ARCADIA IN THE WINTER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 11

ARCADIA IN THE WINTER.

[13Y .Jenny, WEEN.]

. At first thought; the-idea of spending some little time m the winter "way back" m thoi cowitry, hardly -strikes, tho town-dweller - as: being particularly alluring. ': In the pity, the winter, with its bleak,; stormy weather, ■•is.;: Hardly ('noticed, /sb, many'things: ':|3'aii.,.be s j for "distraction—parties,;', theatres, dances^/and--so oil,..but , what, ono :thmks, can the-country other? Visions of a 1 grey. ;mist-dfiyeii;,landscape,'.'swept. ,by .■ the./gusty winds;- that ;ieii-iv howling, dowri the . gullies, •. so deeply , worn ,111 tho■ mountain sides, accompanied by tho steady, monotonous:drip, drip, ■ dripping', of The rain from the ■ branches, of the .trees' to. .the : , soddenearth beneath, Ycreep injo one's mind and cause a -shiver of sympathetic' dreariness. Do, not rivers overflow sometimes,- bridges get/ washed away, and roads become .impassable, while there: aro days, at a-r.timo when.it-is impossible to. ven-. tur© o'utsidp;tie 'bouse; Nevertheless,'"when', '"when' ono/thinks: of all the coun try can. offer; given j ime,. sonny days, the risk is. worth taking, and one goes mth • - To-wn/.-with /its -treadmill: of- daily concerns, its; arid' noise'' and 'dirt, - jt.s close-packed houses,- with ' Wo square, inches of garden, not big enough • to- swing a cat- in, belongs to" a dim, -.forgotten world. For the present,one -is; a/careless.'lazy, irresponsible being, free. to. saunter' through days that: are filled with::Suhshine,; r just:■'■ds'/the''whim,', directs. Elding, driving, golfing,-: or walking—calling.on;. i one's - neignbours ' (somo miles away), ■ or being called uponI—or1—or else lying -at ease on tho -verandah; plannmg .dark deeds^of -vengeance an; -some • offending - member 'of the household, fill tbo daylight hours, and"tho bird' of timo" is indeed' all too swiftly on the . wing.v ,The low-lyiqg dulls at tho foot of ithe mountains are. magical m thoir:.swelling, rounded: loveliness—again- and- again one returns to them, • scrambling -up their slopes, 'lured' by, their-"stillness, tho, evcrchangmg play,, of light and shadow on" the soft; ivelvety;. mol&'coloured sides, and the exquisite view of' the, valley, that is .gained from r thoir; heights. - "The"; Land of Promise" could,.not havo.- looked fairer, to; the- weary traveller than this. ; -Breathless, exhausted, • with " the - climb, one v- ..-throws;. -• oneself down into' the 'soft, low, fragrant-, scruh, •as close to Mother . Earth» as - one can^gct; 1 so that the current of her life flows /into -ono's own tody,, and-, by and bye ono becomes,,aware of myria'ds .of. microscopio' Lives about,- full .of their_ own- existences,, and soon tho sweet smell of tho earth, - ,the grass; and. the. scrub, incomparable,: to any.mother,' steal -into,-' and one's - ;B(!lQw':is .the'v gfea't Wide, sweep, of - volley, with its ilako' and slagoons of-, silver. connected 'by Silver. threads, and -Jtei with hidden,':.; growing.; life ' steadily'".reaching for freedom •,;ahd---.Bunligbt./' Opposite, ,on :the other side of; the valley, high uji among the foqtbills thatV.lio;;at;.tho base of 'the mountams,-- shines another lagoon—!'the eye," bo -the . Maoris' ; say, "of tlio. great fish which'■ ■tho North' Island'-is.'M yTHo' other'ieyo is : a lake. Bjt ptakiis.uStmght idownpibelow runs; an ■ arm: ,of the , valley penetrating'; the' 'heart of'the ,hillsi: with a solitary little ;clus- : ter..of whare3. . -Alais ;for :the:.idr€ams and ambitions_ of- m'en!\ So ]impressed' v had " a Maori ohief been with the glories and wonders of ; London; which he visited' at the time! of' the Queen'.S ;Jubilee; that, on his return, ho determined' to have'a-liondon on his .own land., - His; hopes, as so often , hap- ; -pens in /life, 'outran his deedsj and thoro, mocking at his, dreams, it lies aeserted—Banana (London) the, Second. \ \ Sometimes i a" encamprjont, . pictnrosque' and. untidy, is; visited,- where ;the most adorable 'children—little brown puff-balls of impishness. black4ycd, • black-headed,, ana ; drnboy como , .nihrang' after one, ■grimacing . and performing: - littlo haka,s bohind an elder's. back. Tho men aro away most of the day cither fishing; or .working on tho neighbouring runs, and, the' women sit down' up to their necks m tho creek .looking ;-for eels) or elso are busy .weaving .Jax-.baskets /.and .things/ A little distance away, f rbm 1 the - encampment is a 'taipo-haunted bush, where on©; or two Maori tragedies , : took place some timo ago. The Maoris would; sooner die than! go through it at dusk,; and indeed it does seem an;eerie place, then. Hhe taipos,' so' far, •have discreetly kept; in' fhe background. . Every night - a noble, firo is logs that-deUght one'svheaii being piled on, and all gather. ; ;round. for awhile before getting ;to other things. /It blazes away, till hardly anything or apybody- is left but a cluster of blisters, awl then someone, crimson as to face, /gently/ murmurs, "Isn't it rathor liot?" Then -thero is a.laugh &nd. a gradual edging away from the furnaco. -WelGngton -fires and country ones aro as.wido as the Poles-aoart.' / :.. '', .....

- The days-fleet by, and the city once more claiifas its own, all tho graciousness, the freedom,- tho strength, and tho varied moods of' the country being left behind. A' wilderness of stone walls, with a clay bank as the outlook, surrounds ono, tho rattle and crash of,:tho cars replace tho stjllness of - the country. sido, :and -tho unyielding, hurrying procossion' -of■ the • Quay that of' the Nunpeopled 'Pasture ground of the sheep and cattle. Strange perversity t!hat causes human beings to- v fret and'fume and-grasp for: tho things beybnd-their: reach.