THE PIONEER MOTHERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20602, 28 June 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE PIONEER MOTHERS.

Bj LILLIAN FLOYD. What stirring times wcro those very early days of New Zealand! Into what strange environment landed our pioneer forefather.! Ho was accompanied by our grandmother—but no ono mentioned her. Tho wcifaro of the family fell heavily op her shoulders. One pair of hands—her hands —prepared tho family bread, tho jams and pickles, and all which lay upon the dinner tablo. Yet, with it all, sho was wondrously. happy and contented. Grandma and grandpa knew nothing of tho radio, gramophone, motor-ears, the talkies or cabarets, but in a quiet wr thev found the year 1870 full of incident and replete with mild excitement. In those faraway days tho hotels used to close somewhere near tho witching hour of midnight, and if grandpa could bo induced to talk he could tell many a stirring tale of old. " Oft in tho stilly night," with her wearied hands following the endless scam, grandma bravely strove to turn father's old trousers into littlo pants for Johnnio. There wcro no machines in thoso days to run up a frock or tunic. How bravo wcro those pioneer mothers, >vho willingly faced the hardships' and trials, as did their husbands, to found a now land. What does not. New Zealand owe to their untiring energy, tho support they gavo to their men, and tho fine children they reared, as the foundation of Dominion ?