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Grey River Argus, Volume III, Issue 184, 19 March 1867, Page 2

■*'■ ■ . '.'■■■■ ■■■ a ■ , ■' - ! . j . " .-■ A Hot Day in Yictofxa.^-A hot scorching day. The winds," haying-travelled over hundreds of miles of arid plain and smoking bush, floated into Melbourne, laden with blazing heat. The sky glared down whitely,_ and the blinding sun scorched up moisture a:id vegetationwith ifcseyeof fire. The very clouds we're white with heat, arid to look up at them made one dizzy^ the city, riiahkind pauted with thirst and fatigiie, and, re : . gardiess of ! ct)risequences^. ; ;revelieil.= rinprdiS nately and greedily, in ices and cool drinks. Womankind retreated to' cellars and shady nooks.' and divesting; "itself' of superfluous attire, indulged, gratefully, in water melons; and mankind, coming home .wearied and parched,, joined womankind in .her retreat, and lay at iher feet .tamely. . Dogkindrpanted ;and lolled out its tongiie,: distre3sfully ; but though it wandered iv desp^r^ithrpugh the streets, it fpund, no relie^ang moisture in kennel 6r gutter j ' arid being, by^ its constitution and laws, debarred from" the luxury of ices arid cool drinks, ; it^endured agoriies of silent suffering. Clerks fell asleep over their ladgers, aiul s fcorekeepers, grew dozy behind, their desks;. At the sea-side the very vwaves , '. were * too wearied to roll, ! and * .lay, ;'■ '.'supine,* beneath the dreadful glare of the.suri;'' Tlie beaches were, deserted : not even a crab was tjo be sean^ In the coiintryi;the'bu|h sriioked ; and blazed; and wretched -oxen^ straiu^diat their chains', arid did their half-a-naile an' h6ur ia dire distress. With suffering npsea almost touching ttie'grourid/ they 'smelt il iriyairi % along the earth for liquid life. '.^The drivers' with their cabbage^tree fhats glpuched ovei their eyes; were to lazy too crack |heir whips and top fatigued to swear, loudly- at- their cattle ; biit^^ determined npt i to %f cheated of their . privilege, they growled, apd cvirsed in voices 'almost inaudibler" The leafiess tries smoked beneath; the glajrfe"; of 'the ! sun; " jtud stretched" their- barb^^br^.b£e^i6"th ; p^y'asif for pity, but, got none. .' Oft'the gbld-^eids, ;diggers; stririped' tH'their' sprits, and were glad to.plurige iritbcppl' d^yesi arid to hide themselves, with ; b6ttles "pf liger' beer br billies of cold*: tea by'tfeeir side'; tho'se' who cbrild find' no such shelter : ; threw tHetiisejves upon their stretchers, arid Jonged eagerly f or , the night. EveryWhfevej ' business, 'except where ■bare-=armed men or r musbji.Qlad bar- 1 maids ; served long- drinks ;^to " ! thijsty souls,: was at a stand-still. Mercharits were'tob lazy to haggle. k Pefceritages were forgotten, 1 and 'invoices -disregarded;"— -From "Grif,":' a story of Colonial Life^y B; L. Farjeori.