OFF ST. ANDREWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 68

OFF ST. ANDREWS.

AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF KNOX. A lumbering galley on the foamy crest Of one glad wave, elect to his torys height:: A mimic rainbow shower from oars that rest In brief respite. Across the heaving, sullen Northern Sea

One eyes the land beyond the surges froze; Then to a wearier one beside quoth he: "Yell ken thon shore?" A worn and weary man, this galley slave, A worn and weary man of thought and prayer ; Yet Sparta mothered not a sou more brave

To do and dare. Stout hearts and brave that wild North Sea hath oft Borne scarred or scatheless to her rugged strand From milder climes, where balmy airs blow soft

And sweetly bland. Stout hearts and brave, from Tiber, Elsinore; Leal hearts and true, from lonely Icomkill ; Swordman or saint, she furthered thus of

yore "With light good will. "Yell ken thon shore?" O! haven of desire! The galley slave peers thro' the shifting haze — Peers thro' the mist until St. Andrew's spire Greets his glad gaze. A captive straining at the weary oar; An exiled patriot 'neath a bitter ban ; A. nation-builder, with the highest score Of Scottish man, Speaks with a prophet voice, as oft he spake In spite of adverse winds and galling chain, Of unborn days, wherein he yet should wake Within that fane The Doric zeal — a passion for the right; — The Doric soul, that with the eagle vies .'To yiew full glad the very source of light With unveiled eyes. Down from the foamy crest the galley leapt; Down from that wave elect to storied page; The rowers straining as they onward swept

With rhythmic gage. It canie to pass— the day foretold was born: Within that ancient fane the clarion, voice IValed it>3 evangel, and, the- Chinch forlorn, Lived to rejoice

— ROSLYK.

Auckland, May, 1905