A STUDYIN GREYAND BROWN. ' '

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 85

A STUDY IN GREY AND - BROWN. ' '

- 5 _ ", :,P T J^™ J^ACJtAT;' , '\ „, ■ There is a hazy shimmering hush" upon, the hills— a New Year hush,, as if Nature, ' too, -.were' bending her brow -,'over giant good reoplvea, "the -puny'! "shadows of ■ which are a-stir in mortal minds day. ; But^ what , a child's, fantasy is , that, "after WKai are .our^ipe-tty, , January ,jmiles£qnes jtpi ■ the-"ibro'wn-eyfd^J}gferia %^ 6f-^ the Canterbury hills? , Eons are a' morn-" Ang. ,to . .her. It is -nothing to say ; ' ihat that green baby" treey -eternally ",ySung and' little "a-s "the-child; 'apgieT A tha^"goeib:' lame and lovely" in the company of ador- , ing saraphim, clung there in its,, 'mother-, "cujp, of "jaytjli'amdijg the, ipefss ?y ften 'vCap-" tain',Cd6R"fir^ 'anchored' under the-wlii,te blnflis of Poverty Bay ; that its fall" sister -in the forked, gully,. -was 4eaf for leaf the same -when- <Tasmain t hoisted rsaihfroiri'lne Bay of Murderers. '-It is nothing for' the' .dreams of --"this- brown, Eg'eria go back to -.the 'most -primeval of x all-prniie-val sileiices, • the^'mpst to ite" the ' home "of man" in after days. Star and wind <and mist—these were »tlie ~ enduring -Nnmas to whom her- secret -wis- .' age' after? age* their secxef s» ■ j|po/ were <■ whispered^, to "xher'"; in" 1 mystic nights and diamo"nd-shining days. It is not a 1 Tempe or 'a Vallombrasi; -ths wild,- Canterbury '■ gorge, _ ""where ' I thei"u'nchahgirig )ciiits down, froml pyramid peak , fo' winding" l 'river-bed' p-iincbanging, untinted,- jsav^ whefe.. the ;. wind-ribbed v£rack«\ojt -the nor'-weslier layst -open theVyellpw heaxt „of • tusgock.r -, ;-To i a.*Europeaji-;'eye .there -^is some- * thing tigerish' • .in ithe > - brown r! gorg4, - staring with- unwinking' " eyes"\ at " th|e" noonday ' sun ; something -like giant, lwolftoeth,,, snarling to the a death,;' are ,, r th'<Ke>; chalky breaks, ' low Jover s the Tiver, ■ where tussock refuses lo grow. "It is .heat's "own j. native, colour— not the^ vital,,*red oimap.—-. . that "wraps .all- jthe .great cleft, below, and all i tjie,jmai!y sisterhood,'- of womanbreasted -cones' "thatHconverge about" it in fellowship. j-•j -• An- abomination'- of f "de^lSti&ff>'3'tnet«s'traVger > ,^Wut^ to 'ttie native-botn^'the"^ V^rx-'^br^ath; "off K&^F life- stinging". with the goodly" salt" of solitude, and, subtle ,with, the" returning spell ' ofr.tfe^vi'sk,* .^3o? l?tt]e, l"we vjhaye ; been,, .those" ' thronging - gnatbitten days - on ' the'unquiet ,plain ! so little that- the ancient joy U>f - the ■ great*-* Amazonian . hills hurts like the 'first 'kiss '<of tbe^&me that^drawfi out the "tiny 1 "soul 1 of the moth into "its "pitiless glorious self. ,-Tfie b^own 'Egeria; "of the mountains. rockea us in her strong' arms, sang us her wild fldocL-songs in t the night, gave-us^her brown .benison .of unfearing honesty, and steadfast , faith ;. she calls back her own, and welcome — but how^- Give us again.- the;* brown benison and build' us' up a' little' 'before, we -go?, - - As ■ we" sta-nd on" the'edge "of^tKe /gorge we see four ' tiers of „' hills rising " front 'the -gray~ shingle' b,elow. ',- The warm "brown of the neai-'rarige'/bplds ..us" -wifch \a' friend's "grip,, where "all - the ,unc6-uthisesses, ,-of -familiarity are-...kept.-from" cpndemnation.be-, cause of our, friend's iopennesa^jidf^upward- • «ness" and .pathetic. trustvHr-.us? - Close-be-hind vises a tier 'indeterminate,- too brown for grey,., too grey for brown, the very soul-colour' of that "humanity we see and 'touch not m' the maßket-place^-not/'Treadl-ing colour into it because'of "our own "defective humanity,. And yonder, is the true grey tier, high, insistent, yet futile, of humanity in the ruck and afar ; the

' humanity of- whose ' death by . mine and -.flood-. and-* fire we- read "cold-eyed every i morning. But, ali! last of all, beh'incl I all and above all, rise the"blue "immortals J who, , living -oj jdead, .are ,\yith, us always. jDeep, flower-hV^tld "bljieji heaVenly biue^ with here Aand there of , gathered into ilie .pijjmpiaii 7£old^of/;<th« , majotle. l '" If'^wet could Tfeut .-burqi'tbe-- pic r " -tqi-e jin^p jj)s vefy-i-bKiin-itots-ikeep^'fol- • ever! Alw"ays there'is^a forgottenrgrace 1 ,! - an> ••undreamed' "of : cpaeenliness, • 'an jexpan T ' 'sivlness\here, 'an oonian shadow' l tliere • -that memory- has 1 tricked ' us- of ' tilt 4 now. JBiit after "jail ~ iti.'Ss the ' shfeer^ferown "flcings 'and;' the cool v4 deep grjey. "of, , the ,riy.er-be"4.. th,at^ Eojd,^s.-"fii;st\aii'd.',la.sfc to- ! ; -[The\aniroo J rtal9[jii : e.f with, usf always in- pictufe, t lh dreanis e.\?pn"inndjm earthly sight. y 'i -' -But* -these '.v n tinted ' wastes -^rhere. •the sheep cry and 'the seagull builds\her ",neel - and ; the-. brow A-' Sibyl ' rbroods b : ver, the iiatiye-born, .and^'^othing io. any other ; on , Th^re js <I ':a-jcurions,.jpy >I >.in.*the factotba^there ,a^e/»aj,tho.usaii4ysuoh t^de tem,^les^ r pf , t-be iEgeri^fcinHGahlerbury, and not one /glorified , by pen or -brush/ though - eacn^a shrine at least to "one:. -'Sucli^oy. isi,i^ t tTiSt*Eove|' liWe^Pride, bfings oiit'M&f desolatiopt^^s . Slopes*' 5 $xe\v wa,ter" from- "the- \rock ! "The^ loved' jone' is t puifg 'by ' 'a a -jthpusaoid^ po^ts,..,. limned- by " every,- pain tef^hand-?-:— well ! The J ldy^d one ,isl!pfnlsnown, "uxjsung, to .the bL^.dtif.worldi?-t-d3etter-- stitltl- 3?hg,i solemn « sEgyptafetnv 'speli'd of - 'the sUntßfttlwa^' ''rt'ast^ .is tuts, and ours only . Afad yfet' we 1 know the same heimweh of -wordless ' passion must have siirged in stt\-age N r hearts ' before Our race ' set foot* "in the ■ dreaming- brownland. " _ , . »It-has been died for, thfcugh I' know- not*when, 'Jt lias been sung of, though! : I 'know not .' . where. , si Now. we "are down at the river, and 1 all^ the world has vanished .behind the 'sh'eeirTvallsiof living* tussock. ,"How good is the milky strand, this". side, the, iv.ater, 'where the _pun ha« picked out 1 every grey 'stone in white below fbe old - flood-maik, and mint mixes^ with the familiar scent 6i rthet- sedges, 'and' -'the 'snowgrass .bends 'her -keen thin blades' outward" to - 'the 'patched \.eEingle: Fh& 'gloi ; y"ot-the year has ' passed ahfeady, with' -the^. withered "bloojh. of t^A ti'^tree"' iiid the -. quibk-f alien of^nianujia," W^- there" are op,aniar.d^ o^n ,the hill, worth!, lo've Jn^their "golden >ba.by-hood, ,if\ little desired 'in'ttheir jicTuel^-prime. * !♦?< And-vyonder; "*: bdiind ■ . the yrazort ridge <' that *- runs oblique' -to • the 'of'-the^'hiU-t^pj.-.-are'r karaka •and broadleaf, -green^in all'"but-" J everlast-. fijg ' shadow. # .Naiiire ' is "slow "and , stJdadJf ast here ;^'_ spring and ' suifimer do , not beguile herj wreck is undreamed of, ."fire ..only renews,.- hey , brown prime. If you would see stability, truth,, faith transmuted* into Nature's shape, seek your "■southerns ßaalbec- among the -unchanging -Canterbury -Kills. -~? r '< "^ -*}>-** <i -f'^-_ •"•'"How the grey^ riverbed o softens 'the stern sentinel peaks that are yet hot so sheer 'but . that-, "sons^ ;[p'- nie^" • conquer s their «y ? M^H s " Msfc !4«fflft '<&Xw » wr-^ ang 1 - I mSrning4,-«.B.p i »,i the, iwateß^cjiaßges, ,here- wandering shallow 'and; grey dyer the grey ,spit, yonder, lying blue as*., turquoise xunder ithe'-y^ultedihillvaodrhere, .surging thickly arf deep^'ovefi'^hiddfeS.' -bbulders, it is the oily green of * -",But t^ereis- no".'madn'esß^;in, f the eyesAof ,the '\Gi4eh jKasj£-of fyfj^W^Wi firi & th and 'oleair sight and long thoughts. * ■v -- : -, wilderness has its flower-cycle «is>o ;».though:^th,e -honeyed .jcijeam, of^<the tr^fcree'trnoßWßrtt* isjsdryjfandjfstiff Z already,' the silver " feather the~ young "toi-toi has burst its crescent sheath, "and follows tfte liiyer' iri^'a. glistening trail., -And tiny 'green plats of luscious river-growth ; while the burning ned-brown staff of th© ikoraci.>irisesr,wi?a / r J d-like" out,_.ol : "the flax, a«%terh> Hly.)oft)fiße-.sajid >judgment. c^,>.i Good it^is'toilie anoWatch theteky^all but- meeting the vast- peaked walls ■on eitKer- ' side?— we lying-, on /the lowest, : fealmest'^loor" of tW^world", itoo low for rstriyjn^/ grieving'; "-#?/ fearing:^ ;;"Thpte, /am'.lJow/enough?". .wails dying <f Queen Mary> from, the," cold oaken., floor .of .her ; palace!;' a .true touch,, .for weariness craves i ever to be low and-to. feel the,J>hnd. soft heftrt-beats'! of the- earth.- '- _■ ;-. ■* (( ~ • ' What^is'this? A' soft grey 'wing of cloud from the sea is brushing- through Hhe y gorge ; the*"sun is gone ;,- the .hying soul in tJie , wind-waved tussock ,w;akes, cool i and alert as" a night-bird, to. meet thei grey' and .'gracious mist. Ai .The,bro.^n 'EeeTia 'is' 1 crowned' -with .tne.'>.wreathing silver that she loves, - the' • diaphanous silver that is life and lightness, not care .and heaviness':- And that suits- Tier well, s for 'it ' 2fc'lWt>i3>i«h ;; s soulf jftter)*™ ' , «™ c best the wonder" and the healing of the "mist, as- it drops upon overwrought mortal mind =to ihide 4t; from the intensity ,pf light* forbidden. •** ' -' '^~ ."•«*, Good was the untremulous splendour of the, noondav^sun ; ' good was'- the waaxior £%vA '&&* l'vm i ",bui, sweeter ;y,et is,, the mother^lding grey, . the , ,doye-winged,mist-that covers all at the,.vesper hourl TheC brown benison -was- good, but the grey • benison is "oest. -~ - RHEUMO CUBES A" WELL-KNOWN :.- \!' :, " PATEA RESIDENT.- 7 f -' Bead what Mr J. Atkin,ihe',well-knowt 1 stevedore, Norfolk street, Patea, writes :— > "-■"--. - //"August- 1, 1907,.'. "' "'For a lorn? time. I -suffered from Lumbapo'. "I tried liiiimenits"o'f different >tands, and doctor's, prescriptions, but *ould' get ino belief? .It. wa£ 4 tßr*tt 1 re t fo ( r me'-*^'-#farki ' Th« double. 'Ohe^dey*- I'Vwas 1 in'^Boyle and Jones's store, and -was "asked if I had tried Biheumo.' -I 'am' very thankful thaVl'did.{ -Theexperience'-.^'had was .a change 'i torn. "agony to 'great ease: Uatil-I'todle-Bheumb-I- could not get any thing to touch -my complain*.—J. ATB3N.." " - All stores and chemists sell Bheumo at 2s 6d and 4s od. '

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