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Lost Borders
Mary Hunter Austin (1868 – 934) was an American writer. One of the early nature writers of the American Southwest, her classic The Land of Little Rain (1903) describes the fauna, flora and people – as well as evoking the mysticism and spirituality – of the region between the High Sierra and the Mojave Desert of southern California.
MARY AUSTIN, who, since she first stood sponsor for the Arizona “ Land of Little Rain," has come to speak of these desert regions with almost maternal alternations of proud understanding and humble admiration, has gathered into an alluring little volume called "Lost Borders" some of the broken beginnings and tag ends of failed
endeavor and forgotten happenings that she has salvaged from the sands. It is characteristic of the writer and it is the determining characteristic of the book that it is not the salience of the human drama but its insignificance that seizes the imagination in these fragments of story; and that they get their needed touch of finality not from their being humanly inevitable, but from their having chanced upon nature in the utter aloofness and irresponsiveness of her desert self-contemplation.
The attitude of Mrs. Austin to the American desert is in striking contrast to that of others who write of the the great deserts. Mrs. Austin has rather given herself to the desert than set up any claim over it, either of lease or of squatter sovereignty. And one is conscious in all her writings that the desert in return has made her articulate.
Set in the land of the far West, the chapters are episodes of the plains, and the obsessions that seize upon men's souls as they live that life, so dangerously unrestrained. The stories express with remarkable breadth and simplicity the magic of our great western desert "where the borders of conscience break down and law and landmarks fall together.'' Twelve of the fourteen stories appeared in the Century, Harper's and the Atlantic.
"Between the high Sierras south from Yosemite — east and south over a very great assemblage of broken ranges beyond Death Valley, and on inimitably into the Mojave Desert, " — there Mrs. Mary Austin tells us lies "The Land of Little Rain." The Indians call it the Country of Lost Borders; and she prefers that name to "Desert" for a place that, to the patient observer, is far from being void of life. There are hills there, "blunt, burned, squeezed up out of chaos, chrome and vermilion painted"; and between the hills are steep and narrow canyons, oftener than not dry at the bottom, and high sun-baked mesas where the dustdevils dance to the wind's piping. By day, the land is very still, spell-bound in the glare of the sun; but in the late afternoon the birds appear, and the little furry folk creep out from cover and take to their tiny ribbon-like water trails. Then the hawk and the eagle skim over the sage, the coyote lurks by the rabbit-form, the "billy-owl," the bob-cat, and the red fox gather at the water-holes, all watching their chance to prey on smaller creatures. Whereever there are cattle there are scavengers, — buzzards and ravens; and in the dry years vultures, in terrible black clouds.
There are men, too, in the desert: cattlemen, miners bitten with tales of lost treasure, and Paiute Indians; there is Jimville, a Bret Harte town, and Las Uvas, a Mexican pueblo. There is indeed tragedy in the desert; but Mrs. Austin wonders if convention has not over-emphasized that note. The lonely land takes heavy toll of the visitor, but it pays high returns; and once its charm is on you, you may curse it and leave it, but you will surely come back.
Mrs. Austin did not go to the desert to write it up.
MARY AUSTIN, who, since she first stood sponsor for the Arizona “ Land of Little Rain," has come to speak of these desert regions with almost maternal alternations of proud understanding and humble admiration, has gathered into an alluring little volume called "Lost Borders" some of the broken beginnings and tag ends of failed
endeavor and forgotten happenings that she has salvaged from the sands. It is characteristic of the writer and it is the determining characteristic of the book that it is not the salience of the human drama but its insignificance that seizes the imagination in these fragments of story; and that they get their needed touch of finality not from their being humanly inevitable, but from their having chanced upon nature in the utter aloofness and irresponsiveness of her desert self-contemplation.
The attitude of Mrs. Austin to the American desert is in striking contrast to that of others who write of the the great deserts. Mrs. Austin has rather given herself to the desert than set up any claim over it, either of lease or of squatter sovereignty. And one is conscious in all her writings that the desert in return has made her articulate.
Set in the land of the far West, the chapters are episodes of the plains, and the obsessions that seize upon men's souls as they live that life, so dangerously unrestrained. The stories express with remarkable breadth and simplicity the magic of our great western desert "where the borders of conscience break down and law and landmarks fall together.'' Twelve of the fourteen stories appeared in the Century, Harper's and the Atlantic.
"Between the high Sierras south from Yosemite — east and south over a very great assemblage of broken ranges beyond Death Valley, and on inimitably into the Mojave Desert, " — there Mrs. Mary Austin tells us lies "The Land of Little Rain." The Indians call it the Country of Lost Borders; and she prefers that name to "Desert" for a place that, to the patient observer, is far from being void of life. There are hills there, "blunt, burned, squeezed up out of chaos, chrome and vermilion painted"; and between the hills are steep and narrow canyons, oftener than not dry at the bottom, and high sun-baked mesas where the dustdevils dance to the wind's piping. By day, the land is very still, spell-bound in the glare of the sun; but in the late afternoon the birds appear, and the little furry folk creep out from cover and take to their tiny ribbon-like water trails. Then the hawk and the eagle skim over the sage, the coyote lurks by the rabbit-form, the "billy-owl," the bob-cat, and the red fox gather at the water-holes, all watching their chance to prey on smaller creatures. Whereever there are cattle there are scavengers, — buzzards and ravens; and in the dry years vultures, in terrible black clouds.
There are men, too, in the desert: cattlemen, miners bitten with tales of lost treasure, and Paiute Indians; there is Jimville, a Bret Harte town, and Las Uvas, a Mexican pueblo. There is indeed tragedy in the desert; but Mrs. Austin wonders if convention has not over-emphasized that note. The lonely land takes heavy toll of the visitor, but it pays high returns; and once its charm is on you, you may curse it and leave it, but you will surely come back.
Mrs. Austin did not go to the desert to write it up.
- GenresFiction
113 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1909
7 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Mary Hunter Austin
97 books80 followersMary Hunter Austin was a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, as well as an early feminist, conservationist, and defender of Native American and Spanish-American rights and culture.
After graduating from Blackburn College in 1888, she moved with her family to California and established a homestead in the San Joaquin Valley. She married Stafford Wallace Austin In 1891 and they lived in various towns in California’s Owens Valley before separating in 1905.
One of the early nature writers of the American Southwest, her popular book The Land of Little Rain (1903) describes the fauna, flora and people of the region between the High Sierra and the Mojave Desert of southern California. She said, "I was only a month writing ... but I spent 12 years peeking and prying before I began it."
After visiting Santa Fe in 1918, Austin settled there in 1924. She helped establish The Santa Fe Little Theatre (still operating today as The Santa Fe Playhouse). She was also active in preserving the local culture of New Mexico, establishing the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in 1925.
In 1929, she co-authored a book, Taos Pueblo, with photographer Ansel Adams. It was printed in 1930 in a limited edition of only 108 copies. It is now quite rare because it included actual photographs made by Adams rather than reproductions.
She is best known for her nature classic Land of Little Rain (1903) and her play The Arrow Maker (1911).
After graduating from Blackburn College in 1888, she moved with her family to California and established a homestead in the San Joaquin Valley. She married Stafford Wallace Austin In 1891 and they lived in various towns in California’s Owens Valley before separating in 1905.
One of the early nature writers of the American Southwest, her popular book The Land of Little Rain (1903) describes the fauna, flora and people of the region between the High Sierra and the Mojave Desert of southern California. She said, "I was only a month writing ... but I spent 12 years peeking and prying before I began it."
After visiting Santa Fe in 1918, Austin settled there in 1924. She helped establish The Santa Fe Little Theatre (still operating today as The Santa Fe Playhouse). She was also active in preserving the local culture of New Mexico, establishing the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in 1925.
In 1929, she co-authored a book, Taos Pueblo, with photographer Ansel Adams. It was printed in 1930 in a limited edition of only 108 copies. It is now quite rare because it included actual photographs made by Adams rather than reproductions.
She is best known for her nature classic Land of Little Rain (1903) and her play The Arrow Maker (1911).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 19, 2021
An unexpected and memorable group of stories in a time and place far removed from here and now.
Want to read
May 28, 2025Read so far:
The land --2
The hoodoo of the Minnietta --
A case of conscience --
The ploughed lands --
The return of Mr. Wills --3
*The last antelope --
Aqua Dulce --
The woman at the Eighteen-mile --
*The fakir --
The pocket-hunter's story --2
The readjustment --3
Bitterness of women --
The house of offence --
The walking woman --3
***
The basket maker --2
Jimville, a Bret Harte town --2
The land of little rain --
Papago Kid --3
Papago wedding --3
The land --2
The hoodoo of the Minnietta --
A case of conscience --
The ploughed lands --
The return of Mr. Wills --3
*The last antelope --
Aqua Dulce --
The woman at the Eighteen-mile --
*The fakir --
The pocket-hunter's story --2
The readjustment --3
Bitterness of women --
The house of offence --
The walking woman --3
***
The basket maker --2
Jimville, a Bret Harte town --2
The land of little rain --
Papago Kid --3
Papago wedding --3
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews