THE MURRUMBIDGFE MAIDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2309, 2 June 1898, Page 41

THE MURRUMBIDGFE MAIDEN.

A fair. Australian maiden bent

O'er Muirirmbidgee's stream, Its flood reflected back a^iorm As sweet as painter's therae As she filled her pitcher to the brim From out its linipid stream. _ " G-ive me to drink, sweet maiden."' The voice was rich and low As the .mellow tones that wooed and won 7 In Eden, long ago, / And a manly form of courtliest grace Bent from, his saddle, bow. The maiden gave the pitcher ; He thanked her with a smile, Quaffing its linipid water, He scanned her form the while; He marked her sweet uncultured grace — Her golden hair and dimpled face. "I've drunk," he said', "sweet maiden, From pleasure's glittering- cup, And nymphs a queen might envy Have filled each goblet up. rJo form of theirs could rival thine— Sweeter this water than their wine. "I'm wearied of the city's hum, Its pleasures and its strife, Its- hopes and disappointments " In the weary race of- life ;. I would dwell beside this river And woo thee for. niy wife. " One curling tress of golden hair, Sweet maiden, give to me, And let this little opal ring A slight reminder be ■ When the wattles' bloom in springtime I shall return to thee.'" Lite the strings of an iEolian harp By- passing zephyr stirred, Or instrument when master hand Has touched 'some hidden chord, The pulses of the maiden at his every word. Hushed was the, maiden's laughter, And silent was her song, And by the Murrumbidgee's atreani SEe waited for him- long ; Waited .in anxious longingWaited in weary pain; — The wattles bloomed, and faded; He came not back again. And then slier sought the city, Mixed in many a brilliant scene, And the noblest of the land bowed down" And hailed her beauty's queen; And gems were hers that might have graced An Eastern diadem ; But by far the dearest thing on earth She prized that opal gem. — Eose Ellen Eastoit.

Armidale, May, 1898.