THE LOOM OF THE DESERT
To the courtesy of the editors of the “Argonaut,” “Out West,”“Criterion,” “Arena” and “Munsey’s”—in which publications many ofthese sketches have already seen print—is due their reappearance in morepermanent form.
“The boy swayed backward—backward.”—Page 10
The Loom of the Desert
by
Idah Meacham Strobridge
LOS ANGELES
MCMVII
Copyright, 1907, by
Idah Meacham Strobridge
Printed by the
Baumgardt Publishing Company
Los Angeles, California
Of this autographed edition of
“The Loom of the Desert,” one
thousand copies were made; this
one being number 351
Idah M. Strobridge
MARRIED: In Newark, New Jersey, Thursday,
evening, June the Second, 1852, Phebe
Amelia Craiger of Newark, to George Washington
Meacham of California.
To these—my dearest;
the FATHER and MOTHER who are my comrades still,
I dedicate
these stories of a land where we were pioneers.
FOREWORD
There, in that land set apart for Silence, and Space,and the Great Winds, Fate—a grim, still figure—satat her loom weaving the destinies of desert men andwomen. The shuttles shot to and fro without ceasing,and into the strange web were woven the threads ofLight, and Joy, and Love; but more often were theythose of Sorrow, or Death, or Sin. From the wideGray Waste the Weaver had drawn the color anddesign; and so the fabric’s warp and woof were ofthe desert’s tone. Keeping this always well in mindwill help you the better to understand those people ofthe plains, whose lives must needs be often sombre-hued.
MESQUITE
MISS GLENDOWER sat on the ranch-housepiazza, shading her eyes from thewhite glare of the sun by holding abovethem—in beautiful, beringed fingers—thelast number of a Boston magazine.It was all very new and delightful toher—this strange, unfinished country, and each daydeveloped fresh charm. As a spectacle it was perfect—thevery desolation and silence of the desert stirredsomething within her that t