THE HOME IN THE DESERT.
My home is in the desert. Did you ever see a desert? I will tell you about it.
The desert is a great valley where it seldom rains. The ground is almost level as far as you can see. Mountains lie all around the valley, but they are ever so far away.
There is little soil in the desert. For miles and miles there is yellow sand and gravel.
In the middle of the desert where the ground is lowest the sand is covered by something white. What can this white substance be? It is not snow, for it is too warm here. If you will taste a little of it you will find that it is soda. Perhaps your mother has used some of the soda from this desert in making bread.
Father helps gather the soda. This is the reason we live in the desert. Father says there was once a time when it rained here. Then there was a lake where the bed of soda is now. The soda was dissolved in the water just as sugar is dissolved in your tea. When the water of the lake dried up the soda was left upon the surface of the desert. The water went off in the thirsty air, but the soda, like the salt in the ocean, could not escape in this way.
It is very hot upon the desert. We are sorry to see the sun come up and glad when it goes down. Where do you suppose we get our water? We need a great deal to drink for the air is so dry. Men have died upon this desert because they could not find water.
Our water comes in an iron pipe. If you will follow the pipe for many miles over the hot sand you will at last come to the mountains. There in a
canon hidden from the hot sun is a little spring of pure water.
How the wind does blow sometimes! The air is then so full of dust that we can hardly breathe. It is not safe to go far from the house when a dust storm is raging.
It is very lonesome here. There are no trees. There are no flowers and green grass to tell us when spring comes. There is nothing growing in the sand but a few low bushes. These are called grease wood. In some places there are bunches of cactuses. This is a queer plant. It has thick sterns and long hooked thorns. We keep as far away from it as we can.
There are no song birds here. The most com mon bird is the road-runner. He is a strange fellow, He has long legs and tail, and runs swiftly over the desert.
There are only a few animals. Of course we have mice. Besides these there are the lizards and horned toads. The lizards dart over the sand and are out of sight almost before we can get a look at them. They appear to guide themselves by their long tails. The toads have little horns upon their heads. When it is cold they bury themselves in the sand. The warmer it becomes during the long days the more they seem to like it. They are just the color of the sand.
The rattlesnakes we are afraid of. They are not large, but very quick and poisonous.