July 1957 School Magazine

July, 1957

Brisbane Girls~ Grammar School Magazine

Brisbane Girls~ Grammar School Magazine

July, 1957

THE INTRUSION

easy enough to start the day with a sharp gallop of half a mile or so!

The silent shadows of the fore st melt to thinnest blue, And meet the white of mists winding lower through the trees; Slow sways th' indolent branch that resentful bears The sleepless squirrel, excited with his winter store. Which in the cosy hole in darkness keeps. Not far beyond the broad and lonely stream, On which a leafy pageant bends its way towards the pass, Sobered in its pomp, saddened with the death of day, There-sudden walls of rock force the seething mists to rise; Halt the eager forest, which in the fruitful hours of morn Is goaded onward by the waters of the stream and fallen dew. Three rocky ledges higher than the mountain's dauntless base , A host of ghostly boulders guards the long-forgotten cave; Slow stabbed by silent darkness and long lost in wreathing Dain, The tangled vine still fai thful kept the secrets of the Man; · Still kept the murky den from the icy blast of wind; Still kept the very Hunter's dust beside his carven tool. But once the struggling vine is slashed and careless thrown aside , When the balking boulders crash below to blast the fleeing stream, And then the foot of modern man has paced the cluttered floor, The magic dust and mystery of Ancient Time is blown Across the valley, through the trees, to pierce that morning's mist Upon the quickened, eager breath of Nature's born intruder, Whose excited footfall, damped with dust, yet tells of the intrus ion; The cave is thrown open, and the stifled soul has fled. -WENDY POPE, VI A, ON RISING EARLY IN THE COUNTRY To many people, mostly city dwellers, the thought of an -early rising on a dairy farm would suggest several things- the sight of a glorious sunrise, the scent of the fresh, cold air and the s·ounds of the bush birds and animals. . No doubt all these, and many more wonderful things do exist, but one must be practical and it is for this reason that I choose to illustrate how I began the day during the recent .school holidays . The day usually began about 3.20 a.m. when either a sixth sense or Dad told me it was time "to rise and shine." Because the mornings· were very cold I frequentl y put on as much clothing as I could possibly find, even at the ·expense of my walking capabilities. The intelligence of a pony should never be underestimated -and my pony is, unfortunately for both of us, particularly intelligent in the early morning. Therefore, it often took me some time to find, catch and saddle her. However, we all have our crosses to bear and I usually managed to set out at a reasonable time. If not? Well, it was· 28

At this time of the morning most cows were busily taking advantage of the advancing daylight to snatch a hasty snack before the milking; but there are always a few exceptions, and as far as I was concerned, the fewer cows who found refuge in the lank, brown gras·s and undergrowth, the worse it was for me. Nevertheless, it did not take long to get them under way and all I had to do then, was to trail along behind them, prodding the slow-coaches. This was the most irritating part of the whole undertaking because the tedium and especially the dust were just inde- scribable. When the bails (only thos·e who do not work there, call this place a milking shed!) were at last reached the cows would generally decide that they had walked far enough and would stop short, fifty yards or so from the goal. The only way to budge was by using the stock whip;:: but, as this method only made them arrive at the double enveloped in a great cloud of red dust, it wasn't really worth it on two counts. At this point I never failed to be very short of both words and temper till, vowing that I would never do it again and that to-morrow Dad could "jolly well get the silly old cows himself," I retired to the house and a good strong cup of 'coffee or sometimes even to bed. And still people say, "Qh, I just love getting up early in the country !" - SUSAN PECHEY, IV B. Also, by this time the sun had risen and more often than not, I found myself with far too much clothing on.

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