The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-03-05

I type has for me an especial attraction. 1t
/ is not that the Australian girl is cleverer
or prettter, or physically or mentally SUI
perior to girls of other countries. 1t is
not that she differs in marked degree from
her cousins in Great Britain-it is hardly
10 be expected that she shouldn't she
differs enough to show that she is Aus
tralian and not English; that she has an
individuality of her own, and that her
virtues and her faults are those of the
otfshOot and not of the stem.
Like her natal land. she has no immense
ly distinctive characteristics. In temper
ament she has not the splendid luxuriance
( 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 thinness might easily be-
come angularity, her fragile bloom sal
lowness. have heard her described in
fdltllhetlcal terms as a Weedy specimen.
all nerves and indigestion-an example of
the bad effect of drinking tea with meat; -
and again as "a dangerous tropic flower
all grace and charm Neither of the de-
/ scrlpuons expresses her. II first was
given by doctor. old and grabbed: the
second by poet young and susceptible.
/ could not help thinking of the "tropic
/ Hover 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
ntN had come TO greet, or "sendOh. 3"
/ friends, or because they knew the captain
ana oIncers, and dinner on a p. and o.
! poat onered pleasing variety to their or
binary amusements. Having got together
and outnumbering the matruns. they did
somehow give the suggestion of an ami
mated border of un-English flowers The
! blossom effect might have been partly
! due to their petal-like muslin frlleries and
4 gay summer hats, but was more so to the
/ hot-house delicacY of their compilations
and that exotic look one soon associates
with the Australian girl
/ me Australian girl would not, however
I approve of being called un-English and
/ exotic.
1t is her dearest ambition to be consid-
! cred English-which is, perhaps, why she
/ docs not show TO such advantage in a CON
Nenuonal setting as does the American
girl, who d4res to stand out from her
setting and be her real American self. The
Australian girl would he a more definite
intellectual and social fact If she had the
same courage and true respect for her
cldlms TO consideration as an Australian
pure and simple. Though decidedly adap-
! i've and clever in making the most of her
materials, she cannot compare with the
American girl in sturdy originality and
the capacity to shine under difficult social
4 circumstances
! Thus the Australian girl appears to best
advantage in her particular environment
most so the girl of the Bush. Here she
features which make Australia unlike ali
other countries.
( 1t is the Bush girl who represents en-
PhatlcslIy the Australian type, and in her
I Bush home she is more or less the same
always, whether that be a rough station
out west or the luxurious homestead Of y
/ rlCh victorian squatter Even far in the
/ wiIds the Bush girl has a knack of refine
ment That IS one of the characteristics
of the Australian girl She may be poorly
educated; she may run almost wild. hob
non with blacks, ride after cattle, and
scrub, cook and clean as many a girl has
to do out west; but withal, the sulIatter's
daughter is almost a natural little gentIe-
r1i