THE SUNDOWNER.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 158, 22 January 1878, Page 3

THE SUNDOWNER.

By G.N. 0. He was not a gentle looking man ; his beard Had not been combed for several solid weeks ; And drops of tears —or pipe juice—slowly stole Adown his cheeks. His clothes were sloppy, sloppily put on ; His shirt was open, and his bosom bare, Save where upon its blackness red there shone A scrub of hair. The lov'd companion of his longest days— His " billy-cock " —was old, and worse for wear; His untagged boots took rain, and much I i fear Were ne'er a pair. His eyes had that fine roll which poets have And other lunatics, and looked you through With that bright ray of genius which sometimes Is A bit askew. •" He " spelled " upon the ground ; a hollow gum . Bore up his ample back and bade him rest! And creaked no warning, when he sat upon A war-ant's nest. I found him squatted on a summer's noon Smoking Nepenthe : whiling time awa)', Content if he could only make to draw His dirty clay. Two tracks forked from his feet, the one hard beat With hoof tramplings—'tother like a " pack," Whereon the "bone frames" hump the secret grog Upon the back. He spake : " Here, mate, I want to know, dye see. Where them two tracks goes, and how many mile ? And if the cove as owns the nearest run Has made his pile ? " What .rations, wages, kind of jobs, he gives ? Is there new blankets, and how many pair? And can a cove get on who doesn't like More work than's fair ? " I want terbaccer and a match or two, Just hand 'em over, while you pitch to me What this here run's like—for I've ne'er a mind To call, d'ye see ? " What is 'the boss like ?—is the super flash ?— And is the sheep clipped by the day or piece ? And does he shear 'em dry and find the beer, . Or in the grease ?"

"My friend, I said, " that right .hand track will lead To a fi'ie homestead where there's work to <!<• For all who want it, which I s+rongly fear Will not suit you. '•The left-hand track, past sslian lies soaked in an.g, Leads to the gaol ; the read is pretty fair, And you, I'm sure, will a home When you get there. "As for tobacco, 1 have always held, While every good deed makes our pipes burn bright, 'Tis each man's duty first to see be keeps His own alight." I stopped ; when, beetling both his shaggy brows, Uproared his voice, " You stingy j)arson's tout. -~.. That pitches preaching to a cove as knows His way about! " It's coves like you, that work, that makes men poor And keeps down wages ; If I'd only dare, And traps were not so fly to all such games, I'd scruff yerj " Why, men is fools to work six days a week." Then, slinging swag with fingers lean and deft, He shambled from me with a sulky growl, And took—" the left."