OUT OF THE PAST

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 371, 4 November 1932, Page 7

OUT OF THE PAST

OLD LADY VISITS CITY AFTER FORTY i YEARS. 1 I AMAZED AT CHANGES. Forbes, Saturday. Out of the past she came — a little I old lady in black from time that was. i Little black bonnet perched neatly j on th'in white hair; small bony hands I clasping a heavy handbag. | With sure, short steps, she made ! for a small office in the old Albiori j Building, reached it, set her bag on the footpath, and waited. The secretary of the Forbes District Hospital (Mr. W. Thomson), who occupies the office, found her there, patiently tapping her foot on the pavement. When lie/ opened the door she followed him in, and, in a small, clear voice, asked him when the coach left for Grenf ell. Mr. Thompson pointed across the road and told the little woman that the mail— a modern motor 'bus — 'left from there. Black bonnet bobbed agitatedly, bobbed upwards as its owner looked vainly for familiar signs above the door. Forty Years Ago. "But this is Cobb and Co's office, isn't it? she asked, and Mr. Thomson, more surprised than she, told her that it used to be, 40 years ago, in the days of top hats .and four-in-hands, and long whips that crackl'ed fire and-curled over leaders like spent smoke rings. "But what with the railway — " explained Mr. Thomson. Black bonnet bobbed in old-world | thanks. And J "How things have changed. You i see, I haven't been to town for over j 40 years," she said— a little old lady, who hadn't realised that all her tomorrows are yesterdays.