Under the Ti-Trees [pp. 855-860]

UNDER THE TI- TAREES.
UNDER THE TI-TREES.
A CONVERT'S S7OR Y.
HE teacher sat in the quaint little school-house,
with: the hum of the children's voices in her
ears and a vision of straight desks and parallel
forms before her eyes, but she neither saw nor
heard. The blackboard was opposite her, with
its quotation from Longfellow's "Psalm of Life" written with
white chalk in a round hand; the modulator and its hieroglyphics stared her- in the face; there were the customary school
works of art-marvellous samples of black and white-hung on
the wooden walls, and the daily routine went on as usual. But
the children knew that the school-mistress was dreaming through
her mechanical task; some of the younger and more mischievous were taking advantage of her listlessness; an older one,
who had buried a little sister last year, said" Hush!-her heart
is down among the ti-trees."
She did not hear. Nothing reached her save the rustle of
the wind through the sedges, and that was carrying her back
to the days when a tiny voice used to whisper "Mother."
When the children left-those other children who called some
one else mother-she roused herself, conscious of relief with
the unwonted stillness, and crossed over to the high window.
The blackboard met her glance as she moved, and the words
"Life is but an empty dream" struck her. "Empty dream!'"
she moaned, standing with drooping hands by the window,
"yes, all an empty dream-a bitter dream down there among
the sedges."
And the wind sighed among the reeds, bearing along with
it an aromatic perfume like that of the old English black currant; a flock of white cockatoos floated and screamed over the
distant range; the mocking laugh of the kokaburra pealed from
the trees near by; and, down below, the creek was murmuring
its little tale to the sedges and maiden-hair.
She had thought it a lovely scene the first time she gazed on
it, just three years ago that very day. Time was, indeed, when
the notion of spending her life in such a dull nook would have
appalled her; but life changes us all, and she saw rest and peace
i894.]