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GOODWIN'S WEEKLY l H v THE GARDEN OF LOVE By Alexander Pym I tnr HE spaces of the desert stretck- V J ed about me unpeopled save by vU . phantoms. Overhead a ball o fire, blazing In a sky of burnished copper, drew what moisture it could suck from a parched and arid wilder ness. Two companions never left me by night or day: sand sand in hair and 'mouth and eyes and silence. There are different kinds of silence, each with its significance: the silence of awe, the silence which presages disaster. But the silence of the des ert is unlike any other. It is as though the functions of nature were suspended, and in the stillness the Vjj heart of the world can be heard to beat. I seemed to have been always in the desert. My eyes were tinged'' with the wistfulness that the horizon gives; the expression m the ga:e of. the Arab and the sailor is the same. And I was looking not for something that I 'had lost, but for something I had yet to find. I did not complain, for the nomad life has enchantment. Here and there, when least expected, an oasis springs into being as though by magic. Every breath of air throbs with the mystery of the unknown, with a sense of immensity and free dom. But I had no home. Though v footsore and weary I was compelled to go forward. For the desert is in hospitable, and there Is no resting place there. I had almost abandoned hope of escape when mountains raised them selves in outline before me. Patches of vegetation began to triumph over the barrenness of the land; the heat became less intense. As I advanced I discerned in the distanco groves of palms and abundant foliage. Then I believed that my journey was at an end I had reached the Garden of Love. It was a spot pleasant to the eye. Around were dotted hamlets nestling' among the woods. Within, myriads of flowers nodded in bewildering pro fusion, scenting the air with their fragrance. One who has little knowl edge of such things could never name them. Wild, exotic, fragile, in masses i and alone they grew, forming avenues and clumps and borders riotous with J&, color. Green, purple, wine-rod, scal (1 let, orange-red, blood-red, blue, saf fron, sulphur-yellow, whites in every variety all the hues of the rainbow were there, but the reds predominat ed. Yet every shoot appeared inde pendent of the others, with an indi viduality of its own. 1 - And in the garden were maidens of every kind. For some God had put violets in their eyes and rosebuds on their lips ,and corn in their hair, and lilies in their breath and skin. Their . ears were as shells which are gath- Ifr ered on the shore, and their faces turned to the brightness in the way of children. They were piaying the only game in the world the game of love. Others I saw who cheated as they played. Crimson stained their cheeks, and it was they, not God, who had wound carnations in their hair. Such were the passion-toys of pleas ure. Others, agam, belonged to neither kind, yet partook of both. Each had a blossom entrusted to her keeping as an emblem of herself. The men, the partners in the game, were permitted to pluck a flower, and with the flower they took a maiden. It was noticeable how frequently the flowers, when plucked, burst with buds into new life. Many, however, drooped almost at once, the petals crumpled, and the man and woman ould remain no longer.. That was the only sadness which came into the garden the withering of flowers and it was always the signal of de parture. The rejected sometimes set tled within sight of the happiness which they had lost; sometimes they obeyed the call of the desert; a few journeyed boldly into the mountains. I observed that the crimson blossom was particularly short-lived (there appeared to be something hostile to it in the atmosphere of the place). Those who tended it invariably de parted before long, laughing and wan toning into the great wastes. Then I wondered If there was room in the garden for a wanderer like myself. Should I find there that which I had sought so long, which the desert had denied me? I could hardly believe that it was possible. I had seen fair places, but I had never found that. I had watched and wait ed once with hope. Love would come to me; it must. But time passed and the desert summoned, and love lingered. Or perhaps it had come and I had not perceived it. And while I waited I had consoled myself with make-believe. If love was a game then I would play it and be happy. But that was a mistake. Love can only be played with clean hands and a pure heart. It is the pursuit and capture, not, as I had supposed, of every passing fancy, but of the ideal. Yet it Is worth a strug gle. He who wins it and holds it in his arms has all. It is this ideal that colors dreams and waking thoughts. But it is hard to find; It is slow in revealing its hid ing place. And when it fails to come men grow weary and try to cheat themselves with something base. This is why they become unclean; not because they like uncleanllness, but because their dreams remain un realized. Hungry and unsatisfied they prefer husks of swine to starva tion. So they appear heartless, en ticing and coquetting, transferring their favors from one attachment to another, assuming bonds of allegiance in a spirit of jest. Like children who cannot obtain the treasured toy they suppose for a moment that , something else will do. But it is just pretense, in order to conceal their disappoint ment; in their hearts they know that they are beggars. And if any say that this is not so there will come a day when they will confess that they lied. For in the act of accepting a phantom they bear witness to the power of the ideal and measure the preciousness of what they have lost. And so it is with me. I was one of those who had gone unsatisfied, who did not know the meaning of love. Was I fit, then, to set foot in that sacred spot? Would not the pres ence of an outcast bring a blight among the flowers? And yet .... there might be a place for me. Oh, if only it might be so, if only this might be so, if only this might be the be ginning of something beautiful and noble in my life! I had endured so much of the sand and silence. If only ... I pushed open the gate and en tered the garden. The first hours of happiness were shadowed by the dread that I might be expelled. But time want on and no one interfered. The number of strange people there surprised me. They were bad as well as good; some inconstant and shallow; others in spired by selfish motives, by love of the ego, by love of that which pleases the eye. Yet all were happy. That seemed to be inherent in the atmos phere of the place. But imperfec tions of character imposed this re striction. No one could make the garden his home for long except KkVRKvB NEXT WEEK'S BILL M CARTER DEHAVEN & 1"! FLORA PARKER mM now PLAYING i "j ruwTl. FRED WHITEFIELD & 11 " ,., , ., TTT1 MARIE IRELAND lJ The World's Greatest Actress -.n-.,pri ,,.., Afc, Wl aa. GARDNER & HARTMAN MADAME - 111 "- "THE HONEYMOON" f SARAH BERNHARDT With Oj LLORA HOFFMAN GLEN ANDRES & CO. M EQUILLI BROS. 3 CARL M'CULLOUGH PAUL GORDON 7 AMI-RICA rfl EDDIE CARR & CO. MAYO & LYNN Wm ,,TL, r,., THE FOURTH OF JULY IN RUTH BUDD FRANCE H ALBERT DONNELLY D Showing how the Great Sister I Republic, Her Army, Navy, Gov- L9 PATHE WAR NEWS ernment and Her People Show- H ered Honors on Our American 1- Matinees 10c, 25c, 50c, 75c. Fighters on the American Holi- n Evenings 10c, 25c, 50c, 75c, $1. day. MdLHMaaaaMMBBBiHMaaaiHiaHaiHItniHaaBiiMaaia JMJMJBi " nfi-'inSr r t i niiiimni n)i. limn "' nm t-jhih '"" ' " wi ".' ,"" those who were clean through and ''H through, who had gained the pearl H without price. The mingling of sel- H fishness or passion with love sooner H or later brought exile. And though H some of the exiles I observed won H their way back, this was rare. Most H of those who left the garden said H good-bye to it forever. H In such a scene of peace and H brightness as this, listening in the H sunshine to the Btirrlng of the breeze, H the hum of insects among the flow- H ers, I was possessed by a feeling of jH content such as I hud not experienced H before. And I perceived my whole H being quickened with a sense of an- Wmm ticipatlon. Something would happen H to me. What? I could not tell. That it would be transforming, even loy9ly, H I felt sure. But I was still alone. M Women such as play unfairly at the game gazed at me, alluring, yet kind- H J 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 r- M ywjprai I (Auerbachf I Day I AT. I SALTAIR J I I AUGUST 28 I I E Hundreds of Dollars' Worth E H E of Merchandise to be Given E H E Away in Prizes. E 5 There will be Races, Con- M E tests in Swimming, Float- E E ing, Tug-of-War, Bowling, E H E Boxing and Wrestling E E Matches; Dancing, and E H E many other entertaining S H E features. E H E A Revelry of Fun, Music, E mm Dancing, Free Moving Pic- E H E tures, and a Good Time for E H E Ml. E You will find unprecedented 'WM E Bargains in every Depart- E vM E ment during the month of E M E August. Supply your pres- E ifl E ent and future needs now E II before the Fall advance in E ! E prices. E jfl REMEMBER, the date, 1 ll E AUERBACH DAY AT E I E SALTAIR, WEDNESDAY, E M AUGUST 28th. i?iiiiiimiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiii