OLD-TIME REMINISCENCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 11 March 1908, Page 17

OLD-T IME RE MINIS CENCES.

By J. J. Ramsay. j , j | ; | ■ t

Jm&t HEANEY/OF HYDE", AND HIS HEROIC; UNDERTAKING. There is' at present in the home of the Little Sisters of the Poor at Anderson's Bay an eW-tn»g J&entity of Hyde itnown 'as " Jim,my " 'Eteaney. 1 remember Jimmj , as far back as recollection will go as ono of "Old Price's" "ploiighmenV bi}£ it nas | only Ia«l sweekr 1 in conversation" Mr P. ! Kinney, of Hyde, that'the following facts were brought' baqk.toiny recollection:— I nay jay at the 0-ut^et ihat Jimmy was an industrious warker^an fact, a " graftor,'' whj carved out a home on a 200-acre doforred-pgyment section, which ho took up on the first block of land opened inHyde. But hard work and bachelor's fare broke down his hcalth,_and fomc years ago he realised on the place and went to Melbourne, where ho had friends. Ihefo doctors' fees and a few unlucky "specs" used up Jimmy's' little hoard,' 'and he i came back an old man, penniless. His few years' absence from New Zealand diequalified him legally from claiming the pension, but whilst he lncd in Hyde, where he got a hut and set to work to make a garden, he reenhed from the benevolent funds 6s a week. There h<* worked and lived, helped by Hyde friends, Messrs Kinney and Smitbson, and others, till he w-is unabie to look after h.imself A heme was tnen secured with the " Little S»st<?rs," where Ik? wafi .happy and well I cared for; but the Benevolent Trustees refused' to pay towards bis froep any longer, and lieajieyjh case was one, of se\erai refusals, #h*§h -ted to tne-'viiaTaiototo Council getting control of its own charitable^ funds, so that those Avho have been so kind •to the old man jan now be recompensed. This prelude will be better understood \ hen the"^atts to which I am about to refer are l-uad. Nearly 40 years ago ' Heaney was employed on Taieri Lake station, the homestead of which (now* occupied by Mr James E. Matheson) may still be seen standing elo«e by the railway station at Rock and Pillar. The season was winter. All Central Otago lay under a snowy mantle, and the heavy winters of 40 years ago are seasons that live m the memory of those whose recollection tak<s them back to that period. The head shepherd of Taieri Lake Station (a Mr Isaac Howe) lay seriously ill, and the nearest medical man resided at Na6eby, some 36 miles distant. The manager of the station (Mr John Chisholm now of Dunedin) instructed Jimmy to proceed on horseback to Naseby and fetch the doctor. Omy those who remember the rough tracks that then did duty for roads, and who ha\o attempted a journey on horseback over Central Otago's primevaJ hills and sullies when covered with snow, can in any way icalise what that ride meant. Let the rider be ever so expert, he wae in imminent peril of a fed! through Ins lior.vi "balling" in the enow; and, as a matter of fact when about halfway to JNasebv, Jimmy's horse balled and fell on nun, giving him a sprained ankle. He, however, persevered, and reached Naseby Is to at night. Here he found Dr Cambridge, and after some delay got the latter started for Hyde. Ihe doctor porsislcd in going at a pa.cc that Jimmy considered too rapid, and soon left the latter behind, and the inevitable happened, the doctor's horse fell and rolled over the rider down one of tho steep hillsides, and tho riderless horee came back to Jimmy. It was so dark that Jimmy could not tell whether the hor«e was the doctor s or not, but coupling the two horses together, he set off on foot and found the doctor badly ( hurt and. I think, with a bioken limb, He then went back and got the horses, ; and though a Hitle fellow of about 9 stone weight, he lifted the doctoi—a heavy giant— on to his horse and trudged on foot, steady- • inp- him in the saddle all the weary way back to Naseby. There was in Naseby at the time another medical man, Dr Dick, and he, after attending to Dr Cambridge, started off with Heaney on the long, weary journey. They reached Taieri Lake Station next forenoon, where, after a medical examination, it was found that someone would have to go to Nasoby again for medicino. Hcanoy had just turned into bunk when Mr Chisholm came to see if it was possible for "him to underake the jotu'nev again. "Well," °aid Jimmy, "I'm dead tired, and I would like a sleep." Mr Chisholm said: "Jimmy. there's no onp else. I know it's hard, but it's a case of life and death." and Jimmy's reply was, j "" I'll try."' He got Mr Chisholm's best j horse and off ho set again on another long j midnight ride, but Jimmy accomplished it , and returned the following morning ere ! dawn, bringing with him the necessary niedic.ne. Not until then was Jimmy's sprained ankle attended to. Let anyone try to picture those plucky rides and the endur,- • ance of cold and hunger, the weary trudge in the snow at a snail's pace with a sprained ankle, back to Nasebj, the ride of

1 - 36 mile- L.ick,' t-wfcv, hrnumliod. ,:ml suft'eriii|; with pain,' and the plucky second journov to Xaseby agd back aga'n. Ie it a'i\ wonder pjciat thcTgfi who know Jimmy , wore determined thai no easl-iion Boncvo1 lent Institution rttle should prevent Central I Otago from making happy his declining I <Ia\o: and JitanjT is happj . 1 h£\o today viiitcJ \wkst itfthis home, and Lib word to me was " Johnny." "^Jimrny still thinks of me sb the bo\ he gave jides to on the , old plough horse. " Ftn asViiappy-iib the j day is long here." It vr&i a<pleasure to ! me to see the old man's .f^ce light up I whon I asked him about I=Hfe>oLcii ride, and j >4skcd him if I could publish th§ l 'Jact3, and j>vthe hfippy sm'lo that spread over-h ie fae<?. ; now a.nd then during- titQr hour I ] fepont talcing -with him. I. jnay ne\er see the old chap again, b^tjl think ' your -^readers will agrees* vutn'^ me 1 that I t^ie •>' story I * have but - k . imperfectly | told is oAe well -of^""publication. I nM^-a»dcl £hat--floerp / aio^vsF ( f*atuie of the story -,J^ that pool- Jannn^ v has lost 'one of the sfcßNly}-liltl» -,f^s^ <«Hat carried, liini.. through 'isie I 'l|i,efWj!Jfti*^'irtow has to go' round on crutches. - The-care£ul nursing off >tlwj I Little Sisters, however, pulled nini through I the dangerous effects of the operation} v of , amputaiion. ' A r *