A small toddler, Colin Lawler, was lost for 26 hours in dense bush near Alexandra the other day, and, during the anxious search, more than 150 men were out. When found, safe and unscathed, after a night in cold country, he prattled cheerfully on two absorbing subjects: his overdue dinner and his pet cat, "Dinty."

He dreaded not dark, nor the lonely road,
   For the world, as he knew it, was kind.
Nor threat of the risk, nor necessity's goad
   Gave fear to his innocent mind.
He was merely abroad for a country stroll:
   And where lay the peril in that?
While themes so engaging delighted his mind
   As dinner and Dinty the cat.
 
Then the summons went out and the search was on:
   For the danger was clear to all.
Dread death was abroad where the child had gone,
   But he answered to never a call.
He harked to the birds, and he dreamed his dreams,
   As deep in the forest he sat;
And his mind went back to those two great themes:
   Dinner, and Dinty the cat.
 
They found him at last with a smile on his face,
   As he prattled of important things;
And, in thankfulness for the heavenly grace,
   Men gave to their faith wings.
They pondered in fear what might have-been,
   And on terrors thro' fear begat,
But he prattled away, in a mood serene,
   Of dinner and Dinty the cat.
 
Dinner and Dinty.  How much we lost
   When our joy in the simple things waned.
We have learned of evil -- at what a cost?
   With our wisdom, what have we gained?
For how much weariness wisdom brings
   As the world grows dreary and flat,
Since we lost out joy in the innocent things,
   Like dinner and Dinty the cat.

"Den"
Herald, 22 June 1933, p6