BUSH BREEZES.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XVIII, Issue IV, 23 January 1897, Page 99

BUSH BREEZES.

The wand’ring breezes come to me From the range in the grey, dim west. They come, and touch my gipsy heart With the pain of a long unrest. For they breathe the scent of whisp’ring pines. Faintly echo some wild bird’s song. And I hear the bushland’s wistful call To her son in the city’s throng. And her voice, her voice is tender. And her smile is slow and sweet, (But the homage I would render Is baiting and incomplete); Yet wherever I may wander. Be my fortunes fair or ill. No love can e'er be fonder For the bushland, lone and still. There comes the beat of distant hoofs, And I ride with the mob again, And foam-flecked shoulders at my girth. As we race on the tussock-plain. Such fancies throng my restless heart. Deadly weary of rush and strife. Until my tired soul I’d sell For one taste of the free bush life. Just to see the shadows creeping Down the silent mountain-side. And the white mist softly sleeping In the gully lone and wide ; Just to hear the night wind sobbing On the dusky pine tree's breast, And the creek’s lament, low throbbing Through the shadows from the west.

V.R.B.

The Australian edition of the Review of Retieiet just to hand contains an account of the Bathurst Federal Convention by Dr. John Quick. The subject is one of interest at this time, and Dr. Quick gives a vivid account of what was altogether a people’s convention unsurrounded by the halo of foot rank and authority. •Artists and Artistic Taste in Australia' is continued in an article by D. J. Quin, who gives us a further insight into art in Sydney. Ethel Turner's ‘Little Larrikin ' is accorded a rather long review and the character sketches for the month are Sir William Harcourt and William Morris by W. T. Stead, and a very interesting article is the notice of George Du Manner by the editor of the ‘ Art Student.’ The paper is profuselv illustrated with reproductions of Du Manner's pictures. The presidential election of 1896 —an account of the great fight, taken from the American edition, will be of interest even at this late date.