"THE LAST OF THE TWENTY. EIGHT."

Shannon News, 13 March 1925, Page 4

"THE LAST OF THE TWENTY. EIGHT."

:— ■> ALL BLACKS IN VERSE. The following verses wero writtea by the Hon. W. Pembei Beeves and were read by him at a meeting of the Loving Cup Presentation Committee at the High Commissioner's office on the evening of January 3rd. It was also read at the Cup Presentation Ceremony the following weok, and copies were printed to give to the members of th« team and to other Now Zealanders wl terested. The verses were written at I night after the test match betweon New Zealand and England at Twickenham: — Thirty-five years on tire march have swung Since I could try to play, Yet one old fellow to-day grew young. I was a boy to-day. Shouting at scrimmages stark and stern, Cheering the triumph great Of the sinewy sons of the Silver Fern In the Ltp' of the Twenty-eight. Seven and twenty victories won! Week upon week came tales Of Ireland beaten, the North o'er-run, Victories four in Wales. Deaf to >the music of Swansea's song They had settled the ancient debt, And stars thrice nine in a shining throng Wanted but one star yet.

Nothing else mattered - at all wo thought. Talk of the past grew tame. Conquered provinces counted lought In the face of that last grim game. Twenty-seven, with that not won Left Victory's crown to fate, Ah, All-but-one! appeared almost none In the pause before Twenty-eight. They had known bad moments; the cocflest "Black" Feels a quiver, felt—gone again— When an Irish pack with a gale at its back Comes rushing in Irish rain, When Oxford fliers whose feet have wings* I Prove slippery triers bold, Or Cambridge Blues, when the wet mud clings, Are desperate lads to hold. 'Twas a bath o£ misery, all allow, When the hurricane loosed its breath, And the storm above and the slime below Were mingled on black Blackheath; But the tightest corner of corners tight Came after the word of fate Left fourteen fighteen a fifteen's fight In the tussle for Twenty-eight. Kia Toa! young forwards tall, Now let the Fern Leaf shine! Fight and fall not —until you fall , Over the English line. Kia Toa, New Zealand! See, Nepia guards the gate; A rock and house of defence is he, A tino tangata great. "A fine machine" —so the scribes repeat. "Machine!" but when all is said The All Black plays with his hands and feet, But the All Black wins with his head. Thews and sinews and brawn to boot Had in that hour been vain Had not dexterous hand and outspreading foot Been tools of the guiding brain. The lusty men of thie English line, Were they troubled about the past? Did they waste a thought on our three times nine, Or easily yield the last? No! Goals were registered, lines were crossed, But still as their race doth use They played like men who had never lost, And never would stoop to lose.

So from two ends of an Empire met, Stocks of tire self-same brand. All Blacks, All White, they were twain, but yet Sons of one brave, old land. Shell laugh—" Good lads!" when, as seasons turn, Our sons to their sons relate How the jersey Black and the famous Fern Won through unto Twenty-eight. Weave them a crown, for they gained it there • Winning achievement's aim Twine them a wreath of the fern they wear, Famed, since they gave it fame. For the forest leaves that our champions earn Tell best of the glory great Of the conquering sons of the Suvef Fern And the last of the Twenty-eight. "WHAT'S MINE IS YOURS."

—Shakespeare, At all seasons of the year, young and old alike are subject to colds and influenza. Be armed against these maladies with Baxter’s Lung Preserver. A real, ridh. soothing specific is "Baxter’s,” and a sport course quickly roots out the most annoying cough, cold or other bronchial affection. In addition ‘‘Baxter’s" Js a splendid tonic—builds you up after illness, enriches the blood.