OUR RETREAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2430, 10 October 1900, Page 66

OUR RETREAT.

A few steps t,oiu ihe house,

Then over level ground, Where r.c.u?nt but gi^se and tussock

And j p.-'d

ioulw abound.

Alcnr. u ho .stoon- hllloi.lc,

j-l'un '"onmi o ixito view, A ooj: the looks oor>tvivp. to hide,

Knovc to a ohoiuii few

Our drawing 100 m it's turned,

And ii s suruy very neat r J?i>ou *h car lot r* ha_o JiCjip.

Just gravel

for j ~v.i

The chairt. arc but. hiigc "-tones,

L'.y vhich tiio water? joai, A? ti'o clock comes jushmg in,

Then away oui> at the dcoi

Tvo walls r.ie decked with shiubs,

And {tins and verdure green, Fit li'-tures. I am sure,

To please n^o^t any queen

The other ■« all is rock so b».re,

At its foot the v,?ters flow; O'crshadowed by n, tall old birch,

Entwined with mi.-t'.fttoo,

The creek sometim.33 i 3 dsen

To loara abtui the 'flora-, And •£••} ior wadii'g tho.^,

You'd enjoy yourself, I'm stire.

Tims after time we visit ;J,; J, AndUnd some wonders nc.v, And oftantir.is^ our playfellow,

Our doggie Jack, comes too.

He swims into the pools,

And brings the sticks to shore, Then shakes the water off his coat,

And mutely begs for "Here.'

Dear little folk, my pen

Has surely run awpy, But if you wish 1,0 know more,

I'll v.rite some other day,

Our Dot is very good,

But her patience I'll not try, So with eveiy best and hindest wish, I'll bid you all good-bye

— LAUREL

Queenstown, October 1.

A LETTER FROM HARRY FARRER

Dear Dot, — I promised that if 1 went anywhere I would write to you, and let you know how I was getting on. Well, here I am in Australia. T came over in the s.s. Monowai, which left Wellington on the 29th August. 1 had a very nice voyage over. The last two dayh were a little bit lough, but I did not mind that. I landed in Sydney on the following Sunday. When we were coining into the Sydnej Harbour it was night, and the harbour w?d beautiful. The ferry boats just looked like tiams running about, and the harbour is full oi steamers from the size of a big tablespoon up to the Roya~l- Arthur. When w<? got on to the wharf la the morning, it seemed f>s if everything was going up and down. Sydney is an awfully busy plr.ee. The streets seem to be 100 narrow for such a big city. It is a far different place to Dunedm. The town is a duty grey colour, though the buildings arc veiy fine. I had two New Zealandcrs for mate? while I was m Sydney. They were fiorn Dunedm, too, on thenway to South Africa. We set about to look ior a pnvp.te boarding-house, and that was when we got our eyes opened. We went into one house which looked all right fiom outside, Lat when we get m it was anything but mv.tiug. No wonder that they have plague here. When we went to go upstairs everything socmed to go up and dovn, and there were no windows, so that jou could scaicely sco where yon were going. When we weie goi-ig up the st iivs I caught hold of the bar.ister to sa\e myself from falling, and I ne?/.y pulled it all down. The old chap who was with us said,

* Whathever is htip? ' and he stiuck a match to see wheie we were going. By jingo, Dot, it was a woful-looking place l The paper on the wall was all peeling off, and the plaster looked all gieen and mouldy. The old chap said we would turn back, but the landlady insisted on us having a look, so on we went. She showed U3 a room and said si would be comfortable there. 'Lheie were four of us, and only two single beds. One of the bed's had a mcehorse's nig ior a quilt. Veiy likely it was old Caihme's. Ihe other single bed was not built, but the landlady infoimed ti'-j that she only came into the house about a fortnight ago. The old chap wen ted to know if she had any blankctd for it. She &aul she had -just oidered them in the morning. So \,e bid her good-day, and got downstaira a& quickly ab we could under the ciicumstancea. The other house was just as ]md, only » little ii^htc.". The only thing tbit divided the looms win ctmaiy wire netting. The landlady &oid f-hc had to do that to let light into all the looms. We got a pietty fair one at last. It looked like a gaol, for ak the wirdows had non bars on the outride. Whon the landlord wat. showing us the room he called it a nice, big i com, with all the window^ bailed. ' And ] found out after tha'j a lot of boarding houses and oth^r houses had bars on the window. Sydney seems to be a go-ahead place. They have trams all over the city — electric, cable, steam. The electric aie the'boys to go. I veiy nearly got run over twice — a near shave each tune. There was a Ked Cross man at the Boaiding house we were

staying at, and when I told him about nearljf getting rim over, he said that was nothing — that they, often kill, run over, .or knock a- ruaii down. It wps an every-day occurrence. You caai take this for 'what it is worth. It is awfully pretty to see the electric car going along at night, the wire sparkling all the way along as the car's go — that is, the wire that goes along the top of the tram at some of the corners in tiie cityl It is a regular network of wires, what between, the electric wires and the telegraph and telef phorie wires. The cable trams a-re just the same as those in Dunedin; but the steam cars are fearfully dirty to be in a city. A country! fellow like I am has a jolly lively time to keep from getting run over. All the principal streets are paved with blocks! of wood thdi size of bricks. We went up the Parramatta Eiver in one of the pleasure steamers. They act the same as a train does on dry" land. They call at all little stations all the wps up to within three miles of the {own of Parramatta. Then we took the steam car up. It is just the same as the one m the town, only a rattling old thing. I asked the guard did it ever run off the line. He said it had not so far. Parramatta is just about as big as Invercargill, only more scattered. We went through some of the gardens and. pulled pome oranges, mandarins', and lemons. It was rather late for the oranges and mandarins ; but the lemons were in tons. The people see'rn to be a careless lot. The majority of the gardeners do not look after the gardens at all. It looked just as if they pu6 in, the trees and told them to look after themselves. When you do see a nice garden it is almost sure to belong to a German or a, Chinaman, or some other foreigner. There is a- tip-top-garden inside the gaot yard, but policemen' parade the walls all the time. The walls are built of freestone, and look all right. The paiiks of the Panamattar River are linad ort both sides wiiTT gum trees, but they are not „ bit itiic our gums in New Zealand: they <;iuw. scraggy like the wiliows do in our country. Tlie_Jews in. the etrects in Sydney are an oviul nuisance — to us New Zealanders esoecially. They stand out m hont of their doors', and if yon look at; the shop at all they come up and warn, you to buy this and that. One j^kecl^mc where I came from, and I told him JHir.edi::. He said that there were too ma/ny >> otch people theu) for the place fo go ah«ad. fio said that chey bleep _ii till diii:idi- lime to •avp a breakfast, nud go to bed nrW to =ri.va f;&*. J_ thought th.s was very for l£r Jew. The policemen here don't no'sn you mova along like they do m Bar.(_Jiti. Vhey «,re rai.ier moliiioJ to i ilk. Their lieini-.-ia nee dii~ iuronl to those cf New Ze.bSjid. Aiter ] liad had a look you: <i Sjdncy, J" stated for Kya•JiTnu ou &, r . by -d.iy m^ui ,n the esuiass :,hafc J had l). j did -c ir.-'cb of. \z vj:; «ibout~o oV<,o:r, -.0 1 mw-I i.il the £c<jj Cry rouix-l pjjoni, Sydney, '.h&icfOi;c I don' 5 know what Jike it is. Jno Syhjey rai-way sfcatiosi jy : ioi .jiavlj- =0 ;ooct in proportion as thai; of Dungdin— in iact, jt is little Letter ilmji Du-vcrliu is no-.v. The carriages are far better than oui-.. The second! class is tetter tlu<n our fust. The caiviegc? hore r.ro cuviard -,ir> iato cornparhuents, csoss."is>e. Thfj.o are t.ro seats hi each, holding uom fice to Fi--: prisons. When -.ye left H;.dney i\o were packed like- sardines in a. tin. V'fren (be train r.n-kbs at each station the guards come along and Jock the carviagc3, fo there is -no getting cut till after the ticket j are. checked, i c-in't asy that 1 like the sconeiy very much,_ because there i.s ioo much of a ramonts-i. YAm we arrivsd m A s bury I sold ' ray return ticket, as when I camekJo.vn fchero.%: happened to bo an excursion on. There is not' "i 'ouble in disposing of them. It was & bit amusing to see the people on the Altrary railway station — I mean the strangers like myself, who were going across the border or ths Murray. They were saying, - I wonder what the custom house official will do? — will he make me open my trunk or box?" or whatever the luggage might bs. Seme of the men who belonged to the town told some good fairies. Some women were putting on. all the spare rings that their greatgrandmother had handed down, so that they would not have to pay duty on them 5 . Well, the official came at last, and I was the first to open my " portsammy," but not before he told me. He only looked in, and threw the flap of the portmanteau over, and asked me if I only had wearing apparel hi it. I said that was so, and he put a figure on the "porty"' like 3, and said, "That's right." How r ever, he made one fellow, who was doing a bit of shuffling, break open a case that had a picture in it, and he had to fork out a bob or two for duty. There are to be seen any number of crows, magpies, aud dozens of other birds that I don't know the names of. I have a couple of opossums, which I am going tc fetch over to New Zealand— that is, if they will allow me to. Do you think opossums will be piohibited from landing in New Zealand? lam going up to Bendigo on the 22nd September fo the railway picnic. The fare is cheap, and I may find something to cell you about. lam also goijig up to Ysuiko, in New South Walee, 0:1 the ~Cth, to sec an. punt, and stay there a while, so chat will ha something elsa to tell you about. I forgot to tell you what Kyabram -a like. It is a farming district, and the country is verye level all lound. about it, with bu=h. I tried to get a landscape view, but coald not, so I am sending you the three or four that I did " v Set. I tried to get some of the shopa, for there are some shoos that put thonc cf some o'; the bigger towns in the shade. I don't know whether they will do or not, for I know you don't like the gloss on them. Ji it won't put you to too much trouble, I should like 3"cv to send them on to my sister. — Youra truly,

HAEEY FAKREK.

[I have ofte^n wondered what had beeoma of Harry Farrer lately, and here is the explanation. Well, yonr letter is as intcre-sting as ever, Harry, and I am delighted to hear from you, no matter whether you write from Berwick o; Australia. Thank you very much for the photos. lam afraid they would, not interest Witness readers very much, so I have sent them on to your sister, as requested. Probably che will wonder why they came through. Dot, but this will explain matters to her. I hope you will have a good time during the resfe o£ jour sojourn in Australia. — DOT.]

Chbrbyeipe. — Yes, dear, that will, do quite

quite well. Starljght. — I cannot recall the letter, but the

editor tells me he has enough lettsTs by him

for four issues, and possib'y it may be among those. How long ago is it sin ;e the letter was sent?

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S RIDDLES.

By the Dowager Empress-— (1) Silence, (2) dust, (3) yesterday, (4) aw How, ~(5) a bookcase.

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