TOMBOY MADGF.

Otago Witness, Volume 26, Issue 2419, 26 July 1900, Page 61

TOMBOY MADGF.

O for a swim through the running river, And one long pull with the boys at dawn! O for a ride on mj»dear old Rover. One tennis-round on the grassy lawn! O could I watch the sun on the wide sea, And feel the ' cool foam around my feet ! 0 breezes wild, come blowing about me, And fill the bush with your music sweet! Is it a week since we crossed the river (Shallow and clear for the time of the year)? And fotmd tho wattles and tall red clover Scenting the air from afar and near?Is it a week since we all went playing On the bent arm of the cieaking gum? Who would have thought that the old limb, swaying, "Would lay the Tomboy crippled and dumb ? 1 slept till the wind aroused me, sighing, I Just like the voice of a lonely child! A strange man's hand* on my own was- lying, His eyes had a look that was soft and mild. ' He did not know I could hear him saying, "She may live on till the season turns, But ne'er again will she share in the playing Of children, out in the flowers and ferns." "When the season turns ' you will find the glasses, Out in the paddocks, yellow and deep. Bury me near where the river passes, And let them cover me while I sleep. The boys when they swing on the bluegums bending, And hear the waves on the shingled sand, Will sometimes think of ,po ( or .Tomboy's ending, Who waits for,, them in another land. — Jennings Caemichael. * The doctor.