AUGUST 20.

Flowering vines overhung, climbed and clung about the balcony pillars and balustrades. Roses drooped in heavy-headed cascades from second-story railings; the wide purple flowers of the clematis climbed aloft. On one wall a heliotrope broke in lavender foam and the creamy froth of the Banksia rose dabbled railings and pillars and dripped over on to the ground. It was a big, cool, friendly looking house with a front door that in summer was always open, giving the approaching visitor a hospitable glimpse of an airy, unencumbered hall.

GERALDINE BONNER,
in The Pioneer.

AUGUST 21.

A DREAM OF POPPIES.

Brown hills long parched, long lifting to the blue

Of summer's brilliant sky but russet hue

Of sere grass shivering in the trade-wind's sweep.