Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-09-17

tifU1 Flowers and Ie;rls-TI1c Tragedy Of
'eTIe Terraces'-A Country Full OF Food
For Artists and Scientists.
Copyright, Louis K1opsch, 1891
CHRIsTCHURCH, New Zealand, July
31.--ExcelIent and superb as are the
women of New Zealaud more good
women are needed here. In most places
where I have lived or travelled women
| are in blessed majority, and it seems
that the Lord likes them better than
men, because he has made more of them.
There is in most places q surplus Of
good womanhood, and they therefore do
not get full appreciation. But New
Zealand is an exception. In this colony
there are so, 600 less women than men.
This viii by circumstances be adjusted.
There ought certainly to be as many
women as men in every land, for every
man is entitled TO o good wife, and
every woman is entitled to q good hus-
band. The difficulty is that war and
rum kill SO many men that the man in
tended for the WOman's lifetime part
nership is apt to lie in the soldiers
grave trench or in the drunllard's ditch.
In the paradisaical and perfect state
for there was one of each kind. The
women in New Zealand have already
done well, for while in the United
States and Europe the women are dis
cussing in parlors and on the platforms
how they shall get their rights at the
ballot box that castle has already been
stor1ned and taken by the women here.
After awhile the brave sisterhoods IL
the United States and Great Britain
viii band together, and from the crowd
ed parloTs where SO many langUish IL
hamilton and inoccupation they viii
make @ crusade to these parts Of the
earth. where their presence would be
hailed and their opportunities aug
mented.
The theory that men must go into new
countries alone and establish themselves
III mines, in mechanism or merchandise
and then send for their families to join
them is an overdOne theory. The wives
and daughters and sisters had better
come along with their husbands, IA
theirs and brothers. Instead Of their being
Q surplus Of men in the colonies, there
ought 20 be q surplus Of women out Cf
which to get the supply OF maiden aults
those guardian angels Of the cOnmJ-
nifty who are at home in tho whole cir
Gle Of kindred, the confdant Of the
young, and the comfort Of the old, and
tho benediotion Of al.
Not only IS there room in New ZCa--
land for moro coed wOmanhoCd, but
there is room for moro artists and natu-
raliSta.
Here arc mountains 9, coo, 10000,
ECHo oco TO take their photographs, and
while most Of the mountains Of tbs
earth stand atOlid and statucsQue and
without varieties CT posture Some Of
these change their shape and altitude
under volcanic suggestion, IS the man
in the Photographic gallery at tho artist 5
suggestion changes from side face 20
full face or from Ir0wn to smile, and
onC day 2 mountain turns clear round,
O. from standing posture SIS down
with heavy plunge, OF q CZCT-ce opens
botwcon the checks Of the hiIl--a wide
open mouth. full Of laughter or threat
Tho changes in the mountain ranges
arc enough to set g ceoI0gis5 wild
With interest or send him running
up and down these attitudes with crow
bar to dig, Or hammer to strike, or tape
line to measure. On @ night il june
1886, the mountains Of [-5ravc-a and /
ROtCmahana, New Zealand, Id & grand .
TrOlic- Tor many years tourists had gone /
20 visit the terraces, F" IS they were I
callcd--arc5e-t forms Of Volcanic oruD- /
ti0u.
There wero stairs Of pictured stones, /
step above step Ct pumice and lava, /
reaching from earth toward heaven, but /
some Ct tho steps Of the stairs so and /
100 feet high-ECt so much . Jacobs I
ladder IS al C1nnip0tent stairway, up I
and down which walked all the splen- /
dOrs and majesties and grandeurs and +
radiances of day and night and sunshine +
and tempest, Of summer and winter, Of /
decades and centuries and ages. These +
steps seemed to be made out Of pearls,
pLisms, petrifed hyaciDth, lily and VIC
let and al laid out as with q divine
geometry. Such curve, such bosses Of
eZquisiteness, such ascents and dcscents,
baWildeTing with almost supernatural
glCrios. Masonry sTno0thCd by invisible
trOWelg, walls regulated by invisible
plumb lines, colors put on by invisible
pencils, sculpture cut by invisible CHS
els On the night Of June 8, 1886, the
moon was passing into the second quar-
ter when, 10 minutes after 2 O'Clock, the
earth shook and mountains eruDted
Standing 10, 10, Il miles off the people
felt the shock and saw the ascent of the
steam column and the redhot rocks and
the volcanic ash and scoria. and the
smoke, looking like q vast pine tree, ao-
cording to the statements of the poetic,
but like an umbrella Or mushroom, &C
Cording to the description Of the rustic.
Those who lived near the base Of the
hills did not survive to tell the tale Of