A GOLDEN MORNING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2603, 3 February 1904, Page 71

A GOLDEN MORNING.

By R. B. Scully.

It was indeed a lovely morn v. hen I started forth on a holiday ramble across the hills on the western side of Otago Harbour. The King of Day flooded the earth with his ever-welcome and glorious light, while soft, neccy white clouds iloated in the deep azuie overhead. Cp from the haibour came a soft, refreshing breess, and altogether it was just such, a morn on which one could best appreciate the radiance and beauty which God has strewn v. ith a lavish hand upon cur earth. I started upon my walk, up through the manuka scrub and blossoming briars, into a large, grassy paddock, where the dainty starry daisies were opening their eyes upon a new day, and where the patches of buttercups, their yellow petals glistening in the sunlight, blossomed gaily. Passing through 'the tall, waving grass, - came out into a long avenue of bluegunxs, carpeted with fallen leaves ; high up among the shining foliage might be seen clusters of fluffy, white bloom, Mhile the air was heavy with the peculiar scent of these trees. This avenue led into another field, m icu more daisies, among which I noticed clumps of the peerless and lovely marguerite. Here I stopped to inhale the spicy air, sneet with the perfume of clover. A small stream of sparkling water trickled slowly doyrn the hillside into a little pond of gleaming blue. A fallen log near by was literally wreathed in a lovely, whitebciled cresper ; everything was peaceful ■i"'id quiet. Suddenly two birds fluttered out of a low busk near, and rose high, in air, carolling forth a wild, sweet, icvous melody. My eye followed them till they faded from sight.

Tben, bestirring myself, I crossed the paddock, and came upon a patch of native bush through which passed a clear track. Oli ! how lovely and cool it was in its shade. Fuchsia, clematis, bush creepers, and the tenacious lawyer, struggling and jostling with each other, quite shut out the rays of the sun. The ground was studded with sweet, dainty, cool-looking ferns, v.Tiile towering above them were their more pretentious brethren, the silverbacked tree ferns.

Out of the bush, across a large area, where blackberries put forth a tempting array of fruit, where manuka showered its delicate v. hite bloom, and where the speckled foliage of the pepper tree shone under the caressing touch of the sunbeams, I wandered, down into 3 picturesque gully, a beauty spot, which one could well imagine to be the haunt of bands of fairies. A brook of clear water wended its way through the glade, its course marked by clustering, sweet-scented yellow-flowering musk and numerous ferns. A small rustic bridge had been thrown across the brook. "Weeping willows aud sturdy fuchsias, overgrown by brambles and creepers, quite shut out the outside world; it was delightful to sit in the shade and dream. One could almost imagine sprites to be hiding in the foliage of tlie lovely, umbrellashaped treefern, or nestling in n small bower among the beautiful musk, or, perhaps, peeping from among the dense greenery far above one's head. The gentle, playful murmuring of the streamlet was the only thins; that broke the silence. It was a delightful spot : a spot wherein one could weave numberless dreams and fancies.

But one cannot sit dreamm™ forever ; so. very reluctantly. I bestirred myself and went out again into the dazzling'sunshine. Here was a fern-tree eab'ii, out of the crevices of which fresh, green ferns were growing, while near if- a shrub bearing pointed chist°rs of white bloom ws<, oroivir.g side By side with another of the same family, the bloom on which was a deep purple. Down the hill I passed, vheie the spreading lawyer clutched my gown ao,ain and aga'n — down on to the main road. Here I leaned upon the railing above the lailway embankment, which was covered with both native and imported trees and gazed dreamily over the kprbour.

Down on th" beach was a busy throng of children, who seamed to ba enjoying their holiday-making. Just below were moored two yacht' — the Eileen ard the Veiitiua ; v. hile farther out a steamei A', as pawn.;. How lovely lor.] eft tho v>rlo, . am tli its dauuin^ v\ ayes tipped "with i^t.'d Eveijtliui^ seemed to be in hoiidav mood.

all the earth seemed to be laughing and dancing under the sxniLmg sky. Y-':i» it. on such a day that the poet hv."A fculi and utteifd in joj ful tonot : O gift o: Cod! O p cr - c c-t day! Whereon shall no nia..} work, but p.ay; "Whereon, it is enough for me, Not to be doing, but to be!'' One might almost imagine «o.