A WALK IN THE NIGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2728, 27 June 1906, Page 85

A WALK IN THE NIGHT.

A star-domed roadway runneth through To Otepopo from Oaujaru. Why should I doss in the dusty iown' Tho night is young, I will tramp it down. Solemn, sonorous, musical, slow, The chimes resound as I turn to go, And solemn, sonorous below the laud The march that the roller maketh is gianct The echoing pave and the shadowed blind, The -igbt3 of the towna&ip, fall behind. And singing slow through the tclegTaph wire* The wind is keen from tho western spires. Where "Winter kocpeih whon storm* aiv by Her iry throne 'neath the szure sky; The frosty light and the filmy haze, That dxifteth slow from the briny bays; The gum trees gaunt and dark, where slow The keen winds whisper ; a shrilly crow From the farmyard ssight; f^-echoed crowin;From farm to farm and fitful lowing From the dingy foothills. Further back The ttation ways, and the outward track To the lonely hut in the gully grim, Whece the hatter snores in the firelight dim. The gorse and stacks in the ghostly light, The latest passer's sudden "Good-night 1" Tho beaten way, how hard to the feet, But myriad fancies passing sweet. The Kakanui murmurs slow Beneath her bridges, and travellers knovr Tho wayside light that hath oft allured 1 . Ah! Who can tell what hath been endureJ While brother or husband lingered there When bills were big and the home was bare. By stubble fields 'neath the frosty sky, Far onward, footsore, wearily, Till the Double Hill doth loom on the left, With the darksome pines where his crown ifi,

cleft. Ah! There our dearest, cold and still, Wait till the world his course fulfil. Ah! Here the cross 'neath the starry <3ont« Doth whisper of warmth and rest and home. —Cbablzs Osca* Pauoz. Herbert, June 21.

— Clara (haughtily): "I went la the theatre every night last week, and bad .a different escort each time." Fair Rivftf (vindictively): "You should be more cautious, my dear." "Cautious?" "Yea^ my dear. 111-natured people all over tb* town are saying you can't get the sam« fclft& ifr I°, with you twict.'