| Notes |
- from Grahamstown Journal 4 June 1886.
THE OLD SETTLER’S REMINISCENCES
“The driver cracked his whip and drove away, leaving us to our reflections. My wife sat on one box and I on another: the beautiful blue sky was above us and the green grass beneath our feet.”
Rev. Wm. SHAW
Come take my arm, my dear old wife
To yonder shady seat,
And let us talk of bygone life
So bitter and so sweet,
Since first we sat with children four,
On boxes filled with all our store,
The bright blue sky above our heads
And green grass ‘neath our feet.
Let us recall the anxious day,
When drenched with surf we trod
The sandy shore of Algoa Bay,
With thankful hearts to God
For safe deliv’rance from the deep,
In whose dark bed so many sleep;
For bright blue sky above our heads,
And firm earth ‘neath our feet.
Let memory paint the chilling hush,
The tremulous alarms,
While slow we toiled through Addo Bush,
A baby in your arms,
The wolf’s deep howl, the night-hawk’s scream,
The evening “uitspan” near a stream;
Clear starry skies still glowed o’erhead,
Though rough roads galled our feet.
Our hearts still feel the grateful thrill,
As sod by sod applied,
Our rush-thatched cottage ‘neath the hill
With welcome shelter smiled,
Our little ones as spring-bucks free,
The crowning hailed in shouts of glee;
While bright blue sky beamed high o’erhead
And flowers bloomed round our feet.
Can ought obliterate the scene,
When war like prairie foam
Swept all our cattle from the green
And fired our cottage home?
In trembling fear and anguish sore,
We saw the wreck of all our store;
Blue sky was still our shield o’erhead,
Though sharp thorn pierced our feet.
Again we toiled, and God hath sped,
With solace for our fears,
Glad health and peace their blooms have shed
On our declining years.
Our sons will sail on Fortune’s wave,
When soft we slumber in the grave;
May bright sky canopy their heads
When grass grows o’er our feet.
William SELWYN, Port Elizabeth, 2nd June 1886
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Occupation
Abt 1817 -