PASTURES NEW.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15906, 1 May 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

PASTURES NEW.

'!-y ;'' BY HILDA. KEANE. •/:• ,j / , ■' ■ '''■[ ,'/ •-■•''■''■„',*'''' £■/'■'s''£!•'' ;■.•//,. Hapft. Smith 'was', an-undesirable, so was Lazy i Brown, ' and so was XYZ. 'The police said that if they .'stayed in town ;there: would be trouble/during the.-holi/ days. So they asked -thattthe; magistrate should cleanse the city.of them. '."." -He -did— ireceiving' their promises to' go to ,the country. ':' v=.;;r:' «.' . ■...: .. "Ladies" seem :to be 'thetones most .frequently., banished, from the festive towns; What the magistrates fancy these Annie Aliases do in the':'country* gives one, ' as-the : French gay, to think. .''.lnlet one of these "ladies" in' a train one 'day.; Henderson was. grown reput'able by . this time. It had long. closed its...pub':, its roads wore no longer sprinkled with the old-time 'bottle-green glass •• v. " ;'.":■':''■/ ■ '•' But from', what I 'understood .when Annie Alias insisted upon x . explaining things to me, she. had forgotten that the settlement, was re-populated;, these ten 3'jms past, that it was now. "dry," and that it promised' no , shelter- for luggageless'" wanderers. She wondered what she had struck when she found metal on the roads, a concrete- bridge over the river, half a doaen churches, and' a prosperous suburban community. ■-■ ' •■ -■>■. " A lady asked me to come up and stay with, her, and. I fell in." she told me.' Annie's eyes glinted : with that hard glitter of the. desperate outcast. Just then;, the guard . came in. to the carriage.' _ Annie felt in all her pockets, abundant since 'She, wore a man's coat'.. Then she dived '.into the. recesses of a / skirt. /"Fancy! ■ Must have lost it!" she said with a coy leer at the guard.- ''" " Better find it by the time. I come hack;'' he said stornly, and punched' my ticket. • / .*''•• ->■.; > ' , -^. . Annie v sank -to passivity, -.as •he shut the door. / But -• he ■ came back, and she recommenced: a search where her stocking ought to have been. ••-, ; ' , : - ' ' "I*don't believe you're got a ticket," said the;guard. - \J '< -.■ >■ w.' ■ "€ rifust have had one," replied Annie,"or how. could I have got here?" Sho was. obviously pleased with 'this retort. ' "What's your name?" he demanded, pencil in hand. , -' < £ , r * The answer came with alacrity, "Brown. Mrs. Brown." ~- •< ' " What ; address ?.'* Care of»Mrs. Smith, Parnell." . ~

i The guard left, and Annie sidled over, to me. 11 did not like the .glint in Annie's shining eye. 1 did not enjoy the exhalations from Annie. I wondered what kind of a pair we appeared. I felt: that Annie might justly resent my respectable appearance.' But. Annie called me ; "Miss." What married woman is not , appeased •by such .diplomacy ? ■ " You . see,. Miss, I have'a testimonial. That shows I am respectable. Whatever the guard would do if he didn't know I was respectable!" Annie gazed pensively at me here, and •my superiority dropped. Had I not the minute before concluded that anyone who entered would easily see that my talking to Annie was mere accident?", My. respectability ..'vouched' for ii. But .here ,waS Annie, thanking her gods that she too was " respectable," . and 'that • the, guard . must know it. ■ ' .' ."•".•. , , ,'*'.,- j- " Read \ this'." - said Annie. I . smiled and opened the sheet. Annie deliberately turned 'it upside down for me -to' read, and ~put, her "finger on its bottom line. - With ■ assumed carelessness I.turned, it round about 'arid' read hurriedly " This is to give you notice to:quit as I require the room immediately." « The spell- ! ing was curious, arid there was no signa!ture. But it seemed sacred to its owner'. !' So I,'handed *it • back and she received .it i. impressively. s, > ,' .' >■' ■ '■**■>%' The guard» appeared again. !', Annie quickly bent:ana-felt in her rboe,; wect throilgli''- her pockets with all the manner of who had never ceased her vigorous; search. ' ''''■ '.• \':■-'"■ ->• '*'vt-'-<?;■' "Found that *i ticket?" He + spoke angrily urid Annie hastened /to mollify him. She fluttered a sudden discovery triumphantly at/lvm. / ' " «* * ~t / ".What's this? ■' ,v» ■ '>• • • .•) -"- * * "My testimonial," answered Annie, and'clasped; her..Bands' piously,r; on : her lap H'liile he 'perused the preciofis fdocjimentrf "Oh, rot!" he ejaculated, arid t left; whereupon Annie, who had slid' away, from me' in her -search, resumed near negotiations. : >';?' K'x'^*''-~;>-° : $'v- ■•:• '■'■% /;." .If i I.'.'bnly';"'had s the money I'd pay him," she ;< remarked tentatively:-aW actually > x under my eyes went .through the pocket • farce. I smiled. '". f;Wo passed through New Lynn, "The good; times I've had there,"/ said Annie ; reminiscently. .Then recalling ,har. re 1 ; ; spectability. ', "Isn't it a good'thing that the pub— .hotel-— closed? So', nice and/quiet, now.!" Her eyes 'glistened into mine. '7 -\ ;.:.,'' K- r '■■.vx<' ■* i ,/S" Many's the day' I've I come sup j there with /Bill, Sykes;.aud.< Patsy : Grogan—of bourse," just..for- v a'" picnic, you '~, know, miss How far are you going, miss?" "Newmarket,',''miss' answered, wishing that' somebody would enter, and planning •an '§ jiit'at Mount Eden. At ■ Av'oiidale the guard looked through the window. A;brilliant idea occurred to me.' / ;, h "If I you have no ticket," I said ,' to ; Annie Alias, why' not leave the, train at'^Morningside?" • .»■ ■■■;&% '1 41 Why, you're . a sport!" . 'declared Annie,';-with no appar.cut reason. ';. " Tell; mo wheji it comes." (> .-,i' : -,, f; ,- ~-/'. '■■ . • I did . arid > Annie ■ j got out of the, train with, slinking facility. At Kingsland the guard camo again. /V- : ■*'* : l Vs -V-'-,'.". ""Has she gone? And ; I've got "the police waiting at Mount Eden,' I telephoned for them at Avondale, and missed 'them. ' Mrs. Brown!" with scorn. "Hor name's —. Hope she ;. wasn't annoying, you.!". ;".'■ ..',_-, '.'''V-v'-v. V' ; /.*:/■•;,*;■ / Well, this is the kind*of person shuttle-, cocking between.. town arid" country. Anuio had' amused' far more than she had annoyed me.,. But .her very proximity would have annoyed many, another country, woman.- And .the; fact of such as Annie, poor flotsam of our cities; being free to fill themselves with bad. liquor arid'.to carry;' their degradation to the ' cl«an country, causes reflection. Trouble, .weakness, circumstance, vice—any ' one tiling or many have brought these derelicts '■ to, their terrible condition of vagrancy aiiid criminality. But since they „cohstituto a meneco to the city, wellpoliced, ' well-lighted; -and '*protected" by . its ' own ■ numbers of people, how much mo.'o ;of a menace must. they be' to v the country! An Annie Alias-wandering, y in. less amiable humour, along a quiet road,; •Where- the ,traffic is not six people in; clay, meets a woksu of the- sheltered life! ; Annie is a dangerous lunatic if tl\e; other one's primness happens, to jar 'upon, her frayed nerves. - ■ .'Little children walking long distances ■ to,'<),, country school meet Bill Sykes,' inflamed by drink, or Patsy Grogan, full' of;- vicious instincts., It •is very well shuddering afterwards*, when sonic -horrible crime has been committed.."' Quiet industrious settlers living within ' earshot of a notorious camp in the,country,' where . the refu&o of the ; city is .gathered'and exploited, what security have they? At least ono expects iiott»> have in the cbuhtry plague spots where vice is countenanced, and villainy bred. For country dwellers have no protection against possible injury from these poor demented ones. . . — '

What is the final utility of hounding criminals from town to country ' Town! I Country! Gaol ; There is the sequence. Why,do we not begin and end with the gaol? Our .enlightenment, does ; not stsnd lor much . when we can think of nothing better for. our wastrel men than the country "or • the expeditionary force, iii both .of whicn you condemn tho. best of our'men to work or to fight beside the depraved; nothing better for our fallen women, than the gumfiejds or service in the 'country, where there are young children, with curious eyes and senses open to 'contamination. ' ■•■••,'! ■*■" Sometimes one belioves that wc are afraid of our own laws,, which bind us and. hedge us, and prevent' us from follow, ing course of sanity, iya if those who make'laws cannot break' them to imake 'others!-: Humanity guides us. .< But when it;'allows -.lis-.to shuffle; off the impure on i ,^:% wastry --it fwsr fail* —' ~ \%£\