I ask her this, I ask her that: she says, "I mind it all."The boys and girls that Granny knew, far o"er the sea arethey,
But there"s no love like the old love, and the old worldfar away,
Her talk is all of wakes and fairs, or how, when night would fall," "Twas many a queer thing crept and came," andGranny "minds them all."
A strange, new land was this to her, and perilous, rude, and wild,Where loneliness and tears and care came to eachmother"s child,
The wilderness closed all around, grim as a prison wall;But white folk then were stout of heart-ah! Granny "minds it all."The day she first met Sullivan-she tells it all to me-How she was hardly twenty-one and he was twenty- three.
The courting days! the kissing days !-but bitter things befallThe bravest hearts that plan and dream. Old Granny "minds it all."Her wedding dress I know by heart; yes, every flounce and frill;And the little home they lived in first, with the garden onthe hill.
"Twas there her baby boy was born, and neighbourscame to call,
But none had seen a boy like Jim-and Granny "minds it all."They had their fight in those old days; but Sullivan was strong,A smart quick man at anything; "twas hard to put him wrong....
Drawn by W.S. Wemyss
"And oh, it is a merry dance."
One day they brought him from the mine (the big salt tears will fall).
" " Twas long ago, God rest his soul!" Poor Granny "mindsit all."
The first dark days of widowhood, the weary days and slow,The grim, disheartening, uphill fight, then Granny livedto know.
"The childer"-ah! they grew and grew-sound, rosy- cheeked, and tall,"The childer" still they are to her-Old Granny "minds them all."How well she loved her little brood! Oh, Granny"s heartwas brave!
She gave to them her love and faith-all that the good God gave.
They change not with the changing years, as babies just the sameShe feels for them, though some, alas! have brought her grief and shame.
The big world called them here and there, and many a mile away:
They cannot come-she cannot go-the darkness haunts the day.
And I, no flesh and blood of hers, sit here while shadowsfall-
I sit and listen-Granny talks; for Granny "minds them all."Just fancy Granny Sullivan at seventeen or so,In all the floating finery that women love to show;And oh, it is a merry dance: the fiddler"s flushed withwine,
And Granny"s partner brave and gay, and Granny"s eyesashine....
" Tis time to pause-for pause we must; we only have ourday:
Yes, by and by our dance will die; our fiddlers cease to play;And we shall seek some quiet spot, where great greyshadows fall,
And sit and wait as Granny waits; we"ll sit and "mindthem all."
- John Shaw Neilson
Author.-John Shaw Neilson was born in 1872 in South Australia and educated there and in Victoria. Ballad and Lyrical Poems (published in 1923) and New Poems (published in 1927) contain his most important work.
General Notes.-Where was Granny born? What were her first impressions of Australia? Quote passages to show that she was superstitious, that she was industrious, that she was kind, that she had known sorrow. Write in Granny"s own words an account of some past event-the voyage out, her meeting with Sullivan, the husband"s death, an old-time dance, or the like. "Minds" is an old-fashioned word Granny used for "remembers."Lesson 10
PENN AND THE kINDERGARTEN
[Penn and Hennie are penguins living in a colony or flock near the South Pole. Hundreds of baby penguins have just been hatched, and Penn and Hennie are the proud parents of twins.]
The twins grew and grew. At two weeks their little stomachs were so round that they rested on the ground. One trouble, of course, was to keep the little fellows fed. They had to get their growth before it was time to make the long journey north, and that meant eating quantities of shrimps. The time came when they really needed both parents to fish for them. But Penn felt that either himself or his wife, Hennie, must always be on guard to drive skuas from the nest. These murderous gulls were always gliding and screeching overhead, on the look out for the first fledgeling left alone.
Every family in the colony was having to face the same problem. "I have it!" said Penn. "Let"s get all the little ones together in a kindergarten. Then a few of us can stand guard over all the chicks, while the rest go fishing for them." Penn and Huff were the first to take charge of the kindergarteners. They selected a sheltered spot where a rock ledge rose ontwo sides, and there they herded the half-grown youngsters, several hundreds of them. The grey balls of down looked like shadows against the black rocks. But the skuas could see them just the same.
" Don"t run away, now !" Penn told them, when the grown-ups had left for the fishing grounds. " The skuas will get you if you don"t behave." When Hennie came back that first evening with fish for the twins, she was met by several dozen other fuzzy grey chicks, all waving their flippers and squealing to be fed. It was a wonder she knew her own two, but she did.
"Tell you what," said Penn, when he had gone supperless himself for two days. "We"ll have to teach these youngsters to catch their own meals. I think I"ll start giving them swimming lessons next week." And he set four bachelors of the colony to road-making, that the chicks might walk to the beach when the time came. There were rolling pebbles to be carried out of the way, and at one place a tangle of seaweed to be dragged to one side. Penguins are skilled at road- making.
Between meals the twins kept waving their flippers, squealing "I want to fly!-I want to fly!" The whole kinder- garten was doing the same.
"It can"t be done," a wise old bird told them again andagain. "It has been thousands and millions of years sincepenguins had need of air travel."