Autobiography Of A Raindrop

Southland Times, Issue 23308, 18 September 1937, Page 3 (Supplement)

Autobiography Of A Raindrop

—PRIZE— Oh dear! Here I am back again with all the other ramdrops in the big sea. I must tell you about an adventure I had. The sea was very calm, the sun was very hot, and I tound m yse being drawn up towards the’sky. Presently a pretty fleecy cloud cam! floating by, so I settled on that and went gaily along the world below. I then spied a paddock in which ail the grass had been burnt up by the scorching sun The stream that used to fl was also dried up. The cows and sheep looked ready to die, wne I said to the cloud, “Stop, we will fall on this paddock. So down we poured, thousands of us. . Presently the stream was running merrily on its way, and the grass was shooting up. Mr Farmer came out rubbing ?f%™ed delight, and said “That was a grand shower, my stock will be saved n ° W ’ I was hurrying down the stream where a cow was having a drink, when suddenly I found myself in her mouth, ready to be swallowed. She sneezed, then I flew out, and ran down the stream into the deep sea once more.

Prize of 1/- to Cousin Joy Price (10), 124 Ythan Street.

—PRIZE—

I started life in the ice at the edge of the sea down at the South Polar regions. One eventful day, the ice of which I was part, broke away from the rest, and floated away in a tremendous lump for many miles. The further it went, the smaller it became, until, one warm, sunny day, it melted away altogether, and I was left, with a few of my kindred, to find my own way about the stormy Tasr ™“ We drifted around in the current for a while, and I slowly came near the surface of the sea. . i. * At last I reached the surface, but my joy was short-lived, tor, without any warning, I found myself being gradually drawn up, and, strangest of all, losing my watery form and becoming a small speck of vapour. Up, up and still up I went, till I at last found myself in a cloud with many others. ...... , , Winds now drove us further across the sea, until at last we reached the shores of New Zealand. As we passed over the land, I suddenly became cold, and, as did my companions, turned again into a drop ot Suddenly we were all hurtling down to the ground, which we soon reached. As I descended, I saw my companions being dashed to pieces in different places, but I was doomed to land in a small pond, in which lived many frogs, and that is where I am to this day. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Graeme Anderson (13), 78 Don street. —P RIZE— My life, as you can imagine, was a very short one. To begin at the beginning, I found myself falling at a terrific pace through the darkening skies, with the sullen clouds hovering about. Down, down, down I fell, until I reached the roof of a very tall building. Here some of my companions were left behind on the ledges and roof of the buildings. Below me, I could see a huge omnibus moving along the street On to the roof of this I fell, and here I rested quietly for a while.' But, alas, I was not destined to finish my life there. A shrieking gust of wind lifted me off, and carried me at a dazzling pace, along the street. Shops, cars, houses, and people flashed past all mixed up in one dizzy confusion. Of course, this experience had’shaken me almost to pieces, and when I was deposited on a housetop I was very grateful, even for such a hard restmg place. Alter I had sufficiently recovered, I slid off the roof on to the window-sill below Here I remained until morning, when the window was thrown open and a small hand placed on the window-sill. Ooh, its all wet, said the owner of the small hand, which was immediately withdrawn. I stayed in this position all morning, viewing the beautiful garden m front of the window. However, we raindrops cannot last forever, and when the sun shone on the window-sill that afternoon, I was evaporated into the air. , Thus ended my existence as a ramdrop and now 1 am part or a huge vapour cloud, hoping one day to become a raindrop again. —Prize of 1/- to Cousin Margery Barlow (14), 61 Eye street.

—VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED—

“To the wide ocean, where we can have a rest,” said one. After a while were were swept into a huge expanse of water. I thought it was the ocean, but it was only a river. Soon we were carried into the ocean. What a huge place it was. I lay basking in the hot sun on top of the clear blue water. All at once I felt myself being raised into the heavens. I went up thousands of miles above the earth. Soon I was part of a lovely, fleecy white cloud, drifting slowly in the sky. The cloud drifted into the snow on the moun-

One sunny day I was sitting by a little stream when all at once a raindrop fell from a tall oak tree above How it shone and glittered on a blade of grass! But as soon as the wind shook it, the raindrop fell into the stream, and flowed away. The sound of the running water made me drowsy, and somehow I began to feel very light. The breeze shook me off the edge of rock on which I was resting. I fell into the water, where I met the other raindrops. I had changed into one. “Where are we going?” I asked.

tains, and condensed, falling as rain on the earth. I landed in a tank which was tilled with other raindrops. At last I found an opening. Rushing out of it I found myself in a kettle, which was put on a stove. I was turned into steam and escaped through the spout. I went out of the window into the air. How glad I was to be back again. AU at once I woke up from my dream. I was still under the oak tree. . , —3 marks to Cousin Eileen Deaker I (11), 129 Bowmont street.

—VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED— Oh dear! Oh dear! Here I am landed in this dirty little hole, with not much chance of Father Sun finding me. I have just had a glorious adventure, too. Would you like to hear about it? One day, when I was riding along on the top of an ocean wave at Riverton beach, Mr Sun shone down on me and aU at once I felt myself

getting as light as a feather. Up I floated to the sky, where I had the greatest fun floating about on top of the lovely fleecy clouds. We 'sailed about until we struck something cold. I think it must have been the Takitimu Mountains and I shivered. I felt myself growing heavier and heavier, and soon I fell down to the ground with lots of others.

I landed in this puddle, and now fear I shall drain away into the earth, instead of having a lovely ride up to the clouds again. —3 marks to Cousin Charlie Gordon A.C. (10), South Hillend R.D., Winton. ~

—VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED— Bump and bumpity bump! “Oh, dear, I can’t stand this at all,” cried the pretty blue raindrop, as he was dropped from the roof of a house on to a window, then on to the damp but fresh earth. It had been raining, and the worms were wriggling themselves up to the top of the ground. Down, down, down went the blue raindrop. Then it stopped, and found itself in a tiny house belonging to Mrs Pink, the worm. Seeing the raindrop she picked up her kettle, and popped it in, and put the kettle on the fire to boil. After a while the raindrop began to feel happy because she was getting warm. Soon she was boiling with happiness. Before long, she was poured into a cup of clay and, then oh! She was gobbled up by Mrs Pink, the hungry worm.

—3 marks to Cousin June Buttolph (9), Coronation street.

—VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED—

As my adventures began when I left my home in the cloud, I will start my story at that period of my life. I had lived a peaceful life in this cloud, playing all day long with

my many sisters and brothers, the raindrops. But one day all the raindrops in our cloud dropped to the earth. I, and many other raindrops, dropped into a river, where we drifted along for many days, admiring the beautiful scenery on either side of us. Just as we were beginning to think that this life was rather dull, we came in sight of two men in a boat. The idea occurred to us that we might give them a wetting (we love mischief, you know). We all joined together, and jumped over them, soaking them to the skin. Soon we arrived at the sea where we were amazed at the size of the waves. We saw a ship in the distance, and decided that we should like to wreck it. We raced along as fast as we could, and, after we had worked for half a day, the ship was wrecked. Down it went and all on board were lost. As nothing exciting has happened since, I will now close my epistle.— Robert Raindrop.

—3 marks to Cousin Mary Maloney (12), Makarewa.

—VERY HIGHLY COMMENDED—“I am no bigger than the top of a pin, and I am with millions of companions up in the sky. When we all join together we are a dark grey colour, and are called a cloud,” said a little grey raindrop to one‘of his neighbours. It rained very hard that morning, and the little grey raindrop fell from the sky with many other raindrops. After he landed on the window sill, he found out that the sun was shining, and that he was starting off on another trip to the sky. He landed safely with a lot of other raindrops and formed a large cloud. Soon he started to drop. He dropped, dropped, dropped, right into a large water pool in a farmer’s I paddock. From the other side of the paddock came a “Moo-moo.” It came nearer and nearer, until it wag

looking the little grey raindrop right in the face. A large pink mouth was opened, and it gulped all the raindrops up, including the little grey raindrop. So this ends the story of the little grey raindrop. —3 marks to Cousin Joan Hubber (12), Heddon Bush, Winton R.D. —HIGHLY COMMENDED— Once upon a time there was a pool of water on the roadside. For many days it was there. One day the sun dried it up, and it formed a cloud. When it rained many little raindrops came down from the sky. They settled everywhere. One little raindrop settled on a roof and went into the tank. From there it went through pipes to a hot water boiler. It was boiled and used with other water to wash dishes. —2 marks to Cousin Helen Goldsmith (12), Dacre.