ONE LONG BIT OF A NIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 15

ONE LONG BIT OF A NIGHT

DEARS, It's hard to leave the sea behind and all the blue and^reen ways of it ... it's hard to leave the cool bush places and the wide open hills and creep back into the small tidy days of the city. Books and lessons, lessons and books! 0 I know, I know. .. . Yet they are the key to all the magic of living . . . they open for us all the beauty of the years to come. Is that too hard to understand ... yet? I wouldn't say it to you, little dear ones, if it were not the truest thing I know.

J tt , , „„ „„ r ,„, ,n HIH Hii-m-uu— ■nn nu "mi--nu urn urn m,^^ I HOLINESS I ! | I ■If all the carts were painted gay, . . ! ] And all the streets swept clean, : „■ s j And alLthe children came to play | | By hollyhocks, with green I f • Grasses to grow between; I 1 ••■■■■! j // all the houses looked as though I | Some heart were in their stones; I I // all the people that ive know I I Were dressed in scarlet gowns, " | I With feathers in their crowns. j I ■ * ! / think this gaiety would make J | A spiritual land, I I / think that holiness would take ■■ \ J . This laughter by the hand, „ ■ "y I Till both should understand. I • . —JOHN DRINKWATER, f 1. ■■ ■ • , ■ •- :, .. - 1 •!> v v tll m[ ul m[ ' Im v Ml llt IIM nl lIL tl n tj g (

It was during a very hot day in the Christmas holidays that the four little Hudsohs—-Dick; Eva, Reggie, and Keith—were wondering how they would amuse themselves. . Suddenly Dick said: "I've got an idea. It would be splendid to camp out, like soldiers, for the rest of the holidays—if the weather keeps fine." "To camp out^ Where? How?" Reggie was all excitement. "Why, here in the garden, of course! The summer-house could be one tent, and we could put up the old bathing-tent on the grass for another. And we could drill, and have all our meals out here and sleep out." "Oh, how ripping!" cried the other children in chorus; but Eva added:—- V " "I don't think I should like to sleep out —it would be too creepy." "Well, Reggie and I could, anyway; perhaps it wouldn't do for you and Keith. Now to work! I'm the colonel, remember. You and Reggie must be on fatigue duty till dinner-time, while Keith does sentry-go. Now, get moving, all of you." "But what is fatigue duty? And what have we to do first?" inquired Eva, rather bewildered. "Rut up the tent. A*k mother for blankets and all kinds of things. Make a fire and cook the dinner. Come along, I'll help you." The "colonel" and lii^ "men" worked nobly, and when all arrangements were complete il was nearly dinner-time. Mother strongly objected to cooking being done in the summer-house, on the ground that it might catch fire; so it was agreed that "rations" should be handed out to the "troops" by Jane, at the cook-house door—otherwise the scullery.

The plan of sleeping outdoors also met with opposition from mother, but father said "Let the boys try it—they'll soon get tired of it." So'that night Dick and Reggie rolled themselves in blankets, and made themselves as comfortable as possible on the floor of the summerhouse. But it was not comfortable, in "spite of N all the cushions they had collected. They lay talking to each other for some time; —in whispers, because their voices somehow sounded loud and fearsome out there in the darkness. They could sec the stars through the little window, and sometimes shadows flitted across. Then morepork called near by, and Reggie yelled out,with fright. After that, both being sleepy, they settled .down quietly for a little while, till Reggie suddenly sat up, saying he was quite sure there were things crawling about the floor—perhaps beetles. He hated beetles! Dick hated beetles, too, especially to-night, so he turned on his electric torch to look for them, but there were none to be seen. There seemed to be all kinds of strange noises about. At last Reggie, who was only nine, could stand it no longer. "oh| Dick! Let's go back to the house!" he cried. "I can't sleep here! I thought it would be such fun, but it's rotten!" Truth to tell, Dick was thinking the same thing, though not for the world would he have been the first to put it into words. However, he seconded it willingly enough. "I wonder what the time is? I feel as if we'd been out here for hours!" said Dick. "We'll go and knock someone up. Come along." So they unwrapped themselves and crept out of the summer-house, and they were very much surprised to see a light still in the dining-room. They tapped on the French window, and were promptly admitted —without any show of surprise from mother or father. And it was not quite ten o'clock.

"Why, I thought it must be nearly daylight!" cried Reggie. "Poor little,chap! Did the time seem so long?" said mother. "Now, off you go to your cosy beds/ . • Next morning, in the bright, sunny garden, the "camp" looked so different! The "soldiers" drilled and rested'by turns, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The "Colonel" magnanimously allowed the others to take command in turn, and he himself did sentry duty most energetically. . ; The ample and varied "rations" of the "troops" were handed out regularly by Jane. Occasionally the drum-and-fife band (Reggie and Keith) played martial music. ...The game kept the children happily employed for the remainder ot the holidays. \ _.-, .„ „ . "Camping out is the joiliest game in the world—by daylight! said Reggie.