"ELVES"

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 122, 16 February 1935, Page 23

"ELVES"

Dear Boys and Girls, — I picked up a book of poems the other day and walkca down to my favourite spot on the riverbank to spend a quiet morning there. I sat under the willows, lazily, and listened for a while to the swinging lilt of the long summers tunc. Then 1 opened my book just anywhere and glanced down to read these lovely lines which probably all of you have ; cad or learned: There w a pleasure in the pathless woods. There is a rapture by the lonely shore; t There is society where none intrudes, By the deep sea, .. ■ and music in its roar. 'And 1 then a little later: —to mingle with the universe and feel What I can ne'er express nor cannot all conceal. Perhaps you won’t understand quite what that means, very small ones. 'But the rest of you will, and appreciate its beauty. There is no need to explain it, it docs that for itself, in its own way, .very wonderfully. I feel rather like that last line noiv—thinking of it. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the competition entries. You have done splendidly, girls, but there is a laggard tendency on the part of boy ■members! I shall ask Inkling to remind you about entry dates and competition subjects. ~ Isn’t this half-day idea {splendid? I am really jealous of you all, but it’s a wonderful scheme, these scorching days, to rush down to the river or the sea or the baths—anywhere cool ■ —and simply revel in the water till the sun is gone. Anyway, happy days to you all! My love, KIWI.

i ’ 1 wish ! was a woodland elf, t With suit and cap of green, , Then I'd tell all my little friends I , , Of the wonders I had seen. I’d tell of the midnight fun, ( These folks had asked me to, , Oh! I wish I were a woodland elf, Don’t you? Don’t you? Don’t you? >- —Original, “Lobelia,” Hukanui.