THE DESERTED WHARE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21036, 21 November 1931, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE DESERTED WHARE.

By KATHLEEN ODEY, Whakamarama, Tauranga. (Age 17 years.) Original. One evening, just as the sun was sinking behind the western ranges, I wandered along a little-used road past our place. Only the ripple of the Te Puna Creek broke the peaceful silence, while the air was fraught with the cool scent of bushflowers. Tn places I almost had to force my way through the fern, which, in recent years had entirely covered the roadway. I was just thinking of turning homeward when rounding a corner I came in full view of a fast-decaying wliare, The windows were all out and an air of wistfulness seemed to surround it. Then, the story which I had heard years ago flashed back to me, and my heart softened toward the lonely old place. The story was that years ago a young man from Auckland had bought this section with the idea of carving out a home in the wilderness. After building this wliare and buying some cows, the utter silence and loneliness h'ad overhelmcd him, and ho vanished, leaving everything as it now remains. As I gazed at the ruins before me I knew just how he had felt, with nothing but the weird whisperings of the trees about him, or the wild deer on tho hills for companions. Yes, lonely, but no lonelier than thousands of others. Before me, enshrouded in creepers and shrubs were a man's hopes, his dreams, his plans, all within those four decaying walls. Why, oh why had not the charm of this beautiful wilderness cast its spell over him and lured him back, as it does to those who have once lived in its depths? Just then the crimson rays of the setting sun illuminated the grey walls for a moment, the vivid colour seemed to mock at the deserted old place in its drabness. As I turned away a wave of pity swept over me, for the place I was leaving behind would soon bo covered by trees, hiding from view all that remained of a man's ambitions. Tho sun had already set and the rose and lilac shadows of twilight were already deepening into the purple gloom of night, and as I hurried homeward a silvery moon peeped over the horizon and spread her silvery radiance over the landscape.