Thoughtful Moments.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 98, 16 August 1945, Page 2

Thoughtful Moments.

TALES OF THE PIONEERS By T. Menzies-Miller Far away in the "Inland" of Australia stands a man's home. A typical Australian's home. A square house built of corrugated iron ? a verandah in front minus a floor, a couple of tin sheds, dog kennels of stumps and two small wired in paddocks; beyond this a few stunted trees, half dead and beyond the measureless plain as far as the eye can .see. Such a home as imagined by Jollilie, of "The Bulletin." Want of water and the long dry summer forbids any cultivation or garden or home comforts yet in such homes live many of the great-hearted pioneers of Australia. On this particular day, now some years ago, the midsummer sun blazed down with terrific heat the air quivered, 5 birds gasped in the heat and fell in flight only to die on the sunbaked ground. The house of the boundary rider was like an oven. Within, another chapter of the bravery of Australian women was being written on a human heart in that ?ilent liand. On a poor bed in a scantily fur,nished bedroom lay a little girl of ten years. She was the joy and wellspring of happiness to the boundary rider and his full of fun and happy laughter . . . now she lay tossing in delirium and fever. Mrs Beeare had time and again gone to the door and scanned the horizon looking for a cloud of dust that would announce the return of her husband. Each time she returned to the sick bed with her burden of disappointment and anxiety a little heavier, The long day wore on. The moaning of her wee girlie pierced her heart, like a knife. The tank water was hot and she had no means of cooling it. Her simple remedies were ineffective. "Oh God in heaven have pity, have pity," she cried in agony of prayer, God don't take away my darling daughter from me. . . . Oh Jesus of Love send me some help." So the of a lonely helpless woman Aom one of the loneliest spots of Australia reached to the throne of the great Love God.

As the sun went down the botincV ary rider came home from his work to find a house of sorrow. Yes ? there was only one tiling to do. He resaddled his already tired horse and set off into the night to the Mission Hospital 70 miles away. All through the night he rode,' sparing his faithful steed as' much as possible yet demanding utmost speed. He well knew that his little girl's chance of life depended upon the next, few hours. His thoughts were back with his wife in her lonely night vigil. He did not know how to pray, but he sang a hymn he had learned as a boy about little children who were jewels in the crown of the Good Lord of heaven. It helped him. Then he remembered a Sunday School story of a little girl like his own who was raised from the dead. Had Jesus changed since then? His wife was a good woman. She was praying now. A new hope was lifting his burden of despair. A new light was lifting the dark-

OUR SUNDAY MESSAGE (Supplied by the Whakatnofc Ministers' Association).

ness of night and in the dawn be saw the roof of the Mission 1 Home. Soon he was telling his story to the two big-hearted nurses who were in charge. Then things happened that just staggered the poor rider of the night. The Sister rushed to her transmission wireless set and pedalled her hardest sending out into the morn- ■ 3 ing air a call to the (lying doctor at far off Cloncurry. The message was picked up at once. .The 'drome was rung up. A 'plane was pulled to the tarmac and warmed up. Meanwhile the doctor gathered his gear and tore off in his car to the 'drome. Soon he was aboard, the engines opened out into a terrilic roar and the journey of over two hundred miles was begun. In a couple of hours the roar of the 'plane was heard at the Mission. The grounded 'plane kept the engines running while a nurse was picked up, and soon they w r ere in the air again, making for the boundary rider's home. At mid-day the poor distracted mother was startled to hear the 'plane circling her home, and now it was coming clown! Lower and lower it came. Now it was on the ground. Was this the answer to her prayer? Oh God! What did it all mean? She saw a nurse in uniform and the doctor hurrying over to bar. Tiretl out and exhausted and nigh broken-hearted nature gave way, and the faithful watcher sank to the floor in a swoon. When she came to again she found everything ready for another miracle. A couch had been prepared in the 'plane } and she and her little girl were to be taken to the Hostel! her daughter to be nursed back to health and herself nourished with food and rest. The afternoon was not far advancv ed when the 'plane and its passengers alighted at the Mission once more. Here in a nice bed the sick girl was placed and the mother in another part equally well cared for, while Mr Beeare himself pondered over many things and admitted that the old world after all had a very kind heart. When the doctor shook his. hand and said good-bye. he told him that his girl was still very sick, but would respond to proper treatment and get well again, poor Beeare could not speak. Tears filled his eyes and he turned hastily away. So the doctor went home and the old engine chugged away contentedly for a good day's work was done. A little girl's life was saved and over six hundred miles ilown. A month later two horses joggec'J along a dusty track to the bound-* ary rider's home, fn the buggy were his wife strong and well and his child back again to full health and happiness. It was a happy home coming for besides physical health there was a spiritual joy as well which gave a new outlook on life. They were not lonely now. Above them the God of Love and around them the kindness of unknown friends. No, life would never be so lonely again. When night came to that far off home the boundary rider joined in prayer with his loved ones. In the valley of darkness he bad met God.