LIFE IN A TENT.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 310, 8 July 1879, Page 3

LIFE IN A TENT.

■■ — yr- t-' t■■ ...j - (From the Saturday Advertiser.') ' The following clever poetical epistle hd4 been sent from a,yo*ing surveyor in. Canterbury to a'frierid in''Dunedi'ni;The'write]r- • 'was at one tiuid a : ' recruit 'in the Devir's Brigade, but he deserted from -the sable army to fol'lo : Wis more"'congenial calling. He gave up the red. tape of the lawyer for fhe(vyhite tape pt-.the _surveyor, and preferred "carrying, chains in this life, ; to being forced "to'beat* them in the nest;_ - ,DbabDon;—i;: ; ••! !":-K\') Just received year: last letter, The first £or JxAsiice of time— - I may tell youi Iliked.it much ; better " For being-"Both' reason and rhyme. ii -i 1 To-day, being Sunday.; Pin idle, You ask for adetter in verse ;. —So orrPegasus' neCk there's the bridle -'■' For better or worse. I think of you sitting and joking, With that prince of good fellows old —; . The twain bf you solemnly smoking Till murky as night.is" tho air. . Thf fuino from your grog rises fragrant, Your "eveningVcrowned with content, While I live the life of a vagrant Afnd'dwell in a tent._; : > Butjstill there'f a charm in my roaming O'er mountainland yjilley and plain, In the sunlight till gloamr- ' „,:.:::-'-;...:-.--"-r - ; -' --; -A^thougtelam^dragging a chainI wouldn't be cooped iup like yon, boy, \J\ From ten morning till fivej , Whife-tnere's . A quill I won't drive. For when noontide- is.-jshown .by'the) sha-. dows,.,. ...;. -.. ........j.'...-.- ri ' ' I rest by-.spmi-:murinu>ihg- : ri)l,.i-!; Meandering slow meadows, .. : Oriioonths'Bl6pe"'ofa J h 1 i{l^:_;[; ;: ;y ; [ ; And then .while,the blue fumes nicotian' - Curl up for an hou-V-to : the' sky, '■ - - Thera is "none; betv/oenmceatt'ana'bcean More happy tl^p-Ij-./^ •And at htst wheh ; the ; sUn'aout of sight, :,■■ iad, „; ! .'^:;.;,!:'. : v-'.. : '.^!;;v;;':".■-., ■; Behind the : huge range- to the- west, '. WeM I P*k.6^'piuj'^ork : .fprth6'."night l lad, Five minutes to smoke and tO rest. Then' cut away hdme 'down the . A walk of an hour or more— . We're .in sighf of the ( light from the galley, Our"dayVworkfeo'er. ; : ''- ■■'- --"-""'."-■ OI ' T f',p # ; ?-'"s*T.- '"! And you .with, your writing unceasing On "foolscap," or " brief," or " demy.;" Your talk about selling and leasing, ; -, Your reading so deucedly dry; . '■■■'■ Your: calf-clad i'Law .Times ". or " Law .Jdurqal^-.:;':;-,-;^./j-,/"'/;-,-', -? :: ;--':: "Smith oh Contracts" or "Russell;on ... .. . T Grimes " ~ „ r ._. r ,,.. -<t 1 ... . .-. ' (Books I doomed tb'the p[6we , rs;irlfernal In lohg - I ,''.- » : -" ; ' . ; ,' You have npJihiQg 1 spi'plfeasan'tl-a's ;thy life — - Days spent on = ■ \ • A different'li&frd^-thejdiy'ljrfe;;''-; 1 i — -.-. Of.drawing outJeasesjmd.wills. ■..'■',: \ So my boyj for J-ourself-keep your pity, dajrajare^all-fCjow^ed.with.content, Though' ypu dwell in tho throng of the ~ ;.■:.■> JJlty,. ; .t. ; . ; .T. ~., ~, :.:■,:■:.-.•;,- ....... :.. | : !'':-•■-:.::: : , ...-:-. ...... , ,--- ■•-. :.:-.-, (! ; .Agrarian.