Australian Tales - Setis

keeper at South Head had lit up his lantern. Ah! a dismal night for poor
sailors on the lee shore, I soliloquised, while I gazed through my dormer.
I hope all those who have not got a “good offing” have got good tight
vessels under them; that they are not overladen, and that their rigging and
sails are sound, otherwise we shall hear more sad news of wrecks in a
day or two. Then I thought how miserable it must be for poor sailors who
have the influenza, to stand shivering at the wheel in such a rough night
as that. At the same time I pictured a drenched shepherd, hobbling home
to his lonely hut in the far bush, after being out all day in the rain,
watching his sheep; and I decided at once that I would rather be a sailor
than a shepherd; for I should at any rate have my messmates to speak to,
and there would be comfort even in hearing a fellow creature sneeze. But
to go home to an empty hut, to make my own fire, and cook my own
supper; then to sit moodily nodding at the back log in the chimney, and
picturing “old bogies” in the smoke, until drowsiness drove me to my
solitary couch; ugh! I shouldn't like that at all. I pity poor shepherds, for
they have so few social privileges. Though I don't wish to make them
discontented with their lot, I do wish they had a few more civilised
comforts and conveniences, and the disposition to prize them; that they
had plenty of nice books to beguile their many hours of loneliness.
Perhaps some kind master or mistress, who may read this sketch, will be
induced to look over their libraries, and send a box of books to their
station, for the use of the shepherds, the next time the team goes up.
At length I withdrew from my dreary look out at the window, and
stirred my fire into a cheerful blaze; then I began to cogitate on brighter
subjects. As my hope became stimulated, I soon perceived that although
much mischief, misery, and inconvenience had been caused by the late
inclement weather, that those evils are insignificant, compared with the
blessings which the timely rain will confer upon this erst thirsty land.
Happily the temperature has been genial for the season, and grass has
sprung up rapidly where it was much needed. Sharp frosts will doubtless
injure it, but only partially, and there will be plenty of fresh feed for the
flocks and herds. The sun will acquire additional power each day, and we
may reasonably anticipate a thriving spring, a luxuriant summer, and a
plentiful harvest. In a few months the whole face of nature will be
blooming with flowers, and new verdure; the orchards will be teeming
with fruit, and the birds will fill the air with melody. Then this sneezing
season of influenza will be forgotten, by most of us, for we shall have
warm sunshine around us, and, it is to be hoped, we shall have health in
our homes, and “summer in our souls.”
“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,