THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 23 



daily of the dull and blind, and every locality hangs 

 out signs of its own, for us to read or pass by as we 

 will. Naturally there occur seasons when Nature 

 flouts even the keenest observer, but not often. 



Certain Tenderfooters who land in our midst 

 with more cash than sense, bragging that they will 

 show the Valley farmers how to do things, may be 

 dismissed with few words. Sooner or later they 

 shake the dust of our rich Vale from feet which 

 naturally enough have never lost their tenderness, 

 swearing that farming in this section is No Good. 

 Or else, merely wearying of an avocation for which 

 they are unfitted, conduct themselves like children 

 who abandon a toy as soon as it has lost its novelty. 

 The good ranching person, even as the good phy- 

 sician, must be born as well as made. 



And it is not just the backward look, the days 

 that are no more look, that shows the hours of bless- 

 ing to exceed in number, or at least equal, the hours 

 of banning. 



Worry? Of course! Exasperation, poignant anx- 

 iety? Assuredly. Nevertheless the born ranching 

 person sticks until removed by ironhanded circum- 

 stance. 



And after all ranching provocation arrives inter- 

 mittently, owing its presence, in the era before the 

 Dam, largely to the scuffle for water. The labor 

 problem, needless to say, was comparatively easy of 

 solution in those days before a brief period of war 

 drained the labor supply. 



