UNDEE THE SNOW.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1550, 10 June 1882, Page 1 (Supplement)

UNDEE THE SNOW.

It was Christmas eve m (be jeur fourteen. And as anoient dalesmen astd io tsil. I The wildest winter they ever had Been. With ihu oaow lying deep on moor and [ fell. [ When Wagoner John got oat his team Soiiler and Waitefout, Dake and Gray. Wuh the light yp his eyes of a young man* dream. As he though of his wedding on Now Year's Day. To Bath, tbe maid with the bonnie bxown hair. And eyes of the deepest, sunniest blue, Modeat »nd winaomt and wondrous fair. And true to her troth, for her heart was true. "Thou's surely not going," shouted mine host. «< Thou'll be lost in the drift aa flare »s thoa's born. Thy lass winnot want to wed wi a ghost. And that's what thou'il be on Christmas morn. " It's eleven long mile fra Skipton toon, , To Blaeberg hoosesand Washburn dale, Thou had better tarn baok and ait thee doon, And oomf ort thy heart wi ft drop o' good ale." Tata Ihe swallows flying South, Tarn the vinsH against the bud, Herds from rivfira in tbe drought, Mon mnni dare or nothing* done. So what owes the lover (or storm or drift, Or pern of death on the haggard way, Ha sings to himself like a lark in the lift, And the joy in his heart turns Deoember to M*y. Bat the wind from the north bringi a deadly ohil), Creeping into his heart, and the drifts are , deep, Whera the thiok of the storm strikes Blueberg hill, Ho is weary and falls in a pleasant sleep. And dvsams he is walking by Washburn side, Walking with Bath on a summer's day, Singing that sofig to his bonnie bride, His own wife now for ever and aye. Now read me this riddle, how Bath should hear That song of a heart, in the olutoh of doom It stole on her ear, distant and dear, As if her lover waß in the room. And read me this riddle, how Bath should know, As she bounds to throw open the heavy door. That her lover ia lost in the drifting snow, Dying or dead on the great wild moor. " Help ! help 1 1" «« Loßt I' lost ! J" Rings through the night* as she rushes •way, Stumbling, blinded and tempest tossed, Straight to the drift where her lover lay. And Fwift they leap after her into the night, Into the drifts by Blaeberg hill, Pallan, Ward, Babin^on, ea,oa with his Hghi To find her there, holding him, white and still. " He Was dead ia the drift then," I hear them say. As I listen in wonder, Forgetting to play, Fifty years syne xiomo Christmas Day. ••Nay, nay, they were wed," the dalesman oried, By Parson Garmalt 6' New Year's Diy, j "Bonßia Buih were me great-greatgrand-slre's bride, And Maistee Frankland g»va hex away." •'Bafe how did she fiad him under the snow ?" They oried with a laughter, touohed with tears. i " Nay, lads, 11 he said softly, «we never can know, No, not if we live a hundred years." There's a eight o* things gan To the making o* mat). Then I rushed to my play With a whoop »nd away, Fifty years syne come Christmas Day.

A Match Oatjsed by a Shoe. — A fashionable shoemaker tells » pretty little story that reeds well even though it may be a ounningly davised lie. His work is exclusively in ladies' foot-wear, and to an inquisitive reporter he said :~-"L«Bt year I made a pair of shoes for a lady who had as pretty feet as were ever fashioned. It waa a pleasure for me to make the shoes, and when they were finished I pat them in the show-window in a very eonipicuous place, where I oould view them at my leisure. Pretty soon a nioolydieised gentleman stopped and began view* ing, them very attentively, presently he entered the store and inquired if they were for sale. I told him. no, that they, ware made for one ol my customers. He looked surprised, and asked the, ladj 1 * nan§f, < I would not give him Ihix muok wtisjaeti'' ibu* told hinj wlww rtlßUM^he-^,™, t iwai oonMdewWi «wwwd .*- ..^'JL, ?3SBff l^'itfll,i*M*«fc lady.woomi TTT/^ # * he gwtleman, oalled •* tht >tore .vim months latai. 'fih« called?lum a««vi then^so I grt«iMbfywert»nni»a."--^f«"