A FOOTBALL STOBY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2719, 25 April 1906, Page 76

A FOOTBALL STOBY.

! Days of winter, yon are neaiing, witlT'yoiiP hours of -avai and rain, And 'twill b? grand to don our boots andl ■ jerseys once again, Thro' all the summer .hanging np • op. .pegs itpon the well, s<j. And fronv the spare" room corner- ov.ee- again ta drag the ball. ' - '** '■■ >• For gayest times of all the year to winter days belong, So let us raise our voices now; and 3i:ng' out winter song: Oh, Rugby, Rugby, man will cry, Till he has lost endeavour; For other games may livo and die, tint Rugby lives for ever. The crunch of soit and spriwgy turf, the freshnecs in the air, • " The warm blood leaping through the veins in 'manner all too rare ; Ah, how one feels' as if he'd like across the sun to bound, And then it stirs the heart to see the crowds lined down the ground ; Their cheering and their barracking come like a draught of wiae, And these things, mate, will soon be yours— < these joys will soon be mine! The forward lush, the passing bout, the flashy ' cutting in, The short-drawn breath of thirty men, all striving hard to win ; The straining, serums, the long lines-out, the) flash of many heels, The fierce attack, the stern defence, -when, tension each one feels; The running and exertion that makes sweat run off the brow : I hear and see it all again — a contest — even now. A team is pressed, the scrum is down, tea yards inside the posts, And as the ball is put "in scrum," a hush falls on the hosts. Two minutes now ere call of time — a try will win the Cup, — The ball comes out between the feet, the hal£ back whips it up ; A quick, short" pass, a darting in, and-ona defence proved weak ; Then . . - cheers and shouts so deafening, you cannot hear one speak! Ah! Rugby is a grand old game, and on»,, is always proud To win the plaudits of the team, the cheering. ~ of the crowd! • To be smart, brilliant players all of -as, £. know, aspire, But all have not the staining the speed such, men require. Yet if one strives to do his best on good, unselfish plan, He'll hold as great a claim for fame by playj that proves the man! Oh, -winter's coming round once more, so let U9 take the ball, Unhook our boots and jerseys from the peg upon the wall ; Let's sit down and mend them, stitch anoi darn, and blush and clean, And show, tho' not yet playing, it is business that we mean ; ' ,' Aud while, anticipating, we are working IHI our mirth, Let us raise the pood old ballad of the greatest game on earth : Oh, Rugby, Rugby, man will cry, Till he has lost endeavour ; F»r other ?ames may live and die, But Rugby lives for ev-er. — E. It. EYBBK Beach Toad, Devonport, Auckland, April, 190 S.

—At Wanhorough, Wilts. 1 a labourer picked up a ring on the, site of ohliKomiMi remains and disposed of it ior. a few sbjillings. It was svibseqttently found. tha;f; ifc[ •nrma a. Sdion relic oS ,freat ralue,. anAj tootrej an inscription showing that it formerly^,tveiongeri to Buerried, K'nsf of the Merc3an^,' and was probably given to his brid^ Ethelwitha, to whom he vsas married in 853. A ti-ea<nire-trove inauest on the r<sHie will b*