BUNKERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LIII, Issue 9295, 18 February 1907, Page 3

BUNKERS.

(Wairarapa Daily Tim<?6.)

The ancient game of .golf has, been the happiness and relaxation of many generations of players. In the year 1592 the Magistrates of Edinburgh issued a proclamation against playing golf on Sunday. Now-a-days no such proclamation is necessary, for men have become so virtuous that they would not dream of following their favorite pastime on other than week days. To non-players, like ourselves, the fascination whi?Jh the game, exercises ovesr its votaries would be incredible, were it not for the "bunkers"' which axe associated with it. Life may be dear ribed as .a continuous effort to negotiate bunkers, and a game which is made to t\in on a. succession of impediments, must be of special interest. A lit:le. giri who started school th : s week remarked proudly, "I've often played school, but this is real cairoest." A game with bunkers in it is something of this nature. There is a touch of real earnestness about it.

When a man, or his better half, wakes up in the morning, and becomes conscious of the day's travel that is ahead of them, lucy probably are aware that in the eouir&a of the .changing hours they may meet with bunkers, and they may even go so far as to .guess the nature of the obstacles wEich they will have to encounter. If the man be a farmer his bunker may be the weather, or an accident to his stock, or a faailuTe in a marked: venture. If he be a golfer, and has learnt to play his ball carefully, to exercise judgment and coolness, .his bunker will not torn, out to be very serious, and he may even feel exhilarated at tlie clever way in which he iha& played it. A day without bunkers is deadly dull, and would be monotonous as a game of golf on a bunkeTless .rink. The wise man needs a bunker or two in^the oour&s of each twenty-four houTs, and he usually gets one or more. Indeed, h.® i& not happy without them. Then the farmer's wife has .her "bunkers." She may forsee. that her domestic heip may not cook the meat to a turn foir he,r lord, and' master's dinner, but, oh, Heaven! she did mot «xpect it to come on the table raw. Does *he take this, her bunker, with coolness and score off it, or does she give .her domestic a too frank an expression of opinion? If the latter, the housewife has not learned the art of playing "bunkers." If she flumes she fails to score in the game. Then the domestic, who ia her turn has many bunkers to negotiate, does she do any better? If she waxes wrath under words of reproof, and goes and cracks a plate or smashes & jug, she, in her turn, fails to pday the game. Domestics have many bunkers in their day's toil, and if they do not always know how to take them, who can blame them?

The working-man^ who in the big city, cherishes his trade" union and dreams of an easy day's work and a high wage, has an idea tihat there should be no bunkers in his employment. He hardly xeaJises how intolerably lifeless and insipid his daily task would be if thetre were no bunkers in it. If he were a golf player he would understand that if there were no bunkers in liis way, it would be necessary to create them, in order to have a game worth playing. A golfer tells us that there must be bunkers in a rink, and that the better plan is to think nothing at all about them, until the playelr comes to them, and then to take them calmly and scientifically. In the cities workers combine to remove bunkers instead of learning how to play them. Bunkers are their best friend, if they only understand how to play them.

Ones upon a time— % 6core of years ago i.hq writer, finding his little journalistic bunkers in Masterton somewhat too trying, resolved to spend a whole week, a respite of seven days, ait a quiet seaside resort. There were coo bunkere on the shore where he pitched his tent, and he found' that watching the waves was restful. He regarded .his first day's outing as refreshing; but the second, for some

unaccountable reason, seemed monotonous. The third! proved absolutely dreary, and on the fourth he packed his carpet bag and returned to Masteirton feeling cheerful at the thought of once more playing the familiar bunkers from which he had foolishly run av?ay. A holiday is sometimes a terrible oxdeal, especially if it be not seasoned with bunkers.

Some people have an idea that heaven is a place of absolute peace, Test and quietude; but this must be a mistake. "The Realms of the Blest" would be anything but blessed if they were too placid. Depend/ "upon it that "beyond the bar" there are a few bunkej-s to be found which

will interest those who travel thither. --vWhat colonial man or woman will consent to rest for even, four-and-twenty hours ? Both one amd the other .are usually marvels of energy, and axe never happy unless they ate actively employed. No one in either this would or the next can be actively employed without encountering an occasional bunker. Henry Ward Beeoher, the celebrated American divine, expressed his idea of celestial activity in words that ring *rue to our ears. He said: "I could hardly wish to enter heaven did I believe its inhabitants were idly to sit by purling streams, fanaed by balmy airs. Heaven, to be a place of happiness, must be a place of act' ty. Has the far-reaching mmdi oi Newton ceased ite profound invesiagatioins? Haa David hung up his ha*p as useless as the dusty anns in Westminster? Has Paml, glowing with God4ike enthusiasm, ceased itinerating the universe of God? Are Petw, and Cyprian, and Edwards, and Payson, and Evarte, idling away eternity in mere psalm-singing? Heaven is a place , of restless activity, the abode of nevertiring thought. David and Isaiah will sweep nobler and loftier strains in eternity, and the minds of the saints, unclogged by cumbersome day, "will for ever feast on the banquet of rich and glorious thought."

1/3 Lucky, Slipper uuarm, in solid Blver. R. W. Sargent, jeweler, Hawera. — Advt.