STRAY LEAVES FROM MY DIARY.

Southland Times, Issue 978, 1 July 1868, Page 3

STRAY LEAVES FROM MY DIARY.

By an Emighant fboh the Clyde to the Blttpp, xs May, 27, 1863. A SCENE ON DECK. This is a lovely day, all traces of sea-sickness have now disappeared, and every part of the deck is covered with a crowd oi people such_ has may be seen on a sunny day like this in any immigrant ship of the same rat*. All are joyous and in high spirits. lam now writing this, seated on the top of the jolly boat, and Irom my elevated position I have a survey, almost a bird's eye view, of the whole deck from stem to stern. On the poop parties of men and women are lounging about, while on the forecastle the young men are lying about either intent on reading, or engaged in playing cards, draughts, or dominoes. Here in one place may be observedja knot of young women knitting stockings and talking in all probability about the sweethearts they have left behind, and wondering what the " Auld folk at hame" are doing, and heaving a sigh when they call to remembrance the parting scene on the tear-dewed shore, or their mother's last yearning look of love, or the 'tones of their father's voice in " holy . ev'nin' psalm." Long may such hallowed thought* be fresh and green in the memory, : and exercise an enduring influence over their hearts and conduct. There in another part of the deck may be seen promiscuous groups of men and women, attracted together, no doubt, by their having been formerly denizens of the same village, and having the same. prospects in the lans of their adoption. Were one to overhear their conversation, he would in all/ likelihood find that it pertained to the uncos -of their native place, and that it related more to- the retrospective than to the prospective, and that the loud laugh which ever and anon salutes the ear, is elicited by reminiscences of the sayings and doings of some Leper, the tailor— singing Tarn — Wee Patie the Laird— The Minister's Maff—or mayhap the Minister himself. Away on the cabin deck are groups of children, dirty, ragged, and boisterous in their' glee, Borne pulling with all their might and main at.a rope oh the^ ship's side, and singing one of the songs with which the boatswain inspires nerve and vigor into the arms and hearts of the crew when engaged in a similar work. Others, a troop of girls, are dancing jingo ring, and singing their rhymes in admirable time and voice. It is interesting to mark the difference of the versions of the juvenile rhymes as they are sung in the games of the village green in every part of Scotland. That which they are now singing with so much life and glee is new to" me. It must be a native of the "West Country.]' It is at heart a stranger on " Bonnie Tweed side." I cannot help noting it down, believing, as I do, that everything, however puerile it may seem to many which illustrates the folklove of a country, can never be entirely devoid of interest.