CARRICK NOTES.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXVII, Issue 1372, 13 August 1895, Page 4

CARRICK NOTES.

[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] A long, long winter ! A dreary time for the clamant out-of-works ! Euforced idleness is a wearying thing. The most philosophic and easy-going find it irksome and dispiriting. But work is out of the question for me ; for the snow lies deep, and the frost is as keen as ever. I am alone but not lonefy. If I can't get society I can alvgays get books. " There is one great society alone on earth," says Wordsworth : " The noble Living and the noble Dead ;" so, despite the weaiher and the solitude, life is not insupportable. Tennyson loved flowers, solitude and tobacco; consequently he was never short of company, though there was no one to have a crack with. Isolation induces meditation ; and if a man's thoughts are of any worth he will never be attacked with a fit of the blues, even should he be, as I am, minus flowers and tobacco. He might think aloud now and again when there is nobody to hear or jeer. Albeit a solitary life has its advantages. \ A man can " let himself go " without any faar of being considered acutely ridiculous or deemed a blanked imbecile. But a life of inglorious o,tiosity is not to my taste, and I long for the time when I shall be iiiabled to give it the go by. It is bound to come, I'm thinking. The doctrine of probabilities induces the b-uef that thV weather-bound unemployed will soon be in a position to exercise body, bone, and muscle.; Things will.be made to hum by>and-bye. At present the Carrick is a hard road to travel, and not quite so heautiful as a poet'.-, dream. The " picturesque" figure of the gold-digger stands out in bold relief on the hill sides. -He can see his, shadow on thu show ' wherever he weuids :Hi* toilsome w*y, and patiently bides bis time; -He the power and effbicy of the north winds, and that they will soon come blustering iiv but the "picturesque" figure will remain. The shadow on the snow will then disappear,. Picturesque? Paha! The word is melli flous and classical perhaps, yet the application seems infelicitious. • Why! the Italian brigand is picturesque, and so is the villain of the melodrama. But a word ±that'is attractive and big sounding is often preferred to an appropriate one. So let it pass. / As I had an idea that this winter would* be a tough one to wrestle with, I went below, in other words I left the hills for the valleys. I put in nearly seven weeks, reckoning from the shortest day. Although I led an aimless, loioeriug kind of life during that time, I feel none the worse i or- it. A little harmless inertness, as Carlyle puts it, is not amiss now. and again. But my exit from the Bannockburn was uoi judicious. I ought to have remained a little longer. I am still a member of the lounging fraternity, and likely to be so until " the wintry robe of purest white" has faded from the sight. Doing nothing is hard work after all. Not all sunshine and forced strawberries, beguiling the weary hours is difficult at times; I managed u> relieve the tedium, when on the.Bannockburn, by fore-gathering with some old acquaintances aV a' well-known winter's rendezvous, and taking part in the season able game of Scotch billiards. On Sundays I went to church—a pleasing change for me But the oynosure for me was the skating of the Cromwell folks. I have read of the poetry of motion ; and on this occasion saw it exemplified. At the same time it was a provoking display, enough to make one turn green with envy at beholding such an unexpected and remarkible demonstration of grace and skill. The pastime is not an exclusive one, and yet I was literally left out in the cold. If I were not so old, I would purchase skates aud practise—on the quiet, of course—the alluring art of grace fully gliding on the ice. I poticed but one mishap. at the- gathering. One 'lady, in executing a retrograde movement, sat down with such indigaified prompitude that I felc alarmed for he,r. She rose, however, without assistance, and smiled so benignly that I thought the act was voluntary aud part and parcel of, the; programme. My, opinion now ft that self possession is a peerless attribute, and impassiveness a thing of beauty and delight; If I live till next: winter I purpose, spending it where social intercourse is obtainable, and the sunshine of the mind can gleam through its clouds. To be querluous, sour, and churlish is to be like many an old digger. Far be it from me! My late experience convinces me that I can preserve a tranquil mind arid an unruffled demeanor in the teeth of much that is discomforting. !> am an old bachelor, bat I find that I can endure " the wild clamor of a baby's woe," as well, or better, than many a man who is the happy (!) father of -twins or triplets. ,• The sheep; on the Carrick must be hard put to it, when they will drag the thatch from the roof of a hut. Some of them might have managed to pull through winter thus far, though, to all appearance, they are mere Carcases of sheep can b seen, in the, most of places which are bar© o. snow. I noticed numbers of them., as I climbed the hill. There are four of them lying close together at the back of my hut, I and the eight or nine living specimens hard by can scarcely crawl. Can there, be anything in Darwin's theory, of the survival of the fittest? The snow has been fatal to the weakest, as a rule. The survivors may be considered the hardiest and most vigorous members, and the best fitted to resist the vigor of their environment, Poor conso latiori for the pastoralist, this! When the mustering time comes, his loss] will be adequately known, but. not before. The/ living sheep, one sees now, can barely keep on their feet. Rain is bound to come (soon to add weight to their fleeces. They will then be seen to drop like leaves in autumn. The Otago squatters will be heavy losers this season, and many of them will be probably ruined. Shearers, rabbiters, and other classes will suffer in consequence. The outlook for the miners is not so cheerless. "The sun never 1 sets," says Goethe, "it shines unceasingly." It is well sometimes to have golden dreams. By-and-bye there will be plenty of water. In the meantime the divine quality of patience is having a hard time of it; but will be rewarded in due course, as it mostly is. What is to be feared is a sudden downpour of rain and a rapid melting of the snow, resulting in a disastrous flood. But what cannot be averted can be guarded against and prepared for. Fears, however, are often groundless—a consolatory reflection in this case. Locomotion is laborious and difficult on the Carrick; irritating and painfulJwhen you have to face a southerly wind and drifting snow. I should have returned to the hut for my M.S., which I forgot, but for the reason mentioned. When I met the packer I was some distance from home; hence these tears ! In other words lis am sorry that my correspondence will be belated and not up to date through my remissness.