The Hope of Dawn, or the Dawn of Hope.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVI, Issue 9, 30 August 1911, Page 70

The Hope of Dawn, or the Dawn of Hope.

The pitiless sun of the prairie beatdown over the tired brown waste. In the doorway of a little hut a woman stood. shading the road with, her eyes. >lemler as her form was, there was a determination in her hair, and her stiniVonnet. looking down wistfully from over her brow, expressed unutterable longing. The doorway of the hut supported one hand, while the desolafielandseape travelled over her tired Suddenly the woman shook wit! a slight trembling. In the far distance her attention attracted a speck voaiing toward her and growing visibly larger. Leaning" forward, she watched eagerly in that direction—her whole attention that of an attitude. ... The rider bent wearily over i'is saddle, one hand hanging loose in the bridle, the other clinging des]>erately to a long white paper. He rode with the pommel fixed on his eyes, while the dry earth struck his horse's hoofs in a steady lo;>e. There was nothing to be seen on the dreary landscape but the dilapidated hut and withered scrubby bit-lies. As the hut neared the rider, rhe stiritips kicked the feet out of the man. and dismounting, the rider handed the woman the paper silently, his face appearing more strained and anxious in the shadow of the hut. The woman lifted her white face, her intensity blazing with eyes, and held out her hands for the paper. •'John'." -he stammered, and witii a hoarse sob reeled into the hut, one hand clutching a ladies’ fashion journal.