ADDRESS TO A KAURI TREE IN THE FOREST.

Observer, Volume 5, Issue 112, 4 November 1882, Page 125

ADDRESS TO A KAURI TREE IN THE FOREST.

Hail to tiiee!! noblfc forest King,!,- ■ ' . ' '■■ J ' Thy wondrous, beauty, who shall tell!- --'. In thy- green boughs the tuis sing _ Their morning song j they love' thee well. : / In this sweet vale. thou long has stood t ■ For years gone past, pride of the .wood j Around about thy -trunk has grown' . ' Sweet other plants, but thou hast shown Thy beauty arid thy giant form, " - Around them llung in many a storm, , Like aged sire o'er children bending, '. ; Thy . graceful boughs on themdescending. . Man found thee iii thy glorious pride From far across the ocean's tide, . And in the stately mansion placed ' - Thj' riven sides with skill and taste ; ' •- . The finest woods that man had thought Could e'er from forest grove be brought. My lady's chamber holds no treasurej .' Her heart to please,, her mind to s measurej As thy fair mottled sides enclose • The dainty silks, the damask rose ; And on the restless ocean wave, So oft alas ! 'the "sailor's grave, Thy pannelled beauty shows in state, . In gilded cabin, chaste, ornate. , Adieu, fair monarch ! may I know, When next thy foliage is aglow • With Spring's young coat of emerald green," That thou hast 'scaped, unknown, unseen, To flourish many a future year, Pride of the vale, no foe to fear. ■ A.MA.

The Duke of Hamilton recently won £45,000 at Groodwood. He is, as is well-known, married to a daughter of that gay old dog and all-round kisser of jn-etty girls, the " Juke " of Manchester, why, by the way, was orice mistaken for a bushman ! The Duke of Hamilton is^ and always has been, a terrific gambler, but where he gets the bulge on most. men is that he can last the longest. We have seen him, when we had just left off wearing little frilled trousers, playing roulette at Homberg and Monaco, and he would stake the "maximum" (£400) every time,, and double if they would let him. One day, he and a young Parisian named de la Charme arrived at Wiesbaden en route for somewhere, and, sitting down at the tables, said they had just twenty minutes to break the bank. They did it, well within time — winning £10,000 between them, and went away as quiet as if nothing had happened. The Duke has a splendid nerve, and used to demoralise the croupiers, and arts had to be employed to divert his attention.. These arts were seductive, of course, since few people would care to quarrel with a burly man of 6ft. 4in. The Duke is very kind-hear feed, and, it is rumoured, was once quite an adept at mastering words of three syllables.