OFF TO THE FRONT.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 532, 2 March 1889, Page 11

OFF TO THE FRONT.

By The Observer Man,

jk THBILL of excitement pervaded the breasts A of Auckland's gallant 'citizen soldiers' when the order came for a contingent drawn from the Ponsonby Navals, Auckland Navals, and Waitemata Navals to proceed to ' the front ' and keep Te Kooti and his band of braves in check. The question immediately arose : ' Who will be picked?' for it was felt that many would be called but few chosen, and so it proved. Some hundreds of men presented themselves at the Drill Shed on Tuesday afternoon, and many an anxious eye was turned upon Colonel Shepherd who did the selecting. The wharf was crowded with people anxious to see the embarkation, and when the noble fellows who have just gone on a little picnic at the Government expense came marching down to the boat the public enthusiasm found vent in cheers. Captain Hitchens, of the Waitemata Navals, handled his men in fine style. He roared at them , and grew red in the face in giving the hoarse word of command. The captain looked every inch a soldier, and his dignity refused to be upset even when some odious little larrikins enquired whether he had got a supply of the famous Blood Eestorer along with him. The absence of music rendered the whole thing flat. People cannot enthuse properly without a brass band with lots of big drum in it. The public expects 'The British Grenadiers,' Eule Britannia,' and ' The Girl I Left Behind Me,' on these occasions. The ladies, bless 'em, mustered in strong force. One warrior had his girl on his arm, and how she clung to him ! — and how, when he whispered in her little pink ear — it must have been something commencing with ' Should I fall ' — the poor girl cried and dabbed her face with a ridiculous little lace thing about four inches square. The parting kiss exchanged by that couple was witnessed by hundreds of people. About half-a-dozen other girls were also weeping—sobbing as if their poor little hearts would break. They were evidently apphrehensive that that horrid Te Kooti would go straight for their George, Dick, Tom, or Harry, and make short work of him, or them. The unsympathetic crowd laughed while the girls cried. The general impression was that the boys were goirg to have a holiday trip such as they enjoyed when ' the troops ' proceeded to Parihaka. Envious eyes watched the ' active service men ' go aboard the Chelmsford. ' I wonder,' remarked one of the warriors who was left behind, ' why they didn't take me ? I have got nothing to do, and even if I had got shot, why, it would have been something !' ' Good-bye, dear,' cried one of the fellows from the deck of the steamer, as he waved his handkerchief to a girl in the crowd, ' I will bring you back one of Te Kooti's teeth.' By-the-way, what an interesting brooch a good- sized molar from the jaw of the archrebel and murderer would make, set in gold ! There were quite a number of military bankrupts on the wharf — Majors, and Colonels, and Captains galore. They ought to form a distinct corps and be known as ' Lawson's Own.' But now the Chelmsford has cast off, and is slowly moving away, while a forest of handkerchiefs wave from the admiring fair ones on the wharf. And hark ! What is that the^varriors are singing as they leave Auckland perhaps, alas ! never to return?— ' For he's a Jolly Good Fellow. 1 But why that Bacchanalian ditty? — and who was a jolly good fellow ? Ah, these are things we shall never know until the Auckland Volunteers return to Queen- street wharf covered with blood and glory, and bearing Te Kooti's scalp on the end of a bayonet.

And won't we give 'em a reception !