HARDSHIPS OF PIONEERING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1386, 15 April 1915, Page 4

HARDSHIPS OF PIONEERING.

A'MOTHER’S AWFUL EXPERIENCE.

A writer in the Bulletin finely tells the following story of an incident in the life of one of Australia’s pioneers : “She had spent the weary night in a rough built but, 70 miles from Gladstone, Queensland. She was starving and her three babies —one yet unweaned —were alternately sleeping and crying for food. There was a handful of flour in the hut, nothing else. When supplies had run short her husband had gone into Gladstone, and should have been hack two days ago. He was still absent. In the morning she made a paste of the flour, cooked it and doled it out to the children, who cried piteously for more. That night, when sleep had overcome them, she determined that she must wait no longer for her husband : she must find bim. So at daylight, she put the few crusts that remained in a bag, and with her babes set out on the 70 mile tramp to Gladstone. Towards sundown the children collapsed from exhaustion. Next day the baby died, and was buried in a grave scratched by the almost demented mother in the bush. The rest of the journey was almost a blank to the woman. Now running, now walking, carrying the girl and dragging the boy, then carrying the boy and dragging the girl she at last reached the town and struggled to the hospital. Across a bed whereon lay her husband she fell senseless. He had met with an accident, and was still unconscious. They both recovered, and the children were nourisned back to life. The woman was my mother. The little boy was me.”