MAGGIE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 16

MAGGIE.

A QUEENSLAND BUSH SKETCH.

(Specially written for the Witness Christ-

mas Number of IS9£,

By ROBERT BULL.

Her photo lies before mo as I write. Not that I need it to remind me of her, for ber likeness is indelibly stamped on my memory. I will describe her to you. She is over fiva years old and tall for her age. She has outgrown her garments, and her brown limbs are bare to the knee. Her face is round and laughing; there are dimples in her suntanned cheeks ; her eyea are like the peerless blue of the Bunoy sky, and her hair has a glint of gold in it when the Ban shines among its tresses.

Having made the acquaintance of Maggie I will now introduce you to her parents, her home, and her playmates. Her parents are from the Scottish Lowlands, and from them she has learned to speak in the broad Doric tongue. They left their home and their friends in the fertile vallay of the Forth to geek tbeir fortune under Austral skies. But they found, like most pioneers In these new settlements, that their land of promise did not yield its fruits without much labour and many hardships. They bad to learn the old lessons of toil and patient waiting for results. And in time their reward came in golden harvests of maize, large yields of sweet potatoes, and tropical fruits in abundance. A herd of goats yielded them more than sufficient milk for their wants. Plenty reigned in tbeir home, and with a sweet child-girl like Maggie enshrined in their hearts what more could they desire in their lot?

Although her home wag In the bush far dißtant from other settlers' houses, Maggie had no lack of playmates. She was a Belf-contained, happy-natured ohild, and never having known the pleasures of the society of human playmates she made the acquaintance of and managed to find pleasure in the company of the denizens of the bush. The maiiy-bued parrots whose homo was In the great cedar trees did not fly at her approach. They were friends of hers and on the beat of terms. They sat on the lower branches of the trees and ohattered to her and she to them, as if they quite understood each other. And who will gainsay their intelligent communion 1 They were, all of them, ohildren of the great silent forest, silent except for their innooent chatter, silent but for the voice of the wind among the branohes. And, likewise, were they not the children of a common Father — tho Maker of all, iv earth, in air, and sea? Tho opossums, too, would almost come within her reach, and the kangaroos sat, undisturbed and unsuspecting, quietly watohlng her with their large plaintive eyes. The goat kids were her espeoial care. They ate out of her hand, and playfully butted her with their uuhorned heads. And man; a ride had she on the backs of the older ones after milking time across the " clearing." Like the skies above, her life was full of sunßhine.

Not but that she had daugera to make her wary and careful. In the long grass outside the " olearlng " snakes, adders, and oentlpedes abounded. Instinctively ' she knew these to be her natural enemies and avoided them. Lengthened exposure to the fierce tropical sun must be guarded against. The travelling whirlwinds which periodically visit these lands of sweltering heat and leave havoc in their path must be watched for and evaded. A child of Nature herself, sho never suffered harm from these outbursts of Nature. Her kinship seemed to exempt her from the consequences of their disastrous operation. But "since the loss of Edon" perpetual happiness and freedom from ill has never been a condition of man's estate. The pioneers on their "clearing" at Double Barrel Greek had enjoyed years of unbroken prosperity. Their Hveß had indeed been cast in pleasant places. Their home life, if somewhat lonely at times, was peaceful and uneventful a« a smooth-flowing river. But being the children of sorrow they must not look for too long a stretoh of unalloyed bliss on this Bide of Titae.

The tropical sun was shining fiercely on the " dewing " one afternoon, and Maggie sought the shade of the forest. The air was heavy with heat ; a silence that could almost be felt brooded over all. All Natuie was inanimate. Her feathered friends were too drowsy to notice her ; the leaves were listlessly drooping. Suddenly the ominous silenoe was broken ; the air was cleft with a cry of pain. The birds on the branches sat up to listen. " Mammy 1 mammy 1 I'm stung I" oame the cry. Maggie's mother rushed to her darling. Her father, though out of hearing at the othor end of the " eeleotion," oame In baste In obedience to a messsge from his own foreboding heart. A friendly "black," divining some ill had befallen the little " white Mary," appearod on the scene. Ihus the bush telegraphslove and sympathy — brought willing aid. But in vain. The little maiden had trodden on a death adder, and it had turned and stung her. Her father cut the bitten part out, the " black " applied his lips to the sore, but without avail. The insidiouß poison was already In the system, and gradually overcame the sufferer until stupor set in,

The distreßß of the mother was painful to behold, and the father's bosom was torn with anguish. While they waited on death the shadows of night oame down, only to be dispelled by the pure, clear light of the moon. So with the vlßage of the child. The death shades fled, and a halo of light diffused her countenance, Rooking at hey grief-.fitrlflkfiriaJaiQtli«i-«]ifl',jrliißfleifisiii J --<iiJiaQaL

greet, mammy ; you'll meet me In heaven,* and, getting the assurance of that meeting, the spirit took its flight to regions where pain and parting are known no more.

* # * The Yule Loo.— The eastern of burning the Yule log is of the most remote antiquity, and originated in the Pagan festivals in honour of the Bun, Saxott "Gehul," Danish " junl "—hence Yulej literally the Son feast. The prlmitivi Ohuroh naturally encouraged the ancient custom of extraordinary illuminations at this season, as obviously typical of the advent ofthe Lux mundi. The Yule log seemß to hare been primarily provided for mere purposes of light instead of heat; afterward, when candles came into general use (and even in England, up to the commeacement of the fourteenth century, splinters of wood dipped In fat were the only lights attainable by ths poorer clasies), "dipß" of an unusual sis^i were provided, as an addition to the Yule log, at the Christmas Eve festivities.

Thus, an ancient Btone oandle socket, ornamented with the figure of the Holy Lamb, Is, or was, preserved at St. John's College, Oxford, and was the receptacle for the "great candle" which waa always placed upon the high table, in hall, on the vigil of Christmas, and remained there dor* daring the festival. Ib 1b also malntain«d that bread baked on Christmas Eve will nob turn mouldy.

With reference to the royal egg-flip, this should be compounded of a quart of strong ale, the yolks of four egga and the whites of two, Goa pounded sugar, and half a nutmeg. The hot ale should be emptied gradually over the other Ingredients, and then poured rapidly from ono jug to another in order to froth it up, and the flip should cben be sorved almost at boiling point. Ale haa always been the national drink of this country. British ale was practically the only strong drink known here, prior to the Roman Invasion; cider was not introduced from Normandy until the thirteenth century, and was first made at Axmouth, about the year 1280.

Various laws as to the consumption and strength of ale were made from time to time in the early English period, and farm labourers in many parts of the country long considered that they had a customary right to as much of the national beveraga as they could consume at their lord's expense, during the time that the Yule log remained burnIng, and at their meals on the following day; this right appears to have been generally recognised, not only in all the royal palaces and great houses, but in all country establishments of the least importance. Hence the origin of her Majesty's "egg-flip."

*«* Christmas in a Russian Chuhoh. — In Russia there is always a great demand for little ones who can sing well. Girla with clear, sweet voices and boys with notefl like a thrush are carefully cared for and oherished aa they are in no other country. The altar is beautifully decorated with candles and with Images of the Christ Child. And up to midnight very solemn services are held. Suddenly, at the stroke of the midnight bell, everything ceases. The church Is very brilliantly lighted, and, as the lights flood the oharob, a child's voice is heard pealing forth a Christmas anthem. " Kriatosl Kristosl Kristosl" is the harden of the hymn they always sing, and those who have been present at one of the eerviceß held at midnight In Russia say that Ifc is worth the trip all the way there jaßt to bear the lovely child-voice sing the " Krlstoa " solo, with the grand ohorua of 100 baby voices, which follows in a Christmas refrain. The night before Christmas in all the Russian churches there la gathered together a very large assembly of people— ao many, indeed, that the oharoh Is orowded out to the doorsteps, and people stand looking over each other's shoulders, trying to get just a peep inside.

%* CnursTJiiAS IN THE Armt.—Christ-mas-keeping is happily still a tradition of the army whioh the influences of the times have not yet disturbed. It is true that tho soldier does nob spend Christmas in the bosom of his family. He dines with hia comrades. But the general experience la that family gatherings are not always unalloyed delights, whilst friends even In olvil life are found to be no bad substitutes for relations. Hlb roast beef, too, may be imported from Canada, but It may be excellent, nevertheless, wallet his plum pudding as an offset must necessarily be purely of British manufacture. No foreigner haa ever yet made one, and we doubt if we shall live to see— remunerative as the Industry might prove — plutn pudding marked " made In Germany." When, therefore, we wish the members of the Services a M«rry Ohrlatmaß, it is with the conviction that as Boldiers and sailors they have more than the ordinary chance of enjoying one.— Broad Arrow.

* # * Good Evidence. — "Do you think Charlie really loves me, mamma 1 * asked the fair young girl anxiously.

11 Certainly he does. Haven't you noticed that he always wears the gloves you bought him for a Christmas present, though they are two sizes too large 1"