MOUNTAIN-BARRIERS 



231 



died through thousands of years with the slow 

 evaporation of moisture and the slow growth of 

 the desert. 



Is then this great expanse of sand and rock 

 the beginning of the end ? Is that the way our 

 globe shall perish ? Who can say ? Nature 

 plans the life, she plans the death ; it must be 

 that she plans aright. For death may be the 

 culmination of all character ; and life but the 

 process of its development. If so, then not in 

 vain these wastes of sand. The harsh destiny, 

 the life-long struggle which they have imposed 

 upon all the plants and birds and animals have 

 been but as the stepping-stones of character. It 

 is true that Nature taxed her invention to the 

 utmost that each might not wage unequal strife. 

 She gave cunning, artifice, persistence, strength ; 

 she wished that each should endure and fulfil 

 to its appointed time. But it is not the armor 

 that develops the wearer thereof. It is the 

 struggle itself the hard friction of the fight. 

 Not in the spots of earth where plenty breeds 

 indolence do we meet with the perfected type. 

 It is in the land of adversity, and out of much 

 pain and travail that finally emerges the high- 

 est manifestation. 



Not in vain these wastes of sand. And this 



The desert 

 the begin- 

 ning of the 



Develop- 

 ment 

 through 

 adterrity. 



