SLEEPING OUT.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 440, 25 January 1890, Page 4

SLEEPING OUT.

Pale and with foo*s‘ers weary, 111 eiart and hent with age, A m in w•' h grey ocks, uncheery, stmdsi i the felon's ccge. H-a ily on his foie iead Pressed the haul han I of time, E’en of himself ahboired. Innocent though of crime. “ Ha k to the charge I’m reading, *’ Prisoner,” crieU t iec erk “ The i harge agams y" i is sleeping—- “ .Sleeping out in ti.e P irk. “Therea policeman .ouud you, * .•'lumbering an 1 a your ease, “ Nothing at all around you, “Nought but the shearing trees.” “I have no friends no indred,” The poor old man replied, “No friendiy roof, no c >ver, “ My we..r. fraun t • hide. “For work I have sou ht 'intiring, “To earn a i rust of b < a : “ itli want an . h mge o..piring, “ Nowhere to iay my head, “ None hut the earth’s cold pi low” iSobb r> ; here choked his words), “Under .ne pine and willjw, “Ilomeoi the warni-<-la < birds. “ T> ere in the early m r uiu “ I list io their g ads me .-ong, “ Law and its minions scorning, “Have they committed a wrong ? “There defiantly singing “At the first stri ax o' dawn, “On twi,, a id leaflo swinging " O er ilie Almighty’s awn ; “ Trilling a 1 day with r..pture, “Fiiiting from tree to tr. e; “ No one comes tuere to ca,.t ire " Cieaiures that God set nee. “0 ,- t h ive I lain there dreaming * A 1 through t..e silent night, “ Y\ atoning the bright stars gh anting “ A nd I lie plunge of the aerolite “ ■ own through the boundless ether, “ Da-.lied irom its loDy place—“J ouudiug ah! who knows whither?— “Quench d au-i cngulfid in space. “Once I had friends, ay many, “ CJii dn n and loving wile. “Honoured as much as any *’ Lsailing a if p lierli e. “ Wr ik d on li e’s s’ 1 r.uy billow, '* Poverty s ri k *i, a one, “No v the Cn d earth s my pillow, “Nought for oread but a s o.ie. “ False fr e id* cluster’d around me, “ Left me s r oiv anu gh o it : “Misfortune tvll’d ami tnen bound me, *• .Starvation and death my deo.n. “ If I slecii< n a door-tep, “ Hi de w.m o lure raked, “G tting ‘ ru-. in ’ a worse step, “ Po ice Otiences Act. “ Oh. is there human pity, “ oh, is th. re love divine ? “Can an> waif in the city “Envy this lot of mine? “ Charity hath rieparte “Sell has usurpe 1 hir place, “ Cur stians are s ony-m arted, “ In manim in’s foul embrace.” What Go the poor and needy Do in their wild despair ? Hungry altho’ not greedy, Musi ih -y subsist on ai< ? Is tueie no human haven Where their rai b rk may ride ? D ivtn to p ay tt.e craven, End they i i suicide. Men who are very w ei’t’iy, So-ea lad pious, hin weak, Often frequent unhealn y Dens win r ; iou. vices reek : Sleep there m ease and splendaur, Purse-proud and s cek fai meu. Breaking all ties most end'r. Safe from Policeman’s ken.

Whv should the 1 uv still trample Ay on the wretched p ior? The e’s room lor us all, yes. ample. We cannot such 'aw endure. We are without dinner, You have your midnight lark J Better! oh gilded sini e-. Better a bed in the Park. “ If I the earth encumber, " Leave me the cool, green scd, “ T iere let me calmly slumber " Under the roof o Go L •* T 1 e e w. 1 I meet unsiiriven “ T he fa e of the aerolite ; “T' nugh I he unforgiven ‘•Plunged into endless night.” The Justice then spoke kindly iA iear stood in his e.vei, “ Oal man. you must not sleep out there, “So'i'e night you wi 1 surely die. “ You’re now ischar ged wi h a caution, “ Your character <•< ars no stain, “The park, pol c >. the law shun; “ Don't you do it again.’ J. O’ Meagher. Auckland, January 20th, 1390. * The above lines were suggested oa seeing an o’d man wl o had seen bet er days charged i,t thePoliceC un wiih a night undent ireein the Albert Park. Auckl.nd. There was no record of any other eri ne against him.