A SAFE RETREAT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 15 December 1932, Page 5

A SAFE RETREAT

(To the Editor) Sir, —“A man may not marry Ins grandmother.” Well, would any man in bis rigid mind want-to marry her? Jlad those wise prohibitionists ordained in stead that a man may not marry a. Vvoiiiaii who has previously been married. il would have been more lo the point and would have prevented worldwide depression. There are many men whose lives are made miserable through being irrevocably bound to "tartars.” To those, my fellow-sufferers, 1 would bring the good news of a beautiful' land where they may "sometimes” escape the flagellations of that stinging little instrument. of torture —a woman's tongue. To you, my downtrodden brothers — whose timely suggestions, regarding the reducing of certain household wastes and the filling out of too lean menus; of the shortening of the expenses on the dresses and the saving on the waving of the tresses, have been contemptuously stamped upon—to you, 1 come joyfully to point the wav to where even the loud cackling bf a vardful of hens iu springtime, or the furious stamping of a whole roomful of. tartars,.each one trying to “rule the roost,” will be “drowned” —lost in "‘the music of the wild.” Here at least troubled man may find a safe retreat, and solitude. Whatever restrictions may be imposed to prevent such security elsewhere, there are none in this lovelv land —New Zealand.

"God's own country! Fairest region resting ’neath the southern sky, God’s own country! Framed by nature in her grandest, noblest mould ; Land of peace and land of plenty, land of wool and corn and gold! Where the forests are the greenest and the rugged mountains rear Noble turrets, lowers, and spires piercing through tlie ambient air; Rising to the gates supernal, pointing Godwards through the blue, When ..the .summer's sunny splendours tip them, with a, nameless hue, And the guests of winter gather snow and sleet and mist and cloud. Weaving many a curious mantle, many a quaint fantastic shroud. Oil ! the mountains of New Zealand 1 wild and rugged though they be, They are the types of highest, manhood, landmarks of a nation free.

Listen to the torrent roaring in the deep ravine below, See the cataracts descending irom their home among the snow, See the pine and larch and rata climbing up the mountain wall, Hearken to the tumbling torrents answering the distant falls. is there any other clime ■ That, can show us such a picture, so entrancing, so sublime? Down the gorge and through the valley, over floods that fret and foam, As they rush among the boulders, hastening to their ocean home; Now tlie matchless forests open all their brightness on ihe scene, And the gladdened eye is feasting on a hundred tints of green.

We are vesting on the high land _. . . . Wrapt in perfect admiration, looking up and looking dowif — Upwards at the wooded mountains, tinted now bv opening day, Downwards at the noble city, stretching round tlie lovely bay

Now we cross the lonely ranges, painted bv the brush of morn ;

deep, dark waters, walled by

mighty mountains, raise All our"highest aspirations, till the soul

is filled with praise. (God’s own country I fairest region resting ’neath the southern sky). Here the poet soon might gather subject for a thousand lays, Here the artist might discover rich employment all his days.” —I am. etc.. HYAM N. PECKT. Umukuri, 19th December.