The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-06-29
IN AUSTRALIAN BUSH
TRAVELLER WRITES or CHANGING
ORDER OF THINGS.
Men Once Identified With the Opening
Of the Country Are Rapidly Pass
Ing--Much Like Our Own /
West.

During the decade I spent wander
ing to and fro ON the face Of tropical
Australia / saw the old order slowly
changing" writes Bishop Frodsham in
the Cornhill. 1T has not yet quite
gene, but n by one the old hands
are crossing the great dtvtde'-to use
their metaphor, with its faint
aroma of the gum trees on the noun
tain ranges that once separated the
cotonists from their land Of pastoral
promise. The successful men die in
their southern homes-for as a rule
these leave the North to build them
selves mansions near Melbourne, or
homes by n Of the landlocked inlets
Of Sydney Cove.
'"The unsuccessful ones do as they
have often done before. They start
out alone on their last journey. The
busy workers who follow in their foot
steps quickly forget the men who
found and blazed the track. When
they read in the papers that such and
such an early citizen died at the local
hospital or was found dead in his solt-
tary camp they remember for a wtdla
and then again forget, Yet the bait
tered old derelict was not ~infrequentfy
one whose name wifi live in the no
menclature of mountains, rivers, lakes
and plains.
"The story Of Australian exploration
holds alike old men from the chfm-
Hey corner and children from their
play. 1t is a record of men who knew
how to face failure, and. when deoas-
gary, to die with dignity. .
TT Is O strange thing that gentle
men, like women, when they fan. seezm
TO go under completaly-irretrievabty
One blazing summer noon I met q
rough-looktng man In the gray shirt
and mnle-sktn trousers 80 character
istic of the bush. I remember that I
was similarly clad. He was leaving as
I was entering, q bush hotel We
recognized each other at sight, al
though we had not metatnce the night
when ! saG naxt him at his regimentH1
mess. I asked him to come and sea
me at Bishops Lodge, and told him ha
could use any cognomen he liked. But.
with the smile I remembered almost
painfully, he refused. Hehad forgotten
how to behave, he said. and all I
could urge did not shake his deter
mtnstion. There are many such. They
meet their fate, al they met their dis
grace, with q nonchalance that Is not
the least valuable asset Of q gentle.
man.
"Thsro are lower depths for gentle
man than boundnry-dding under an
assumed name-depths abysmal
because more hopeless. A man who
Is above the average gets on in Aus.
tra1ia far quicker than he could do
normally in the old country. Such a
man may retrieve a folly, even a dis.
grace. and build up again an honor
able name. But what about the feeble
folk who are sent abroad to relieve
their friends at home Of their pres
enca with o remittance paid regularly
upon one condttion-that they them
selves do not returnT The late Mr..
Whynper used to say that the hardest
task Of all in mountaineering was
helping a weak climber. The same is
true Of these poor derelicts Of family
life. What is the frame Of mind that
makes fathers send Buch-sons Of
their own hegettfng-&o the outpostR
Of c~fVtfization7 Is 1t the same short
sighted. optimism, As that which makaa
their boys 30 little capsule of 6tBt4n'
gushing between dreamSaand reality
castles In Spain and the aQRalGz9csn'
ait4esrof a bush Aotea9