Lost in the Bush.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 958, 24 December 1881, Page 1 (Supplement)

Lost in the Bush.

■ . •A. TRUE STORY. '■ Br Acacia, . ..: E'sS? AR.away in, the. heart of.the great h F%ff Australian bush,. where,the -tall H |gL- gums stand stiff and straight,,,with Ibbshbl! their dark, blueish• green. leaves and. spicy breath—where- the golden l Wattle and trailing white clematis perfume the summer, air, and the graceful ferns wave cool arid green, stood the little log cottage wherelived the heroine of my story, Jenny Heath: ' ; Far, I'ar away from the crowded cities I and busy haunts of men was the selection of' David Heath and the home. of. little Jenny, Jenny had never seen any of the great towns.of, the South, She had lived all her life in the bush,and had never travelled further than'a few miles from her father's clearing Jo boring township, which consisted of a store,-,a public house and a few small- dwellings;; i So Jenny's ideas of the world were verylimited, though she would have very much" liked to have seen the fine cities she had heard'her father and mother talk about, with their broad streets and handsome shops, and all the beimti.' ful tilings that could be purchased, if you'only had the money to buy them, It was a fine afternoon at the end of December, • Only three more days, and Christmas would be here, which is, quite as much a day of rejoicing'in the selector's cottage in the lonely bush, as in the wealthy merchant's stately mansion in ; the beautiful suburbs' of Melbourne. Mrs.' Heath had been busy all ; the morning malting cakes and puddings for the coming event, and Jenny had been helping.to'stone the raisins, wash the currants, beat the.eggs, and doing anyother little things: to assist her mother; but now all was finished, dinner-was past, the little cottage had been tidied up, 1 the

children's faces washed, hair combed, clean pinafores put on, and Jcnny!s work was,over for the day, . There were three hours yet to spare before, tea time, and Jenny sat on the door step in her pink calico sun-bonnet, casting over in her mind how she should amuse herself until father came home,

At-length a bright thought struck her, and going into the room where her mother was, sewing she said "Mother, may we go and gather ferns for ChiistmasDay?" The children were in the, habit of adorning the few cheap prints on the walls in this fashion to commemorate the birth of their dear Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, "Yes, if you like, dear, but be sitre that you do not go far from home; it's getting late, Jenny," replied Mrs, Heath. 11 Oh, no, mother; I'll lake good care," and : Jenny skipped off to find her little brother and sister,

"Come, Bennie," she said, "we're going to gather ferns for Christmas," " Me go too J" asked baby Susie. "Yes, Susie shall go too," and calling out out "Good-bye, mother, "the young trio set off hand in hand to seek the choicest specimens of the feathery plants that grow so luxuriously in our native forests, How delightful it was to wander through the long grass, treading carefully for. feat of snakes, the gum trees and acacias lending a grateful shade overhead, Here they stopped to watch a 'possum, that popped its cunning little he.id.out of a, fallen trunk that lay across their path. ,'Bennie. would fain have loitered to hunt the little' creature, but the place where the" ferns grew most plentifully was further off yet, so there was no time to spate for 'possum hunting to : day, There a guana glided along, with its scaly skin of shining bronze glittering in the sun, and away fly the children in its track, but. only to lose sight of it disappearing behind a ; clump of thick scrub. .Again they paused to pluck the pink and blue wild flowers that lay. scattered at intervals among the grass at.their feet, the ones close at hand being passed: by to obtain what looked in. the distance to be a far greater prize, but which on inspection was again rejected for "another beauty" still further away. They must just gather that one! and so the time passed unheeded, and their destination was still unreached,'

Slowly the sun began to sink like a great ball of fire in the west,, all unnoticed ty the children, The.gully where the ferns grew.was close at hand now, so on they trudged, think*.