SOUTH MARLEOBOUGH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 53

SOUTH MARLEOBOUGH.

Kahautara, February 24. — These sultrs autumnal days are not without their joys : how fragrant is the dewy morning before the sun climbs ap over the tussocky spurs t& dry the moisture from the gleaming grasses 1 How delicious in the afternoon is a plunge in the flowing stream that ripples between mossy* banks, crystal clear — now shimmering where it runs over the gravel, and now reposing under the shade of dark manuka or yellow tankinau! Surely the stilly evening-time is sweetest — when, the day's to; I is done to go out under the cool willows with the bridle, corner and catch the sleek, slovenly pony, and ride out over the river to find the cattle. Rugged and bare, veiled by a tender, bluish mist, the range towers, clear cut against the sky line; the light fades from the nearer ferny and tussocky hils, and the shadows gather under the wooded bluffs. How sweet and cool it is here, where the clover and cocksfoot grow deep and dank above the silt of former floods! I have never noticed such a wealth of bloom on the tankinau before. The yellow is prettily interspersed with white, and here and there is a bush with tender pink flowers. The first time I remarked reddish tankinau was on the Kilbirnie slope of Mount Victoria, and such a. recollection recalls the dust and smoke that drifts up over Newtown from our busiest port. The rustic's lot may be isolated, quiet, but what of those who are continually harassed by the myriad trivialities of the retail trade, or are prisoned amid the dust and clatter of machinery? Oh, that such a fragrant nighfc wind as "steals up the stream with murmur? and scents of the infinite sea'" might steal down over the crowded haunts of men!

A Change. — Last evening when I left the silence of the tussock land I thought to have; to-day in my beloved bush ; but what a contrast is this evening to last. Then, as I came down over the Swyncombe, the clouds were drifting, golden tinted, high and light and free. Slowly, slowly, the splendour faded from the bare mountain fronts, and from those drifting nor'-western clouds, and after a niontli of silence I, with a feeling of freedom, crossed the Kowhai at the upper ford, and came out on to the richer farm land, where the cocksfoot grows waist-deep by the wayside, and the tall poplars and graceful, drooping willows ar^ rustled by the tender wind. The change came keen and sudden, with dun clouds and heavy, rain from the nor'-west, early this morning. Thu heavy showers are over, and the, low, black clouds arc slowly lifting from the mountain's base, from the far, ferny hills, and from the great expanse of dingy sea. The fields below Ludstone Hills and the peninsula are much browner than, when, from here, I looked upon them last. 1 find it impossible to walk in the woods with comfort. Drenched and heavy, the grasses and shrubs bend above the track, and I sit at the whare door, soothed by the lullaby oj pleasant woodland sounds, and my heart goes back to the days before I made a friend of my pen, and perhaps confided too much to that so slight weapon, of warfare. My woodland ways are joyous or gloomy now as then, and confidently they await the coming storms and sunshine. And I spend a day with fusty manuscripts penned in the long past, and fancy some of these youthful attempts not tinworthy print, as — Seek not to battle with the worldly wise, But take a pebble from the book of Hope, And be thy shng the toughened thew-s of Faith ! So in the name of God thou wilt prevail, As did the shepherd lad of Bethlehem. Yet there are those who lovS?«uiJ sarvs ths Lord ; He has reserved him yet a thousand men Who have not bowed, who will not bow, t( Baal. I see the weary one at eventide Cast down because of that which thou hast felt — The sinfulness, the faithlessness of men. Take heart! Thou art not utterly alone, For there are those who praise" Him ever-

more. If these should hold their very peace, the very stones — Yea, the unnumbered stars — would shout aloud ; Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue. Satan, with those whom he has led astray, Will yet return, and own thy God as Lord. Sigh not, but sing— thou art "not left alone!

Maybe I in some measure paraphrased Tupper, but one might well paraphrase a worse than the great American — one whom our young people should substitute for the popular Emerson.

The idea of reducing milk to a solid, to foe pvrchastd m that form for all ordinary purpobes, at first seems somewhat impracticable. The fact nevertheless remains that both the practicability a3 well as the desirability of changing our methods of using this indispensable article of diet from which we have hitherto been acustomed, has row been amply demonstrated, and milk m the form of a powder has coma to stay. When its special merits and advantages are more widely known there can be no doubt as to the great and ever-incieasing demand there will be for Defiance dried milk. Messrs Joseph Xathan and Co. (Limited), Wellington, Tilth characteristic enterprise, piomptly decided to establish a factory for its manufacture m New Zealand. Their factory, eiocted at Biir.nythorpe (RangitikeO, has now been at work tor some time, and Defiance dried milk is finding a, lendy sa!e on every, hand, and the probability is that in the near future cnlaigements will be found necessaiyi in ord?r to cope with the demands. The m ; lk retains all ,the l.utiiUve puncipljs ot the» so'ids, ard all the constituents of fvebh milk, except its water. It is peifectly steiile, and no bacteria, however indignant, thai might he found iv oidinpry milk c?n possibly suivhs tbe drying process. It will keep good for a great length of time, and fresh milk of the finest qiiality is obtainable at any hour of the day ox night by the simple addition of water, in accordance with the directions on every tin..