The Washington bee., 1899-07-29
A HALlOWED GRAVE
Kind Sir, Horse Is Dead and
Buried

! In the garden Of house at Riccar-
| ton. New Zealand, there lies a tomb
stone, sacred to the memory of Kind
/ Sir, and visible to passengers on the
road 1t is white and the lettering is
carved into the stoEe, while among the
.acing stables that have sprung up in
| The neighborhOod within the last few
gears the resting place of Kind Sir is
4 hallowed sanctuary.
There is an element of tragedy in the
romance which is connected with the
SPOT. but the years have dimmed it.
.eaying only as the visible sign this
white marble. Sacred to the memory
Of Kind Sir" 1t has beensso long there
that an inn on the other side of the
RiCcarton road is designated the Cor
1erstOne. and from an iron bar, swung
n the northwest wind, which sweeps
The white dust of the road in sheets
before it. is suspended a painting of
the stone and its inscription.
The story is the story of mans love
for a woman. a dainty Lucy with fair
lair and pale-blue eyes. and an even
greater love for his horse. 1t was in
he early days. and settler had given
his horse TO the woman who had given
him her love. The mans affection for
the horse is still local history, and the
1umb faithfulness Of Kind Sir is told
with tear-dimmed eyes by the groOms
and hOrSemen who go TO gaze upon
he stone. There is nothing which
touches the heart of a horseman so
readily as his horse. and the love of
t,IiS animal and this man was passi0'r.
ate end human. The man owned a Sec
ton of land beyond the province, and
IseG to ride to Riccarton to meet his
5etrothed. He was working TO clear
the place, preparatory to starting a
farm, small holding upon such as in
the early days welded folks were
proud to start.
One day the Maoris swept the settle
niert. and the lover escaped with Kind
Sir TO the township. Ruined and home
Les Lis two possessions were his horse
and lis love for the woman at Riccar-
LoI'. Buoyed up by the love with which
a woman's love can inspire a man, he
staI tee out again, striking north to the
gnllleS in the mountains in the Sc lrc.
for gold. while. as an earnest of his
love. be gave his horse, an animal
which he loved as largely as he loved
the woman, into her keeping. For a
tine no one saw him; then, in the pas
sage of a year or two. he came back.
harIuS crossed the ranges u thu west
Coast in the search for gold. What he
had found was ample for his future
needs. and his success created the gold
rush to the West Coast What he met
upon his return killed everything. The
UOmar was married, and the horse,
proving an circumference, was shot. OF
the tragedy that followed there are
two versions. The one is that the man.
fi:'Ginc his horse dead, killed himself;
the other that he murdered the woman
and shot himself. Whichever is cor
rect. the stone exists in the garden of
the house upon the Riccarton road. 1t
lies UPON mound. buried among the
silt which the winds have swept from
tie surface of the road. The township
is now colonial city, but to strangers
who visit it the resting place of Kind
Sir is always shown, the connecting
link between old-time tragedy and the
present which has no sign of life. The
action OF the woman is condemned by
those who now tell the story. The
hcrse served her as faithfully as he
had served his master, and should have
received more gracious treatment. The
woman is a shrew in local fame, the
horse is a saint; ard the grim fierce
ness which the story arOuses against
her memory has pdthOs for those who
ride and love their horses.