A pleasant, shady place it is, a pleasant place and cool-The township folk go up and down, the children pass to school.
Along the river lies my world, a dear, sweet world to me; I sit and learn-I cannot go; there is so much to see.
But Granny she has seen the world, and often by her sideI sit and listen while she speaks of youthful days of pride.
Old Granny"s hands are clasped; she wears her favouritefaded shawl-
I ask her this, I ask her that: she says, "I mind it all."The boys and girls that Granny knew, far o"er the sea arethey,
But there"s no love like the old love, and the old worldfar away,
Her talk is all of wakes and fairs, or how, when night would fall," "Twas many a queer thing crept and came," andGranny "minds them all."
A strange, new land was this to her, and perilous, rude, and wild,Where loneliness and tears and care came to eachmother"s child,
The wilderness closed all around, grim as a prison wall;But white folk then were stout of heart-ah! Granny "minds it all."The day she first met Sullivan-she tells it all to me-How she was hardly twenty-one and he was twenty- three.
The courting days! the kissing days !-but bitter things befallThe bravest hearts that plan and dream. Old Granny "minds it all."Her wedding dress I know by heart; yes, every flounce and frill;And the little home they lived in first, with the garden onthe hill.
"Twas there her baby boy was born, and neighbourscame to call,
But none had seen a boy like Jim-and Granny "minds it all."They had their fight in those old days; but Sullivan was strong,A smart quick man at anything; "twas hard to put him wrong....
Drawn by W.S. Wemyss
"And oh, it is a merry dance."
One day they brought him from the mine (the big salt tears will fall).
" " Twas long ago, God rest his soul!" Poor Granny "mindsit all."
The first dark days of widowhood, the weary days and slow,The grim, disheartening, uphill fight, then Granny livedto know.
"The childer"-ah! they grew and grew-sound, rosy- cheeked, and tall,"The childer" still they are to her-Old Granny "minds them all."How well she loved her little brood! Oh, Granny"s heartwas brave!
She gave to them her love and faith-all that the good God gave.
They change not with the changing years, as babies just the sameShe feels for them, though some, alas! have brought her grief and shame.
The big world called them here and there, and many a mile away:
They cannot come-she cannot go-the darkness haunts the day.
And I, no flesh and blood of hers, sit here while shadowsfall-
I sit and listen-Granny talks; for Granny "minds them all."Just fancy Granny Sullivan at seventeen or so,In all the floating finery that women love to show;And oh, it is a merry dance: the fiddler"s flushed withwine,
And Granny"s partner brave and gay, and Granny"s eyesashine....
" Tis time to pause-for pause we must; we only have ourday:
Yes, by and by our dance will die; our fiddlers cease to play;And we shall seek some quiet spot, where great greyshadows fall,
And sit and wait as Granny waits; we"ll sit and "mindthem all."
- John Shaw Neilson
Author.-John Shaw Neilson was born in 1872 in South Australia and educated there and in Victoria. Ballad and Lyrical Poems (published in 1923) and New Poems (published in 1927) contain his most important work.
General Notes.-Where was Granny born? What were her first impressions of Australia? Quote passages to show that she was superstitious, that she was industrious, that she was kind, that she had known sorrow. Write in Granny"s own words an account of some past event-the voyage out, her meeting with Sullivan, the husband"s death, an old-time dance, or the like. "Minds" is an old-fashioned word Granny used for "remembers."