The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-07-30

merely upon it's heat and desolatiol
and wondered why God had made it.
It's black igneous rocks seemed
monuments to the wrath of prehistoric
volcanoes, whose very fires dried III
the seas at their feet, destroyed every
container of life and then with flaming
tongues forbade life ever to enter what
now l know to be my and many ali
others Eden.
But later, when we decided to winter
near the dividing line where the
streams on the western slope bound
in glad anticipation toward the great
Pacific, and on the Eastern strive tc
assuage the monstrous thirst of count
less miles of sand and salt, l one day
caught a breath that lulled to sleep
the lure of the throbbing social world
and awoke a love for this trackless
waste.
The transition of my affections came
suddenly at daybreak, when in a pass
ing whim, changed my usual morning
ramble from the western slope, AMI
climbed to the very summit to catch
| the first glimpse of the sun. The pane
rama that flashed upon my sight when
heavens gates opened and Phoebus'
horses burst through lives indelibly
photographed on my brain, though the
sunrise itself was unnoticed.
Like those dreams when reason is
sleeping and imagination alone is
guard, l beheld a wealth of jewels,
which had never before fancied in ex
queen at night had come each separate
grain of deserts sand, whose glittering
radiance was enhanced by the dawning
light Each pebble was an artists
palette whereon the colors had blended
till every hue and tint that endless
combinations could conceive suggested
a lilliputian ball room where midget
beauties wore plush coats and satin
l
gowns, nation of tiny royalty and as
the heat waves caught the suns rays
like the turning of Kaleidoscope
each second reeled off films of such
glistening beauty that 1 wondered if
this were not Gods storehouse and
these the jewels to be buried in the
mines of worlds and stars yet unborn.
AS 1 watched, the jewels melted into
sea of glass, from whose concave
depths assembled single ray Of
warmth striking my heart and heat
| ing my blood to Arab fervor.
was no longer child of the world
but an Arab of the desert entering
upon my heritage!
Forgetting my waiting breakfast and
unmindgul of the deceptive distances,
/ sped down the mountain and through
the foothills but, lured on by the hope
of still greater treasures, leaving the
mine road, l turned into the sands,
themselves, surrounded by mesquite
and cacti.
My objective point was a small river
whose bed was dry save when the
rainy season made of it flood rent
Here 1 found, in an angle, nook
where the sun had seldom sent its
blaze and l could rest touching the
mute sirens that had enticed me Sc
far from home.
Feverishly, I gathered some near
me into my lap. One was an anne
thyst blue that grew deeper as mois
ture brought out its depth. 1t recalled
to me my mothers eyes as l pressed
it tightly, fancying her fingers in
love clasp around by own. Then clear
ly her face appeared and suddenly,
Iseemed to hear her anxious call as
she discovered my chair empty at the
table. started as if to go; dropping
my pebbles as l did so, all thoughts
and visions of mother grew dim
vanished.
Was it from my exhausting walk
my almost nervous delirium in my new
found happiness, or was it some wierd
uncanny influence of this sandy GENE
terry of heroic lives that had woven
some psychic spell around me?
l trembled and sought my beads
Alas, they were at home.
Then there arose from my lonely
battling heart a prayer, not as l was
used to praying, but half wished
half uttered, that my new found
friends in their brilliant hued gar
ments might be the incarnation of alb
sent loved ones, and in the days t.
come be companions to charm me
here in the nunnery / had chosen fol
all my idle hours. How strangely
real the answer was soon to be!
Slipping the blue pebble into the
pocket of my blouse, l picked up one