THE KLONDYKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 41

THE KLONDYKS .

Let everyone, more especially those who may be contemplating leaving our lovely New Zealand shores and clime for the far-off Klondyke, ponder well the following lines by Walter Malone, taken from a recent number of Harper's Weekly, and leflect whether it is not infinitely better to enjoy life, health, happiness, and the companionship of our own kith and kin in these beautiful hits of the Pacific th*n foisake all and " dig for gold among their comrades' bones" in the arctic regions of the Klondyke, which are "robed in everlasting snow, and where icy blasts eternal revel hold." Vincent Fyke. Gisborae, N.Z , Christmas 1897.

THE KLONDYKE. I. Wrapped in a robe of everlasting snow, ■Where icy blasts eternal revel hold, Wheie gaunt pines shiver in the piercing cold, Where mellow summer noontides never glow, • •And sleety crags no springtime ever know— .Thus, like a miser, in his freeziug fold The Arctic King has gathered heaps of gold, To lead deluded wanderers unto woe. Sj in his radiant diamond palace there, Amid wiiite splendours of his thousand thrones, Where keen auroras glitter, blaze^ and glare, And like x wandering Jew the wild wind moans, He smiles at wretches iv their list despairWho dig for gold among their comrade s bone 3.

11. About my home I see the springtime bloom, The sheaves of summer or the autumn fruit. To tuake me glad the lobin lends its lute, The lilies blossom, lilacs breathe perfume, The red leaves flutter, golden asters loom Around me ; tones of loved ones or the flute Through June-time gladness or December gloom The daffodil"! their golden treasures pour By lapfuls to my children as they play ; The vines with clustered r.ibies at my door Gladden my good wife through the livelong day. .So in this humble nest my -wealth is mora Than all the gold and silver dug from clay. Walter Malone.