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SUMY SOUTH California Coast May Furnish An- i other host Atlantis THIRD <PAGE & A NDIRQN TALES * Bar John Kendrick Bangs (Copyright, 1§02.) By ARTHUR J BURLICfC Written for Che Sunny South TRANGE things are taking place in the Pacific off the the coast of Los Angeles county. Santa Catalina is land, one of the best known of the American is lands of the Pacific, is slowly sinking into the sea. and San Clemente is land, its twin, 20 miles farther out to sea, is ris ing out of the ocean depths. Likewise San Pedro hill on the main land is attaining a greater elevation. Terra firma belies its name along the Pacific coast, for it has an extremely un stable way of shaking and shifting itself which is often extremely unpleasant to those who have placed sufficient confi dence In her to take up their abode in her bosom. Geologists find plenty of in disputable evidences of volcanoes, once active but now extinct, at various points tlong the coast, and even now several hundred small cones are vomiting vol canic matter in the lower desert of south ern California. That the heart of Mother Earth is still troubled Is evidenced by fre quent earthquakes and what surprises she may have in store for the world may only be guessed at. There has been no year since the history of events were made a matter of record here but there have been one or more earthauake shocks. Dur ing the fifteen years from 1850 to 1S65, no less than 106 earthquakes were recorded In the state of California. Some of these were slight and others did a great deal of damage. The shock of March 30. 1S9S, (Vam.aged the United State's "fiflvy yard nt Mare Island several hundred thou sand dollars. Another one destroyed the village of Hemet but a few months ago and caused the death of six individuals. In 1808 twenty-one shocks were noted at the Presidio between the dates of June 21 and July 17. and the auake of Sep- A day’s catch at Santa Catalina Being mountainous, they are observable from the mainland, save when the mists of old ocean drop temporarily over them like an obscuring veil. They seem, as a fanciful tourist once said, like fragments of the Coast range floating out to s^a. When the Spanish occupancy took place in California, the peaks of the islands at tracted their attention and some adven turous spirits took possession of the islands and began the raising of flocks of sheep and goats. The wild goats and sheep, so plentiful today on these isles, are descendants of those Hocks. Those early herders had to fight for possession of the lands, for they found them occu pied by the Pineugnas Indians, a warlike tribe distinguished for their fine physique and skill in boat building. The adven tures of these early settlers would make a volume of very interesting reading. Later, in 1830, attracted by these beck oning island mountains. George Yount, with several associates, built a schooner at San Pedro, and went to the islands in search of sea otter. The game which they sought was plentiful and they did a good business. While living upon Santa Catalina they discovered rich outcrop pings of gold and silver bearing ores, but it was otter 'that they were after, not precious metais, and they paid iit- tJe attention to their find. Later, when the Coloma strike brought thousands of eager gold seekers 'to the coast, Yount bethought him of their find and returned to the island to search for the neglected wealth. He was unable to locate the vein ar.d gave the thing tip. Still later, when the southern California strikes were j made, prospectors learned in Los Angeles of the lost mine of the otter hunters and they sought the island and found rich ores in several parts of the moun tainous isle. In the next few months hundtlds of claims tvere recorded in Los Angeles county and ores assaying as high as $S00 to the ton were exhibited, demonstrating that precious minerals were rot lacking rn the island. Then came the war of the secession and 1'ncle A point that is rising out of the ecean tember, 1812, which destroyed the mis sions of San Juan Capristrano in Los Angeles county and Purissima in Santa Barbara county, wrecked many other buildings and caused the (loath of half a hundred persons. Very many of these earth convulsions have been felt at Santa Catalina, and there is every reason to be lieve that the changes now taking place there are the result of the internal dis turbances which are responsible for the earthquakes felt in southern California. The residents of Santa Catalina and San Clements have long been partially conscious that certain changes were tak ing place, but the change and has been so gradual that XldM it has not Impressed Constantly them to any great ex- IncrctM in tent. If the tides roll a Height little farther up the beach or the waves dash a little higher up the rocks this year than last, they came to the conclusion that they imagined it and hav« let It go at that. A recent investigation by scientific men of the University of California has dis closed the fact that the island of Santa Catalina Ilea 270 feet lower than It did some years ago. That t'hlB sinking is purely local and not a general depression of the coast or of any considerable dic tion of the country is proven by the fact j>T the elevation of the mainland, 20 miles to the east, and of San Clemente, 20 miles westward. There is interesting history connected with these twin Islands of the Pacific. Sam, to prevent the island becoming the redezvous of confederate filibusters and privateers, took possession of the island and the miners were forced to vacate for the time being. After the war one Lick came forward with pa pers issued by the Spanish government previous to the accession of the terri tory by the United States, giving him ti tle to the islands. His claim was pro nounced valid and the claims of the miners annulled. Prom Lick the title then passed-to the Bannings, the pres ent owners. The n ineral wealth of the island has since been undisturbed. The pieturesquencss cf its mountains and canyons, the delightfulness of its climate, the beauty of its one land-locked harbor, the myriad of fish, great and small, which Infest its shcres, the profusion of flowers and its numbers of birds are a mine of wealth greater than the metals in its hidden veins, for they attract to the spot tourists from all parts of the world and the yellow metal, mined, milled and coined, flows, a constant stream, into the coffers of the owners of the resort. The twin island, San Clemente, has a very different history. This Island has never known much of the white man. In all of its more ‘than Dssolsts 40,000 acres there Is not a Island living spring of water.. Given Not ^.n inviting place— to Sheep seemingly—for man or Culture beast, and yet for years thousands of head of sheep were g*azed there. Charles Work man, who now lives in Los Angeles, was a resident of the island thirty-five years ago. He lived 'there years alone upon he waterless isle with a dog. a mule and. a few chickens for companions, and acted as watchman over 14,000 sheep, who ran wild over the island and lived and thrived tpon its vegetation. It never rains during the summer in San Clemenlte, out in the winter season the rain falls at intervals, and In a nat ural basin at the bottom of a deep can yon several thousand gallons of water are stored. This served as the water sup ply for Workman and his mule and dog. The shoep did not have access to this reservoir and they never got water other than the moisture which the fogs and dew deposited upon the foliage. This, however, proved sufficient, for the ani mals 'thrived and waxed fat. These sheen were as wild as deer and whenever old Charley wanted a wether for food he had to stalk the flock, as he would amy other game and shoot his meat from a distance. Once a year a little schooner would ar rive in the iittle porit bringing a few men and horses for the roundup, and thirty' or forty Mexican sheep-shearers, and the flock would be driven into the corrals and for a month all hands would be busy' clipping, tying and packing the fluetx'S. Then old Charley would be left for a norther eleven months to thq companionship of his dog, chickens and mule. San Clemente spoiled, later on, for sheep grazing. Some enterprising herder drilled a well for fresh water and obtained an abundant supply. After that the sheep ceased to thrive. The reason for this is simple. When their only' supply of mois ture was the dew and the fog-laden grasses they were forced to get out onto the hills_and graze in the early morning, before the sun had dried up the damp ness. Later they sought the shade of the cany'ons and caws of the island and there remained till the foliage again be came wet. When they were able to slake their thirst with the waters of the wells they grazed so little that they became poor and scrawny and sickness made heavy inroads on tile flock. It is an in stance of trying to thwnrt nature and getting left. And what of the seismic disturbances and changes that are in progress at tihese islands? Will Santa Catalina continue to sink till the waves of the Islands Pacific roll over her hig’n- Which est peaks? It is not im- Have Sunk possible. Plenty of in- Into stances are cited to prove Ocean that such might be the case. The island of Fer- dinandea, which suddenly rose out of the sea, sunk again beneath the way'es. Oni- us Island, 5 miles from the mouth of the Targerany river and 20 miles east of Ba tavia, and the island of Mldah, 10 miles from the coast of Java, were swallowed up In 1883. St. Euphemla, In Calabria, sank out of sight in 163S. Twenty-five thousand acres of land Just outside of Port Royal, Jamaica, subsided Into the sea in 1692. A point of land 7 miles long by 5 miles broad disappeared off the coast of Chile in 1834. Port of the coast of Peru near Callao subsided in 1786. The eastern coast of South America is sinking at the present time, while the western coast from Venezuela to the straits of Magellan are rising. The is lands forming the archipelago of Hawaii are but the remains of a continent gone down. The West Indies are but frag ments of an immense peninsula which ex tended from Mexico, Central America and New Granada eastward, and Santa Cata Una and San Clemente are the remains of a promontory jutting out from Pt. Con ception. Santa Catalina may never sink to any considerable extent, or she may gradually subside into the sea. Again, it is possible tha.t the earth may, in her agonized throes, engulf this charm ing spot suddenly and with little or no warning, and the story of the lost At lantis may have its counterpart in the Pacific. CHAPITER. SIX Thu Lltumry Bellowf HAT/kept you so Cong?” ask ed Ithe Poker as the And- lrqfn and Bellows came up. as your friend Bellows ouil of breath, or what?” “HPo, I wa)?n’t out of breEuth,” said the Bellows. "I nlever get out of breath. You unlght as well exp?et a groceiryman to be cut of girocelries as a bellows to be out lof breath. I wasn’t long/ either—at least, no CoRigfer than usual, which is two foot it'hree. A lclnger bellows than that would be useless folr our purpose. I simply didn’t want to eolm-?. that’s all. I was very busy writing/when they Interrupted me.” "It was very kinrl of you to come when you didn’t want t/>.” said Tom. “No. it wasn’t,”! said the Bellows. “I didn’t want to com’e then. I don’t want to be here now. and', 1 wouldn’t blow the cloud an inch for yo’> if I didn't have to.” "But why do yon have to?” asked Tom. "I'm outvoted, that ’s all,” replied the Bellows. “You see, mj' dear Weasel’’— “Dormouse,” whisper**! the Poker. "I mean Dormouse," ,said the Bellows correcting himself. “You see I beCiev.j in everybody having a sa y in regard to everything. I always hav.e everything I can put to a vote. Consequently, when RiglCy here came down and. asked me to help blow the cloud over and I sftid that I wouldn’t do it 'he called Lefty in and we put it to a vote as to whether I’d have to or not. They voted that I must and I voted that I needn’it, and, of course, that beat me; so here I am.” "Well, it's very good of you, just the same,” said the Poker. "You aren't quite as good-natured as I am. but you come pretty near it. Most people would have left a matter of that kind entirely to themselves and then voted the way they long to be 'good, and as long as it Is all there—” "I know,” said Tom, “but in most sto ries there’is a lot of things put in that help t’a make It interesting.” "All padding!” sneered the Bellows, “and that I will never do. If a story can be told in five words what’s the use of padding It out to five thousand?” ’•’None,” said Tom, “except tliat you can't make a book out of a story of five words." “Oh, yes, you can,” said the BeClows airily. "]t isn’t any trouble at all if you only know how, and in the end you have a much more useful book than if you made it a million words long. You can print the five word- on the first page, and leave the other five hundred pages blank, so that after you get through with i:he volume as a story book you can use it for a blank book or a diary. Most books ■nowadays are so full’ of stciry that when you get through with them there isn't anything else you can do with the book.” “It's a new idea,” said Tom with a laugh. “And all my own invention, too,” said the Bellows proudly. “He’s the most inventive BeKows that ever was,” put in the Poker, “that is. in a literary way. How many copies of your book of ’Unwritten Poems’ did you sell. Wheezy?” he added. “Eight millions,” returned the Bellows, ’’that was probably my greatest literary achievement.” “ ’Unwritten Poems,’ eh?” said Tom, to whom the title seemed curious. “Yes,” said the Be'lows. “The book had 300 pages, all nicely bound—26 lines to a page—and each beginning with a capital letter, just as p:etry should. Then, so as to be quite fair to all the letters, I began with A and went righll straight through the alphabet to Z.” ‘‘But the poems?” demanded Tom. "They were unwritten, just as the title said.” replied the Bellows. "You see that loft everything to the imagination, which is a great thing in poetry.” WEAK KIDNEYS AND DLADDER TROUDLE • Had lo Pass Water Very Often Day and Night. Cured by the Great Kidney Remedy, Swamp-I<oor DR. KILMER & CO.. Binghamton, N. Y. About two years ago I had a very severe case of kidney and bladder trouble. The pain in the small of my back was so severe that I could not stand it to stay in one position more than a moment or two, and was obliged to pass water very often day and night. I tried medicines and doctors without getting relief. Notic ing an advertisement in The Topeka State Journal of Swamp-Root, I determined to give it a trial and bought a bottle. By the time I had finished the first bottle the pain had entirely disappeared from my back. The pain and frequent desire to pass water ceased. However, I continue d to take the medicine, using about six bottles in all. That was over a year ago and I have had no return of th? trouble since. c/4: ”You see I can’t hrrite because I haven t any hands," said the Bellows No Money Wanted. Simply Tell Me the Book You Need. Please write a postal to know what I spent a Mfetlmu in learning. It 'Is a way to get well—often the only way. With the book I will send an order on your druggist for six bottles Dr. Shoop's Restorative; and he will let you test It a month. If satisfied, the cost Is $5.50. If It falls. 1 will pay your druggist myself. Think what that means. On any other remedy such an offer would bankrupt the maker. But I have furnished my remedy to over half a million people on Just those terms; and 39 out of each 40 have paid for It, because they were cured. When it fail's not a penny is wanted. My success comes from strengthening the Inside nerves. I bring back the power that operates the vttail organs. Nerve powe* alone can overcome this weakness. I pity the sick one who lets prejudice keep him from getting my book. Book No. 1 ob Dyspepsia, Book No. 2 on the Heart, Book No. S on the Kidneys, Book No. 4 for Women, Book No. 5 for Men, (Moled) Book No. 6 on Rheumatism. Simply state which book you want, and address Dr. Sboop, Box Ml, Racine, Wis. Mild cases, not chronic, are often cured by one or two bottles. At ail druggists. felt like voting. You aren’t selffish, any how.” "Yeji, I am,” said the Bellows. “I’m am'fully selfish.” “You’re not. either,” said the Poker. “Oh, goodne93," exclaimed the Bellows. “What’s the use of fighting? I say 1 am. "Ltl’.’s ’have a vote on it,” said Rlghty. "I vote he isn’t.” “So do I.” said Tom. “Me, too,” said Lefty. “Those are my sentiments likewise,” put in the Poker. "Oh, very well, then. I’m not,” said the Bellows, with a deeip drawn sigh, "but I do wish you’d let me have my own way about some things. I want to be self ish. even if I’m not.” "Well, we are very sorry,” said the Poker, "but we can’t lot you be; we need you too much to permit you to be saltish. Besides, you’re loo good a fellow to be selfish. I know a boy who was self ish once, and he 'got into all sorts of trou ble. Nobody liked him, and once when he gave a big dinner to a lot of other boys not one of them would come, and he had to eat all the dinner himself. The result wats that he overaite him self, ruined his digestion, and all the rest of his life had to do without pies and cakes and other good things. It served him right, too. Do you think we are going to let you be like that, Mr. Bellows?” “I suppose not,” said the Bellows, "but stories about selfish boys don’t frighten me. I’m a bellows, not a boy. I don’t give dinners and I don’t eat pie and cake. Plain air Is good enough for me. and I wouldn’t give a cent for all the other good eatables In the world except dough nuts. I like doughnuts because, after a'll, they are only bellows cakes. But come, let’s hurry up with the cloud. I want to gelt hack to my desk. I have a poem to finish before breakfast.” This statement Interested Tom hugely. He had read many a book, but never be fore had he met a real author, and even if the Bellows had been a man. so long as he was a writer Tom wou'ld have looked upon him with awe. “Excuse me.” he said hesitatingly, as the Bellows began to wheeze away at the cloud. “Do you really write?” "Well, no,” said the Bellows. “No, I don’t write, but I blow a story or two now and then. You see, I can’t write be cause I haven't any hands, but I can wheeze out a ta'Ie to a stenographer once in a while which any magazine would be glad to publish if it could get hold of it. One of rfiy stories called Sparks blew into a powder magazine once and It made a tremendous noise in ^he world when it came out.” "I wi'.-h you would tell me one,” said Tom.. “Are you a stenographer?” asked the Bellows. ’■No.” said Tom, “but I like stories just the same.” “Well,” said the Bellows. “I’ll tell you one about Jimmie Tompkins and the red apple. “Hurrah!” cried Tom. "I love red ap ples." “So did Jimmy Tompkins,” said the Bel lows, “and that’s why) he died. He ate a red apple while It was green and it killed him.” i There was a pause tor an Instant, and the Bellows redouble* his efforts to move the cloud, which tor #ome reason or other did not stir easily. “Go ahead,” said “Som, when he thought he had waited longil enou ®h tor ithe Bel lows to resume. "What on?” ask' “On your story kins and the red a' “Why, I’ve (told torted the Bellows, apple and died. Wh That’s all there is “It Isn’t a very lei Tom, ruefully, for pointed. “Well, why should Bellows. "A story the Bellows. at Jimmie Tomp- >le,” Tom answered, ^ou that story,” re- VJlmmie ate the red . more do you want? It.” story.” suggested was much dlsap- be?” demanded the Doesn't have to be "Didn’t people complain?” Tom asked. “Everybody did,” replied the Bellows, “but that was just What I wanted, agreed to answer every complaint accom panied by 10 cents in postage stamps. Eighth million complaints alone brought me in $480,000 over and above all expenses, I which were 4 cents per complaint.” "But what was you answer?” demand ed Tom. "I merely told them that my book stood upon its own merits and that if they didn’t like my unwritten poems 3hey could write some of their own on ithe blank pages of the book. It was a perfectly fair proposition,” the Bellows replied. "I think I like written, poetry best, though,” said Tom. "That’s entirely a matter of taste,” said the Bellows, “and 1 shan’t find fault with you for that. The only thing is that Un written Poems are apt to have fewer faults than the written ones, and every great poet will te*;i you that nobody ever detected any mistakes in his poems until he had put them down on paper. If he had left them unwritten nobody would ever have known how bad they were.” Tom scratched his ‘head in a puzzled mood. He could not quite grasp the Bel lows’ meaning. “What do you think about it, Righty?” he demanded of the Andiron. “Oh, I don't think anything about it,” replied Rlghty. “I haven’t watched poetry much. You see, Lefty and I don't see much of it. People light fires nowadays more with newspaper!? than with poetry.” “What I’ve seen burns well,” observed the Left'handlron, “and don’t make much ashes to get into your eyes; buit, say. Wheezy, if you’ll do your blowing about •this cloud rather than about your poetry we may get some'where.” “Very well,” said the BeKows, "fasten your hats on tight and turn up your col lars. I’m going to give you a regular tor nado.” And he was as good as his word, for, ex panding hiim'self to the utmost limit, he gave a tremendous wheeze. Which nearly blew Tom from his perch, sent his cap flying off Into space and smashed the cloud into four separate pieces, one of which, bearing the Poker, floated rapidly off to the north, while the other three sped south, east and west, respectively. “Hi, tthere,” cried Righty, as he perceiv ed the damage done to their fleecy chariot. "What are you up to? We don’t want to be blown to the four corners 67 the earth. Pull in—pull in, for goodness sake, or we’ll never get together again!” “There’is no satisfying you fellows,” growled the Bellows. "First I don’t blow enough, and then I blow -too much.” “Stop growling and haul us back again!" cried the Poker. The Bellow began to haul in his breath rapidly and by a process of suction soon had the four parts of the bursted cloud back together again. “By jingo!” panted Lefty. “That was a narrow escape. Two seconds more and this party would have been a goner. Even as it is, you've twisted my neck so I’ll never get it back in shape again,” said the Righfhandiron. “Well, I’m sorry,” said the Bellows, “but it’s all your o.wn fault. You asked me to blow the cloud, and I blew it. You didn’t say whore you wanted it blown.” "You needn’t have blown it to smith ereens, just the same,” retorted the Pok er. "It doesn’t cost anything to ask a question now and then.” “Where, then?” demanded the Bellows. "I’d like to find my hat,” said Tom. “Very ■well,” said the Bellows. “I see it 'speeding off toward the moon, and we’ll chase after it, but we’ll never catch it If It misses the moon and falls past it into space.” The Poker rose to his full height and peered after the cap, which, even as the Bellows had said, was sailing rapidly off in the direction of the crescent moon, whioh lay to the west and below them. “Hurrah!” he cried. “It’s oil right.” "Can you see it still?” asked Tom, anx- (A. H. Noonoy.) Chief Engineer, State Capitol Building, Tcpeka, Kan. Jan. 2nd, 1902. Weak and unhealthy kidneys are resp onsible for more sickness and suffering than any other disease, therefore, when t hrough neglect or other causes, kidney trouble is permitted to continue, fatal results arc sure to foilon). We often see a relative, a friend, or a n acquaintance apparently well, but in a few days we may be grieved to learn of their severe illness, or sudden death, caused by that fatal type of kidney trouble—Bright’s Disease. The mild and extraordinary effect of the world-famous kidney and bladder remedy. Dr. Kilmer’s Swamp-Root, is soon realized. It stands the highest for its wonderful cures of the most distressing cases. A trial will convince anyone—and you may have a sample bottle sent free, by mail. Sample Bottle of Swamp-Root Free by Mail. EDITORIAL NOTE.—Swamp-Root has been tested in so many ways, and has proven so successful in every case, that a special arrangement has been made by which all readers of The Sunny South who have not already tried it may have a sample bottle sent absolutely free by mail. Also a book telling all about Swamp- Root, and containing many of the thousands upon thousands of testimonial let ters received from men and women who owe their good health, in fact, their very lives, to the wonderful curative properties of Swamp-Root. In writing, be sure and mention reading this generous offer in T he Atlanta Sunny South when send ing your address to Dr. Kilmer & Co., Binghamton, N. Y. If you are already convinced that Swa mp-Root is what you need, you can pur chase the regular fifty-cant and one-doll ar size bottles at the drug stores everj- where. Don't make any mistake, but re member the name, Swamp-Rpot. Dr. Kil mer’s Swamp-Root, and the address, Binghamton, N. Y., on every bottle. iously, for his cap was made of. sealskin, and he didn’t want to lose it. “Yes, it’s all rlghe,” said the Poker. “It nearly missed, but not quite. If you will look through these glasses you will sei it.” The Poker handed Tom a Jfc-lr of strong field glasses, and the lad, gazing anxious ly through them, was delighted to see his wandering cap hanging, as if on a great olden hook in the sky beneath them, and which was nothing more than the last appearance of the moon itself. "Good." cried the Righthandiron, “That settles the question for us of where we shad go next. There is no choice left. We'll go to the moon. Heave ahead, Wheezy.” Whereupon the Bellows began to blow, at first gently, then stronger and stronger, and yet more strongly still, until t/he cloud was moving rapid!y in the direction they desired. r (To Be Continued.) Odd Desert Flora Sr Fauna—Birth place of Crude Life By JAMES A HALL Written for CAe Sunny South O one who possesses some thing of the taste of the naturalist the Colorado desert of southern Califor nia offers many sources of interest. The prevailing types of both plant and animal life found in this region of sand dunes and alkali wastes differ gen erally from those found elsewhere, and in some in stances this difference is alncst startling. The queer looking greasewood grows on the desert and along with it are found the stately fan palm, the green agave, century plant, the fantastic yucca, and the gnarled end scrubby mesquite. There are birds and animals and rep tiles, all dressed in grav. and so nearly does the prevailing color of all living things conform to the hue of the desert that it is almost impossible to see the lit tle dwellers of the waste even when near at hand. It is doubtful If nature’s meda cf protection is anywhere found more strikingly exemplified than here. It has been suggested that the bird and the rat and the chipmunk of the delsert get iheir ashen hue from the excessive aridity and brightness, but It may be recalled that polar regions also clothe their fur and feather-clad inhabitants in gray and u hlte. I have often been impressed with the blending of colors in animals and birds in the southern states with their environ ments, but nowheTe have I seen such harmony between the object and its sur. roundings as on the Colorado desert. Every one who has anv knowledge of outdoor life In Georgia has seen little tree toads whose skins looked for alt the world like the bark of the oak, and the most careless observer of bird life has noted the difficulty in locating nest3, especially of the grosbeak and quail even where they were know'n to exist. This blending of colors with surround ings must be the outcome of long con tinued selection, and is the process by which nature protects Its creatures, and prolongs their lives. It is very easily understood how any highly colored, object which contrasted strongly with the gen eral hue of the desert would attract at tention of stronger and more ferocious prey hunters, and thus have Its career cut short. But those of pale and ashen hue would be safeguarded by their color and perhaps attain long life and propa gate numerous offspring. It is a- wild and enchanting picture the Colorado desert presents with Its wide stretches of glimmering snnd. wild, bold mountains rising hera Something and there sheer from tha of Life plain and presenting a In most forbidding appear- the ance in their primitive Desert nakedness. The plain is furrowed by winding channels of dry streams, a few holes of hot, brackish water occur at wide inter vals and in well favored nooks the mag nificent fan palm rises to a height of 40 or more feet. These fan palms usually have iheir trunks charred and blackened from flie ground almost to the tuft of rich green at the top. These black tree trunks tell the story of a weird superstition which exists among the desert Indians. When one of their tribe dies the drv hark and dead leaves cf the palms are set on fire and a greit blaze is produced. By this light the soul of the departed finds Its way across the black, reeky and thorn-strewn desert which separates the happy hunt ing grounds from the vale of the liv ing. Here and there on the desert the cen tury plant sends its stately stem from 15 to 18 feet in the air. Its bloom gives out a delicate fragrance and in the early morning hours before the sun has com menced to heat up the sands numerous somber-hued humming birds and butter flies may be seen buzzing around the blooming “centuries” and drinking in the rectar their blossoms afford. Darting across ycur path and running alon£ far \ in advance cf you may be seen LeConte’e; thrasher, a bird closely akin to the brown ‘ thrasher of the east. This desert thrasher is very shy and keeps well out of your! way, darting in and out among the brush . and all the time frantically jerking its ! tail ard uttering a sharp cry. This bird Continued on eighth page * MARTHA WASHINGTON II if) COLLECTION I ft 2 ;4UKhdsFtowir Seeds onlylUci ..Hollyhock, Ten Week* X Stock, Calendula, Core- 2 xia, Lupin, Four O’clock . Alter, Balsam, Pansy,. , Sweet Peas, Flaks, Sal- i via. Cosmos, Phlox, Can- < 'tuft. Zinnia, Lark-I w. Nasturtium, Sun- iwer, -Poppy, Dewey fine, 8weetklcMnet&Ttasrifold,Morn- LozTe.Coxcomb. By funding ns Five sc* ;e,etc..we will send you the aboveoolloirflonof seeds and J ■a premium of choice collection •< bulbs Free, I 1 MYSTIC TALLEY MEM CO, Medferd. Maas. 1 /