LETTERS FROM THE BACK BLOCKS.
My Deai Dot,— lt seems I have offended another girl (unintentionally, of course) iust by calling her a girl. 1 suppost I ought lo have said "young lady," though why ir tho world Miss Scribbles should object tr being cpolcea of as a girl 1 can't imagine. Dad often calls me a blockhead i«nd a muff, but 1 don't mmd. I wender if she would like to be called a wench, or a maiden, as they were in olden times. I was reading in a book not long ago where girlt were called by thos© n.imes. There were several sentences beginning. "Prithee, fair maiden," and "Ho, wench, bring me a tankard of ale." lam sorry il I hurt Sybil's feelings, but really 1 didn't mean to, especially after hei kindness 1 in trying lo finish off ihe pudding she made from my recipe when no one el&e could eat it. .1 think the-o must have been something wrong with the cooking, because the onft I had wa,« particularly good. What do you think about the row in the H mse of Itep-esenlalives, Dot ? I have hoard people say thai il is most disgraceful, and thai we shall be ashamed lo call ourselves- New Zealtnders soon. But I don't feel like that. I don't suppose many ot the members are bom colonials, so it dcesn't mallei so much if they disgrace themselves as if they were. What I complain of is that no one seems to bave picked up the roll ofpapei Iht Premier threw down on the floor. I sow in one of the papers that it was only a roll of blank paper tied ud with nink tape. And faucv them
turning all the men reporters out of the House, and only allowing one lady reporter to btay. Hadn't you better get the editor to send up one of your girl (young Irxly) correspondents in case the same thin? b\ouM happen agair? Everybody looks to : ie Witnose to give a full report, and if thej Jon"- "■«* it he will be sorry for himself, I kiic.<v. But, of course, if they turn his correspondent out he won't be able to help himself. Yo" see I am putting in a word for ore of the girls who so kindly wanted him to send me to ouoa as wir correspondent. I have been out shooting seagulls this morn ing. I believe they are v erse Ihon hawks for the young lambs. I fired straight up in the air ft what I tl ouahl was a seagull, but when the bird dropped close to me I found ii was a strange bird to me. It was black and white like a gull, but not nearly as large. It had web feet and a long red bill. I wondei if any one could tel? me what it was. If you ever go lo the*' museum, Dot, would you pleo-s-3 lojk amongst tlvo birds and ;-ce if there is one U^re. I took it to one of cm men who was ploaghiii'* near, and he said he thought it was a Oapp pigeon, but I bave heard they would n>-»*- -;ome so far inland. It must have been a'walei bi'-d of some kind, because of its web feor. Who', splendid times some of the boys that write to you must have with so many (Lings lo shoot ! We've got a new four-furrow plough now, and with live hcrscs it does nearly six acres a d-iy. The ploughn.un sits down lo dme instead of walking like they do with the doublefurrow. I thould like to have i&ken a turn round the laddock with it, and let the man h.xvo my gun for n. change, but he did not seem inclined to let mo have charge oi £150 worth ol mactinery and horsed. He told me it didn't do quite as much work as two doublefuiTows, but instead of two men and eight horses you have only one man and five horses. J o'iito fora'ot I was wilting to a lady, Dot. I don't suppofe 3-011 will be interested in ploughs. When I got home I asked dad if I mightn't try the plough by myself, and all he said was that if I was very anxious lo turn over seme soil I could take a spade and put in a couplo of lows of potatoes in the garden. Wasi't thai hard on ne? And then he^airi when 1 had finished that I could commence with a single-iurrow plough, like he did when ho was a boy. But I told him life was too short to work with those antiquated implements, and 1 thought he ought to send it io the museum or else give it to me to sell for old iron. I see some of your friends say that they have a good deal oF practice in bandaging wounds, becaTi&e their brothers gel so many cuts. Well, all I can say is that 1 don't thinkmuch of a boy that car.'t manage his own cuts when he's ten. Why, there's my little brother Ernest, he's only nine, but_ I don't believe I've sepn a rag on that kid's hand for more than a year. I asked him yesterday what he did when he cut his finger. He said, "1 wait till the tlood stops, and then give il s lick." So I said, " Why don't you go to mother and get some carbolic, and have it bound up? " •ihen he said, "Do you think I'm a baby? If I was to go tc mothei every tim? i got a. scratch ov a cut I'd b& covered witb rags." Some people believe in covering scratches ami wounds from the air. Wo don't, 'ihe way we heal ours is to put it under the tap two or three times a day, because, ot covirse, boys can't bo expected tt keep their hands very clean, and wher> th<r dirt is all out give it a few lickpv 'There's nothing will heal a wound as quickly as that. But as for bothering about bandages — goodness ! a boy's life would be anuisance to him if he had to submit to that. We haven't played any football matches lately. The snow has prevented us from haying a reurn match with Timaru. We could play up linvo in the mountains for another month, mi'- t pxpect. it would be 100 warm foi them to practice much. Thej always begin cricket before we do. I should have liked to have gone up to Cheviot to play the schools up there, but it would be 100 expensive a trip fov the " Back Block Nippers." The medals that were made in Dunedir for the best forward 1 and best back in the team will be piesonted at the school concert shortly. I mean to wci'e. to "'Shasta" to-morr )■•%' evomii.?. I believe he has hit up or the very thing that will suit me. J must close now, Dot, with very Jrind regards, and please tell those girls to take a turn at pitching into " Harry " now, as I felt inclinpH "to do when 1 saw he left the High School fissault-01-arms to go to a Shakespeare meeting — sfter making an appointment with you, too. — Yours truly, B. O. B. [I should think after B. O. B.s explanations tho misunderstanding as to his views about girl& wil l be quite cleared away, and we shall all look upon him as a friend and a brothei in future. His description of the supposed Cape pigeon is scaicely minute enough to enable the bird to be identified lam afraid, fciome of the ppecies of the Cape pigeon oi pintado petrel are as large as albatrosses, and then colours aj e sooty black, grey of various tints, and white. They emit a strong smell of musk, po that might be a clue for you to identify the bird. Many girls take as great an interest in machinery as boys, B. 0. 8., and I am sine we aio all intPre&tod in hearing about the fourfurrow plough. It is oviclent, however, that your war correspondent aspirations are not tho only ones which are doomed lo be nipped m the bud. The descent, from a four-furrov plough to a common garden spade is something like being hurled from the artist's easul to whitewashing the barn, isn't it? — Dot.]
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18980922.2.185.3
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 57
Word Count
1,402LETTERS FROM THE BACK BLOCKS. Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 57
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