SELECTED POETRY.

Southland Times, Issue 963, 5 June 1868, Page 3

SELECTED POETRY.

THE PRO3PECTOR. Along the mountain pathway, across the Alpine steep, Through scrub, and gloomy forest, and rugged gorges bleak j Onward, earnest, onward, in heat, in rain, in oold, Patient, and enduring, he roams in search of gold. Hoping fondly ever, sanguine day by day, Braving hardships often, he plods his toilsome way. His bed the withered fern leaves, 'neath tent or frail " mi-mi :" Alone with God and nature — no human being nigh. His " blaze" upon the gum tree far in the bush is seen; His "prospect-hole" is met with on almost every stream. Where torrents foam and tumble down ravines deep and dark, You'll trace the digger's footsteps, you'll see the digger's mark. Here a worn out " sluice trough" with its "paddle* I thrown away, Or remnants of an old log hut now going to decay' Or " dam," or " race," or "tailings," or mounds of peaty mould, Tell plainly where his claim has been, where he has sought for gold. He gathers it in particles, yet see how great and strong His findings make Victoria the nations' rank j among j ' Ho pleads the way for others who clear and till the land ; And where there was a wilderness a town is seen to stand, | There surely is a Providence whose guiding hand is seen Thus daily working out a plan — a vast and mighty scheme ; Thus giving homes to thousands, and food, and ease, and wealth, In this land of boundless riches, fertility and health. 1 O. Gipps Land, Ist May, 1868.