PRIZE ESSAY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XV, Issue 125, 2 May 1925, Page 10

PRIZE ESSAY

•®*®*®*®*®+®*®*®*®** THE HISTORY OF A DIAMOND NECKLACE. Dear Chief Kiwi,— Many years ago 1 was lying in tho bed of an old river in Africa. Ono very hot morning 1 was dug up by a man who had como to Africa on a diamond-hunting expedition. 1 was then taken to a huge building where 1 was cut into round shapes by a large machine and then threaded on some extremely thin gold wire. Next 1 was packed very carefully in a small gilt box and transferred to a ship named the “Maharahara.” One dark night, th© ship struck a floating mine near the harbour. The water rushed in with terrific force and in fiv© minutes she was gone ror two whole months I lived at the bottom of the ocean. During that period 1 saw many strange sights. Fishes, all colours of the rainbow’, looked quite weird. On© day a huge salmon came along and swallowed me. For miles and miles the salmon travelled, until 1 felt that we were being lifted up—by a fisherman, as lat terwards learned. lhe fish was taken to th© fisherman’s home, where his wife was waiting at the cottage door. “What have you caught to-day, Jim?” she asked. “This big saimon,” he answered; “you just feel th© weight of it.” “Oh. isn’t it heavy!” she commented. “Won’t the children have a least? Will you cut it up now so that I can prepare it?” “Anne!” he called excitedly a minute later. “I have found this little gilt box inside the fish!” Anne was greatly excited. I here was a tiny golden key attached to the side of the box, but the fisherman had not noticed it. If only they had known that I was inside that guilt box, they would no doubt, have freed me from my captivity. But it was not to be so. 1 was taken to a pawnshop and pawned for a shilling. The little old.man who owned the shop put m© in his scrupulously clean window, amongst many gaudy things, and placed a ticket marked two shillings and sixpence on me. Many people passed to and fro without even pausing to look at us; but on© day a girl and her mother passed along. They both paused nt the window and the girl said: “Isn’t, that a sweet little box? It would do to put my jewellery in. I shall buy it with my week’s pocket money.” . She entered the shop and purchased me. 1 was taken to her home and placed on a table. Presently a fitUe boy came round selling watercress, lhe girl’s father, seeing th© little box on th table, gave it to the boy in exchange for some watercress. lhe little boy took m© hom© to his mother, who lived in a wharc. “Mother,” he said, “look what the kind man gave me. See, her© is a little key attached to th© side of it. Shall 1 open it?” “Yes,” his mother replied. Taking the key front the side of the box he opened it. “Oh,” he gasped. “Look, Look! “Our fortune is made!” cried his mother. Sb© (pok me and placed mo on a bracket in tho corner of the room. A few hours later L was taken to a num, and who do you think he was? Why, he was th© very same man who had found in© in Africa. He gave a reward of £lOO to th© lady, and put me in a little gold box and locked it- A lew weeks afterwards 1 heard that the man was dead. Here 1 have lain for many years, but if 1 have any more adventures I shall write and tell you of them. Prize of 2/6 to Miriam Janies, age 10 years, “Medbery,” Orchard road, Hastings. ® A DAY IN MY HOLIDAYS. Dear Chief Kiwi,—Th© week before lasi 1 wrote to you about my holidays. 1 mentioned that al Rotorua we went to see th© Blue and Green Lakes, also Lak© larawera. and the Buried City. This week 1 will tell about them. Very early one afternoon w© started in our car to go and se© them, lhe beginning of the drive w as winding and uphill. Looking down was very pretty. \Ve saw Rotorua below us and the lake (Lak© Rotorua). Alter wo had driven tor a lon. tun© w© came to some very beautiful native bush and drove through it for quite along tune, Suddenly we came to a small lake which wa s very blu© and looked so pretty with th© hush round it. The road went beside it for a short time, then we went up a little hill and down below us was a green lake. We stopped the car there and looked at the two lakes—one bright blue and the other a beautiful green. It seemed so wonderful seeing two lakes iust next each other, one I blue and the other green. Then we | drove on. Alter some time we came to another lake Lak© Taraw’era it is ; called. It was much bigger and very ; pretty with big white cliffs at on© side, i and ther© was a launch below to take | peopl© out lu. From there we drove on. and after lime capie to the buried village which I was covered with ashes from the volcanic eruption at th© time the Pink and White Terraces were buried. Wei I

got out of th© car and walked up a small path. At on© place tho ground wa& all cijpoked as if it had been dug. On each s’do of tho path were blackberries growing and on the way back «e got the billy and jugs out of the car and tilled them. 'Jlieii wo drove back and stopped at th© edge of the green lake and boiled tji© billy and had tea. W© had also a lovely swim m the lake. Then we drove home alter a very happy afternoon. Thank you very much for the 2/6 you sent me for my essay, also the certificate tor last week. With much love to the other Kiwis. —Pink certificate to Sophie Davidson. age 12 years, Box 60, P. 0., Havelock North, ® ® ANZAC DAY. Dear Chief Kiwi, —I am writing this week abojjt Anzac Day, as to-day is ■ the tenth anniversary ot the day when our brave soldiers landed on a little i beach on the Gallipoli Peninsula, where j they met tho lurks led by German ’ officers, and drove them up the steep sides of th© hills. Both sides fought hard, and many men were soon lying wounded and helpless. Th© bullets fell thick and last and th© Red Cross workers were soon at work carrying water to the thirsty men, binding up their wounds, and carrying them to safety. It was a hard and dangerous task carrying the wounded men down th© steep cliff's, but the Red Cross did their work bravely and well. To-day is the day when memorial services ar© held in every town and th© returned soldiers and relatives turn out in great force, and place wreaths on the Cenotaph in memory of their fallen comrades. —Pink certificate to Gwen Florance, age 13 years, Paki Paki. $> ® PEACH GULLY. Dear Chief Kiwi,—This week I am writing about a happy day at Waimarama. During the summer holidays 1 spent a week or two at Waimarnia. On© beautiful fin© morning at about 11 o’clock wc started off for Peach (hilly. This gully was so called because at the top of it there are to be found many peach trees. When we arrived at the gully, the first thing we did was to have a bathe under a huge waterfall about 40 feet high. After our bathe wo ran down the cliffs (for he had had a steep climb getting to tho falls) to where some of tho party were preparing lunch. Lunch being finished, we climbed the cliffs again, to find some caves we had heard about. In one cave we found some bones, and, as one of our party was a doctor, we questioned him about them. He said that they were the bones o" a woman —probably a Maori—and thai they were not very ancient—only about thirty years or so. We found a grove of fine karaka trees. Wo picked a number of their berries and made pipes of them, which some of the boys pretended to smoke. It was then nearly time to go home, so we gathered up the baskets and started off. When we were walking back to the <ar we found many beautiful peacock-’ feathers, sum© being about four feet long. Wo gathered a good many to bring horn© as a memento of our happy day at Peach Gully. When wo reached home wo had jjjjr tea and went to bed. tired, but v*»r\ happy. Pink certificate to Ruth Small, age 11 voars, Te Mata road. Havelock N%rth. ‘ »® » • TWO HEROES OF THE GREAT WAR. Dear ( liiel Kiwi,—l am going to , write about a little donkey which did I great work carrying the meh which had been wounded by the Turks in the war. With his owner this little donkey used to carry the men into the safety zone away from tho reach of guns, then he would return with water bags for other soldiers to drink from and return again with wounded. Bullets and shells would be flying in all directions, but the little donkey and his owner seemed to have a charmed life. The man always thought of others first, and forgot that he himself was tired and hungry ami in great danger. One morning the charm was broken. As thev walked along so as not to jar the i sick man on the donkey’s back, a I machine-gun rattled out and the brave man fell shot through the heart. The I little donkey came back alone. Of all | the heroes in that danger spot, there ; was none greater than the man with 1 th© donkey. He calmly walked the path of danger and death, and gave his life at last in helping others. - Blue certificate to Jean Steven 'age 9 years). Otnne. & & ® A TRIP TO TONGOIO FALLS. i Dear Chief Kiwi.—This week T am I going to write about a trip to Tongoio * j Fal s. One day during Easter week a party oii us set out at eight o’clock for* , Tongoio, which is past Petane. It was I a lovely morning and w e enjoyed flie I A © arrived destination j [about tcu o’clock.

First of all wc boiled th© billv and had a cup of tea. After we had finished we walked up a hill till wo came to a little gate, and found a winding track which le<l to the bottom of the hill through th© lieautiful native bush. Wc then crossed a creek on a loot bridge which has been erected for the convenience of sightseers, and followed on up the other side of the stream until we came to the falls. The water has a sheer drop of fifty odd feet. ASter we had taken some snaps of the falls, some of us climbed through the bush. We intended to come out at the top of the falls, but we tool? the wrong track. However, we found a second lot of falls further up the hill. After wo had taken some snaps of those falls we climbed up a slope which led us on to the road. We joined the rest of the party and then all wended our way back to the cars at the bottom of the hill. Wo again boiled the billy and had lunch, and needless ■to say we wore quite ready Sor it. Some of the others then climbed a big hill from the top of which they could ■ see Capo Kidnappers. We younger | ones stayed and played about the cars till it was time to go home. About 4.30 p.m. we left Tongoio after a very enjoyable day. arriving home tired but happy. With best wishes to all the Kiwis. Blue certificate to Mariorie Ward, (age 10 years). Kaiapo Road, Hastings. > ® OP> MY BIRTHDAY. Dear Chief Kiwi.— I am going to tell you about my birthday. My birthday was on the 14th of March. lam now 8 years old. 1 was going to have have a party, but the i epidemic broke out here just at that I time. So mother said I could have two : little neighbours in to tea, and have ten ] shillings to buy what I liked, so I bought a pair of tennis shoes, and a I nice tea set. I got nice presents, and mothers says I may have a party when I the epidemic is over. My sister, little brother, and I have a little party every day under the trees with my tea set. —Orange certificate to Verna Dew, ago 8 years, 614 Fitzroy Avenue, Hastings. 9B OUR SCHOOL PICNIC. Dear Chief Kiwi,— 1 thought I would like to write and tell you about our school picnic which Yvas held yesterday.. The weather was just perfect, which made it very enjoyable for everyone. Everything was provided for us. Nice sandwiches and cakes and plenty of fruit, lollies and drinks. A lot of races were run during the day. the most exciting being the sack race, three-legged race and a tug of-war. The apple race caused quite a lot of fun too. The children had to run a certain distance, eat half an apple and run. back. I did not enter for that as I am very fond of apples and prefer eating them slowly and enjoying them. 1 am not a very good runner, but my mate and I came second in the threelegged race. Mr YtcKay, tho Member of Parliament for Hawke’s Bay, came out during the day, and had a little talk with us, which wo all enjoyed. We left for homo at about half, past four after having spent a very happy day. With best wishes to all Kiwis. | • —Red certificate to Marjorie Bateman, ago 11 years, Paki Paki. | WONDERFUL ADVENTURE OF A ' GOLD TOOTH. Dear Chief Kiwi, — I It was a very interesting story that you told us about last week and I am sure tho Kiwis all liked reading it. . I know somebody who had a gold tooth costing a lot of money. One day it came out and was put oil io a tabic. A few hours after, the person came to get her tooth, and found that it had gone from the table. Everyone whs asked about it, but it was not found after all. About three months afterwards a fowl was being killed for dinner, and in its crop, where all the stones and things collect, was the gold tooth. It was an extraordinary place to find it wasn’t it, Chief Kiwi? —Orange certificates to Marion Preston Thomas, age 12 years, “Lulworth,” Havelock North. ® ® ® OUR PLAYHOUSE. i Dear Chief Kiwi.— 1 One very lint* morning my sister and I decided to build a playhouse under thi big tank stand. We only had to ]>u } the back and front walls up as the board fence on one side and the house on the other acted as side walls. To make flic back wall we found some old benzin? boxes and packed them one on top cf the other till they reached the top of the stand. Not having enough boxes for the front, we had to nail up some ticking which mother gave us. We hung some pictures on the wall and then our little house was complete and we were very proud of it. Love to the other Kiwis. —Barbara Ebbett, age 9 years, 201 Townshend street, Hastings,

AN IMAGINARY ADVENTRE. Dear Chief Kiwi, — During our Christmas holidays wc were out staying with an aunt at Waiamarama. One morning auntie said she was going to take us for a picnic up in Peach Gully to see the caves. We all hurried to get the work finished and the lunches packed. This done we were ready to start. Each of us had to cany a basket out to the car where auntie was waiting for us. We all scrambled into the car and were soon driving towards Peaah Gully. We arrived there at half-past ten. When the car stopped we jumped out and began walking up tho hill towards the Gully. The Gully has the most beautiful native bush and ferns growing in it.

There arc also many lovely waterfalls rippling over big boulders. At last we came in sight of the caves, and it was not long before wo were inside them. We saw many bones and skulls of animals lying about. We went along a little further, and the place seemed very weird. At last it was so dark that we lit our lantern. All of a sudden w c saw a white object coming towards us, with clawing hands and glaring eyes. All of us were more eager to get out than we were to get in. Once out in the sunshine wc were afraid no longer, but quite satisfied that wc had had enough of caves. —Orange certificate to Jean Ebbett, gca 12 years, 204 Townshend street, Hastings. ®> ® ® LIFE ON A FARM YARD. Dear Chief Kiwi, —I was twelve on the 13th. of this month. 1 have decided to write on “Life on a Farmyard.” Quack!, quack! quack! The first greeting that a person may receive is the loud quack of ducks in the early morn. Perhaps the sun is streaming through your bedroom window, making a farm seem a place to be envied. Soon the old-fashioned farmhouse is astir, lor hazy smoke is ascending from the chimney. Father turkeystruts about the yard, scorning the idea uf mixing with his kith and kin. The milkmaid comes along, swinging her milkcans to and fro, and humming gay little ditties beneath her breath. In a very short time the pails are full of fresh, sweet, rich milk, which has to be separated. There are many duties to perform, among them the feeding of the poultry, who by this time are in a great state of indignation. at not being attended to. Presently, the farmer’s homely wife has a nice breakfast ready, and the small ; household is assembled, ready to j devour tho savoury meal immediately. After the meal is finished farm-hands j >et off to work in the hayfields, accomj panied by the stalwart farmer. Soon . the womenfolk have the housework finished, and they rest in peace till lunch time. Meanwhile, lhe men in the hayticlds are steadily working on. piling the sweet-scented hay in the drays, to be taken away to be stored for the winter. A short interval is allowed for lumh. which the men have brought wiith them. Just as dusk falls, the men all climb on to the drays to he driven home. By this time* a I hot dinner has been prepared, which ;is enough to make any hungry per- ! son’s mouth water. All* the farm-yard j animals are safely in their different ! beds once more. As soon as everyone. | younjr ami old. is asleep, peace reigns > supreme on the farm again. Red certificate to Dori-, Harper 1 age 12 years), Otane.