1897 



GLEANINGS INlBEE CULTURE. 



133 



Wheuce came this batch of curiosities ? What 

 made this well in the top of the hill ? Friend 

 Elvey explains it by calling it the crater of an 

 extinct volcano. At some former period, he 

 thinks, the volcano blew out this hole. The 

 hill surrounding it is made up of the matter 

 thrown out, and water found its way in, tilling 

 up the crater, and overflowing till it found an 

 outlet through the side of the hill into Beaver 

 Creek. Mr. Robert Phlnney, who lives near 

 by, has another explanation. He thinks the 

 underlying rock is something more or less sol- 

 uble in water, and that the spring of water 

 coming up through has dissolved the rock and 

 carried it away. As a proof of this, the water 

 from the well even now holds a large quantity 

 of minerals in solution. The deposit on sticks 

 and stones, something like petrefactiou, shows 

 this. As the water is moderately warm at all 

 seasons of the year, where it comes out into 

 Beaver Creek on a frosty morning it sends up 

 quite a little steam or vapor; and a beautiful 

 growth of " maiden-hair " ferns follows the path 

 of this warm spring water from its exit out of 

 the cliff down to Beaver Creek. 

 Z:By the time I had finished my examinations 

 ajman came galloping up to the summit of the 

 hill, on horseback, it would surprise people 

 here in the East to see how carelessly and reck- 

 lessly people ride on horseback along the moun- 

 tain canyons. The trail down the hill was so 

 steep that I sprang from my wheel; but while 

 we were talking, the man turned about in his 

 saddle; and while he was looking right back 

 toward me, his horse came to a series of rocky 

 precipices, some of them two or three feet 

 straight down among the jagged rocks. Right 

 down this rocky pathway the horse went with 

 a sort of lope, and his rider had his head turned 

 toward me, and did not even look to see where 

 his horse was going. I stood still in open- 

 mouthed astonishment. The horse went clear 

 to the bottom safely, and then loped off through 

 Beaver Creek and up the hill on the other side. 

 I do not suppose that one of the horses here in 

 the East could have been coaxed down that 

 path among those jagged rocks, by any hook 

 or crook; and yet this horse plunged down, 

 boldly without so much as hardly slacking his 

 speed. So much for the matter of education. 



About half a mile from the well 1 found the 

 home of Robert Phinney. As a rule, through 

 the desert mountains and all around Camp 

 Verde the houses are very modest and humble. 

 In fact, it is generally agreed that such ex- 

 pensive homes as we have here in the East are 

 not needed; for snow is seldom seen, and the 

 only frost or freezing is during the night. Dur- 

 ing the coldest weather it sometimes freezes so 

 as to give the children a little slide early in the 

 morning; but when the sun gets away up high 

 in the middle of the day, it is almost always 

 comfortably warm if you get out in the sun. 

 This is why they put so little expense on their 

 dwellings. But Mr. Phinney's home presents 

 a vivid contrast, and I was a little surprised to 

 see a beautiful house made of hewn stone with 

 contrasting colors— a house that we would call 

 pretty in any town or city in our land. I began 

 to make some inquiries, and was told something 

 like this: 



"Oh! Mr. Phinney, he married the school- 

 ma'am, and she made a picture of the house 

 before it was ever built. She's an awful good 

 schoolma'am, and the people like her so well 

 they could not let her go, and so she teaches 

 school now even if she is married." 



Now, I have not time to tell you all about 

 the pretty little home belonging to Mr. and 

 Mrs. Phinney; but I want to say that the in- 

 side is fully in keeping with the outside. Books, 



papers, periodicals, and all the appliances of 

 modern comfort and luxury, are found in that 

 little home. In fact, the furniture is mostly 

 made up of gems of modern date. When I first 

 came in I noticed a beautiful ratian chair 

 with three links of a chain surmounting the 

 back. Friend Elvey pretty soon began to joke 

 with the owner about being an Odd Fellow, 

 oven if he was away back in the hills. At this 

 the bright and vivacious mistress of the home 

 looked up inquiringly, and replied: 



" Why, my husband is not an Odd Fellow, 

 neither is he a member of any secret society." 

 And then she added, mischievously, " In fact, 

 it was in the bargain before we were married, 

 that, instead of going to lodges and society 

 meetings, he should spend his evenings at home 

 with me." 



Now, Mr. P. is a very quiet man. He is every 

 inch a gentleman, and always looks smiling 

 and good-natured, although he does not talk 

 very much. He Old not make any reply, only 

 to smile a little more good-naturedly at this 

 explanation from his wife. I wish that Mrs. 

 Root, when she gets thus far in reading my 

 story, would please skip say a dozen lines or so; 

 and while she is skipping ahead I want to say 

 to the readers of Gleanings, a little aside, 

 that I am not a bit surprised that Mr. Phinney 

 decided in his own mind he would rather spend 

 his evenings with this bright, intelligent little 

 schoolma'am than even to take a took toward 

 all that the secret societies and lodges in this 

 whole wide world can offer by way of contrast. 

 If he did rot so decide, I am sure I should have 

 done so if 1 had been in his place. Out in the 

 country. I believe that, as a general rule, the 

 husband does usually spend his evenings with 

 his wife and children. If there are uo children, 

 then there is a still better reason why he should 

 stay at home with the wife, to keep her com- 

 pany. 



It is just being discovered in this neighbor- 

 hood that apples and other fruits grow to won- 

 derful perfection; and these two friends have 

 already put out an orchard of thrifty young 

 apple-trees; and one evening was spent quite 

 profitably and pleasantly in discussing the dif- 

 ferent varieties of apples; and I was very glad 

 indeed to find that my recent enthusiasm in 

 that direction had given me some knowledge 

 of pomology. Right close by Mr. Phinney's 

 apple-orchard are some wonderful soda springs. 

 The water comes bubbling and boiling up 

 through a bed of white sand. I will tell you 

 about them in our next issue. 



THE SUFFERING ARMENIANS. 



The National Armenian Relief Committee recent- 

 ly forwarded to Turkey $3.5,000. They have just 

 received a cable message from the luternationa,! 

 Committee at Constantinople, of which the British 

 Ambassador is Cliairman, aclinowledging the re- 

 mittance, and stating that the funds in hand are 

 entirely inadequate to meet the awful suffering and 

 destitution, and that careful investigation has 

 shown that not less than 40,000 children have been 

 made orphans by the late massacres. These " wards 

 of Christendom " can be easily saved from starva- 

 tion or debasing enslavement in Moslem homes, 

 and can be cared for at the rate of a dollar a month ; 

 but thousands will perish before spring unless gen- 

 erous gifts are sent at once to Brown Bros. & Co., 

 59 Wall St., New York, who are the authorized 

 treasurers. Spencer Trask, Chairman, 



Fred D. Greene, Secretary. 



New York, Feb. 2, 1897. 



cWe clip the above from a communication 

 just received. I may add here that a sum of 

 money sent from Medina a few days ago was 

 reported to be in the hands of missionaries in 

 Armenia within 48 hours, the arrangements by 



