THE OLD BAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 129, 1 June 1907, Page 13

THE OLD BAY.

(Th* following ' verses, published some yem-s a-jo in tho Wallaroo Times, South Australia, wero lately reprinted by request* and are going the rounds. Tho author is a resident of Sydney.) Thore'i a little placo that's scattered Round the brown edge of & bay. There'i; a jetty, old and battered, And it's with mo still to-day. There are rocks where ttirf comes breaking Singing eongs of sea-delight; "While tho soapy foaon goes flaking 'Mid the rocks, all virgin white. Aad as tho- day grows dimmer O'er the bay I see the glimmer Of a lighthouse — and tho skimmer Of the moonlight, still and bright. There's a beach — Ah! to be lying On itn sands — and dreamily Watch the crimson mnsct dying Whe«T tho skyline cuts the Eea! Oh! there's, mourning in tha water, When the "Gulf" is wrapped in grey; And the dirges Nature taught her Float across the bay. I can sco the shadows creeping While tho evening breeze is pseping Through tho tree 3 where, Eoftly sleeping, Lie the friends long pa«3ed away. Fve dreamt sad dreams — aye — and gay dreams, And my soul with joy heo leapt Into spheres my vivid daydreams Brought so near me as I slept! Aud I've scanned tho bay's green waters Till a ship in glory came! At her prow stood Neptune's daughters, And their raiment shone liko fume! And the soft Eea breeze was bringing To my ears the sweetest singing — And my heart went forward — clinging To the waves that called my name! There's ft bay — and oh! I love it! With a lovo that's overfond! Though my soul baa coared above it To tho ocean out beyond! But my eyes with tear 3 are brimming As I sil and sadly think Of the days we went a-swimrrrn? By the slag bank's purple brink. But my thoughts have gone a y naming, And I see them in the gloaming — Iho fishing boats, slow homing! •Neath a- sky all gold and pink! When the night is round me falling I can see that liUle bay. I can heir its dream-waves calling, ' Calling me from far awaj t And I wonder, oh! I wonder, As my 1 fancies come and go, Could I tear my life asunder From the place that loves me sot Though the lighthouse "shiheth" never I shall set its gleam for over ; And the yellow moon a-quiver, In tho bays dim depth below. —Waiter J. Snadden.

THE SEA'S LULLABY. 1 listened in the darkneis, and 1 heard Low in the lonely night, strange lullabies, Uttered with sighs of love, with broken sighs ; And hero and there the echo of a word Some savago mother to her babe might croon Such rhythmic murmurs neath a dropping moon. It is the mother, sleeplew all night long, Beside her children's* cradl* watching well; . , , That whispers thua her ancient slumbe* spell, ThaA chants her mystic immemorial song; Till all the hurry and the noise of day, Fused jn immortal calm, dissolve away. The wild sea-mother, bending o'er her brood, With tender Eoltc»j rocking u& ii> rest — Have yon not seen the throbbing of her breast, And felt her kisses thro' the solitude? Have, you not known, in half-awakening trance, The glory of her dark sweet countenance t —Pall Mall Gazette.

"Principles, not Party," is tho motto of a pamphlet issued by the Fanners' Union, entitled " The Land Bill." Tho attitude of the union concerning the Land Bill is well known to all readers of this paper. In the pamphlet before us, of which a large edition has been printed for purposes of propaganda, dhe argument is set forth briefly and pointedly, and the manifesto will be found very convenient for reference, by friends i»nd opponents alike. About thirty years ago a Londoner, being in Dublin, saw an edition of the "Vicar of Wakefield" in two volumes lying in a bookseller's sixpenny box. He paid a shilling and took the two volumes away. Not being a bookman ho put them on his shelves and thought ni> more about them. But a few months Ego he called in a valuer for fire insurance purposes, and the valuer, coming upon this "Vicar of Wakefield," eaid : "This is a first edition, date 1766—1 value It at £75." \\ hereupon the astonished owner sent me book to a famous auctioneer's, and it was bought for £92 SYS V a famous bookseller, who prices it u( £120 in his latest catalogue.

'Production for Use : A Plea for Public Control," by C. H. Chapman, is a penny pamphlet issued under the authority of the Socialist body of this city. On basic principles, the author accepts MaTx as his authority, and entero a plea for the nationalisation of land and for the municipalisation of industries, which, he holds, would be "the nuans of changing production of wealth from a pr'cfit baiiis to & uso basis." In reply to a suggestion that public control would lead to jobbery and corruption, he asserts that "democratic bodies are remarkably free from that I- * T?c;ra r dm^ apprehensions of a frr"- ;«t hinMen of de.it, he replies : "Municipal and national debt whpn incurred for purposes of industry is better descnnei] as capital " He deprecates the introduction of modern business methods veto publicly-owred industries, maintaininj, that if they return a profit* it 'is at Hie expense of public uae. In conclusion, he lays down soven principle:, some of \..i. iuu still under debate: "Munici* ), ( >.isi.t.on is out of the exDenraenUl t>4at,e. and rcsiius j.«u,_ . m ~ZZ i '— «rt:rs claim for it.'.' "In nhat<s*or direction public enterprise employs labour, so also can a public body, and that even more effectively."