. In the desert, the hinterland of Algiers. illising influence, not a bracingone. Under her tuition the mind is attuned to a kindof servitude. So that here, where the stifling influenceof custom is so strong, and its ruts cut so deep, is justwhere there is no escape from it. You fly to Nature,but all that her docile fields and obedient rivers andinviolable park palings can do for you is to sweetenand hallow custom, and reconcile you to it, andstrengthen and confirm its hold upon you. The desert is of another order of scenery, and madeof sterner stuff. It is as ugly as hell, to be sure. Ithas n
. In the desert, the hinterland of Algiers. illising influence, not a bracingone. Under her tuition the mind is attuned to a kindof servitude. So that here, where the stifling influenceof custom is so strong, and its ruts cut so deep, is justwhere there is no escape from it. You fly to Nature,but all that her docile fields and obedient rivers andinviolable park palings can do for you is to sweetenand hallow custom, and reconcile you to it, andstrengthen and confirm its hold upon you. The desert is of another order of scenery, and madeof sterner stuff. It is as ugly as hell, to be sure. Ithas none of the English motherly fondness and gentle-ness about it. It hates you like poison, and will killyou if it can. But it is a landscape that has neverbent its neck to the yoke of man, and its barren reefsand unploughed sands have the old, primitive, savagevigour about them still. This is its potent attraction. We are rebels, all ofus, but the odds are against us. We live the sameday over and over again. We make our moves in a > J»». DO Q • •• -•• -•. • • «? IN THE DESERT icf trance. We talk of leading our lives, but our liveslead us. We are like quaint figures in a piece oftapestry, and daily routine is the busy little needleand thread that assiduously stitches us in. We belongto a period. By and by there will come a professorand lecture on us. He will point out our curiousattitudes and dress, so characteristic of Edward theSeventh work, and give an account of the extraordinarynotions we had about things, and all the odd beliefsand sham little artistic and literary enthusiasms thatmade up the life we accepted so confidently. He willillustrate us with lantern slides, and people will say, How interesting! and How real it makes uslook ! In the desert for the first time you have Naturewith you in the old struggle for emancipation. Themind here can recollect and renew itself. It comes outfrom these solitudes, not, perhaps, with any great storeof facts, but i
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1909
