WANTED-A NURSE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 290, 6 July 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

WANTED-A NURSE.

(By JACK VINCENT.) I am here all alone on the section, The wife is away lor a trip, And the demon of morbid dejection Has mo in his dolorous grip. For the whole situation's corroding, My nerves they are all on the rack; My mind's full of dismal foreboding— I wisu the old woman was back. My old lady lias only turned twenty, We're married a twelvemonth to day; Of trouble and 'toil we've had plenty, Bough living, and very poor pay. But we're over the worst of the battle, Though life's still a little bit tough, Still we get a few pounds from the cattleGod knows it i.s little enough. Though we're none of Society's darlings, Nor minions of r ash ion and wealth, Wc aro happy as two nesting starlings, With grit and ambition and health. But the time must come, sooner or later, Out hero in the far-away back. When the girl-wife must visit ''the mater" In search of the skill that we lack. For with never a nurse within hailing, No doctor for many a mile, There is many a poor mother ailing Who only can suffer and smiLe. Though all bush folk arj homely and kindly, Nor given such duties to shirk, Still, tliey render their services blindly In'doing a medico's work. We can take out a man on a stretcher. By taking our turns in relays. But ' r * "she" wants a nurse we must fetch her, Which melius perhaps two or three days. An old broken-down pack horse bestriding, Through road, that are rivers of mud, With a man at her bridic-rem guiding Through creeks that are swollen with flood. But we cannot all live in the citifs; The strong must make room for the weak; But I tllink "' s ;l thousand ol I'""'* That they v. ho their livelihood seek On ih . confines ol civilisation, Where danger and liaidship await. On the fringe of a generous nation, Should c'iv be redu. Ed to such strai.s. And that's why I'm sitting here grousing, And watching the dreary bmh track; "lis enough to set any nmn routing I wish that poor Nile was back !