BALLADE .

Otago Witness, Issue 2857, 16 December 1908, Page 87

BALLADE .

(Of the Summertime). Summer, the season of laughter, glows f There is youthful joy in each new gree* 1 blade, The zephyr sweetens, the new rose blows While the daisy-armies raid and raid The widest fields all unafraid. The birds are maddened to an utter glee. And life is a joy in the chequered ehade< For friendship charms like «. melody. These are days when the river flows In trust to its merriest minstrel-trade:! 1U beachs3 sing where the gay crowd goes, Lovers listen and linger, children wade,— ' Life is no longer a masquerade : The world is happy, its ways are free, And I join the throng all undismayed, For friendship charms like a melody! Magic of music, and dreams which enclose The wayward soul in a fairy glade, And thoughts which are only the' kernel o£ those Deeper themes, the faint heart would evade, But all seems an Eastern cavalcade — A summer-jewelled pageantry ; And the nights are a star-chimed serenade. For friendship charm 3 like a melody! Envoy. Critic, this is no place for idle pose. All is youth, and summer, and minstrelsy) And we welcome poetry and farewell prase, For friendship charms like a melody! — L. vox Kadlbac»

Finding that the telephone girls neglected their proper meals, the Park authorities have organised canteens to provide their girls with luncheon and dinner at 6d and 7d a meal, consisting of roast beef and mutton and plenty of sweets. The authorities have drawn the line at caramels, which.' (says the official circular) " tend to disorganise the service." Subscribers' complaint*, it is stated, have diminished 20 per cent. V^xc the iimovation.