PRICELESS TREASURE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17077, 3 September 1917, Page 6

PRICELESS TREASURE.

A pair of Ba-by's-booties—the booties he once, wove, Tied with pretty-pale blue ribbons to his tiny chubby feet: A dainty fro-k, a bonnet, a rattle old and worn, And the "naughty, naughty dummy" which he used to try to eat! A pretty golden locket, a curl of golden hue— A sacred lock of glory .rom his bonny curly head: lwo baby bibs, a ribbon, a toy-book slightly torn, And the coloured patoiwork cover of his* little baby bed. The fleeting years sped onwards, Till there cam- the call to arms: And our Empire pledged to freedom, Bade her sons their courage show. He was ready when they called him, He answered with a smile; And we whose hearts'1 were troubled, '■■>'■ Stayed pur tears and let him go. A tunic torn and bloodstained—the tunic that he wore Just a ragged coat of khaki with s hole right through the breast: • A battered cap, a pay-book, a photo soiled with grime, 1 And a letter he had written just before he went " Out West." -~ _ . J. B.