LITTLE FOOTPRINTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 35, 4 May 1927, Page 14

LITTLE FOOTPRINTS

The path across the arable field was covered with a design of birds’ feet. The reversed broad arrow of the foreclaws and the straight line of the hinder claw, trailed all over it in curving lines. In the dry dust their feet were marked -as clearly as a seal on wax—their trails wound this way and that and crossed as their quick eyes had led them to turn to find something. For fifty or sixty yards the path was worked with an inextricable design; it was a pity to step on it and blot out the traces of those little feet. Their hearts so happy, their eyes so observant, the earth so bountiful to them with its supply of food, and the late warmth of the autumn sun lighting up their life. They know and feel the different loveliness of the seasons as much as we do. Everyone must have noticed their joyousness in spring; they are quiet, but so very, very busy in the height of summer; as autumn comes on they obviously delight in the occasional hours of warmth. The marks of their little feet are almost sacred —a joyous life has been there—do not obliterate it. It is so delightful to know that something is happy. RICHARD JEFFERIES. OLD MOTHERS I love old mothers—mothers with white hair, And kindly eyes, and lips grown softly sweet, With murmured blessings over sleeping babes. There is something in their quiet grace That speaks the calm of Sabbath afternoons; A knowledge in their deep, unfaltering eyes That far outreaches all philosophy. Time, with caressing touch, about them weaves The silver-threaded fairy shawl of age, While all the echoes of forgotten songs Seem joined to lend a sweetness to their speech, Old mothers! —as they pass with slowtimed step, Their trembling hands cling gently to youth’s strength; Sweet mothers! —as they pass, one sees again Old garden-walks, old roses, and old loves. —C. ROSS. A great city is that which has the greatest men and women, if it be but a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the world.