FITFUL FANCIES

Southland Times, Issue 22008, 6 May 1933, Page 18

FITFUL FANCIES

MOONLIGHT. You, too, are tired of glaring lights and hard grim outlines, so let us go forth into the moonlight to wander alone. The moon is sailing calmly on frothing seas, banked with occasional cloud islands, swimming in cold clear seas. Down filters the moonlight clinging to the ground with a thousand silver hands. It blurs, rather than lights, yet all is covered in soft clear light, save the solemn trees that loom up, etched in jet black. Every tiny cleft and hollow is filled with pitchy darkness. Every blade of grass perfectly reproduced in ebony. A gust of chilly air whirls overhead, pulsing with tiny voices. The sentinel trees bend sharply then straighten. The moonlight shivers, then settles calm and clear again. My footsteps rustle on the grass, and a grotesque shadow leaps among the silver light. There lies the sea. A thing of alternate light and shadow, a multitude of snining elves leaping on dark rafts of shadows. Cold shining pools on polished black, a strange moving picture drappled and enmeshed in a pure deep net of moonlight. Dark hills cut into the froth of sky where clouds are transparent with captured light, yet black-edged with sooty black. A pine tree stands aloof and still poised on the near horizon. Its clear-cut peak rises black against a silvered pool of sky, and it seems a pen poised, waiting for some mighty hand to write upon that shining scroll. All around the moonlight drifts, in a calm slowly flowing tide, seeking to hide the sordid, and gild the beautiful. Here the trees are very tall and slim. Young trees with whispering leaves, forming a cloudy canopy. A host of dark moths, they seem to be, fluttering in a cloud. Surely here the lady Moon has walked, for the ground is flecked with silver footsteps. Here she has stood while all the pixy folk joined hands and danced around. Here she has stood while all lissom saplings she glided, to mount her ebony chariot, and speed to the Land of Clouds. There she reclines, placid and beautiful, flooding the world with cold clear brilliance, until the stars fade, the skies grow grey and night has ended. —Chrissie Ross (14), Maia, Ravensbourne (4 marks).

Rules to Remember. 1— Write in ink on one side of the paper only. 2— There must be separate sheets for each competition. 3— Each Cousin must work unaided, and enter his or her own work, clearly marking it “original” or “my own work.” 4— Drawing must be in black ink, preferably in Indian ink, and on drawing paper. 5— No one more than 1G years of age may compete in these classes unless otherwise stated. 6 — Remember that spelling and neatness will be taken into account 7— Write youi’ name, age and address at the end of each entry. —Closing date—TUESDAY, May 9, 1933. —COUSIN BETTY. —BAD WEATHER PAGE.— All drawings to be in not later than next Wednesday, May 10. All written contributions in by Tuesday, May 16. —COUSIN BETTY.