OUR HOMELAND.

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

OUR HOMELAND.

BT ELSIE K. MOETON. t

A GREAT MEMORIAL. END OF THE -TOUR. Pixie and Pat were strolling on the shore' of Lake Wakatipu watching the great trout swimming in the ice-cold water. Somo of them had broken hooks still in their gills, but this did not seem to affect their spirits or their activity in any way. v . " How deep is the lake?" asked Pat presently, peering down into the'darkblue waters. " Over a thousand feet," replied the guide, " and-in the very deepest parts it sinks to over 200 ft. below ocean level." Tho sweetness of spring was in the air, and the Queonstown gardens were ablaze with flowors The voyagers passed down tho lake-front road into the most picturesque and delightful park of its kind in New Zealand. The land ran out in a narrow arm, with the crisp blue waves breaking on tho shore. Over beyond, the Gardens, contrasting with tho bright beauty of the flowers and emerald lawns, rose dark mountain peaks, crowned with snow, giving an air of rugged grandeur to the scene. At the end of the path winding through the avenue of trees the children camo to one of tho most interesting and beautiful memorials they had seen in all their long tour of tho Homeland. No splendid marble arch was here, no stately building, but a stoae, an enormous boulder left thousands of years ago in tho track of a vanishing glacier. On tho rock-face were five stars. ." What is it ?" asked Pixie. " The Scott Memorial," was the reply, " and the five stars represent the Southern Cross:" Silently the children read the inscription on the marble tablets 'affixed to the rock, commemorating thci wonderful achievements, and sacrifice of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and those brave comrades who perished with him on their return journey from, tho South Pole in January, 1917. Ono tablet bore pat\ of tho last messago written in the dead hero's diary, immortal words that every boy and girl should learn by heart: " For my own sake, I do not,regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardship, help one another, and meet death with as groat fortitude as over in tho past. Wo took risks—wa knew we took them. . . . Had wo lived, I should have had a talo to tell that would havo stirred tho heart of every Englishman. Those rough notes, and our dead bodies, must tell tho tale-" As tho children stood there tho guide told them how the King's son, the Duke of l'ork, had left tlfo welcoming crowds assembled in the Gardens and. had gone quiotly down to tho memorial and stood there with bared head, paying homage to those heroes lying asleep in tho great white silence of tho eternal snows. " And now for tho Piano, and " Good-bye " to all these scenes of wonder and beauty," said tho guide, as they retraced their steps. A few moments later a flash of silver passed over tho deep-blue waters of Wakatipu, and peoplo looked up, wondering what it was that had suddenly dazzled their eyos. ... At the same moment, two children, a boy and .a girl, opened drowsy eyes and blinked like owls in the golden sunshine of a gardon in Auckland. The boy sat up and rubbed his eyes. " Pixio! Wake up!" ho said. But Pixie had already wakened.- She sat there blinking, staring 1 at tho blossoming apple tree and tho bees darting from flower to flower. ' . • " "Pat!" she said. " I—l—feel so queer .. . kind of drowsy and yet as if 1 had been awake all tho time. I've had the most marvellous dream in the world, a dream of a Silver Plane, and ..." " And a tour all over tho most wonderful places in New Zealand, and a guide, and snow-mountains and volcanoes and lakes and . . ." "Pat! I remember now! I had just, said how I would like to travel all over oui? country and see all its beauties, and then there camo the Silver Plane. .. . Oh, how wonderful it has been! Was it only a dream 7" Was it 7 Tho twins sat there in tho sunshino, blinking at ono another, with awo and wonder in their eyes. . . . Was it only a dream 7 Neither of them could say, for neither of them really know!