BUSH NEIGHBOURS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22262, 9 November 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

BUSH NEIGHBOURS

A REUNION

BY ANON

" We wore neighbours fifty-two years ago," said the little old lady with an air of calm finality.

" But, darling," remonstrated her granddaughter gently. "Fifty-two years! I mean, she couldn't possibly remember."

" Neighbours don't forget," said the old lady with decision, and the young woman raised humorous eyebrows as she glanced across the iashionable street where she had lived five years and numbered four acquaintances.

But the grandmother read her thoughts like lightning, for her eyesight was as keen as her intelligence at a mere eighty-one, and she smiled. " I know what you're# thinking, my dear, but neighbours are neighbours when you're living in the bush. I hose, you see, were the days when the bush was just the bush, and we didn't grumble about rough roads, not having any, and you rode for half-a-day through bridletracks to see a neighbour. Elizabeth was the only woman in the whole valley when I went there and for fivo years after; she was a bride, as 1 was, and for all those years we were a great deal to each other. We shared many experiences, as you do in the bush, and I should like to see her again." Her granddaughter smiled, but adoringly, not indulgently; and this was strange, for she knew quite well that a tolerant and smiling patronage was the correct attitude nowadays from the young to the very old. Yet there was something about grandmother. In short, the younger generation freely admitted that grandmother was an anachronism; she fitted into no category, regarded no dull conventions. She was amazingly young in mind and body despite all those years spent in the bush, the poverty and child-bearing in isolation, tho hardship and loneliness that were supposed to age a woman prematurely. Although grandfather had not remained long in this part of the world, they had still been pioneers in the more prosperous district to which they had gone, and it was only since his death that grandmother had known comparative wealth and the comforts of city life. Scenes Revisited And now she had come back to the north and was visiting her descendants there. They had sighed a little when they heard of " the return of the pioneer," as they irreverently described it, but, because she was somewhat of a tradition in the family, one and all had invited her to stay with them. Then in a minute all their preconceived ideas had had to go by the board, for, whereas they bad been certain that old people are traditionally tiresome, requiring the smiling exercise of patience and toleration on the part of the yOung, they suddenly discovered that grandmother was incredibly, infinitely young, that it was she who was tolerant and who smiled often and wisely at their prejudices. It was all very disconcerting, but they enjoyed it and boasted about Jier tc their young friends. And now she had casually suggested travelling a hundred miles into the backblocks to revisit an old friend — " the word to use about your grandmother's friends, but somehow it didn't seem to fit She seemed to think nothing of the facts that they had not met for nearly fifty years, that she was now rich whereas " Elizabeth " had remained poor, that both would have changed out of recognition. She would not even take the precaution of writing to warn her. " Elizabeth is not the sort to be put out by visitors," she said placidly. "Besides, I told her that I'd drop in to see her some day when I came north again." "You've corresponded, then?" said her granddaughter, relieved that at least they would be saved endless explanations to an old woman probably half-blind and very deaf. " Oh, dear me, no, not regularly; we've both been too busy," said the old lady calmly. " Let me see, I don't suppose I've written to Elizabeth for twenty years; but I know she still lives there." The Pioneers. Twenty years! The girl gave a despairing hoot of laughter; could such permanence really exist in this changing, hurrying world? "But, darling, she'll wonder who on earth you are, and it'll take so long to tell her," she said as they neared their destination. The old lady settled herself more firmly in the cushioned seat; the drive had apparently left her untired, and she looked about her with bright, interested eyes. " She'll remember. When you've endured bush fires, hunger, birth and death together you don't forget. I'm sorry to see how they've let this land go back. But your grandfather always felt that it wouldn't stay in grass; he tried hard to persuade Tom and Elizabeth to sell out when we did. You turn off here, my dear." Her granddaughter obeyed, checking an exclamation of dismay, for the splendid car had never travelled a clay road beforo. They went very slowly and in second gear, but tho bumps were painful.

"Shall I get out and walk?" asked the old lady brightly when they had passed through several miles of deserted clearing and forlorn houses. " It's not above a mile or two from here, and a walk will do me good. I believe I've put 011 weight since I came up to you." The granddaughter threw back her head and laughed. " You little young thing!" she mocked gently. " You'll be hiking next. No, you sha'n't walk a step." The Meeting Presently they bumped and swayed round a sharp bend and saw ahead of them a little cottage that stood in land more cleared and less poverty-stricken than the rest " Well, I'm glad that Tom has held it so well," she cried, and wan Dut before the girl could stop her, and had the Taranaki gate open in a twinkling, and was walking briskly ahead of the car to the gate of the bright little garden. But her granddaughter had no intention of being cheated of this meeting after driving a hundred miles for it; she would be able to tease grandma later about her vanity in expecting to bo remembered for fifty years.

The car overtook tho indomitable little figure at the gate, and there was grandmother actualy swarming up the fence in tho attempt to opon the high fastening. At the same moment the cottage door opened and a figure came out. " Now," thought the onlooker, " tor the explanations, tho misunderstandings, tho embraces and tears." The other woman was obviously as old as grandma s and much more bent, a tall stooping figure compared to the small compact one now clambering down from the gate. She stood watching for a moment, then smiled and camo quickly down the path as grandmother, after a struggle, had succeeded in gaining admittance. She was, perhaps, more nearly ruffled than her granddaughter had ever seen her. " Really, Elizabeth," she said, tartly, " why will you always imagine the world to be peopled by giants like you and Torn?" The tall woman held out a workscarred hand. " You never could learn to climb a fence gracefully, Margaret; but you're looking very well. I'm glad to see you—been expecting you any day these last twenty years." At this the younger generation admitted defeat and turned and fled.