Year: 1873




kept; but it was comfortable and pic


turesque, and easily susceptible of i'm


provement when increasing Aocks anC


high prices for wool would Justify tn,


expenditure.


Of social gatherings, such as we know


them, there are none in The bush
Squatters do not go out to dine, or asl


each ether to dinner As a rule,
| think, they rarely invite each other fol


country visiting. But they make freest


use of each others houses, so that so


ciety of certain kind is created. They


do not make visits exclusively of pleas.


ure; but, when business calls him from
home, they make no scruple of riding


up to each others doors and demanding


hospitality. A bush-house is never
considered to be full. IF there be not
rooms apiece for the guests, the men
are put together and the women to-
gether. If there be not bedsteads, beds
are made up on the floors If room be
still lacking, the Young men wrap them
selves in blankets and stretch them
selves in the veranda. It is a point of
honor that the house shall never be
full, unless some one very odious comes
the way. But even for those who are
odious, shelter and food are provided
in some outside hut or barrack.


Those rides through the forest, either
when l was alone, or when [ could get
my host to go with me-which was rare
ly, unless on Sunday afternoon-were
very pleasant. The melancholy note of
the magpie was almost the only sound
that was heard. Occasionally kanga-
roos would be seen-two or three star
ing about them after half tame fashion,
as though they had not as yet made up
their mind whether it would be neces-
sary for them to run. When approach
ed, they would move, always in a line.
and with apparent leisure till pursued.
Then they would bound away, one here
and one there, at a pace which made it
impossible for single horseman to get
near them in a thickly -timbered coun-
try. It was all wood. There arose at
last feeling that, go where one might
through the forest, one was never going
anywhere. It was all picturesque, fol
there was rocky ground here and there,
and hills in the distance, and the trees
were not too close for the making of
pretty vistas through them; but it was
all the same. One might ride on, to
the right or to the left, or might turn
back, and there was ever the same view
And there were no objects to reach, un-
less it was the paddock-fence. And
when the paddock-fence was jumped,
then it was the same thing again. Look
ing round, one could tell, by no out
ward sign, whether one was inside or
outside the boundary-whether one was
two miles or ten miles from the station.


The recreations of the evening con-
sisted chiefly of tobacco in the veranda.
[ did endeavOr to institute whist-table,
but found that my friends, who were
good in regard to the age
and points of a sheep, and who could
tell to the fraction of penny what the
wool of each was worth by the pound,
never could be got to remember the
highest card of the suit. I should not
have minded that, had they not so man
ifestly despised me for regarding such
knowledge as important. They were
right, no doubt, as the points of sheep
are of more Importance than the pips of
a card, and the human mind will hard
ly admit of the two together. Whist is
a jealous mistress !; and SO is sheep
station.


l have been at very many bush-hOuses
at over thirty different stations in the
colonies-but at not one, as 1
think, in which have not found fair
provision of books. 1t is universally
among squatters, that 6
man who settles down in the bush with !
Out books, is preparing for himself a |
miserable future life. That the books |
are always used when they are there I |
will not say. That they are used less |
than they should be used I |
10 not doubt. When men come IN from |
physical work, hungry, tired-with the |
feeling that they have earned an hour or
;wo of ease by many hours of labor
hey are apt to claim the right to allow
heir minds to rest as well as their |
limbs. Who does not know how very |
much this is the case at home, even
lmong young men and women in our
owns, who cannot plead the same ex-
,use of real bodily fatigue? That it
should be so is a pity of pities, not on
he score chiefly of information lost or
If ignoronce perpetuated but because
he power of doing that which should
De the one recreation and great solace
If our declining years perishes from
and cannot be renewed when
lge has come Upon us. But l think
hat this folly is hardly more general in
he Australian bush than in English
,ities. There are books to be read, and
he young squatter, when the evening
,omes upon him, has no other recreation
o entice him. He has no club, no
no public-house which he
AN frequent. Balls and festivities are
rery rare. He probably marries early,
md lives the life of young patriarch,
ord of every thing around him, and
Master of every man he meets on his
lays ride. Of course, there are many
Who have risen to this from lower thin9s
who have become squatters without
my early education, who have been
drovers, or perhaps shepherds
That they should not be
ycquainted with books is a matter of
curse. They have lacked the practice
n youth of which I have Just spoken.
But among those who have had the ad-
-antage of early nurture, and have been
aught to handle books Familiarity when
young, I think that reading is at least
as it is with young men In
london. The authors I found most
popular were certainly Shakespeare,
Dickens, and Macaulay. I would back
he chance of finding Macaulay's essays
It station against that of any book in
he language except Shakespeare. To
lave Shakespeare is a point of honor
With every man who owns book at all,
whether he reads it or leaves it unread.


I have said that squatters marry early.
The reasons for doing so are very strong;
nd those reasons for not doing so,
which are terribly familiar to us at
lome, hardly exist in the bush. The
nan is alone, and can have, at any rate,
10 female companionship unless he
aarry. In ordinary life, as we know it,
he unmarried man enjoys as many
omforts ts-unfortunately perhaps, more
uxuries-than do they who take to
themselves wives. But in the bush the
nmarried man is very desolate, and
yill probably soon become forlorn and
in his mode of life. He Will
ardly get a woman who will cook for
i'm decently, or who will sew a button
n his shirt when it is wanted And he
I'LL soon care nothing how his dinner is
ooked, and whether his shirt be with or
-ithout button. On the other hand,
he cost of his household when he is
larried will hardly be more than when
e is single. If his wife know how to
eep bush-house, her presence viii al