South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-11-20

ABOUT Dim on the lIpnleEa OF the
Empirsi When hc came. now and
hen. TO London. the current Of life
In which they moved r led 30 touch
him. They were creatures apart.
Tie knew OF them only wb2. ap-
reared before the eye. And while-
De saw the beauty which they as
rombIed he saw also the thousand
folIles chat seemed 10 We them
T.easure. and ne wondered in what
mysterious charm lay their appau-
ng influence on his soldiers.
And on this evening. alone in this
mysterious city. he began 70 be as
sailed by a curious consuming won
der. He began 10 doubt the value OF
the one thing that he had gotten out
~ life What was this other thing
that gave an ignorant soldier and
common housemaid. motherless and
lent n the shadows OF a lowering
vine. the faces Of the angles?
What did this mysterious word
mean that men used 70 designate
this thing? he knew what the love
Of life was. FOR he he had seen every
sort OF creature fight desperately 10
live. and he knew the love OF gain
and the love OF power. But men.
all men everywhere imperi.ed and
abandoned these things for the
love Of women. and they did II with
no doubt. ukeone who trades glass
for a jewel?
lie reflected. There was no vir-
tue in the thing that he had. in the
thing for which he traded away his
life. thus 10 transfigure the human
face. And when he should come
up out Of this great desert south
toward Khartum. ne would be old
Suddenly he realized that the
horse could not go on, and that he
was controlling it with difficulty.
He had traversed the Rue Musk
skirted the Place Esbekiya and was
about to cross the Kamel Pasha.
that short boulevard entering the
Place Esbekiya from the north.
when a procession stopped him.
The sacred carpet had arrived
from Mecca. The streets before
him were gorged with people. and
the whole city echoed with weird
Oriental cries There was little new
, 90 him in the orgy of these native
I ceremonies. with their riot OF sound
I and color, and their vast medley Of
tribes assembled from the waste
| places of the earth.
For a moment, as a soldier, he ap-
proved the precaution taken by the
English authCrities-a company OF
troops thrown in, here and there, to
divide the tribes and the horde OF
natives that surged along with every
color. and with every sort of cry.
and every extravagant gesture.
/ He approved. too. the diplomacy
/ that gave these regiments a gala air
/ with their bands Of music, as though
! they rivaled the Arab and the fellah
/ in doing honor 10 the holy relic
while in fact, they held the fingers
I Of England on the city lest they
! slip off in a sudden rising Of these
native hordes
Then his mind returned to its re-
Election, with an idle interest he
watched the strange. haf-naked.
pr.meval creatures that appeared
issuing out of the vast limitless
ocean of sand that lay endleSsly to
the south. from tribes. old and un-
changed since the days Of Abraham
creatures from the uncharted
deeps of the Sahara, naked and sub
I sisting like the Baptist.
What lay far off there in the dead
cities of this sand-swept wilderness
whence came these mad men,
/ gaunt, covered with hair. and in
i finitely old. no human creature
. could say. Perhaps the magician
and the wizard Of old times lived on
/ there. And there in ancient tombs,
4 in honeycombed walls sitting fun OF
sand. in strange wilderness eternal
\ ~ dead and silent, old wise men
abode who knew the ancient formu-
| las by winch the inexorable course
/ OF nature could be turned aside.
Perhaps they maintained there to
/ this day that mysterious power
which the sacred books OF all re-
I Hsions agree that certain dread
members Of the race possessed in
/ the morning Of the world
And the streaming horde, with its
cries and colors, slashed and inter-
/ sected by smart European regi-
ments, mingling the drum and the
Highland pipe with the wailings Of
the desert, became a thing unreal
| a fantastic background for that
/ other mystery that so profoundly
\ disturbed the man.
And while he sat in the saddle
/ looking down at these wild people
| Of the desert. another looked down
. at him
A woman. accompanied by the res
! ident doctor and a maid. entered
the English hotel on the other side
OF the square, crossed the foyer and
got into the lift. As she passed.
little dapper man. bald. dressed like
a tailor's print. and with the air of
| one who is a social register. spoke
10 his companions pouring cup OF