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Otago Witness, Issue 2471, 24 July 1901, Page 75

lallen off and on for nearly a week. It is very cold going to school these mornings through the snow." j Broadleat got a sight of the Duke and j Duchess, "and I thought they were very plea- ' cant-looking. I stayed in town to see the illuminations, *nd I thought the Union Company's office wa the best. • X. L. C. R. knows the two boys who walked fiom Invereargill to Dunerlin, but he has not Been them since they leturned home. He thinks they were very plucky. > Hecuba only knows Mci and Noweina so Car. "I went to Invercargill," she writes, 'to see the fourth and fifth contingents come home. I arrived in town at 10.30, and got home at ■midnight. I enjoyed myself immensely. I know several of the troopers, and they all seemed, so glad to bo home again. The decomtions were very pretty, and the illuminaiions were lovely. I went out to Queen's i'ark to see the sports, but it was so muddy and cold I didn't stoj long." j Columbus tells how the place she lives in has lost it' teacher, the school being shut up. Before leaving, the teacher gave the pupils prizes, the tale "The Lamplighter" being given to Columbus. Hoani saw the Duke and Duchess, for she J was in the physical drill in the demonstra- | lion, "and we had to line Manor place. . . . ! I enjoyed the snow very much, as I suppose ' all children do. We made a large snow man end had a game of snowball." j Snowdrop lives on a farm at Ardgowan. J They will have- 25 cows milking in the summer, i and she will have to take her share in the milking of them. Lances says: — "Seaforth was skating on the ice the other day, when Lhe ice broke, and he suddenly disappeared under the ice. It forcibly reminded me of some pictures I saw of 'Mr Pickwick on the Ice.' What a large funeral that was- of Gunner Forbes. It is sa-d to > think that after escaping tbe enemy's bullets , in South Africa, he should die on arrival at ' .New Zealand. Duck has only been at school one day in tr>re» w«ek», in consequence of the Duke'& visit and the snowfall. She has over three miles to walk. Ladx Lygon is keeping account of all the D.L.F. noms de plume, and she intends to &se h&w many write to our page if that is possible. "The weather here has been very bad ; the snow has been falling for every day in a week; and as. soon as the snow had done its .■-We, Mr Rain thought that he would put his finger in the pie too, and so it started to rain, md has rained every day since. We have been absent from school for five days, as we have a long way to go in wet weather when the roads are so muddy." Winnie .G. says:— "l have a little g-.ey pony, and his name is Toby, and I used to ride him and do the churning' with him yoked in the horse-powei. I But now we send the milk to the factory. I I Jive nine miles from Oarnaru, on the Kakanui | Flat. It is a very nice' place here, but very i cold in winter, and very hot in summer." j Miss Mischief saw the Duke and Duchess , beautifully from the Stock Exchange Build- ! irgs, and also at the Whiter show. She went j down with her mother in the evening to see the illuminations, and thought them lovely. Young Goose says there are 10 of them— iive boys and five girls, and half of them go to school, to which they have to walk a mile. Zealia tells of a pleasan + »iurprise she had one day. Stepping out of a shop, she saw two D.L.F. — Ita said Dum Dum, no less! Ita v saluted ber with the customary "Hullo, D.L.F. !" and then introduced her to Dum j Duin. After a little chat sh«r went down the ■ street, and kept her eyes open for more badges, j but the quest was fruitless. She thinks thp j Invercargill D.L.F. should follow the example of those who met in Dunedin, and meet in I the samp way. There are, she says, Dum Dum, Ita, Dado, Vanity Fair, Althea Miro, A. S. S., 0 Mimosa San, Can>eo, and I don't know how many more. Banty was in Dunedin at the time of the Royal reception, and she thought the town very pretty. Her little banty hen— the one that got caught in a trap — ie dead, one of the horses having tramped on it. Golden Pippin has two brothers in the •volunteers and one in the mounted rifles. Then she has another brother and three sisiors, and this brother she has been tiying to j.crsuade to write, and she thinks she has succeeded. Wattle Blossom has just been reading Eoy's letter, "and I must confess that I am still puzzled, I did not know before that when two people had an argument. One could settle it by introducing Euclid. I think what Silver Bell said was quite true." The Mouse tells all about her trip to Dunedin during Royalty week. She enjoyed her visit very much, only she had to stand half the way in the train going home. "Dear Dot, we have a little red and white calf, and we tall it Stumpy, because it haa got a shoit taiL" Stella thinks that while in town during Hoyalty week she found Dot out, but she intends to keep it a secret. She thinks she would have recognised Tasma in the group even if her name had not been given. A. S. S. 3ends a very nice account of the reception of the troopers at Invercargill, but Hiawatha's is so long that I am unable to give space for both. Her mother was one of ■the suSerers from the rocket accident, and this is how she relates the dreadful occurrence : "A terrible accident occurred through a signal rocket exploding. One woman was killed in ctantly ; she neve* moved at all ; and her son and his wife wen both badly hurt, though Lot seriously, and several others got hurt too, my mother and my auntie being among the unfortunate ones. My mother got one of her eyes and thumb 'iurt ; her eye is all blue just new, though it is not sore. My auntie got hurt on her left temple and knee. They both Lad t« go to a chemist to get their wounds dressed

before they went Lome. They both had an awful fright, and have not got over it j.-t. I wasn't with mother at the time it napyenetl, as I was at the social in the Zealandia Hall." Annah also tells about the landing of the conting%ts at the Bluff, and of the township in which she liv-es she says • — "Edendale is a very pretty place, only it is not very large, judging by the advantages it has." Ulva and her brothers have been tobogganing . "This rooming the snow was frozen pretty haid, and my two brothers and I got a little snow sledge, and went up to the top of a high hill. We all got on it, and down it went. When we were pretty near the bottom of Ihe hill, the sledge upset, and we were all en ILe ground. None of us were hurt, and next time we rode in it it was all right." Reykjavik is staying with her auntie, who has twin babies, and they are both gnls. Their nain.es are Nellie Owen and Maigai^t Katherine. She has found out who Kaka and Wild West are. Cecilia went to Christchuich to see the Royalties, and had a splendid view of the Duke and Duchess. The review was lovely, and the Wellington Navals weie the best marchers. She would like Alvera to correspond with her. Curly Bobby does "not know many little folk about heie— oaly Eidergowan, Pickwick, and Delia." Nell lives away up the Otago Central. She has five brothers, but no sisters, and has three miles to walk to school. "We are having our holidays, as there is snow lying all aiound, and it freezes hard every night." Fairy Lilian finds it very cold weather at present till about midday. She knows a few D.L.F., among them being Maleen. Bartholomew and her sisters went skating the other day, and the ice was lovely. She met Eglantine and her friend, J. F., coming from church on Sunday. Dunstakite says skating has been in full swing where she lives. "Have you ever been in the goldfields, Dot? The dredges have all started work again, as the river haa gone down owing to the frosty weather." General French tells us hew he gets the strap now and again, "and it smartens my fingers up and makes me feel more inclined to work." Calder is pleased to see that the Cot fund is amounting to a great deal, and thinks it will not be long before it comes to the required £50. Blake says: "Poor, unfortunate me! I did not manage to get down t« town when the Duke and Duchess were in, or I should have had my photo in the Witness, too. How would you like to live up in the country like me, Dot ? I like it very well, although there are not many interesting things to be seen. Dear Dot, it is so warm up here that the grass is growing after the snow has melted and the frost is out of the ground. The frost goes away about 9 o'clock now, so you can have an idea how warm it will be after that." Etjdora tells about the sewing class held on Saturday afternoons. "There are about a dozen girls go to it, of whom I am one. We are going to have a sale of the work when we get enough done, and the money we receive will be sent on to the Melanesian missionaries to provide for the Melanesian children." i Fkrn had to stay at home ;ind be content with seeing the Royal train. It had some nice carriages on it, and was very prettily decorated with red, white, and blue. Bulldog saw the Royal celebrations in Dnnedin, aud "came home quite satisfied with what | I saw. The decorations must have taken.* lot i of- money to get them up. I think j the Balmoral and the Marine arches were the prettiest. Of course the other 3 were pretty, too. The illuminations were firstrate. The Witness office was the "best. Then came the Union Shipping Company's office-. It had a search light on, which looks a funny sight to a country boy who never sees anythiii° of that kind. The Town Hall looked very well, with its high tower all lighted up to perfection." THE CRITIC CLUB. : My Dear Boys,— We are getting nearer home every day, and at last I am in our own island. I am writing this from a place about 90 miles south of Hokitika. We are getting near the Bluff. Uncle says nothing but stern necessity would bring him down here, and he thought seriously of leaving Norman and me with friends in Hekitika until he returned. However, we prevailed upon hm to take ni, too; end here we are. It is really the best fun we have had yet, and we would not have missed it for any money (of uncle's). The whole place is remarkable for its scenery, several lakes, glaciers, hot springs, gorges, etc., being close at hand. The most interesting feature is the Franz Josef Glacier, the lowest in the world. It was somewhat strange to us to look across three miles of level country and see a glacier almost on a level with the road. We paid it a visit, and found a gully full of ice that somehow does not melt. It is said the glaciei is not so grand as it was. There was at one time a cave as large as a good-sized house in it, and those who felt so disposed could go into that cave. I cannot say if anyone took advantage of the opportunity, or if he was in when the cave collapsed. A few chains from the foot of the ice are three tremendous rocks, I should say as large as three good big schools. Now, dear boys, you can make the schools as large as suits your imagination. The rocks are lying in the bottom of the gully, and seem to be loose from the bed of rock, which leads one to think that they must at one time have come down with the ice. There are tremendous heaps of I ice, dirt, stones, etc., all frozen together. The I ico melts, and thus is kept up a continual clatter of stones rattling and dirt slipping, while I the water trickles down miniature ravines ■worn in the solid ice. It is impossible to walk on the glacier anywhere near the foot of it, as it is a mass of ridges (I won't say hills), and between them fissures 30ft or 40ft deep. The

ice, owing to the thickness of it, looks blue. I sveked a piece of it, and it tasted just like our ice at home. We reckoned, when standing at the foot, that the ice peaks were 100 ft m height. The T aiho River flows from underneath the glacier, and when in flood the great blocks of ice it carries down go banging against the rocks and the noise is terrible. Oh, it is grand, and I wish you could see it. I have wished it often, but never so much as now. You should see the hot spring, too. It is about a Jiule from the glacier, and smells strongly of sulphur. Uncle says it cannot compare with the No.rth Island ones. Sometimes the "hot" spring is cold, but if~ you dip the cold water o\it, it fills with warm, and you can have a bath. Sometimes the water is too hot, and has to be cooled with 20 or 30 buckets of cold. Isn't that great? When going from the glacier to the Waiho village (about six houses), it is neces&hi\ to cross a wire footbridge which is veiy &hpky, and consequently makes one feel funny when crossng. I was very fortunate, for I found on the sand a rock crystal, round, clear, and like a piece of ice. They are very rare, therefore to be prized by the lucky finder. Wo are to return to Hokitika now. It is not an imposing place, but a good deal like Ljttelton— a dirty little hole. The Coast is, I hear, a terrible place for thunder and hghtiang, and some time back the Coast people were treated to an hour of most continuous lightning, which made the raindrops sparkle like diamonds. Some days later. Urn! Ah! We've had an alpine trip. Fancy that ! On the way to Hokitika we stopped and had the pleasuie of climbing Mt. Wilburg. We reached the highest altitude we have ever been on — 6000 ft. No microbes up there. The top was as bare as a plate, not a particle of carth — nothing but bare stones. Wa went back to the days of our childhood and rolled stones down the hill, and didn't they go. We enjoyed it immensely, but are agreed that we could manage with very little mountaineering, for there are more enjoyable ways of taking exercise than by climbing mountains with your dinner for the pleasure of eating it on the top, and the peaks really look better from the foot. We called a kea (one of the sheep-killing birds) up within a yard of us one day, but had too much respect for his beak and claws to touch him. We are now making for Dunedin for the Jook-a-York celebrations. — Yours truly, DICK. Shepherdess and Txjg.— Why ever did you write on such large paper? There is no room on the linotype operator's copy stand for it, and it is inconvenient to read. In addition to that it is so awkward to handle. Quarter the size would be quite sufficient. Ulva.— Yes, dear, plenty of badges now. Twinklixg Stab. — I am so sorry, dear, but I shall take care that you are kept right on my list. Duckie. — Yes, dear, it is necessary to send your full name and address with each letter you write. Maid of the Mountain.— Xo, dear, it is W. ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK'S RIDDLES. By Munhiku:— (l) Because a pipe is a hollow cylinder, and Kruger is a silly Hollander; (2) A sovereign. By Grizelda: — A turkey cock. By Blue Violet:— Fall against your will. By Roska . —When they chatter. By Love —(1) Because it turns night into day; (2) R. U. E. By Sunshine —The figure 9.