A WAIPU IDYL

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 333, 25 April 1885, Page 16

A WAIPU IDYL

The Labkikins' Revenge. Dark was the night, the wind was high, Dark threatening clouds obscured the sfcy, When three in secret conclave met, To pay an old long-standing debt, Which to the parson long they ©wed For moral chastening bestowed. On them, by him, some time before, In public, too, it pained them more. Two lively boys, one man were they, Who now resolved this debt to pay, But how to trouble this poor man They could not hit upon a plan. At last one of the lively three (Billy the handsome, bold, and free), ' My plan, dear chummies, i 9, I vote, We go and prig the parson's boat ; This evening to the Heads he went, On some religious duty bent, While of his absence we're sure This present project seems secure.' Alas I it happened through the day The wind blew fiercely o'er the hay Which flows 'tween Marsden's sandy shore And these wild Heads a mile or more, Which caused the messengei- of grace His steps then homeward to retrace, Where he arrived, just when our men G-ot to the boat shed, about ten, Who, thinking' he was far away, Had moved the boat from where it lay. Yet for a while when he'd returned, No light within his homestead burned, For, just when entering at the door, He heard the noise down by the shore. Suspicion flashed across his mind That there was something in the wind, And, stealing softly to the bank, He viewed their truly impish prank. No word he spoke, but just stood by, A spectral sight against the sky. At last, by chance, an upward glance Put Billy on the alert at once, He eried — ' Let's run, or we are 103t — By gum, I see the parson's gbo9fc V