HIS TE AWAMUTU FRIEND.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 78, 17 April 1908, Page 3

HIS TE AWAMUTU FRIEND.

[By "The Haxgatiki Pom."]

like it very well; But there's something rather strange that I think I ought to tell. The people here have a knack tis a habit, I believe — If you mention Te Awamutu to snigger up their sleeve. Now, where the funny joke can lie I really cannot guess — If they laughed at Avonciale my bewilderment were less — So iust to show you what I mean 1 11 tell an episode _ That befel me late one evening 011 trie great Waitomo Ror.cl. Now, I don't go holding no how that men should toil like slaves, So of course I took a trip to see the grand Waitomo Caves. I won't go into ecstacies like some good people would, i But still I can't help saying that tne Caves are very good. Well, on riding homeward round a bend at a canter on my nag, I spied a weary looking man a-resting by his swag. He was ragged, old and lanky, with a shiftv, restless eye, And he called out loudly to me as I tried to pass him by. There was something plaintive in his voice, something noble in his mein, Thaf made me think of better days this old man may have seen. _ There was something bulky in his coat, and I really greatly fear, But for your prohibition law I should have called it beer. Howe'er he spoke up hearty and said he'd worked for years A-falling bush and tea-tree in this lonely vale of tears. I asked him (half in pity) if he'd any friends on earth, And he replied that he had one—a true one since his birth. And further on he told me, sorrow much I felt, _ How this good friend of his at Te Awamutu dwelt. And once a month a restless mood disturbed his peace of mind, But if he went and found his friend his sorrows dropped behind. And when he reached the township where this good friend did dwell, There was such joy, how long he stayed, he really couldn't tell. I said that such a loving friend must surelv make him glad, And that I hoped he'd love him well as long as life he had. Then from his eye he wiped a tear that had gathered there, And said he longed to see this friend, but had no railway fare. So I gave him half-a-crown, and hunted on my nag, And I heard him giving thanks as he buckled on his swag. Then I rode back around by the Hangatiki road, And told them at Te Kuiti this little episode. And w r hen they laughed I said I would this poor old man defend, But still they laughed, and asked me if I had met His frienp.