A DAUGHTER OF THE FLAG.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 219, 23 December 1909, Page 5

A DAUGHTER OF THE FLAG.

By "W. 8." TcKoitt.

Our patient sentry go, awaiting the train to steam out, brought us opposite the platform entrance, barraged by an open gate guarded by a young man, evidently posted there to shoo away the vagroro idlers and thieves who litter their übiquity wherever there is some novelty to stare at, or unconscious satchel to be snatched. And the time had surely com* that the railway lords "should issue ukase, that none but ticket holders might enter the station prectnts when trains depart. This is right and wholesome. Presently a girlish voice, vibrant with distress, stopped oar mcsndWr: "I didn't know. I only wished to enquire which is the parcels office, arwt because of the uniform yott' wear thoog't you were the one to tell «f!" And when the cadet of Gods" own Country's railways, barred a brutal arm across her chest, and in a coarse football accent, commandeered: "Show your ticket, or get off this platform; comef sharp! but me no but*!" My friend thought the ukase might have enjoined civility upon its service. For the cadet of God's Colonial railways, in hia decorations of plated caplabel and buttons, i* an interpreter of Courtesy with the training of this new-land's youth, and obsessed with arrogant self-yalues when accosted away from his immedaite functions. The owner of the girtisb voice was bent upon retreat, but before she moved my friend's arm shot out. and collecting a handful of cadet tunic and collar of celluloid, and snuggling his grasp as if the feel was good, jerked his capture to and fro with rapid short retractions: "You give the young lady the information she aafcs for!"

But, as I said, the cadet of brief authority, is a chieftain oif monarchic majesty, and instead of obedience, substituted m its place: "Who the are you? LemmegoT D'year?" This, assisted with a wrench, he thought woutd do. But my friend retained bis holt with the surety of a grapplying hook: "Y»>tt just give the young lady the information she asks forr

But the under graduate of railway classics remained unhumbled; the station was deserted; a quick view sweep conveyed the knowledge that appeal from thence for succour woutd be vain, but he is no hero who despaired, so he tried again: "f> ■ you, temmego. or I'll stoush yoo!" This also failed of its intent, for strained his capture never so unlike a worm, my friend's reach and grasp were of excellent design. And it was not until a fresh and dapper gather of tunic and collar of celluloid, and a renewed scries of jerks, and a snap of neck and the deadly iteration of: "You give th» young lady the information she asks for," together with, a view of the station master emerging from his den, that this victor of countless unrewarded checks surrendered ~ and complied r Later, small chattels in hand, fol-

lowed by an aged man and woman, quietly but specktessly dressed, the young lady stepped unchallenged on the platform, and coming towards us, thanked my friend for his defence. Then we saw that her face was sweet

iintl chubby, and its colour a delicate

teal ton tan. And her eyes, no longer liquid with distress, twinkled » trosfful comradeship inimitably t feasant to the view. And shifting her steps to nun, told us, as it to old tiro* t'riends, some odd ends of her long history. For instance:—She told us that they were Italians by birth; that the nged couple wire her patents, arrived here when they and the colony Hood yet on the brinks of the future, wonderingly guagins its depths;, that i.he proscect seemed fair, and trusting the world recognised fame of the Anglo .■4.1 tons' success, no matter how many f.hn initial rebuffs, they took an oath .r allegiance to its Hag, and adopting ita aspirations ideals, and language. with effluxion of time, forgot their own; that they prospered;* that here inf and two brother* wot* born, and

knowing no other, became intarwelded components of this their birthland; that her brothers married wives alien

n> the Latin, Bon, and Goth admtngle of* their ancestral kin: a blonde pink and white descendant of Viking marauders, and—with a soft little 4i£h. not of regret threat, but that her •:ht'valier, Wright, of robber baron U-si-rnfc. still rede cot of sight that

ihe meant to marry one of the elan; * that upon invitation from blood-kin I'Tosn s»eas, and because of a yearning, age inflicts upon exiles to view, or fore their sun the home marks o( their childhood, the lanes where they courted, and the church in which they were wed, she, and the old Hulk set out en that quest; that thm was their day of return, and the immediate matter in hand, to get back to their op-country farm, and celebrate thetofetber Xmas in the home founded with much economic heart and backache, and in which she first looked out upon a world not even yet H»iite familiar. As reminiscence of her travel came into perspective, she told os how proud she felt that she belonged to New Zealand when she arrived on [tali an soil, and bad to employ an interpreter to be onderstccdr That how. when they were stopped at the Italian frontier customs barrier, and it* official ordered her to be searched for contraband, she slapped his face for the unheard of outraget and how m revenge'he emptied her satchel on the table with such a force that her sacred tikis and greenstone treasures, scattered en to the floor, and when be found for these no immediate tariff provided, he reswept them into the satchel, cast it into a iafe, and bade her come again on the morrow, and in the meantime take herself out of bis sight!; how that on the morrow the tariff had nothing to my but: "Come the next day"; how thereupon she sought advice which i,lvi.:« sent Rer to His Britannic Majesty 'j Consul, who', when he beard her j;i"jecn, and where she came from, ord-;-ted tea and refreshments on a service oc juch rare delicate ware, that she t'xared to touch it; how that while she UnJ bare ber calamitous happenings.

hi- put out a casual hand and drummed his fingers on a thing at bis side which tap-tapped; and Ut f before the tea was

drunk ami the ruffled feathers rearranged in their original gloss, be- | hold, one there knocked on the door and opon invitation to enter, who should appear, bent double, *bot the braid ; bedizened cos torn* man whose face she ! had slapped, her satchel in hand, gros veiling!? assuring the excellenza of ■ his most distinguished consideration! Ob! It was great! Great, that she I belonged to a nation whose citizens were so sacred that not even an omnipotent customs official dare perform ■ his duties without rendering homage! That all these emotions and thoughts rushing upon her like a riv<*r in Hood. swept her away, to the side of the gentle greybaired symbol of a nation's world puissance, and yielding to instincts inirradkable in one generation, fcisasd him on cne check.and this -terming an incomplete tribute, kiss -d the ether: how that thereopen husked: "Tot, tut. my dear," and bfew bis nose. and repeated thro*ty "So your are a New Z<»alnader. Dot 1 enderatand yoor women were browner; and I see no carvings on ycttr chin! Ah! I see. Jest so. Italian of course! Excise an old man's mix and maundering my d?ar. I have a brother in New Zealand/* "Why. he is our neighbour, only fourteen miles away!" "But, cherie mia, you most not slap the faces of people who perform the same doty as do ours at our custom* barriers." Oh! it was great: greatest of alt when this mild token of Britannia's might, kissed me when I left and called me a "Daughter of the Flag."