The Washington times., 1901-07-14
OUTDOOR LIFE IN SYDNEY.
Love of Sports a Characteristic of
the Australian.

floating the Fnyorite Pnstime-
Cricket Week n Great Occasion in
Some of the Pleasure Resorts.
Visitors from older countries invariably
become impressed with the genial charac-
ter of Australian social life, and the gen.
eral brightness of it's surroundings. This
is especially observable in the outdoor life
of Sydney There is nothing to differen-
tiate George Street, Sydney. from most
of the principal thoroughfares of any of
the leading British cities. save the bright
er aspect of the buildings and the warm
air.
Electric trans run along the highway
which is also full of omnibuses. coaches,
private carriages, cabs, and other light
vehicles. The pavement is alive with pc
destrians and the shop windows display
the latest fashions in jewelry and dress.
the newest books and engravings, the
freshest designs in furniture and IRON
mongery, and the most recent novelty in
patent medicines or cosmetics. Perhaps
the one point of dissimilarity between an
Australian and an English, or indeed, any
European or American city. is the alb
sence of that extreme poverty and squal-
or which cast such a dark and ominous
shadow upon the chief centres of popula-
ton of the Old World. Not that poverty
and squalor are unknown in the new land; /;
but penury and wretchedness do not OBJ
trude themselves upon ones notice, and
it is tolerably certain that in ninety cases
out of hundred they are the result of
misconduct, and not of misfortune.
.-T saf 10, 4
characteristic OF the Australian. An
American visitor to New South Wales,
writing to Californian paper. said: IF
this were not a letter. but a school class.
we would ask the boys, What sport is
New South Wales most famous for?' And
If Australians. they would answer to a
boy. Boating, and this is true. at pres
ent in the shape of great sturdy black
smith New South Wales holds the
champion oarsman of the world; physi-
cally he Is the ideal of Longfellow' s
Blacksmith his muscles Undoubtedly
being strong as iron bands; but sue
cess has not spoiled him. for after re-
firing upon his Iaurels, instead of TAX
ing a public house, as do most retired
champions he devoted himself to the
management of farm purchased with
his winnings, and where he resides with
his wife and family.
Every lad pants to be a champion
puller, and takes to the water as nat4-
rally as does an eel. Then there D. an
other ambition, that of being cricketer.
On Saturday afternoons all the stray bits
of common are alive with ragged ur-
chins working hard with bat and bail,
and here and there, where the team is
less ragged and the playground is field
instead of a common. brave calico flag
fu.ters in the breeze. No reporter has
as yet put their scores into print, but
the years fit very quietly by, and then
the field and the calico flags are things
OF the past, and we hear that John
Smiths bowling was superb, and crowds
of weIl-dressed women viii applaud him.
A cricket week is a great week in sgd
nev Nothing is spoken of but the scores,
and day after day crowds turn in at the
wide gates of the Sydney Association
ground. In another letter the same writ
er observed that Sydney is the hotbed Of
picnics, most of the holidays being spent
in that way. "All along the harbor there
are public picnieking grounds, with pavii-
ions and swings. Their names are legion,
every available spot being taken up;
some. indeed, especially Athol Gardens,
being scarcely available = picnic there
must keep the picknickers upon the ten
terhooks of suspense at luncheon. lest
cloth and food and glass should go Gid
ing into the water, so very upright is the
| incline And then there is Clontarf,
which is a natural lawn surrounded by a
shrubbery and fringed with a mimic
beach. shells and all, on which tiny mock
waves ripple and sing.
Manly Beach is also favorite spot;
and then there are Sans Scuci. Pearl Bay,
and Long Bay. Every steamer hangs out
its destination on holidays painted on can
vas strips in larger than life" capitals, so
that verify he who runs may read.
Then again there are many bays where,
though they have no regular picnicking
grounds, the quieter- minded people like
to 90 and take their baskets. They are
| tempted by their comparative solitude and
| by their wild, fresh beauty, and it is
| something for people who are great deal
| indoors in a city to sit all day beside the
| sea and feel upon their faces the cool
spray from the mad waves which rush
and break upo2 the rocks. ''as though the
Lord had just released the last world
! from his hand" Then, lest the holiday
spirit should flag. there are special pie
MICS, such as the bakers picnic, the dra-
| pers' picnic. the butchers picnic. etc.
even down to the undertakers' picnic, of
which ghouIs' feast there is no record
kept as to whether the tables be collins
.nd the utensils bones, though on the DC
casion of their first jovial picnic they
drank. one and all, success TO the trade. -