Pageant of the Year

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23850, 28 December 1940, Page 3 (Supplement)

Pageant of the Year

Original, by LO SPRING, (he glorious spring, with its fairy realm of romance is here. The emerald-misted willows drooping their graceful branches over amber waters of the rippling brook; the sweet scent of the early spring flowers lingering in the fresh air, and the first pale violets shyly awakening from their weary winter sleep ; all tell us that spring is here. Beneath the misty whiteness of the apple trees, like a sea of gold, the dainty daffodils unfold their delicate petals to the beaming sun. With the

Original, by Peggy Wallace (16), D.M.B.G

invitation of spring the flowers appear 011 the earth, gladdening the sunswcpt meadows with their colourful loveliness. I'he fields, after the vernal spring showers appear in rich, soft greens. Fringing the banks of the chuckling brook, which runs peacefully through a valley of peace and fruit-fulness, are the haunts of all the wild spring flowers. The feathery clouds are wafted on high, above the jade green of the forest trees. In all their splendour the tulips unfold their beauty, and the snow-capped peaks of the rugged mountains are streaked

IS VALPY (14) with pink and gold, from the setting sun. Spring is past, and summer with all its riot of colour descends upon the world. Wild roses fringe the shady lanes, and the happy chirping of the birds in the branches of the trees, rings out, joyfully through the foliage. Tho lilies and the lilacs turn radiant faces toward the smiling sun. Gardens overgrown with magnolia trees and wisteria, sway in tho evening breeze like the seas of silver. Blossoming proudly beneath the summer skies the dahlia opens its petals to the sun's warm rays. A shimmering river wends its way between an arch of poplars, and willows. Beneath the azure sky a cascade of colour pours itself out, staining the earth with its vivid, iridescent hues. The trees gradually become tinted with a coat of gold; the' prelude to autumn. Autumn Hoods tho world with her golden glow; the misty green trees become a canopy of red and gold,. and the fruit trees laden with ricn unit ripen beneath the smiling sun. bmerald green lawns dusted by a feathery wind which scatters rusty gold leaves over the green grass. The lieids ot waving corn ueing Harvested, remind us that autumn is a season of mellow fruitfulness. The willows turning from rust to rapturous gold, drip their slender branches in the gurgling waters of tho sparkling brook. As the autumn, even-. ing falls a great round moon rises like a great silver bubble from behind a bluo haze on the hilltops. The twilight fails, reflecting gold, green, purple and crim-' son in the placid waters of a Uiirrorlike pond. With the coming of morning a mad March wind has risen, scattering colourful leaves over the valleys, and a keen nip in tho air heralds the coming of winter. Winter arrives, and with the touch of her icy fingers, the world shrinks from her cold clutch. The thick snow, sparkling like a thousand diamond facets in the thin rays of sunshine which . occasionally break through the clouds, covers the countryside in soft cushions of white delicacy. The biting winds sweep mercilessly through the bare, gaunt and distressed arms of the trees like an angry demon. Forests lift their heads praying for spring to come and the icy rivers are covered with a smooth glass-like coat of ice. The eternal drift of snow gradually becomes a forgotten thing; the grey, dreary months of winter fade, making a pathway for the loveliness of spring and her ever-lasting beauty.