AT THE DUNEDIN HIGH SCHOOL FROM THE BACK BLOCKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2258, 10 June 1897, Page 51

AT THE DUNEDIN HIGH SCHOOL FROM THE BACK BLOCKS.

LETTER THE EIGHTH. Mv Dear Cousin, — We came back to school on Tuesday, the 2;2nd, and we were very eiorry for ourselves. I bold you I had to take a chum home with me, as I couldn't gat you, and we iaad ripping fun all the time. We didn't have one dull day ; in faofc, wo got so many inritatioa« and had co many places to go to that wa wanted five daya mote to carry oat all our, engagements. We had planned a letter to the recto? asking for another week, but dad said ho was getting tired of us, and he would nob lefc us send it. I felb very sad at tho thought of the 13 hours' railway journey hi f ronb of us and fcha three monthß* work at the end of ifc ; but I am getting over it now. Wo rode over to Geraldine to see Mr Montgomery and aoHio other friends, and had % lovely trip. The weather was beautiful, and the grapes in Gevaldine were just ripe. At one place we slopped tkoy had a shed covered with viues, and they told ns to climb on to the roof and help ourselves. I never saw such grapes in nay life. They wore far better than tho greanhousß ones. We stayed there two hours until the dinner boll rang, and vre would not have come down then only we were going away to Another place at 2. Mr Montgomery says he fs beginnning to like the Canterbury boys very much. Ab another " placo vre stopped the walnuts vrere ripo, and they ju»t seemed to let thorn go to waste. AH we had to do was bo sib under tho trees and open the nuts with our knives. It seems a pity to have bo leave it all and romo back to school. We saw a lob at people we knew in Geraldine, and they were very good to üb, and wanted u» to stay longer, but wo had promised to get home before the end o? the week. We were four days away from homo. We u*ed bo gei; our horses in and groora and feed bhem before breakfast. Dad used to make ua do aa hour's work after breakfast, and then we were free uutil dinner afc 6. One day we started ab 10, and we thought we would ride up to tha church. There was going to be a wedding abll, so we thought vre might as well have a look *b ib. But when we got to the township we heard there waa to be a courb case at half-past 10, so as neither of us had seen either a wedding or a courb, we decided to go aud see the latter first. Wo found bbab two gentlemen and a Jady had been having » fight. Ab leasb bhe bwo men had,' and the lady had gone interfering and had gofi tho worst of it. tb was great; fan after bhe lady had given her evidence. The othor witnesses began to give theirs, and she wanted to contradict them. Tha magistrate wouldn't let her, and she was very indignant when ho told her bo down and be quiefc. i Then there waß a doctor there, and he wouldn't kias fcb.B Bible when he was told to do «o — afraid of getting microbe fever. Ha didn'b scera to be in bhe leasb afraid of tho other : witnesses getting ifc ; bub pec-hapi he thoughb ifc would be a very serious thing if thota was no doctor aboufc to attend the fever canes. Howi ever, ho had fco wait while the magistrate ! hnnted up au oath of affirmation, which book a | l^.ng time. Dad says that people thab have I those ridiculoan fads should carry their avra Bibles with them ; bub he mightn't have had one. The magistrate gob so tired that ha said he musb adjourn the c*se for a couple o£ hoars \ and go to lunoh, and then all of a sudden w« j remembered the wedding. Wa gob on cue i ponies and gallops A round to the church, bnb to ', our great disappoiufcnicnb ifa was ali over. We were awfully hungry, and we didn'b know what, to do. The ground was covered with rice and flowers, bnfc we couldn'b cab raw rice. We : couldn'b see a single soul we knew to give us | some lunch, and so we made up our minds to go home again. Wo didn'b like doing bo at all. i bub we were in luck after all, because we round ft ladies' lunch parfcy going on, and so we aafc on the sofa in - tho dining room and entertained them with an accounb of the morning's proceedings ab the court, and then we finished up the lunch when they had done, After lunch we got our ponies and went up to the court again, bub we found the case wan over and the magistrate gone. Now this shows that magistrates shouldn't get hungry and adjourn case». He disappointed bwo people anyway, because Frank was going to give the lady three cheers if she won her case. At half-past 12 we were two half-sb&rved High School boys, without a penny in the world excepting a Chinese coin on Frank's watch chain, and nob & friend to give us a morsel to cab, and yet before 5 o'clock on the same day we received four different invitations — bo golf, shooting, dinner, and a. euchre party, so you see things alway* turn up for the deserving. I couldn'b tell you half bhe fun we had, only one web afternoon all the time, and that after* noon we had a splendid ride. Ib was blowing a cold nor'-wester with a sleeby drizzle. Wa had to face ib for four milei, so we pub our caps in our pockets and let the horses go, and, by jingo ! they did go. I don't think we could have been 10 minutes doing the four miles, and we were out of breath when we gob bo the stable. Ds you remember the night we thought tj»

wanted tome fresh sir, and so we put down our books and got our horses and went oat along the road in the moonlight for a good hard gallop P We were back in three-quarters of an hour, aDd nobody bad missed us. Lots of people here bicycle, and they say We awiully Xtioe. But you can't go over everything in the Bhape of fences or creeks with a bicycle like you can with a horse. We borrowed your home to go to Geraldine. She was rather fresh after being idle co long, so you ought to be very much obliged to us for giving her a little work. X hear you have been having a walking trip in the holidays. How did you enjoy it ? I should have jibbed at such cruelty if I had been in ▼our place. J. am afiaid you will be a ch&nged poy when next we meet. I notice there is a Very solemn tone creeping into your letters. But, cheer up, Christmas will soon be here, and - we shall have come good old times together again. We did hope we should manage to miss the express at Timaru, but auntie marched us down ia time, and so we poor sinners found ourselves again on our 13 hour*' journey, seven of which had passed. At "W&itaki two more High School boys got in, looking very glum. Before we reached Oamoru the welcome fruiterer came round, and we all went shires in figs, chocolate, and pears. After Oamatu nothing very exciting happened, excepting that Frank went to sleep and - snored so loudly that the whole carriage was in fits of laughter. So we tied a portmanteau to his boob, and when he woke up fee could not m»ke out vrhj his foot was bo heavy. It was very hard to get up on Wednesday morniug and go to school again. There it one comfort, and that is that this term is a short one — Jnne, July, and 26 days in August. In June there is tbe record reign to break up the month. I suppose we shall get three or four days then, and mother and dad might come to Dunedin then. Molher wants to hear the concerts, and dad wants tc hear the agricultural lectures. It has been snowing here off and on all day, and there is about one inch on the ground now. To-morrow the school will send up a deputation of 30 or 40 boys with snowballs to escort us down to the school from the house, po I expect there will be some warm work. - I think I must finish up now. If there was only % telephone across the straits I would ring you up occasionally. It was a shame they put the saa between us. We might have managed same adventures if they had not. — Your loving •ousin, A High School Boy. The House, May 24.