THREE SHIPS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20137, 24 December 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

THREE SHIPS.

i I saw (luce fillips conio sailinj;; iti On (,'h I'istuias Day, on Christ mas Day: 1 saw throe ships coino suiling in On Christmas J)ay in tlio morning. And who win in those ships all tlnoe? On Christinas Uav, etc. Our Saviour Christ and his hidye, On Christina* Day. etc. j I' ray whither sailod those ships /ill thi'eu? I (In ( liiisfinas Day, etc, I 0 ilioy nailed into JJellilcheni, | On Christmas Day, etc, j And nil (lie bolls on eiirtli shall ring, ! On ( lirisfiikih Day, He, I And nil '.lie ungeln in Heaven shall sing, I On Christinas Day, o(e, Aml nil the souls on Earth shall hint*. On Christniiifi Day on Christinas Day; And the souls on Earth s)ia!l sing, if, On Christmas D;(y in the morning.

appear so frosh and unspoiled, have sucli mi astonishing technique, Kuch a sure knowledge (if tho right cue. They loss tint bull buck so nimbly «nd grncofully that in approaching them one need never have any qualms lost the Hilling ho, " How darn you," which signifies a wrong out I'aiifo, or " tiiiw, wlmtclior giving ns," which means that Hie fair one is wiling to hour moro, Oil, those perfect meetings, those fiprighlly dinlogtios, hut iu roii l life they never, never occur,• Nover, did I say ? Vet I seem to lernoinh'Pr once—did somebody toll mu about it, or did I imagine it, or hey prosto! was it really j))o7 U doesn't seem Iho sort of Hiing that would happen to me—it dgesn't seem tho sort of thing that would happen lu nnyljody outside of n magazine; mid yet—well, let's pretend it whs me, and hear the story, A lonely stretch of l'O.'iu among the wooded bills between Lower Hutt und Trout hum in the days when khaki prevailed, and mo nil honest but common soldier trudging along with my Jmver. sack to spend week-end leave.

"You dears!" T said. "Tell mo Where did you conio from so suddenly ?" < *' Do you forget your nursery rhymes?' 1 said Noll, " Where do fairies generally eonto from? See that yellow bush? We hid our wings behind it. Oh, fie! Break into a lady's dressing roopi ? It's not done, not. even in war time." "Of course you're fairies. 1 knew you at once. But let me bo a knight in shining nrmotii', and Nell a princess imprisoned in a tower, and Cynthia the wicked uncle," and it was only when I started to exceed my cues (and I'm sure a shining knight, couldn't have resisted gagging a bit) that, the scene changed, and I found myself a grovelling slave and Nell an Egyptian ipioeu (she always assumed (lie leads rpjito naturally) and Cynthia the executioner, and 1 was condemned If t>taud forth and bo snapped by a brand new camera. " Aim!" I accused. " you were lurking by the roadside, waiting to enmesh somo iniiocout, unwary soldier.'-