The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-06-25
manitowof pilot.
BURIAL OF A" sUNOOWNER."
An Incident of the Dry Season In Aus
tralia.

An Incident OF the Dry Season In Aus
tralia.
A traveller draws near station
homestead His feeble horse pulls it
self together for another effort, and
whinnies as from the homestead he
sees solitary bromide in paddock
Just ahead. At the right hand Is
water-tank-a great mole dug in the
ground-fiIed eighteen months ago
bv rain. Hundreds of sheep lie dead
and diving round it, and thousands
stencil the plains. The sheep have
either died in reaching the tank, or.
getting to it. have plunged in, and
have then pershed. too weak TO get
up the bank again. Phalanxes of
stated crows stand in line upon the
bank. n black and menaciug barricade,
and kites and magpies hover overhead.
The traveller has passed empty wells,
and has shuddered at the tales told
him in some shepherds hut where he
sought shelter. He nears the home
stead; he dismounts and enters the
garden, kept alive by n woman's hand
till water ran low; then she f0rsook it
sadly, this one touch OF her past now
withered and dead Is there no one
here? Is it, too. scene of tragedy.
with human victims? No; and Yet
tragedy. too. To sharp "Coo-e-e."
there comes an answering call. and
the manager appears at the door, Il
bearded, gruff, but kindly soul. and
over his shoulder peers the face OF
woman, sad and drawn. The great
exhaust pipes of nature in that burn
inp land soon take the bloom from the
check and the light from the eye. A
shake of the hand, my word" of
apostrophic welcome. and the trav
cier says, How goes the unlucky
game9'
With a swift sigh of relief aud a sud-
den uplifting of the arms. comes the
reply: The last lamb is dead. Thank
God. that's off my mnd!' And then
he said, Come out and see how things
look Outside he added: 1--WE were
Just going to plant Sundowner when
Won coo-e-ed. Didn't want 10 say any
thing about it before the missus."
Then he told the oft-repeated record
of wanderer creeping to the very
threshold and safety and then dying,
his hand upon the gate of that little
withered garden.
By the grave they stand, the man
ager with Bible in his hand. Book
rarely used by him, perhaps, but rev.
erenced after his fashion, and ncces-
sary now He wishes the traveller TO
'.do it over the cold 'un," but the trav-
elcr declines. With coarse fingers
laundering through the leaves in an
uncertain kind of way. the manager
began to read at random from Eccle-
siastcs. A half-dozen verses grutily
fall. and then the words come:
For what hath man of all his labor. and of
the vcXatiOn of his heart, wherein lie hath
For ALI his days SORROWS. and his ira
vail grief; Yea, his heart tnkcth not rest in
the night Ibis is also vanity"
Then he closed the Book and said
well, he was 4 goner aforc he was Il
conner. and | don't know rs there's
need TO pitch Il long yarn. He hadn't
much for his labor under the sun. and
II hot sun it is up here ut 110o in the
shade. lie came il long way over the
country rock. He hadn't d;op in his
water bottle, nor Il bit of damper in
his sway. He'd got his fingers on the
slip rails and was within coO-e-e OF
drink and tucker. when he went out
Sudden to the Nevcr-never Land. and
went it alone. He couldn't have had
much vanity. not with them features
bat, my word! the Lord knows al
about that | hope if he gets as neal
TO the homestead gate up there rs he
did down here last night, though he
isn't very fit. one of the hands will see
him and open it, and let him in, even
if it has to he on the sly. 1t was al
night he got here. and in the morning
we found him; its at night we cover
him, aud rest or 10 rest. he'll not have
to work in the morning. There isn't
place that's hotter than here. and
this one amt sent To that quGa fol
punishment. Let him down easy and
slow. Drop in his Shiralee
aud water bag by him. That's
right. Seattle" some sandal leaves
over his face. Now scrape
in the country sand. The
dingoes cau't touch him there.
What's that you've put on the board,
jim? a Sundowner: Gone And
God forgive him wherever he's gone.
In the midst of life we are
in death Amen And another of
several such tragedies that the tray
elcr saw was hidden away Il namcless
refugee of misfortune in namelcsS
grave 81 GiibcH Pu&-r, IN Harper $
UeeLiy