The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1907-12-20
AUSTRALIA.
Gray and Monotonous, but Vast, Pa
tiont and Fase;S ssiAc.

Gray and Monotonous, but Vast, Pa
tont and Fase;ss,inc.
Australia is in itself a @5ustrOus
conflneat Il Is as large as the United
States: its 100000 Of people are scat
tered In q narrow fringe along the
streams and shores Of the southern
and eastern seaboard The vast inte-
rior- "thc dead heart Of Australia'-a
region as large as the Mississippi val
ley Is trackless. rainiess WASTE ot
sand and alkali while the intervening
hills. tho bush and scrub. are scantiiy
occupied by sheep stations and by min
Ing camps. The vast north OF Austria.
lla is ln part a tropical jungle. iu part
a bllstering Sahara. The fatcs denied
to Australia the gift OF high noun
taius to catch the snow aud hold the
water: hence her rivers are few and
precarious: hence at too frequent inter
vais the great drought comes, and the
desert spreads It's smothering arms,
crowding man and his dependents
backward toward the sea II is a mo
uotonous country in it's physical as.
poets. The forests ON hill. valley. rock
anu swamp AlN AlA W NtAN IaAAN'AAA
eucalyptus. eucalyptus. the gray trunks
OF the gum trees OF many species--as
far as the eye can see. Without noun
talns and streams there Is little room
for variety 1t Us mono.onous in It's
industrles-cattle. sheep. horses-its
one fuc art the breeding of the per
feet Merlno sheep II is monotonous I'm
its towns. one story light brown.
with unpainted roof Of corrugated iron.
is the description Of nine-tenths of the
Australian homes. Corrugated iron
means clean rain water. and Australia
can afford TO waste none of it, 1t IS
monotonous as to population. The Eng
lishnan came first TO Australia, and
they are still holding il against all
comers. The way Is made rough for
immigrants who do not speak English,
and for well or ill-in many ways for
cach-the ruling minority the labor
vote is sternly set on white Austria
lia," with all which it implies. The
history of Australia is monotouous. It
contains the story of hard struggles,
of bitter suferings, deserved and ua-
deserved; of lawless courage and reck-
less bravery, but tie causes served
were individual Australians never
had common enemy, and their rec
ords show no glorious war and no up
rising of common feeling. The achieve
ments of Australia belong to the cate
CORY Of individual deeds of peace.
With all this the color OF Australia
is gray; the land. the'towns the spirit
OF her people Her literature has a
| sober touch, and this difference in
/ tone shows itself ia its way IN the
! lie of the universities. In America
rs in Brownmg's verse, "the flower Of
life is red.7 The American student
Knows that "the world Is his oyster" q"
He knows that "he can get what Is
coming to him." that in proportion to
his talents, his training, his sobriety
and persistency of purpose will be his
success in any affair he undertakes.
Bat though Australia may be gray
and monOtoncus she is vast patient,
fascinating. The mightiness of the
land to be conquered the huge roomi-
ness of the continent. the vistas of fu-
ture national greatness, all these grow
on one. and all these find their reflex
In the student life and In the rising
literature OF the commonwealth. That
Australia will be the birthplace OF
great men in the future no one can
doubt Their coming will not be due
TO the lopsided political administration
nor TO state ownership nor to the cod
ding OF the laborer, but to the persist
] q rI.N OF frf,
der man making and man inspiring
conditlons-Da Starr Jordan in Ap-
pleton's.