DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0155
A FLOWER OF THE WILDERNESS. 139
with the calm indifference of a stoic, since, even
in spite of bare feet and dirty faces, my heart
warmed towards the women of the desert. I could
have taken them all to my arms ; but there was one
among them who might be accounted beautiful
even among the beautiful women of my own dis-
tant home. She was tall, and fairer than the most
of her tribe ; and, with the shepherd's crook in her
hand, she was driving her flock of goats up the
valley to the little enclosure before the door of her
rocky dwelling. There was no colour in her
cheek, but there was gentleness in her eye and
delicacy in every feature ; and, moving among us,
she would be cherished and cared for as a tender
plant, and served with all respect and love ; but
here she was a servant; her days were spent in
guarding her flock, and at night her tender limbs
were stretched upon the rude floor of her rocky
dwelling. I thought of her much, and she made a
deep impression upon me ; but I was prevented
from attempting to excite a correspondent feeling
in her gentle bosom by the crushed state of Paul's
ribs, and my own inability to speak her language.
In the evening the men and women, or, to speak
more pastorally, the shepherds and shepherdesses,
came up one after another, with their crooks in
their hands and their well-trained dogs, driving
before them their several flocks. Some entered
the little enclosures before their rude habitations;
but many, destitute even of this miserable shelter,
slept outside in the open valley, with their flocks
with the calm indifference of a stoic, since, even
in spite of bare feet and dirty faces, my heart
warmed towards the women of the desert. I could
have taken them all to my arms ; but there was one
among them who might be accounted beautiful
even among the beautiful women of my own dis-
tant home. She was tall, and fairer than the most
of her tribe ; and, with the shepherd's crook in her
hand, she was driving her flock of goats up the
valley to the little enclosure before the door of her
rocky dwelling. There was no colour in her
cheek, but there was gentleness in her eye and
delicacy in every feature ; and, moving among us,
she would be cherished and cared for as a tender
plant, and served with all respect and love ; but
here she was a servant; her days were spent in
guarding her flock, and at night her tender limbs
were stretched upon the rude floor of her rocky
dwelling. I thought of her much, and she made a
deep impression upon me ; but I was prevented
from attempting to excite a correspondent feeling
in her gentle bosom by the crushed state of Paul's
ribs, and my own inability to speak her language.
In the evening the men and women, or, to speak
more pastorally, the shepherds and shepherdesses,
came up one after another, with their crooks in
their hands and their well-trained dogs, driving
before them their several flocks. Some entered
the little enclosures before their rude habitations;
but many, destitute even of this miserable shelter,
slept outside in the open valley, with their flocks