A Rickshaw Ride in Durban

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 11997, 4 September 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

A Rickshaw Ride in Durban

(By Dorothea Barrett.)

This evening Enphcmia and Theodora borrow Lootina ; and go rickshaw riding.; ....-.- ' l«ontina is the hotel png. and if yo«i ask the manageress very politely, she wiH sometimes:, lend -Lootina to yon for an honr or two. On when you rememl>er that England and home are very far away from Africa, and'that many hundred miles of deep—and, as, Theodora practically remarks, mostly very unquiet—sea lie between, on such dajs there is something very rlnglish and homeland comfortable • about Lootina. Perhaps that is why the soldiers all cheer-ed-her when she was first taken into campl For Lootiha was "looted-*' ni the war, and that, is how- she got her name'. - She is fawn in colour, with a small, black, velvet face, anil a very troubled expression, as "if she had never forgotten the discomforts she endured out'on the veldt,' two goggling eyes, ajftia double curl to her tail. At leasts it'is a double curl when slip is entirely-happy, bnt when she is a little worried,;; it is"only'a single curl, and when she is reallSv miserable, there is ng'cutjl at all/ There was no curl at a|l" this" evening when she started, for Iftofina loathes riding, and to lie comfortably snoring >in the Big,'sonny courtyard "of the hotel. -The rickshaw is aecorated with chancfiej'of pale mauvo blossoms and traits of greenery, as for a carnival. The rickshaw' 005; js costumed in orange, wftft'a' head-dress ,of huge horns. Ell- - is in a pale lilac muslin, all ao£t'and. frilly, that swirls and floats roand he*r»like a and sho fcas'on a big white hat with soft game draped round it. " 'Theodora is in white - a- pale bine sunshade, and Lootina site between them with a pink bowl,? f >~ " • .Theodora ,says tKcy look like a panVtmime, - . " Theodora is in a morose and peevish , mood,. .She says|thafc dusky people, ahi'hopping and- capering round her, as tfce&do in*»nrbanl.get on her nerves, ' "4Wd thatJJulanxanh has, been sweeping alTdpwii'thc courtyard oTcr her. Dulamnna is the Kaffir. boy who waits on wears nJiolland tunic, trima%ed with scarlet and a tiny aauV-hat on his'jhead, with a tall, blade 'ostrich' plume erect on one- side of if. "Dnlansana weahr his hair oiled an into htUelampstlike baby astrachan. gometimes he disoards the.' hat and ~*»2e*(f only*the.- feather in the iojnetimes-lie wears' nei-4lier'bit-nor,plune, onlv just a branch t Scordinary. wWtessafetyH>ins dangling 1 ~Sa*eeJ one ear M andA some >. small, bright Dnlansana , "heVnops arid, dances on - heJsingY a 6 small, tune- >~ ,t<lMimself all, the time sort way. He ' »■s»£*; ¥e»,£jres;» niias^if! to' whatever l-fi&Zamjs'to. him, voice rising W-i, lrttle-.shriek-on the */is.\* , He^ what yon nsk,fo-, 'sn-hebriiags what be,thinks you would Kb*,-'which, is generally "water. Dulan- ' Isaa* 'thinks you Jib* lota of water, and Iftnw-itiniugs'full; wateY hot ami w«Eeri&Mf, comiul§ capering along the with, a -in* taoh hand. lore*" to sweep.- He likes!, xjpuag'tk>fs'and fefs- parking wnoafcrHo' raise"4s iriaeh as he can, ' gift aim~i singfag and bcamperfect foi of it. - - \UfW3uhnV travellers .nrxiv- "' «sim&ljurnan,-'tIBJJ were weary in»l wheK.they rang.the hen. Theodora gave Mie.. — take ""-ltdwVnfinCiTri-r, rrril jflvjefi'lrfr a.- 1 white stood «n , th£ron)n:Utariug *n a £ and "giggling - t the. unselfish one. It ''iK&nvSemu '* whojj-carries the rags, ,jmm "andfjsaree|iL\ who _goes errai.tls / wholhstehs to their joys a'ini* to Theodora s wtu- . who, KUeVvS in ( self* is tW* cne_ jirno loses u<>r ahd stripped a >//wluf*?£ifegpneut, <* sojaiers to-, Und it, * tefaljauag home, serene and smiling, to I 'ejolun, in, answer to Euphemia's s>hock- - e^'*oiprise/thatHheHildiers were all and ythat' if' she hadn't she would have been wun--"dSitt ihere is the'one s§id htr out walking, .. letnjaa "riding, r InXo'ndon she takes „. |jUnaJßa;.in. Melb4irue^ electric trains; r *% tl»-seaside, chwriiV New ZeaTjknd,' in Co- > J)urb4bV„rickshaws. The - pax||c«lar H .conveyance , the, 'country r tikes. -..Anything to ' saV&helrich£ tronhh? of walking. "You* it- wasp3ik« 'thU,"./Jtheodorn explalas, .';J there, was 1, ,; riekahaw drawn >fin close t beside me, what I was do- • tag,'there nasi in the tickshaw." is tbej>ne who loses things. *£ffrything she .has. Purses, .bangles, krtsT-nandkerchiefi. letters. It was . «who,,pft thf coming . «iiat.fiom wrote a long letter ;», ftiimf," telling jher "imprewioas 01 every- ~ 4Sme""(m board, and.thcn forgot .and left ' jfc'«voae.<4t-tbf,"Lbfary Jwoks for . ce»eryoae™to read.« That Kind of thing i» v £i* Enphemia'st-famjly, for it was i ~~-]ier-'*icter{ who,i. wbeiv she Was ' ctayilnK "«i th Theodoro, lost tier engage-'«-«ae»trring, and after everyone had nnnt•d'for it eTerywßere, out in the gar- - den, up and down the drive, and all over ituo house, found it in her own hmtri 'Leonora has thick, dark curly hair, with glints «»f hronee chestnut in it, and *he has olio curl in tlie middle which dues most: of the damage, ior ' Itfonora is>nc of the biggest flirts <jaa?evcr met. No doubt slic was artsaiimg **»« cnr l •'hen she 40-.t her ring;:aad slipped from htr fingt r into her. hair. , .-^fenevi^r»nd®'Xeoabra f game of hare 'and bounds, 'yofij may always track Eup|iem£k t or. by the tritlcs on. their sW. . • and„Theodora take their "fiJe along by tlie harbour, wiiore the dashing foim against the bre.ik--water, and the bills around aie loteted with''soft, greeny shrubs. There is a purple aud crhnson bUilsot, and there arc big masted vessels authored right via the glow of Kickshaw bo>!» .ire Standing about }n robe* ot white, orange, scarlet, any and e\er> colour, with big pom-pouts stuck «.\<r their ears, and vivid grass-green plumes wayiae m-their hair. -.Women go stately wt, gorgeous in draperies ot purple, blue, and hpple green Jhe waTis clearest blue, tl»o soil red and crerywhere are otange trees and huge fccarict They return as the sun gws ilcw.i, and the glow fa,dcs iht • a * «t peach liffht Lootina has subsided into a small heap at the bottom ot the rickshaw There is no sound except the chirp'of a cricket, the patter of the rickshaw boy's hare feet in the dust the tinkle of the rickshaw bell, and now and again a «m\\, pathetic snort from Lootina, who has forgotcen her "" troubles in deep-«nd pig-uke slumber. It crows quite dark; here and there.a dusky figure slips silently past There is a ieatenly scent of flowers,

like —like —what is it like? Like hyacinths? Yes, hyacinths. You might close your eyes and almost fancy yon were back iii England.. Oh, scent of hyacinths, what memories you bring! England in Spring! Why. over there ill England, awny across tho sea, it is spring. At home there the country will be the freshest, .greenest green. The celandines, the violets, and the jonquils, will all bo blowing, the rooks will bo cawing and building and. stealing and tearing each other's nests down. Bv and by, in the sweet old rectory garden, the lilacs will be scenting the* whole air. The swallows will he building in the porch of the old church, and in the quiet churchyard the chestnuts will be bursting into bloom, ami the golden laburnum will be hanging yellow showers over the tiny mound which marks the place where Phyllis lies. Phvllis, who departed this lite aged two months, having, so to speak, inerelv glanced at life, and, finding it tob.hard, : retired. England, where fho''-meadows are dotted about with what appear in the distance to be small white bundles of lauridryi which on closer inspection turn out to be newborn lambs. England, where each morning -vou. rise, you find new green things that J:ave rushed and .hurried and bustled out during the hours-you 'Kajre been sleeping. ..-"O;all ye" greeri tilings upon the earth, praise ye -ho lord'" Is there any place on earth drrunder the heaven to which we' hope fc>Sgo more beautiful, more refreshing, more exquisite, than England vin the spring? , In' London the .'■l*l offering loaded baskcts v of /violets, mimosa, primroses; piano-organs' are> .ehftcrfully playing, and men are shouting; "Flowering plants, all. aTlilowing and.a-growing!" '".; :;Jfere tho boy sets down jthe rickshaw, poles on the ground witli;,atjeirk that •Jillcs Lootiua nearly , out;' 'Awake, aWake. Lootina! re-curl, your tail' hopefojuV/f other 1 vou are, back at tlieho«t*' ■■■* -•■">'/■"":■.<-,/'>■ v,.; ■ • *A. moment later -they are, standing on the verandah, looking iip at the moon, with Theodora quoting dreamily: ' -Friends, far away, wlipm hnlf the j%-' world .sereri'"/'.".'i ( ;'' '''''■'■'.■■-■■:■'. ■'.:• far' away, whom love forgct'■t£-' :teth"T>ever^*^^ y '':'" j r' , f : ' i y'' v ; :: '■■*"■'■ will keep a'place,in an:K xious hearts forever. ".;. g'Cood night!" • ;y;*'Good night to all that we /love, f)d night to all. that : love us, adds phenua, in the formula which; they 'r^at.fevery.|night..'^,i v ;-;\ , W;-. t ;',;.. A .. v , ■inhere are many"wnblpve.Eupncmia/; is the one who but wfiosje eyes are* .set in her head in such a|way that the result,:is thei same. ||' Good night!'- ' r.'--" ■" : >.-.'•.'