PAST AND PRESENT.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1575, 12 May 1874, Page 213

PAST AND PRESENT.

[OEIGINAL.J I stood upon a mountain height, And far beneath my view There lay a landscape wild and bright As ever burst on mortal sight As ever painter drew. 'Twas the Maori land, where the tui's sorjg Was heard on the forest tree, Where the rivers roll'd Over sands of gold, Far away to the ultimate sea. But I saw no marks of Christian hands, In this wilderness so fair ; No church on the sod, That was raised to God, No cross, in the distant air. And naught, save the Maori chaunt, was heard From men of a savage race; Or the babbling brook, or the woodland bird, Or the distant-ocean as it roared, On the shore of this desolate place. But years roll'd on, and a change has wrought, I stood on that spot once more, But a nobler view my vision sought, And those years, what a happy change they brought Since I looked on the scene before! And now, where'er my sight is bent, From the forest to the main ; I see the homes of happy men And the arts of peace, and the reapers bend O'er fields of waving grain. And the savage is taught of a Saviour's love, And hope to him is given Of a happier home and a nobler lot, When the ways of the earth are all forgot, In the hunting grouuds of Heaven. 'Tis sweet at even-tide to hear, When the sun is in the west The song of cheer when the work is done, As it floats on the breeze, from the forest home, E'er the toilers sink to rest. And I said as I gazed on this beauteous scene, As I gazed from my [mountain high, "Toil on, brave hearts, in your humble homei Ye are planting the seed of a time to come ; And its germ will never die!" Febnleaf,