FROM THE DUNEDIN HIGH SCHOOL TO THE BACK BLOCKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 51

FROM THE DUNEDIN HIGH SCHOOL TO THE BACK BLOCKS.

LETTER THE FIFTH,

Dear Uncle, — Ib aetmß an age uince I saw a mob of sheep or a clump of stack?, though it is only a few monthß since I saw you last. You w%re th r n piloting a reaper aud binder round a patch of ripe wheat on the downs, and I hope you got it all cut without being knocked about by a nor'-west buster. Dad bas told me that the weather was fine for slacking, and that the wheat is all threshed and sent away. I am *orry I missed seeing the mill at work, and I should have liked to see the new self-feeder that is all the fashion now. When I was a small kid I u«d to stand by the engine for hoars together and ply the driver with question*) about eteara all tbe time. I heard him tell dad once that he had had to answer as many as would fill a four-bushsl aack. I hear, too, that you hays actually got the sheep all dipped without mo to help iv j-imruing their head* under water. For the flrat time since I cau remember, I hwe missed the harvesb thanksgiving *t the church. Mother told iffe she sent a big pumpkin, which she said was not nearly so large as my laziness or so solid as my head. When you wera a schoolboy did your parents make tmch nire, kind remarks about you ? I may be s. big puinpkiu, but I feel a very small potato liere among hundreds of boys, mauy of them a lot older than I am. We peem to get a lot of raiu here, but; .letters from home tell ma that you have been getik'g vary dry weather, and that the grass is rathor short;. There did not seem to be much gr*ss when T came away, aud the river vyas jo low Ui»fc 1 oou'.d nofc find a decent hole to take a dire J»fc:>, nu<J, «olid as lay head is. I oan't afford to risk a hostiJer on to >i hid biuo boulder. The sheep looked fat enough, but vU\d said it was owiog fco *ihe good scenery and i% contented uiicd. 1 hojid the hares have Dob been starved out' of our paddocks and that * few rabbits h*vc settled about the fenco coroerK. I'hey have Kot long '<-o live now, for the term i< ntarly ended, and I shall ba at them socn, and hope to m*ka a little pockel-saoaey-out of the bairns of 33 per lug. lam ju»t get tiug my band into rifle-shootiug, but Lhope 1 shan't find uay eye out for game-shooting t.ext month. I managed 10 win a. pr'za of 100 rounds of Huununifciou in a matcti for the High School Cadets, aud w&b very proud of myself. When I don'fi shoot; w«*l' I put it down to the hard kicking of the rifle. Soni" of the Cadets pub the blame on the powder, but; that ii all amoke. Oue of our mi.sfcers has gone north to t&ke a school at Qssialdine. We gave him a present s.t parting, i'or he is a good fellow, ami we liked h>m vecy much, and I hope he will be as popular where he lias gone. Did you ever Hive your rnaatora nick-names ? Ours have g*>t some ?'miny ore?, but I mustn't blab. I believe I am' studying boa nard or walking up and down thtse horrid bills too uiuoa ; an any rate, I i,m Josing weight, and it is s, good job the holidays are Dot far oft 1 , for I am sure it is time I aart a change of air. I like good aeeaery as ivell as the sheep do, *»n<l njy mitd will ho quite away so long as *hfc French verbs, and Litin declensions are left 200 miles bohiod me ; sj I shall fiooa get fat again. Jl&ve you had Any golt lately ? I have uei. hail a. club in my hand since I sxaehed dad's lasb winter (small wonder, yon will jay). However, I must try and raise a club or two out of hares aud rabbits. I suppose your gcapss 7tiU be done by the Imvj .school breaks up. I munt lose no time in going to ace you after J got home. Meanwhile I remain your dutiful nephew, A High School Boy. KINDERGARTEN I'UND. Stamp 3 received : JCva and Francie, Roxburgh, 6; Maggie Bai clay, Kaitangata, 6 ; Violet, Lawrence, t> ; Nellie, 1. LITTLE FOLKS' RIDDLJBS. 659. By Violet, Lawrence :— (1) Why is a mad man like two men ? (2) What must you add to nine to make six. (3) If I buy 24 oranges for (id and give one away, why am I like a telescope.