AUNT HILDA’S LETTER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18786, 15 June 1929, Page 18 (Supplement)

AUNT HILDA’S LETTER

AM ANCIENT VERSE:— The cock crows in the mors To tell ui to riee, And he who lies late Will never be wiae. Tor early to bed And early to rise, Is the way to he healthy And wealthy and wise! —Sent in by June Timms, I*, Antigua Street.

OVER HILL AND DALE.

BACK TO THE WAY OF THE PIONEER. J)EAR CHILDREN ALL,— I really must tell you of our delightful trip last Saturday. Forty-nine members of the Nature Study Circle met at the safety zone, and Aunt Hilda felt and looked just like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. You remember the story of how he played so beautifully on his pipes that every living thing followed him. He was engaged to rid a town of rats, and he played his pipes till every rat in the city followed him to the water’s edge. But, alas! the children of the town also fell under his spell, and he emptied the town of children, as well as of rats. I have forgotten for the moment how the story ended. Some magic power anyway lured all those children away last Saturday, out to the hills, to Nature’s own highways and We took the tram to Heathcote Bridge and under the capable guidance of Master Cyril Robb followed the Bridle Track over the hills to Lyttelton, thence to Corsair and finally back to Lyttelton. Heathcote lay serene and smiling under fhe friendly shelter of the hills, and the air was wonderfully mild. In one garden we saw summer’s roses and the spring narcissi blooming merrily side by side. We passed some old-fashioned box-thorn hedges, their scarlet and green berries gleaming in the sunshine. The climb up the track was rather arduous, but was rewarded by the ever-increasing view behind us. We rested for a while round the stone devoted to the memory of John Robert Godley, the founder of Canterbury.

The monument was erected by Mrs Godley to the memory of her husband in 185— (the last date is erased) and the stone was restored in 1898. But it \*ery evidently needs further restoration, as the action of the elements is rapidly effacing the inscription. At the top the view was magnificent. In front stretched the waters to the heads, banked by the brown rolling hills; Lyttelton and Corsair nestled in under the cliff we were on. Behind us the Heathcote River looked like a silver ribbon amongst the green, and Christchurch had materialised into a magnificent city, just as the pioneers had foreseen and planned. What vision, what pluck, what endurance those pioneers had! Can you imagine the first journey over the hills into the then wilderness? The searching for an easy path over those steep hills, the difficulties of every kind they must have endured? No asphalt roads and swiftly speeding motor-cars, not even a billy boiling at the journey’s end. If any boy or girl doubts the debt they owe the pioneers let him or her do what we did, climb up that steep track in the heat of the day, blot out in his mind’s eye, all trace of civilisation, and imagine himself John Robert Godley himself. What imagination is possessed will be revealed by what pictures he conjures up. A laughable incident happened. We planned to take the launch back from Corsair, but we forgot ’twas midwinter and there were no launches! So we tramped back to Lyttelton and came home by train. It was a thoroughly delightful ramble in every way. We had our lunch just at the beginning of the track under some wonderful blue-gums planted by pioneer hands. LAST SATURDAY’S PAINTING.

Both pictures were very popular last Saturday, especially the little black twins. Such hosts and hosts or gleaming picaninnies’ eyes glanced merrily up at me as I worked. Some had yellow and orange frocks, some were resplendent in mauve and cerise. One or two were treated to striped frocks! All the work was careful, but one grave blunder stood out in several paintings. The whites of the eyes were red, green, blue, heliotrope; even bright orange in one case! Dfear! oh dear! Oh, yes! they looked pretty and they matched their dresses, but they were not true to nature, which is the very first essential. So next time you paint a little black girl, remember the whites of her eyes are the same colour as your own! THE MOST WONDERFUL THING OF ALL.

And now for the news of our party! We have managed to secure the Art Gallery for Saturday, July 13th, 2 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. There is a most energetic committee of mothers working to make it an even greater success than it was last year, and we will have the gallery all decorated and pretty for you. We have made the tickets reasonable: Is for adults, 6d for everyone under 14 years and babies in arms free, plus a basket from each family. The sandwiches have been arranged, so will you please bring as many cakes as possible We shall also be glad of any sweets to sell, and there will be ice-cream for sale as well. All the money is to buy boots, shoes and stockings for the children of the unemployed. In addition to its being such a worthy object, I want to meet all my little friends from town and country and have a jolly reunion. Will as many as possible sell tickets, which they may get from me any Saturday morning? Work hard now, and let us see what we can do. Do you remember the large tea-towel full of money which I gathered two years ago at St Michael’s? Our family is nearly eight times as large now as it was then, so perhaps I shall require a tablecloth this.itme. Or a wheelbarrow! How would you like to wheel a barrowful of money round to the Relief Depot? If we, everyone of us. make up our mind that it will be a huge success and that we ll sell a lot of tickets and bring all our friends to the party, then we certainly will need a barrow for the proceeds. Hurrah for the 13th! I'll be there. Will you? = Lots of love to all my hard-working unselfish family. Ever yours happily, P S.—Those who cannot obtain fancy dresses must wear a paper hat to the party. But be sure to come.—A.H.