The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-03-10
AUSTRALIAN GIRL.
LIKE HER NATAL LAND SHE is
VERY ATTRACTIVE.
Fragile Almost to Thinness-IIot-uousc
Delicacy of Her Complexion Gives Her
an Exotic Look-Mighty Easily Be-
comes Angular and Sallow. q

She is a root-type by herself, the
Australian girl; and, since l make DOG
at the outset to say that she is OF mine
OWL land and min own people, l may
be forgiven for also stating frankly
that the type has for me an especial
attraction. says the Girls Realm. II
is not that the Australian girl is cleV-
erer or p%rettier or physically or men,
tally superior to girls OF other coun-
tries. 1t is not that she differs in
marked degree from her cousins in
Great Britain-it is hardly to be eX-
pected that she should-but she differs
enough to show that she is Australian,
and not English; that she has an in
dividuality Of her own and that her
virtues and her faults are those CT the
OffshOot and not of the stem. Like her
natal land, she has no immensely dis
tinctive characteristics. In temporal
ment she has not the splendid luXuri-
ance Of some daughters Of the south
nor the heroic hardihOOd OF children
of the north. In physique she cannot
be called robust: she is almost always
slender, not to say thin, and her thin
ness might easily become angularity,
her fragile bloom sallOWneSS. / have
heard her described, in antithetical
terms. as "a weedy specimen, all
nerves and indigestion-an example Of
the bad effect of drinking tea with
meat and, again, as "a languOrOus
tropic hCWer-all grace and charm
Neither of the descriptions expresses
her. The first was given by a doctor,
old and grabbed; the second by a poet,
young and susceptible.
l could 10 help thinking Of the
'tropic flower smile as | looked
down the saloon table on board a p.
and O. steamer in Melbourne harbor,
where a number Of young Australian
women were seated. They had come
to greet, Or send off," friends, or be-
cause they knew the captain and Of
ticers, and a dinner on a p. and O.
boat offered pleasing variety to their
ordinary a~musements. Having got to-
gether and outnumbering the matrons
they did somehow give the suggestion
of an animated border Of un-English
flowers. The blossom effect might
have been partly due to their petal
like muslin frilleries and gay summel
hats, but was more so to the hOthOuse
delicacy Of their compilations and thai
exotic look one soon associates witt
the Australian girl. The Australian
girl would not, however, approve 0
being called ~un-l1nglish and exotic. |
is her dearest ambition to be consid
cred English-which is, perhaps, VIII,
she does not show to such advantage
in a conventional setting as does thu
American girl, who dares to stand GU
from her setting and be her rea
American self. The Australian cir
would be a more definite intellectual
and social fact if she had the sam
courage and a r respect for he.
claims to consideration as an Aus
Cided]y adaptive and clever in maxim.
the most of her materials, she canno
compare with the American girl il
sturdy originality and the capacity I,
shine under difficult social circum
stances.
Thus the Australian girl appear t,
best advantage in her particular Ell
virOnment-mOst SO the girl of tn,
2 bush. Here she seems a natural prod
uct Of the peculiar features whic]
! make Australia unlike all other coun
/ tries. 1t is the bush girl who repre-
sents emphatically the Australian type
> and in her bush home she is more O
less the same always, whether tina
be a rough station out west or the lux
urious homestead of a rich Victoria.
7 squatter. Even far in the wilds tn
G bush girl has a knack of refinement
That is one Of the characteristics q
the Australian girl. She may be poor
ly educated; she may run almost wilt
hobnob with blacks, ride after cattl
and scrub, cook and clean as many
girl has to do out west; but, witha
the squatter's daughter is almost al
ways a natural little gentlewoman.