AT THE SIGN OF THE LYRE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1261, 30 April 1896, Page 12

AT THE SIGN OF THE LYRE.

OHIOINAL VERSE A SUMMER HOLIDAY. (Specially u rittenfor tbe New Zealand Mail.) Roses, roses, rich and rare ! Roses smiling everywhere; Ro-es, crimson, white and golden, ’With their beauty 1 am liolden ; How their fragrance, fills the air 1 Roses, lifting to the sky Smiling laces, how can l Walk the world with spirit stooping, Can it ever more he drooping When such counsellors aro nigh ?

Song-birds on each shrub and tree Tf ill through life right merrily, Praising thus in their small measure God, who gave them life and pleasure— And shall 1 less joyous be r

Sunlight—turning into gold Distant hill-tops gray and cold - Telling, unto him who seeketh Knowledge of the truth it spoaketh God’s love all things doth enfold.

Voices, voices, dear and sweet; Hearts that hut for others beat ; Daily to my spirit proving Some there are, who, Ghrist-liko loving Heal the blind and lame they meet.

Lovelight, lovelight, pure and fair; I.ovclight shining everywhere; Lovelight, in the gloom of sadness Turning sorrow into gladness, Making earth new beauty wear ! Frances M. Fames. Waipawa, 11.8. “ONE THING LACKING.” (Specially written for the New Zealand Mail J In a proud and noble mansion Dwelt a lady fair to see, Mistress of the lands around her ; Who should bo so gay as she 1 Oft hv others sho was envied For the brightness of her lot; Yet withal tho lady yearned for Something more, she knew not what. One day, gazing from her window, She espied a dainty boy ; But his feet were torn and bleeding, Anil his face had lost its joy.

And bo cried in pleading accents — “ I am weary, seeking rest, Take me in, 0 gentle lady, I would lodge me in thy breast!” So she look the little stranger, Clasped him to her bosom fair ; Felt no more her weary yearning Now that lie was dwelling there. She in his sweet presence tasted Joy all other joys above ; For the wanderer was God’s angel, Sent to fill her heart with love. FR ANCES M.'EAMES. Waipawa. IN ME MORI AM. TIIE DOOM OF THE BRUNNERTON MINERS. (Dedicated , in sincere sympathy, to Ihose bereaved through the lirannerlon disaster.) The Run shone on Brunner, and nothing foretold, As the miners all trooped to the pit, That they’d seen for the last time their dear ones at home, That tho flame of the death-lamp was lit.

Not a wb'o kissed her husband, nor mother her son, And knew, as she kissed, that he’d die ; Not a sweetheart, nor child, of any man there Saw the cloud in the Brunnerton sky.

But ’twas written that never a man on that shift Should live to repeat a fond word, ’Twas written that there, where thoy toiled bard for bread, Their lust message from God should he heard.

Not a housewife but sang on that glorious

morn As •die wor’ ed in her home willi a will ; And the children all played in unconscious cuiiLint, And the sun shone on Brunnerton still.

Then, all on a sudden, a roar rent tho air, Women's hearts turned to stone as they

A moment of silence, a moment of dread, 1 heii, from hundreds, "My God ! what was that?”

Out, out, thronged the poor stricken Bruiinerton folk, Thou rushed for tho fatal incline, As the terrible cry uprose, like a knell, “The fire-damp’s exploded the mine!”

Frantic and pale-faced, the women all ran 'J heir little ones panting behind, Each to the other in agony g-a.-ped, “ What '.'.ill the rescuers find.'''

For Bishop and Smith had rushed down the incline All danger heroically braving. And soon scores of rescuers reached the dread scene, Intent upon dying or saving.

The news quickly spread that both Bishop and Smith Had remained down below, p’raps were dead ! And, deaf to entreaties of children and wives, Gallant men to the rescue now sped. There were seventy men entombed in the mine, What risk was too great to Lo braved ? Not a man on tho top thought of aught else but this, There were seventy mates to be saved 1

I The two mine officials were brought to the top, Overcome by the gas m tho pit, And now the brave body of rescuers tboro Proved their manliness, courage and grit. Shift- after shift of these brave-hearted chaps Battled to reach the entombed ; Ten minutes’ work, and exhausted they’d drop. Poor fellows 1 their mates were all doomed. Bv this time the news of tho awful mishap Had been spread, by the wires, far and wide ; And first on llm scene, to give aid if ho could, Was “ Dick ” .Sodden, the Colony’s pride. A miner himself lie had been in bis timo ; M ell known on the West Coast was “Dick He saw help was needed, and throw oil his coat, And fain would have handled the pick. Not lie alone, hut women as well, Were as ready and game as the rest, But they had to he kept from tho mouth of the pit, And (lie country’ll agree that ’twas best. What need to recount, as each stretcher camo forth, How each burden was claimed by its kin? How the cry wont to Ilcavon, in hoart-brokon tones, “If we'd known that it was to have been!” All praise to the gallant-souled rescuersthero. All sympathy to the bereaved. Not,a heart in Now Zealand but beats for them all, Not a heart but is bitterly grieved. W * *- # Let. now, sweet-faced Charily come to the aid Of the destitute children and wives, ’Tisn’t much wo can do, but we’ll do what wo can To brighten thoso desolate lives. So, the sun sots on Brunner, tho same as of yore, But its people aro living in gloom ; So ’twill he just as long as the memory lasts Of the Brunner lads’ pitiful doom. John Birch. Waihi, March 31st, 1896.