The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1908-07-02

wussy, F3nfcnl Australia Makes
Americas visitor Laugh.
To the American Australia Is like
poke In the ribs. II lie full of funny
isms'' that keep him continually con
trasting IL to Gods country and smil
Ing d~iscreetly tt himself; for these
Australians are sensitive, as their owr
sensitive plant, and the foreign smile
&C their expense doesn't please them.
Probably the American has read o
great deal about Australia In his
Juvenile days, as the home of the
bushranger, whose deeds kept him
sh~iveringly awake nights and inspired
! him with a desire to go and do like.
wise. In his later years he has doubt
less gathered the impression from vart
Gus Of the public prints, some Of the
1o-cent magazines among them, that
Australia is not only up-to-date but
that she really marches a good bit
ahead Of the nations. holding aloft
flaming torches to light the others
down the way to progress she has trod.
But neither the ~bnshrangers nor the
rest of 1t come up to his expectations.
Americans In Australia are more
cianniSh than In any country under the
sun. There Is a fair number of them
scattered over the big island. And In
very self-defense they hail a new com
CT with open arms.
John Bray, the American consul gen
a~aI IN lfalhourna ~Dbn lnnLs oftar oil
American matters In Australasia, lives
at Menzies' Hotel, which, incidentally,
the Australian Is convinced is far finer
than the St Regis. Really, It would do
for a small hde-tracked town In an
upstate county IL New York. And at
Menzies' he gathers the choice spirits
Of the American colony about him like
children, and they have ON adequate
and satisfying sessions. Bray IL a
good American and always will be, and
his tall, slender figure, topped with a
silk hat and groomed with the smart.
ness which only one word describes
and that word, American" Is a de-
light to meet.
They have some laws there which
are wonders. One Of them prohibits
the opening Of any cafe on Sunday be-
fore IL o'clock IN the morning, and the
unwary American, who may not know
this, fnds himself suddenly high and
dry without a thing to eat till II. So
he soon learns IL he's in lodgings to
sleep till II and then 60 forth to Tor
age.
Another nice thing that contributes
10 the hilarity Of the Sundays there
and the gayety Of nations generally, is
that there are no street cars running
I'll after 2 o'clock on Sundays. All the
steam roads bring thousands OF people
to the place, but they have to walk
once they are inside the city limits
II you buy bakers cakes and pies to
be taken away from the premises, You
may only buy them between ! and 8,
Sunday afternoons. And you may not
invite friends to dinner with you in
Sydney, which Is In New South Wales
and under different jurisdiction, II you
ara living In a hotel. Because in some
mysterious way, which is not at all
clear, you are breaking the Sunday law.
If you travel with your wife from
one big city to another at night and
take a sleeper, you will find that the
men will be herded in one end Of the
sleeping car and the women in the
other. That Is the idea of propriety
there. Also men and women are not
allowed to battle In the ocean together.
The ocean baths are deprived Of most
Of their pleasure by the necessity OF
staying behind tall fences which must
be built and maintained to keep out
the sharks; for they come right up to
the beaches there, and while you are
bathing they poke their noses against
the stats and look longingly at you.
There's actually a shark over In New
Zealand who Is protected by law. He
pilots every ship in and out Of the har,
Dor which he calls home. So the colony
has passed a law making II a mis-
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