckless
greed, but still more reckless flame,
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 pillows that crept
inch by inch and year by year. entomb-
ing more of the ight-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: fiocks grew fewer, the desola
| ton 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 a 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 if 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
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-
meals 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 IL IS
good fiction. Added to these are many
hooks on music and the composers OF
music. The presidents family is de-
voted to this art.
Taft's and Roosevelt's Books.
When Mr.. Taft left the White House
to make place for Mr.. Wilson he TOOK
with him a cargo of books" Nearly
every volume was a big one ana
heavy one. for Mr.. Taft's library large
" was devoted to the law. OF course
like Mr.. Wilson, he was interested Ill
things apart from the law, and ne al
ways had at his elbow some histories
and some books of the lighter kind'
hut Just as Mr.. Taft always has been
known as the judicial minded, SO
might his library be termed.
There is a marked change In tne
library of the White House from the
davs of Theodore Roosevelt The COLO
mel was an omnivorous reader Oh
-