s: At length, as he lay sleeping in a flower-bell, a little bee came


s: "What shall we do to you, naughty Elf?" said they.  "You are in


s: our power, and we will sting you if you are not still."


s: "Let us close the flower-leaves around him and leave him here


s: to starve," cried one, who had not yet forgotten all the sorrow


s: "Can this be naughty Thistle?" said Nimble-Wing.


s: Little Hum joyfully obeyed; and Thistle followed him, as he flew


s: Long Thistle wondered at the beauty round him; and then he went


s: among the shining Spirits, told his tale, and asked a gift.


s: into darkened places, and soft winds to refresh and cheer.


s: "These are the things we do," said they, "and you must aid us


s: And Thistle gladly went with the lovely Spirits; by day he joined


s: At length Star-Light bade him work no more, and gladly gave him


s: Then with a light heart Thistle journeyed away to the brooks and


s: rivers, seeking the Water Spirits.  But he looked in vain; till,


s: wandering through the forest where the Brownies took him captive,


s: repayed by pain and sorrow, and who now lay suffering and alone.


s: Thistle bent tenderly beside him, saying, "Dear Flutter, do not


s: Day by day did Thistle watch beside him, making little beds of


s: cool, fresh moss for him to rest upon, fanning him when he slept,


s: poor Flutter longed to be dancing once again over the blue waves,


s: Thistle followed the little brook, as it flowed through field and


s: So, spreading his great wings, he flew away, and soon Thistle saw


s: Lofty arches of snow-white coral bent above him, and the walls


s: snow-white pearls like those they wore.  But Thistle had gained


s: With a patient hope that he might yet be worthy of Lily-Bell,


s: On through the fragrant air went Thistle, looking with glad face


s: singing by, beneath the arching ferns that bent above it; green


s: leaves rustled in the summer wind, and the air was full of music.


s: velvet moss that Fairy hands had spread.  The golden flower lay


s: Happy tears fell fast, as Thistle folded his arms around her,


s: "Bird, bee, and blossom have forgiven him, and none is more loved


s: And as the crown shone on the head that Lily-Bell bent down on


s: Thistle's breast, the forest seemed alive with little forms, who


s: "If I am Queen, then you are King, dear Thistle," said the Fairy.


s: As she ceased, down through the air came floating bands of lovely


s: "Have you a tale for us too, dear Violet-Eye?" said the Queen, as


s: flower-leaves where she sat, and with a smile replied, "As I was


s: weaving garlands in the field, I heard a primrose tell this tale


s: IN a great forest, high up among the green boughs, lived Bird


s: The husband shook his head gravely, and said, "Be not alarmed, my


s: a little maiden lay singing within.  Then how amazed were they,


s: Great joy was in the forest, and proud were the parents of their


s: family, and still more of the little one who had come to them;


s: while all the neighbors flocked in, to see Dame Brown-Breast's


s: little child.  And the tiny maiden talked to them, and sang so


s: merrily, that they could have listened for ever.  Soon she was


s: the joy of the whole forest, dancing from tree to tree, making


s: every nest her home, and none were ever so welcome as little Bud;


s: The father now had much to do to supply his family with food, and


s: in the turf, were friends to the merry child.


s: And Bud said, "Yes," and they stayed; but her kind little heart


s: "Do not weep, and I will go to Queen Dew-Drop, and beseech her


s: to let you come back.  I will tell her that you are repentant,


s: "Nay, you shall not go on your feet, my child," said Mother


s: Brown-Breast; "your friend Golden-Wing shall carry you.  Call him


s: Then they all sang gayly together, till she passed out of sight


s: over the hills, and they saw her no more.


s: And now Bud left the old forest far behind her.  Golden-Wing


s: As Bud passed through the gates, she no longer wondered that the


s: though the blossoms nodded gayly on their stems to welcome her,


s: and the soft winds kissed her cheek, she would not stay, but on


s: to the Flower Palace she went, into a pleasant hall whose walls


s: were formed of crimson roses, amid whose leaves sat little Elves,


s: With tearful eyes, Queen Dew-Drop replied,--


s: Day after day toiled little Bud, cheering the Fairies, who,


s: angry and disappointed, would not listen to her gentle words,


s: Then they planted the lilies; but they soon drooped and died, and


s: blossoms, for she was striving to give happiness to others,


s: maiden, who has toiled while you have wept, you never would have


s: Time passed on, and the Fairies had done nothing to gain their


s: lovely home again.  They wept no longer, but watched little Bud,


s: they followed her, and like a band of guardian spirits they flew


s: far and wide, carrying with them joy and peace.


s: But most tenderly did they watch over the poor and sorrowing,


s: and many a poor mother blessed the unseen hands that laid food


s: before her hungry little ones, and folded warm garments round


s: their naked limbs.  Many a poor man wondered at the fair flowers


s: that sprang up in his little garden-plot, cheering him with their


s: One day came little Bud to them, saying,--


s: "Listen, dear friends.  I have a hard task to offer you.  It is a


s: gratitude will give you happy homes among their bright leaves.


s: Then deep in the earth the Fairies dwelt, and no frost or snow


s: could harm the blossoms they tended.  Every little seed was laid


s: Then came the merry birds, making the wood alive with their gay


s: voices, calling to one another, as they flew among the vines,


s: building their little homes.  Long waited the Elves, and at last


s: she came with Father Brown-Breast.  Happy days passed; and


s: Mounted on bright-winged butterflies, they flew over forest and


s: meadow, till with joyful eyes they saw the flower-crowned walls


s: Before the gates they stood, and soon troops of loving Elves


s: "Are they not worthy of your love, dear Queen? Have they not won


s: their lovely home? Say they are pardoned, and you have gained


s: As Bud ceased, she touched the wondering Fairies with her wand,


s: and the dark faded garments fell away; and beneath, the robes


s: of lily-leaves glittered pure and spotless in the sun-light.


s: the wands their own good deeds had rendered powerful.


s: They turned to thank little Bud for all her patient love,


s: but she was gone; and high above, in the clear air, they saw


s: the little form journeying back to the quiet forest.


s: She needed no reward but the joy she had given.  The Fairy hearts


s: "Now, little Sunbeam, what have you to tell us?" said the Queen,


s: "I too, like Star-Twinkle, have nothing but a song to offer,"


s: replied the Fairy; and then, while the nightingale's sweet voice


s: Where green old trees their branches waved,


s: Where low, sweet notes of brooding birds


s: "Ah! pity and love me," sighed the worm,


s: By the grateful love of the humble worm;


s: But the wild rose showed her little thorns,


s: The violet hid beneath the drooping ferns,


s: While the cowslip bent to the rippling waves,


s: A blue-eyed grass looked down on the worm,


s: And cried, "Thou wilt harm our delicate leaves,


s: Then a sweet, soft voice, called out from far,


s: 'T was a clover-blossom, whose fluttering leaves


s: And murmuring bees and butterflies came,


s: Down through the leaves the sunlight stole,


s: And its low voice, softly whispering, said


s: Close at my side, in the soft green moss,


s: Where thou canst softly sleep till Spring,


s: No more o'er the green and pleasant earth,


s: For a loving friend hast thou found in me,


s: Then her withered leaves were softly spread


s: And gayly danced on their slender stems,


s: Softly the warm winds kissed their cheeks;


s: Then her sister flowers scornfully cried,


s: Come, dance and feast, and spend with us


s: She did not doubt the poor worm's truth,


s: They feared he would stay in Clover's home,


s: So they danced for joy, when at last he rose


s: For her gentle heart was grieved, to find


s: He is floating back from Cloud-Land now,


s: Spread wide your leaves, that he may choose


s: Then the wild rose glowed with a deeper blush,


s: The Cowslip bent to the clear blue waves,


s: Violet peeped from the tall green ferns,


s: To watch the glittering form, that shone


s: But looked and longed for the butterfly now,


s: Each welcomed him, in her sweetest tones;


s: But in vain did they beckon, and smile, and call,


s: "Dear flower," the butterfly whispered low,


s: Thou hast loved and cared for me, when alone,


s: And now will I strive to show the thanks


s: And the home thou shared with the friendless worm


s: And thou shalt find, dear, faithful flower,


s: Then, through the long, bright summer hours


s: "Ah, that is very lovely," cried the Elves, gathering round


s: little Sunbeam as she ceased, to place a garland in her hair and


s: "Now," said the Queen, "call hither Moon-light and Summer-Wind,


s: for they have seen many pleasant things in their long wanderings,


s: "Most joyfully will we do our best, dear Queen," said the Elves,


s: IN a large and pleasant garden sat little Annie all alone, and


s: or wind, or flower; still the bright tears fell, and she forgot


s: vine-leaf at her side; a lovely face smiled on her, from amid


s: "Who are you, lovely little thing?" cried Annie, smiling through


s: "And are you really, then, a little Elf, such as I read of


s: "Yes, all these things I do, and many stranger still, that all


s: "Ah, you will not love me any more if I should tell you all,"


s: said Annie, while the tears began to fall again; "I am not happy,


s: "Gladly will I aid you, Annie, and if you truly wish to be


s: a happy child, you first must learn to conquer many passions that


s: As thus she spoke, the Elf took from her bosom a graceful flower,


s: "I cannot stay now, little Annie," said the Elf, "but when


s: be faithful to yourself, and the magic flower will never fade."


s: Then the gentle Fairy folded her little arms around Annie's neck,


s: The pleasant days of Spring and Summer passed away, and in


s: little Annie's garden Autumn flowers were blooming everywhere,


s: When first the Fairy placed it there, she had been pleased with


s: sadder peal.  Then she paid no heed to the silvery music sounding


s: One sunny morning, when the fresh, cool Winds were blowing,


s: Little Annie looked, searched, and asked them all if any one


s: could tell her of the Fairy whom she sought; but the birds looked


s: Then she went through broad fields of yellow grain, that waved


s: "Now will I go among the hills," said Annie, "she may be there."


s: her long and useless search, she sat amid the ferns, and feasted


s: on the rosy strawberries that grew beside her, watching meanwhile


s: The night-wind rustled through the boughs, rocking the flowers


s: to sleep; the wild birds sang their evening hymns, and all within


s: And all night long beside her stood the Fairy she had sought, and


s: Little Annie dreamed she sat in her own garden, as she had often


s: becomes, unless you banish them for ever."


s: scornfully away from all the rest.  These and many others


s: strange power over her.  She could not drive them from her sight,


s: a faint, soft light, and on her breast she saw her fairy flower,


s: upon whose snow-white leaves her tears lay shining.


s: The light and perfume of the flower seemed to bring new strength


s: Then in her dream she felt how hard the spirits tried to tempt


s: and trouble her, and how, but for her flower, they would have led


s: she struggled, and tears often fell; but after each new trial,


s: till one by one the evil spirits fled away, and in their place


s: Then the low voice spoke again in Annie's sleeping ear, saying,


s: Meanwhile the forest was astir, birds sang their gay good-morrows


s: thought or feeling fled away, the smiling spirits of gentleness


s: and love nestled in her heart, and all was bright again.


s: So better and happier grew the child, fairer and sweeter grew the


s: At length, one day, as she sat singing in the sunny nook where


s: spread wide apart, and, rising slowly from the deep white cup,


s: appeared the smiling face of the lovely Elf whose coming she had


s: "Dear Annie, look for me no longer; I am here on your own breast,


s: most faithfully and well," the Fairy said, as she looked into the


s: for the gentle, happy child, whose bosom flower will never fade.


s: And now, dear Annie, I must go; but every Springtime, with the


s: earliest flowers, will I come again to visit you, and bring


s: Then, with a kind farewell, the gentle Fairy floated upward


s: in the many-colored shells upon the shore, listening to the low,


s: murmuring music the waves had taught them long ago; and here


s: for hours the little Spirit lay watching the sea and sky, while


s: This was Ripple's only grief, and she often thought of those who


s: When Ripple saw the mother's grief, she longed to comfort her;


s: so, bending tenderly beside her, where she knelt upon the shore,


s: "Most gladly will I help you if I can, though I have little power


s: "Good little Ripple," said the Queen, when she had told her all,


s: "your promise never can be kept; there is no power below the sea


s: "It is far, far away, high up above the sun, where no Spirit ever


s: But Ripple would not break the promise she had made, and besought


s: "I will search the broad earth till I find a path up to the sun,


s: Long she journeyed through the pathless ocean, with no friends


s: to cheer her, save the white sea-birds who went sweeping by, and


s: only stayed to dip their wide wings at her side, and then flew


s: silently away.  Sometimes great ships sailed by, and then with


s: floated on her way, and left them far behind.


s: "I will ask Spring where the Fire-Spirits dwell; she travels over


s: "Dear Spring, will you listen, and help a poor little Spirit,


s: "The Fire-Spirits' home is far, far away, and I cannot guide you


s: calling me far and wide, and I cannot stay."


s: "Now I must seek for Summer," said Ripple, as she sailed slowly


s: Then Ripple told her tale, and asked where she should go; but


s: And Summer, giving her the sunbeam, passed away over the distant


s: hills, leaving all green and bright behind her.


s: So Ripple journeyed on again, till the earth below her shone


s: with yellow harvests waving in the sun, and the air was filled


s: with cheerful voices, as the reapers sang among the fields or in


s: the pleasant vineyards, where purple fruit hung gleaming through


s: the leaves; while the sky above was cloudless, and the changing


s: But when the wandering Spirit came to her, and asked for what she


s: "What do you seek with me, fair little Spirit, that you come


s: so bravely here amid my ice and snow?  Do not fear me; I am warm


s: But Ripple said, "I cannot turn back now, when I am nearly there.


s: "Adieu, little Ripple!  May good angels watch above you!  Journey


s: Soon the cold vapors vanished from her path, and sunshine shone


s: upon her pleasantly; so she went gayly on, till she came up among


s: "The Fire-Spirits surely must be there, and I must stay no longer


s: Through the red mist that floated all around her, she could see


s: steady flame, that never wavered or went out.


s: As thus she stood, the Spirits gathered round her, and their


s: hot breath would have scorched her, but she drew the snow-cloak


s: So, through long halls of many-colored fire, they led her to


s: within her breast glowed bright and strong.


s: "This is our Queen," the Spirits said, bending low before her,


s: Then Ripple told how she had wandered round the world in search


s: of them, how the Seasons had most kindly helped her on, by giving


s: When she had told her tale, the spirits whispered earnestly


s: But Ripple asked no other boon, and, weeping sadly, begged them


s: "I have many fairer gems than these, in my home below the sea;


s: and I will bring all I can gather far and wide, if you will grant


s: the fiery Spirits, who were hovering fiercely round her.


s: fail not to return, or we shall seek you out."


s: forgot all else, and told the Spirits what they asked most surely


s: So, down along the shining path, through mist and cloud, she


s: Gladly she plunged into the clear, cool waves, and floated back


s: Then Ripple sang for joy, and, with her sister Spirits, robed the


s: So up they went, through foam and spray, till on the beach, where


s: "See, dear mother, I am come; and look what lovely things the


s: gentle Spirits gave, that I might seem more beautiful to you."


s: "O faithful little Spirit! I would gladly give some precious gift


s: And now another task was to be done; her promise to the


s: Fire-Spirits must be kept.  So far and wide she searched among


s: shining there; and then upon her faithful Breeze once more went


s: The Spirits gladly welcomed her, and led her to the Queen,


s: before whom she poured out the sparkling gems she had gathered


s: with such toil and care; but when the Spirits tried to form them


s: Fire-Spirits looked upon her angrily, and when she begged them


s: to be merciful, and let her try once more, saying,--


s: "Do not keep me prisoner here.  I cannot breathe the flames that


s: And Ripple, safe again beneath her snow flake, gladly gave


s: the chain to them; and told them how the pearls they now placed


s: proudly on their breasts were formed of tears, which but for them


s: "Then, if we may not tell our pleasure so, we will show it in a


s: a lovely rainbow arched its radiant colors in the sun.


s: "This is indeed a pleasant road," said Ripple.  "Thank you,


s: Then down along the shining pathway spread before her, the happy


s: "Thanks, dear Summer-Wind," said the Queen; "we will remember the


s: The moonlight fades from flower and tree,


s: The night-wind rocks the sleeping flowers,


s: O'er the sleeping earth we silently pass,


s: And send sweet dreams, as we lightly float


s: Now spread each wing, for the eastern sky


s: As the music ceased, with a soft, rustling sound the Elves


s: There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon,


s: This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain,


s: Ye who know the Lone Trail fain would follow it,


s: We sleep in the sleep of ages, the bleak, barbarian pines,


s: If you're up against a bruiser and you're getting knocked about,


s: A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon,


s: There are strange things done in the midnight sun,


s: It's fine to have a blow-out in a fancy restaurant,


s: One said:  Thy life is thine to make or mar,


s: There's a race of men that don't fit in,


s: O'er the dark pines she sees the silver moon,


s: There's a four-pronged buck a-swinging in the shadow of my cabin,


s: When a man gets on his uppers in a hard-pan sort of town,


s: If you leave the gloom of London and you seek a glowing land,


s: The cruel war was over -- oh, the triumph was so sweet,


s: A pistol shot rings round and round the world,


s: An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street,


s: It's cruel cold on the water-front, silent and dark and drear,


s: There was a woman, and she was wise; woefully wise was she,


s: 'Twas a year ago, and the moon was bright,


s: Yet somehow life's not what I thought it,


s: No!  There's the land.  (Have you seen it?)


s: From the big, dizzy mountains that screen it


s: Maybe; but there's some as would trade it


s: You come to get rich (damned good reason);


s: It grips you like some kinds of sinning;


s: I've stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow


s: Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,


s: And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;


s: And I've thought that I surely was dreaming,


s: With the peace o' the world piled on top.


s: The strong life that never knows harness;


s: The freshness, the freedom, the farness --


s: The winter! the brightness that blinds you,


s: The cold fear that follows and finds you,


s: The woods where the weird shadows slant;


s: The stillness, the  moonlight, the mystery,


s: There's a land where the mountains are nameless,


s: There are lives that are erring and aimless,


s: There are hardships that nobody reckons;


s: There's a land -- oh, it beckons and beckons,


s: I'll fight -- and you bet it's no sham-fight;


s: It's hell! -- but I've been there before;


s: And it's better than this by a damsite --


s: There's gold, and it's haunting and haunting;


s: It's the great, big, broad land 'way up yonder,


s: It's the forests where silence has lease;


s: It's the beauty that thrills me with wonder,


s: It's the stillness that fills me with peace.


s: There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon,


s: And to-night, oh, God of the trails untrod,


s: With the raw-ribbed Wild that abhors all life,


s: I have clinched and closed with the naked North,


s: Shoulder to shoulder we have fought it out --


s: I have flouted the Wild.  I have followed its lure,


s: Even as lean wolf-dog goes down will I go down and die.


s: But the stars throng out in their glory,


s: Where a star or a soul is a part of the whole,


s: When the scroll of the Lord is unfurled,


s: This is the law of the Yukon, and ever she makes it plain:


s: Send me men girt for the combat, men who are grit to the core;


s: Swift as the panther in triumph, fierce as the bear in defeat,


s: Sired of a bulldog parent, steeled in the furnace heat.


s: Send me the best of your breeding, lend me your chosen ones;


s: Them will I take to my bosom, them will I call my sons;


s: Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat;


s: "Wild and wide are my borders, stern as death is my sway;


s: One by one I weeded them out, for all that I sought was -- Men.


s: One by one I dismayed them, frighting them sore with my glooms;


s: One by one I betrayed them unto my manifold dooms.


s: Going outside with an escort, raving with lips all afoam,


s: Writing a cheque for a million, driveling feebly of home;


s: Lost like a louse in the burning... or else in the tented town


s: Seeking a drunkard's solace, sinking and sinking down;


s: Steeped in the slime at the bottom, dead to a decent world,


s: Lost 'mid the human flotsam, far on the frontier hurled;


s: Searching my uttermost valleys, fighting each step as they go,


s: Shooting the wrath of my rapids, scaling my ramparts of snow;


s: Ripping the guts of my mountains, looting the beds of my creeks,


s: Them will I take to my bosom, and speak as a mother speaks.


s: I am the land that listens, I am the land that broods;


s: Steeped in eternal beauty, crystalline waters and woods.


s: Long have I waited lonely, shunned as a thing accurst,


s: Monstrous, moody, pathetic, the last of the lands and the first;


s: Visioning camp-fires at twilight, sad with a longing forlorn,


s: Feeling my womb o'er-pregnant with the seed of cities unborn.


s: Wild and wide are my borders, stern as death is my sway,


s: Them will I gild with my treasure, them will I glut with my meat.


s: "Lofty I stand from each sister land, patient and wearily wise,


s: When men shall not rape my riches, and curse me and go away;


s: Making a bawd of my bounty, fouling the hand that gave --


s: Till I rise in my wrath and I sweep on their path


s: Dreaming of men who will bless me, of women esteeming me good,


s: Of children born in my borders of radiant motherhood,


s: Of cities leaping to stature, of fame like a flag unfurled,


s: As I pour the tide of my riches in the eager lap of the world."


s: This is the Law of the Yukon, that only the Strong shall thrive;


s: That surely the Weak shall perish, and only the Fit survive.


s: Dissolute, damned and despairful, crippled and palsied and slain,


s: "I'm one of the Arctic brotherhood, I'm an old-time pioneer.


s: I came with the first -- O God! how I've cursed


s: where I've played and I've lost the game,


s: "This mining is only a gamble; the worst is as good as the best;


s: And I got in on Bonanza before the big rush began.


s: "Oh, those Dawson days, and the sin and the blaze,


s: (If God made me in His likeness, sure He let the devil inside.)


s: "Money was just like dirt there, easy to get and to spend.


s: "Twenty years in the Yukon, struggling along its creeks;


s: Roaming its giant valleys, scaling its god-like peaks;


s: Bathed in its fiery sunsets, fighting its fiendish cold --


s: Twenty years in the Yukon... twenty years -- and I'm old.


s: ... How much does it go to the pan, Bill?...


s: ... Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..."


s: And the hunger-maddened malamutes had torn him flesh from bone._


s: with the green stream streaking through it,


s: Searched the Vastness for a something you have lost?


s: Have you wandered in the wilderness, the sagebrush desolation,


s: The bunch-grass levels where the cattle graze?


s: Have you whistled bits of rag-time at the end of all creation,


s: And learned to know the desert's little ways?


s: Have you suffered, starved and triumphed,


s: Grown bigger in the bigness of the whole?


s: Let us probe the silent places, let us seek what luck betide us;


s: _Ye who know the Lone Trail fain would follow it,


s: Though it lead to glory or the darkness of the pit.


s: Ye who take the Lone Trail, bid your love good-by;


s: The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow till you die._


s: and they rob the corpse for its clothes.


s: and the snows where your torn feet freeze,


s: till the ways of the world are made plain.


s: _Bid good-by to sweetheart, bid good-by to friend;


s: The Lone Trail, the Lone Trail follow to the end.


s: Tarry not, and fear not, chosen of the true;


s: Lover of the Lone Trail, the Lone Trail waits for you._


s: We sleep in the sleep of ages, the bleak, barbarian pines;


s: The gray moss drapes us like sages, and closer we lock our lines,


s: Ours till the world be riven in the crash of the utter end;


s: Wind of the East, Wind of the West, wandering to and fro,


s: Sun, moon and stars give answer; shall we not staunchly stand,


s: Even as now, forever, wards of the wilder strand,


s: Sentinels of the stillness, lords of the last, lone land?


s: They miss my little camp-fires, ever brightly, bravely gleaming


s: In the womb of desolation, where was never man before;


s: As comradeless I sought them, lion-hearted, loving, dreaming,


s: And they hailed me as a comrade, and they loved me evermore.


s: And now they're all a-crying, and it's no use me denying;


s: The spell of them is on me and I'm helpless as a child;


s: My heart is aching, aching, but I hear them, sleeping, waking;


s: It's the Lure of Little Voices, it's the mandate of the Wild.


s: I'm afraid to tell you, Honey, I can take no bitter leaving;


s: But softly in the sleep-time from your love I'll steal away.


s: Look at my face, toil-furrowed; look at my calloused hands;


s: Master, I've done Thy bidding, wrought in Thy many lands --


s: Wrought for the little masters, big-bellied they be, and rich;


s: And now, Big Master, I'm broken and bent and twisted and scarred,


s: Whiskey and cards and women, they made me the devil's tool.


s: I was just like a child with money; I flung it away with a curse,


s: Then back to the woods repentant, back to the mill or the mine,


s: I, the worker of workers, everything in my line.


s: Everything hard but headwork (I'd no more brains than a kid),


s: A brute with brute strength to labor, doing as I was bid;


s: Living in camps with men-folk, a lonely and loveless life;


s: Never knew kiss of sweetheart, never caress of wife.


s: Down in the ditch building o'er me palaces fairer than dreams;


s: Boring the rock to the ore-bed, driving the road through the fen,


s: Master, I've filled my contract, wrought in Thy many lands;


s: Not by my sins wilt Thou judge me, but by the work of my hands.


s: Master, I've done Thy bidding, and the light is low in the west,


s: Don't let him see you're funking, let him know with every clout,


s: This life's a bally battle, and the same advice holds true


s: If you're up against it badly, then it's only one on you,


s: Rise up in the morning with the will that, smooth or rough,


s: Sink to sleep at midnight, and although you're feeling tough,


s: Your trouble is that you don't know when you have had enough --


s: If Fate should down you, just get up and take another cuff;


s: You may bank on it that there is no philosophy like bluff,


s: A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon;


s: The kid that handles the music-box was hitting a jag-time tune;


s: Back of the bar, in a solo game, sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,


s: Yet he tilted a poke of dust on the bar,


s: There was none could place the stranger's face,


s: though we searched ourselves for a clue;


s: There's men that somehow just grip your eyes,


s: And I turned my head -- and there watching him


s: Then you've a haunch what the music meant...


s: (God! how ghastly she looks through her rouge, --


s: and it thrilled you through and through --


s: The music almost died away... then it burst like a pent-up flood;


s: Then I ducked my head, and the lights went out,


s: And a woman screamed, and the lights went up,


s: _There are strange things done in the midnight sun


s: The Arctic trails have their secret tales


s: The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,


s: Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge


s: On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.


s: Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no;


s: "It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold


s: till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.


s: In the long, long night, by the lone firelight,


s: Howled out their woes to the homeless snows --


s: And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;


s: Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;


s: I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;


s: She laughed at my picture and went away.


s: And she hangs in the church of Saint Hillaire,


s: And one who lingers in the sunshine there;


s: She is than white-stoled lily far more fair,


s: And oh, her eyes are heaven-lit with dream!


s: I know a garret, cold and dark and drear,


s: And one who toils and toils with tireless pen,


s: Until his brave, sad eyes grow weary -- then


s: He seeks the stars, pale, silent as a seer.


s: And ah, it's strange; for, desolate and dim,


s: Between these two there rolls an ocean wide;


s: And she is in the garret there with him.


s: It's fine to have a blow-out in a fancy restaurant,


s: With terrapin and canvas-back and all the wine you want;


s: To enjoy the flowers and music, watch the pretty women pass,


s: Smoke a choice cigar, and sip the wealthy water in your glass.


s: It's bully in a high-toned joint to eat and drink your fill,


s: It's great to go out every night on fun or pleasure bent;


s: To wear your glad rags always and to never save a cent;


s: To drift along regardless, have a good time every trip;


s: To hit the high spots sometimes, and to let your chances slip;


s: To know you're acting foolish, yet to go on fooling still,


s: Time has got a little bill -- get wise while yet you may,


s: For the debit side's increasing in a most alarming way;


s: So eat, drink and be merry, have a good time if you will,


s: But God help you when the time comes, and you


s: One said:  Thy life is thine to make or mar,


s: It lies with thee -- the choice is thine, is thine,


s: I answered Her:  The choice is mine -- ah, no!


s: We all were made or marred long, long ago.


s: The parts are written; hear the super wail:


s: "Who is stage-managing this cosmic show?"


s: Blind fools of fate and slaves of circumstance,


s: Life is a fiddler, and we all must dance.


s: From gloom where mocks that will-o'-wisp, Free-will


s: I heard a voice cry:  "Say, give us a chance."


s: Chance!  Oh, there is no chance!  The scene is set.


s: Up with the curtain!  Man, the marionette,


s: Resumes his part.  The gods will work the wires.


s: They've got it all down fine, you bet, you bet!


s: It's all decreed -- the mighty earthquake crash,


s: The countless constellations' wheel and flash;


s: The rise and fall of empires, war's red tide;


s: There's no haphazard in this world of ours.


s: Cause and effect are grim, relentless powers.


s: They rule the world.  (A king was shot last night;


s: Last night I held the joker and both bowers.)


s: From out the mesh of fate our heads we thrust.


s: We can't do what we would, but what we must.


s: (Consoling thought when you've been on a "bust".)


s: Hark to the song where spheral voices blend:


s: "There's no beginning, never will be end."


s: It makes us nutty; hang the astral chimes!


s: The tables spread; come, let us dine, my friend.


s: There's a race of men that don't fit in,


s: So they break the hearts of kith and kin,


s: They range the field and they rove the flood,


s: If they just went straight they might go far;


s: But they're always tired of the things that are,


s: They say:  "Could I find my proper groove,


s: So they chop and change, and each fresh move


s: And each forgets that his youth has fled,


s: Till he stands one day, with a hope that's dead,


s: He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;


s: He's a rolling stone, and it's bred in the bone;


s: O'er the dark pines she sees the silver moon,


s: And soothing sweet she hears the mellow tune


s: Of cow-bells jangled in the fields afar.


s: Quite listless, for her daily stent is done,


s: She stands, sad exile, at her rose-wreathed door,


s: That goes to gild the land she'll see no more.


s: The grave, gaunt pines imprison her sad gaze,


s: All still the sky and darkling drearily;


s: She feels the chilly breath of dear, dead days


s: The curtains stir as with an ancient pain;


s: And waits and waits her tender touch in vain.


s: But now her hands like moonlight brush the keys


s: And now she sings.  (O! singer in the gloom,


s: Here in the Farness where we few have room


s: Unshamed to show our love and tenderness,


s: Our hearts will echo, till they beat no more,


s: And, stretched in deathless love to England's shore,


s: Some day she'll hearken and she'll understand.)


s: She thinks of how she held a people fast


s: In thrall, and gleaned the triumphs of a day.


s: She sees herself a queen of song once more;


s: She sees lips part in rapture, eyes agleam;


s: She sings as never once she sang before.


s: She sings a wild, sweet song that throbs with pain,


s: The added pain of life that transcends art --


s: A song of home, a deep, celestial strain,


s: The glorious swan-song of a dying heart.


s: A lame tramp comes along the railway track,


s: A grizzled dog whose day is nearly done;


s: He passes, pauses, then comes slowly back


s: And listens there -- an audience of one.


s: She sings -- her golden voice is passion-fraught,


s: As when she charmed a thousand eager ears;


s: He listens trembling, and she knows it not,


s: And down his hollow cheeks roll bitter tears.


s: There is no sound, the stars are all alight --


s: There's a four-pronged buck a-swinging in the shadow of my cabin,


s: But I tracked it by the river, and I trailed it in the cover,


s: And I killed it on the mountain miles away.


s: Now I've had my lazy supper, and the level sun is gleaming


s: On the water where the silver salmon play;


s: And I light my little corn-cob, and I linger, softly dreaming,


s: In the twilight, of a land that's far away.


s: Far away, so faint and far, is flaming London, fevered Paris,


s: That I fancy I have gained another star;


s: Far away the din and hurry, far away the sin and worry,


s: Far away -- God knows they cannot be too far.


s: learned their wisdom, crushed my fancies,


s: Starved my soul and gone to business every day.


s: I can couch me deep in clover, I can listen to the story


s: Of the lazy, lapping water -- it is best.


s: And the robin greets the dayspring with the rapture of a lover,


s: For I know I'd just be longing for the little old log cabin,


s: With the morning-glory clinging to the door,


s: Till I loathed the city places, cursed the care on all the faces,


s: So send me far from Lombard Street, and write me down a failure;


s: Put a little in my purse and leave me free.


s: I am one of you no longer; by the trails my feet have broken,


s: The dizzy peaks I've scaled, the camp-fire's glow;


s: And I know at the dawn she'll come reeling home


s: One for herself, to drown her shame, and two big bottles for me,


s: To make me forget the thing I am and the man I used to be.


s: When a man gits on his uppers in a hard-pan sort of town,


s: An' he ain't got nothin' comin' an' he can't afford ter eat,


s: An' he's in a fix for lodgin' an' he wanders up an' down,


s: An' you'd fancy he'd been boozin', he's so locoed 'bout the feet;


s: In the little ol' log cabin in the shadder of the pines.


s: When he's on the blazin' desert an' his canteen's sprung a leak,


s: Then he's like ter hev' a vision, as he settles down ter die,


s: Of the little ol' log cabin an' the roses an' the vines.


s: Oh, the little ol' log cabin, it's a solemn shinin' mark,


s: When a feller gits ter sinnin' an' a-goin' ter the wall,


s: An' folks don't understand him an' he's gropin' in the dark,


s: An' he's sick of bein' cursed at an' he's longin' fer his call!


s: When the sun of life's a-sinkin' you can see it 'way above,


s: On the hill from out the shadder in a glory 'gin the sky,


s: An' never leave its shelter, an' forget, an' love, an' rest.


s: If you leave the gloom of London and you seek a glowing land,


s: Where all except the flag is strange and new,


s: For he's your younger brother, the one you sent away


s: Because there wasn't room for him at home;


s: And now he's quite contented, and he's glad he didn't stay,


s: And he's building Britain's greatness o'er the foam.


s: When the giant herd is moving at the rising of the sun,


s: And the prairie is lit with rose and gold,


s: And the camp is all abustle, and the busy day's begun,


s: And when the night-winds whisper and camp-fires flicker out,


s: He is sleeping like a child beneath the stars.


s: When the wattle-blooms are drooping in the sombre she-oak glade,


s: And the breathless land is lying in a swoon,


s: And he hears the bell-bird chime the Austral noon.


s: The parrakeets are silent in the gum-tree by the creek;


s: The ferny grove is sunshine-steeped and still;


s: But the dew will gem the myrtle in the twilight ere he seek


s: Around the purple, vine-clad slope the argent river dreams;


s: The roses almost hide the house from view;


s: A snow-peak of the Winterberg in crimson splendor gleams;


s: He seeks the lily-scented dusk beneath the orange tree;


s: His pipe in silence glows and fades and glows;


s: And then two little maids come out and climb upon his knee,


s: He sees his white sheep dapple o'er the green New Zealand plain,


s: And where Vancouver's shaggy ramparts frown,


s: You will find him toiling, toiling, in the south or in the west,


s: A child of nature, fearless, frank, and free;


s: You've a brother in the army, you've another in the Church;


s: You've had the pick of everything and left him in the lurch,


s: I'm sure his life is happy, and he doesn't envy yours;


s: I know he loves the land his pluck has won;


s: And I fancy in the years unborn, while England's fame endures,


s: She will come to bless with pride -- The Younger Son.


s: The cruel war was over -- oh, the triumph was so sweet!


s: We watched the troops returning, through our tears;


s: And everyone was shouting for the Soldiers of the Queen,


s: And then there came a shadow, swift and sudden, dark and drear;


s: The bells were silent, not an echo stirred.


s: The flags were drooping sullenly, the men forgot to cheer;


s: The sky grew darker, darker, till from out the gloomy rack


s: There came a voice that checked the heart with dread:


s: "Tear down, tear down your bunting now, and hang up sable black;


s: They are coming -- it's the Army of the Dead."


s: Oh, the clammy brow of anguish! the livid, foam-flecked lips!


s: "They left us on the veldt-side, but we felt we couldn't stop


s: On this, our England's crowning festal day;


s: We're the men of Magersfontein, we're the men of Spion Kop,


s: Colenso -- we're the men who had to pay.


s: Then cheer us for our glory now, and cheer us for our pain,


s: And cheer us as ye never cheered before."


s: And every eye was staring at the horror of the dead,


s: A thousand flags were flaming where the sky and city meet;


s: A thousand bells were thundering the joy.


s: O God, in Thy great mercy, let us nevermore forget


s: The graves they left behind, the bitter graves.


s: A pistol shot rings round and round the world;


s: A last defiance to dark Death is hurled,


s: A last wild challenge shocks the sunlit skies.


s: Alone he falls, with wide, wan, woeful eyes:


s: Eyes that could smile at death -- could not face shame.


s: In the bright sunshine of that Paris day;


s: Saw in his thought the awful hand of doom;


s: Tried in his heart, his weary heart, to pray:


s: "O God! who made me, give me strength to face


s: The spectre of this bitter, black disgrace."


s: The burn brawls darkly down the shaggy glen;


s: The bee-kissed heather blooms around the door;


s: He hears the pibroch, grips the red claymore,


s: Runs with the Fiery Cross, a clansman true,


s: Sworn kinsman of Rob Roy and Roderick Dhu.


s: Eating his heart out with a wild desire,


s: One day, behind his counter trim and neat,


s: He hears a sound that sets his brain afire --


s: The Highlanders are marching down the street.


s: Oh, how the pipes shrill out, the mad drums beat!


s: "On to the gates of Hell, my Gordons gay!"


s: He sees the sullen pass, high-crowned with snow,


s: Where Afghans cower with eyes of gleaming hate.


s: He hurls himself against the hidden foe.


s: They try to rally -- ah, too late, too late!


s: Again, defenseless, with fierce eyes that wait


s: For death, he stands, like baited bull at bay,


s: And flouts the Boers, that mad Majuba day.


s: Blood-slaked and rapine-swept.  He seems to stand


s: Over his Highlanders.  To shake his hand


s: A King is proud, and princes call him friend.


s: And glory crowns his life -- and now the end,


s: The awful end.  His eyes are dark with doom;


s: He hears the shrapnel shrieking overhead;


s: He sees the ravaged ranks, the flame-stabbed gloom.


s: Oh, to have fallen! -- the battle-field his bed,


s: With Wauchope and his glorious brother-dead.


s: Why was he saved for this, for this?  And now


s: In many a Highland home, framed with rude art,


s: You'll find his portrait, rough-hewn, stern and square;


s: It's graven in the Fuyam fellah's heart;


s: The Ghurka reads it at his evening prayer;


s: The raw lands know it, where the fierce suns glare;


s: The Dervish fears it.  Honor to his name


s: Who holds aloft the shield of England's fame.


s: Mourn for our hero, men of Northern race!


s: His sword was keen.  He laughed death in the face,


s: And struck, for Empire's sake, a giant blow.


s: His arm was strong.  Ah! well they learnt, the foe


s: Will ring for aye.  All else... let us forget.


s: An angel was tired of heaven, as he lounged in the golden street;


s: So the Master stooped in His pity, and gave him a pass to go,


s: The sexless singers of heaven chanted a fond farewell,


s: Never was seen such an angel -- eyes of heavenly blue,


s: Features that shamed Apollo, hair of a golden hue;


s: The women simply adored him; his lips were like Cupid's bow;


s: But he never ventured to use them -- and so they voted him slow.


s: Till at last there came One Woman, a marvel of loveliness,


s: And she whispered to him:  "Do you love me?"


s: The stagnation of a bank we couldn't stand;


s: For our riot blood was surging, and we didn't need much urging


s: To excitements and excesses that are banned.


s: So we took to wine and drink and other things,


s: And the devil in us struggled to be free;


s: Till our friends rose up in wrath, and they pointed out the path,


s: Oh, they shook us off and shipped us o'er the foam,


s: To the larger lands that lure a man to roam;


s: And we bade good-by for evermore to home.


s: And some of us are climbing on the peak,


s: And some of us are camping on the plain;


s: By pine and palm you'll find us, with never claim to bind us,


s: By track and trail you'll meet us once again.


s: We are the fated serfs to freedom -- sky and sea;


s: We have failed where slummy cities overflow;


s: But the stranger ways of earth know our pride and know our worth,


s: Yes, we go into the night as brave men go,


s: Though our faces they be often streaked with woe;


s: And we've danced with death a dozen times or so.


s: And you'll find us in Alaska after gold,


s: And you'll find us herding cattle in the South.


s: We like strong drink and fun, and, when the race is run,


s: We are wild as colts unbroke, but never mean.


s: Of our sins we've shoulders broad to bear the blame;


s: But we'll never stay in town and we'll never settle down,


s: And we'll never have an object or an aim.


s: No, there's that in us that time can never tame;


s: And life will always seem a careless game;


s: Forget, blot out with bitterness our name.


s: It's cruel cold on the water-front, silent and dark and drear;


s: Only the black tide weltering, only the hissing snow;


s: They're playing a tune in McGuffy's saloon,


s: They'll jeer at me, and they'll sneer at me,


s: McGuffy is showing a bunch of the boys how Bob Fitzsimmons hit;


s: Of lives that would blend like an angel-song


s: Of the crowded court... See! the Judge looks down...


s: Have a drink to the glad New Year, a drop before you go --


s: You darned old dirty hobo... My God!  Here, boys!  He's _DEAD!_"


s: Say!  You've struck a heap of trouble --


s: Dancing shadows, green, still meadows --


s: What! you're tired and broke and beaten? --


s: Why, you're rich -- you've got the earth!


s: There was a woman, and she was wise; woefully wise was she;


s: There is no hope for such as I on earth, nor yet in Heaven;


s: Unloved I live, unloved I die, unpitied, unforgiven;


s: A loathed jade, I ply my trade, unhallowed and unshriven.


s: Until they come, the nightly scum, with drunken eyes aflame;


s: For life is not the thing we thought, and not the thing we plan;


s: And Woman in a bitter world must do the best she can --


s: Must serve his need and ever feed the flame of his desire,


s: Though be she loved for love alone, or be she loved for hire;


s: For every man since life began is tainted with the mire.


s: And though you know he love you so and set you on love's throne;


s: And 'tis not wise to love too well, and this all women know.


s: Wherefore, the wolf-pack having gorged upon the lamb, their prey,


s: With velvet paws and flensing claws, a tigress roused to slay.


s: One who in youth sought truest truth and found a devil's lies;


s: A symbol of the sin of man, a human sacrifice.


s: Yet shall I blame on man the shame?  Could it be otherwise?


s: Was I not born to walk in scorn where others walk in pride?


s: The Maker marred, and, evil-starred, I drift upon His tide;


s: And He alone shall judge His own, so I His judgment bide.


s: Fate has written a tragedy; its name is "The Human Heart".


s: The Theatre is the House of Life, Woman the mummer's part;


s: 'Twas a year ago and the moon was bright


s: I walked with my love in a sea of light,


s: And the voice of my sweet was a silver bell.


s: And sudden the moon grew strangely dull,


s: I looked on the face of a grinning skull,


s: 'Twas but fantasy, for my love lay still


s: And she wondered why my lips were chill,


s: And my heart is broken -- it's strange, you know.


s: Along the road to Anywhere, when each day had its story;


s: When time was yet our vassal, and life's jest was still unstale;


s: Alas! the road to Anywhere is pitfalled with disaster;


s: There's hunger, want, and weariness, yet O we loved it so!


s: As on we tramped exultantly, and no man was our master,


s: The tragic road to Anywhere, such dear, dim years ago.


s: on the subject has been supplied in sufficient quantity.


s: But the maker of folksongs for our newborn nation requires


s: a somewhat rare combination of gifts and experiences.


s: adown the mountain spur, and followed the night-long moving,


s: spectral-seeming herd 'in the droving days'.  Amid such scarce


s: like undiscovered gold, await the fortunate adventurer.


s: this collection comprises the best bush ballads written


s: A number of these verses are now published for the first time,


s: They are just the rude stories one hears


s: Though their merits indeed are but slight,


s: There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around


s: I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better


s: This was the way of it, don't you know --


s: It was somewhere up the country, in a land of rock and scrub,


s: The roving breezes come and go, the reed beds sweep and sway,


s: Now this is the law of the Overland that all in the West obey,


s: The widow sought the lawyer's room with children three in tow,


s: It was the man from Ironbark who struck the Sydney town,


s: I had ridden over hurdles up the country once or twice,


s: with the pants and the eyeglass and all.


s: 'He ought to be home,' said the old man,


s: Out in the grey cheerless chill of the morning light,


s: Did you ever hear tell of Chili?  I was readin' the other day


s: I'm travellin' down the Castlereagh, and I'm a station hand,


s: There's never a stone at the sleeper's head,


s: The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives a toot,


s: There came a whisper down the Bland between the dawn and dark,


s: Down along the Snakebite River, where the overlanders camp,


s: Oh, the new-chum went to the back block run,


s: The shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and hale and strong,


s: On the outer Barcoo where the churches are few,


s: 'Aye,' said the boozer, 'I tell you it's true, sir,


s: As I pondered very weary o'er a volume long and dreary --


s: This is the place where they all were bred;


s: We buried old Bob where the bloodwoods wave


s: There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around


s: All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far


s: Had mustered at the homestead overnight,


s: For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,


s: And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.


s: There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup,


s: The old man with his hair as white as snow;


s: But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up --


s: He would go wherever horse and man could go.


s: And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand,


s: And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,


s: He was something like a racehorse undersized,


s: And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,


s: And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.


s: But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay,


s: For a long and tiring gallop -- lad, you'd better stop away,


s: Those hills are far too rough for such as you.'


s: So he waited sad and wistful -- only Clancy stood his friend --


s: 'I think we ought to let him come,' he said;


s: 'I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end,


s: For both his horse and he are mountain bred.


s: 'He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side,


s: Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough,


s: And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,


s: Where the river runs those giant hills between;


s: I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,


s: But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen.'


s: So he went -- they found the horses by the big mimosa clump --


s: They raced away towards the mountain's brow,


s: And the old man gave his orders, 'Boys, go at them from the jump,


s: For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight,


s: If once they gain the shelter of those hills.'


s: So Clancy rode to wheel them -- he was racing on the wing


s: Where the best and boldest riders take their place,


s: Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash,


s: But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view,


s: Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black


s: Resounded to the thunder of their tread,


s: And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way,


s: Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide;


s: And the old man muttered fiercely, 'We may bid the mob good day,


s: _NO_ man can hold them down the other side.'


s: When they reached the mountain's summit, even Clancy took a pull,


s: The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full


s: Of wombat holes, and any slip was death.


s: But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head,


s: And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer,


s: And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed,


s: While the others stood and watched in very fear.


s: He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet,


s: He cleared the fallen timber in his stride,


s: And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat --


s: It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride.


s: And he never drew the bridle till he landed safe and sound,


s: He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill,


s: And the watchers on the mountain standing mute,


s: Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met


s: In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals


s: On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet,


s: With the man from Snowy River at their heels.


s: But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot,


s: He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur;


s: But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot,


s: And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise


s: Their torn and rugged battlements on high,


s: And where around the Overflow the reedbeds sweep and sway


s: To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide,


s: The man from Snowy River is a household word to-day,


s: And the stockmen tell the story of his ride.


s: To the front -- and then stay there -- was ever


s: Strong frames -- and their pluck to receive --


s: For weight wouldn't stop him, nor distance,


s: While _HER_ crowd were starting to laugh;


s: But the old horse came faster and faster,


s: His pluck told its tale, and his strength,


s: He gained on her, caught her, and passed her,


s: It's 'win, tie, or wrangle' -- to best 'em


s: You must lose 'em, or else it's 'dead heat'.


s: We strolled down the township and found 'em


s: If sorrows they had, why they drowned 'em,


s: Their horses were good 'uns and fit 'uns,


s: They backed their own horses like Britons,


s: Though we well might have known that the clever


s: But, 'dosing' or 'stuffing', those fellows


s: He munched it all night, and we found him


s: The girths wouldn't nearly meet round him;


s: And we heard the 'books' calling the doubles --


s: Three miles in three heats: -- Ah, my sonny,


s: Half-a-mile with their feather-weight up;


s: He rolled and he weltered and wallowed --


s: They finished all bunched, and he followed


s: And then people thought that _WE_ did it!


s: They gained ten good lengths on him quickly


s: And hope seemed to drop from the heavens,


s: Stretching out like a greyhound extended,


s: His girth laid right down on the ground.


s: And out flashed the whips on the leaders,


s: Then right through the ruck he came sailing --


s: He's in front!  Catch him now if you can, sir!


s: 'Who'll bet on the field?  I back Pardon!'


s: He came for the third heat light-hearted,


s: But he's old -- and his eyes are grown hollow;


s: Where the hoofs of the horses are ringing


s: It would look rather well the race-card on


s: When the cheers and the shouting and laughter


s: As they come down the racecourse a-steering,


s: And you'll hear the great multitude cheering


s: I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better


s: Knowledge, sent to where I met him down the Lachlan, years ago,


s: He was shearing when I knew him, so I sent the letter to him,


s: Just 'on spec', addressed as follows, 'Clancy, of The Overflow'.


s: And an answer came directed in a writing unexpected,


s: In my wild erratic fancy visions come to me of Clancy


s: Gone a-droving 'down the Cooper' where the Western drovers go;


s: And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,


s: And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.


s: I am sitting in my dingy little office, where a stingy


s: Ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall,


s: And the foetid air and gritty of the dusty, dirty city


s: Through the open window floating, spreads its foulness over all


s: And in place of lowing cattle, I can hear the fiendish rattle


s: Of the tramways and the 'buses making hurry down the street,


s: And the language uninviting of the gutter children fighting,


s: Comes fitfully and faintly through the ceaseless tramp of feet.


s: And the hurrying people daunt me, and their pallid faces haunt me


s: And I somehow rather fancy that I'd like to change with Clancy,


s: Like to take a turn at droving where the seasons come and go,


s: This was the way of it, don't you know --


s: Could find him -- catch a weasel asleep!


s: Till Trooper Scott, from the Stockman's Ford --


s: A bushman, too, as I've heard them tell --


s: D'you know the place?  It's a wayside inn,


s: The roughest crowd that ever drew breath --


s: Thieves and rowdies, uncouth and strange,


s: Were mustered round at the Shadow of Death.


s: The trooper knew that his man would slide


s: And with half a start on the mountain side


s: So help me heaven, I'll shoot you dead!'


s: He snapped the steel on his prisoner's wrist,


s: Recovered his wits as they turned to go,


s: 'The Swagman's round in the stable, Jim.'


s: One of the sort that could race and stay


s: With his mighty limbs and his length of rein.


s: He could race through scrub like a kangaroo,


s: The girl herself on his back might ride,


s: And the Swagman would carry her safely through.


s: He would travel gaily from daylight's flush


s: Till after the stars hung out their lamps,


s: There was never his like in the open bush,


s: And never his match on the cattle-camps.


s: Could see the way that the Swagman went.


s: With Conroy's cattle, a wire came through


s: To say that his wife couldn't live the day.


s: Through plains as pathless as ocean's foam,


s: He mounted straight on the Swagman's back.


s: He rode all night and he steered his course


s: By the shining stars with a bushman's skill,


s: And every time that he pressed his horse


s: He neared his home as the east was bright,


s: 'Carew!  How far did you come last night?'


s: 'A hundred miles since the sun went down.'


s: And his wife got round, and an oath he passed,


s: Could raise a coin, though it took their last


s: She kept the horse and she kept him well:


s: Gave him the hint as the girl passed by;


s: He caught her meaning, and quickly turned


s: To the trooper:  'Reckon you'll gain a stripe


s: By arresting me, and it's easily earned;


s: And soon as ever they turned their backs


s: The girl slipped down, on some errand bent


s: And then (the trick had been played before)


s: Three slabs fell out of the stable wall --


s: 'Twas done 'fore ever the trooper knew --


s: Mounted the Swagman and rushed him through.


s: In the stable yard, and he slammed the gate,


s: But the Swagman rose with a mighty spring


s: At the fence, and the trooper fired too late,


s: As they raced away and his shots flew wide


s: For never a horse that was lapped in hide


s: Could catch the Swagman in Conroy's Gap.


s: Of course he should have, as stories go,


s: But the worst of it is, this story's true:


s: Of high-toned robbers and all their school,


s: These horsethief fellows aren't built that way.


s: Come back!  Don't hope it -- the slinking hound,


s: He sloped across to the Queensland side,


s: And took to drink, and by some good chance


s: Was killed -- thrown out of a stolen trap.


s: And that was the end of this small romance,


s: They'd backed 'em, straight out and for places,


s: 'And then when I think that they're ready


s: They are licked like the veriest neddy --


s: They're licked from the fall of the flag.


s: 'And times have been bad, and the seasons


s: In short, boys, there's plenty of reasons


s: 'We can't sell him here, for they know him


s: He's raced and won races till, blow him,


s: For bushmen are smart, and they'd spot him


s: We'll run their best horses and beat 'em,


s: Let's try it once more for the last time,


s: He must have the speed to catch swallows,


s: The price ain't a thing that'll grieve us,


s: He answered:  'I've bought you a hummer,


s: His breeding's not known, but they state he


s: They squeal just like guinea-pigs squeal;


s: They bit their own hook, and were landed


s: It's grass-grown streets with dust are deep,


s: _QUITE_ half a length, it seemed to me --


s: They went to scale and -- cruel fate! --


s: 'Look here,' said we, 'you must not poke


s: He led his race-horse through the streets,


s: It was somewhere up the country, in a land of rock and scrub,


s: That they formed an institution called the Geebung Polo Club.


s: They were long and wiry natives from the rugged mountain side,


s: And the horse was never saddled that the Geebungs couldn't ride;


s: But their style of playing polo was irregular and rash --


s: They had mighty little science, but a mighty lot of dash:


s: And they played on mountain ponies that were muscular and strong,


s: And they used to train those ponies wheeling cattle in the scrub:


s: It was somewhere down the country, in a city's smoke and steam,


s: That a polo club existed, called 'The Cuff and Collar Team'.


s: As a social institution 'twas a marvellous success,


s: For the members were distinguished by exclusiveness and dress.


s: So they started up the country in pursuit of sport and fame,


s: Now my readers can imagine how the contest ebbed and flowed,


s: When the Geebung boys got going it was time to clear the road;


s: And the game was so terrific that ere half the time was gone


s: A spectator's leg was broken -- just from merely looking on.


s: For they waddied one another till the plain was strewn with dead,


s: And the Cuff and Collar Captain, when he tumbled off to die,


s: Was the last surviving player -- so the game was called a tie.


s: So he scrambled on his pony for his last expiring chance,


s: For he meant to make an effort to get victory to his side;


s: By the old Campaspe River, where the breezes shake the grass,


s: There's a row of little gravestones that the stockmen never pass,


s: And on misty moonlit evenings, while the dingoes howl around,


s: You can see their shadows flitting down that phantom polo ground;


s: And the rattle of the mallets, and the rush of ponies' feet,


s: Till the terrified spectator rides like blazes to the pub --


s: He's been haunted by the spectres of the Geebung Polo Club.


s: The roving breezes come and go, the reed beds sweep and sway,


s: The sleepy river murmurs low, and loiters on its way,


s: It is the land of lots o' time along the Castlereagh.


s: The old man's son had left the farm, he found it dull and slow,


s: He drifted to the great North-west where all the rovers go.


s: He's shearing here and fencing there, a kind of waif and stray,


s: He's droving now with Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh.


s: Or tramping down the black soil flats across by Waddiwong,


s: But all those little country towns would send the letter wrong,


s: The mailman, if he's extra tired, would pass them in his sleep,


s: It's safest to address the note to 'Care of Conroy's sheep',


s: For five and twenty thousand head can scarcely go astray,


s: You write to 'Care of Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh'.'


s: By rock and ridge and riverside the western mail has gone,


s: Across the great Blue Mountain Range to take that letter on.


s: A moment on the topmost grade while open fire doors glare,


s: She pauses like a living thing to breathe the mountain air,


s: Then launches down the other side across the plains away


s: To bear that note to 'Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh'.


s: And now by coach and mailman's bag it goes from town to town,


s: A speck upon the waste of plain the lonely mailman rides.


s: Where fierce hot winds have set the pine and myall boughs asweep


s: He hails the shearers passing by for news of Conroy's sheep.


s: By big lagoons where wildfowl play and crested pigeons flock,


s: By camp fires where the drovers ride around their restless stock,


s: My letter chases Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh.


s: Now this is the law of the Overland that all in the West obey,


s: A man must cover with travelling sheep a six-mile stage a day;


s: But they spread their sheep on a well-grassed run


s: For the drovers learn how to use their hands


s: Now Saltbush Bill was a drover tough, as ever the country knew,


s: He had fought his way on the Great Stock Routes


s: He could tell when he came to a friendly run


s: (When the kangaroos by the thousands starve,


s: And they set to work on the straggling sheep,


s: They forced them in where the grass was dead


s: Now, the new chum fought for his honour's sake


s: 'We have spread the sheep with a two-mile spread,


s: You must stick to him, Bill, for another round


s: So the new chum rode to the homestead straight


s: Of the desperate fight that he fought that day


s: And the tale went home to the Public Schools


s: They hunted them off on the road once more


s: And Saltbush Bill, on the Overland, will many a time recite


s: How the best day's work that ever he did


s: They stole my pears -- my native pears --


s: And he carried a thirst that was worth a crown,


s: But he thought he might take those yokels down,


s: In a private bar when the talk was high,


s: And they bet him some pounds no matter how far


s: He could pelt a stone, yet he could not shy


s: He knew that the river from bank to bank


s: As he trundled down, but his hopes they sank


s: For there wasn't a stone within fifty mile;


s: For the saltbush plain and the open down


s: The yokels laughed at his hopes o'erthrown,


s: And he stood awhile like a man in a dream;


s: Then out of his pocket he fetched a stone,


s: He had been there before:  he had wandered down


s: The widow sought the lawyer's room with children three in tow,


s: She told the lawyer man her tale in tones of deepest woe.


s: Said she, 'My husband took to drink for pains in his inside,


s: And never drew a sober breath from then until he died.


s: 'He never drew a sober breath, he died without a will,


s: And I must sell the bit of land the childer's mouths to fill.


s: There's some is grown and gone away, but some is childer yet,


s: And times is very bad indeed -- a livin's hard to get.


s: And Fred is drovin' Conroy's sheep along the Castlereagh,


s: And Charley's shearin' down the Bland, and Peter is away.'


s: The lawyer wrote the details down in ink of legal blue --


s: 'There's Minnie, Susan, Christopher, they stop at home with you;


s: There's Sarah, Frederick, and Charles, I'll write to them to-day,


s: 'You'll have to furnish his consent to sell the bit of land.'


s: The widow shuffled in her seat, 'Oh, don't you understand?


s: I thought a lawyer ought to know -- I don't know what to say --


s: You'll have to do without him, boss, for Peter is away.'


s: The mystery of Peter's life -- the man who was away.


s: It was the man from Ironbark who struck the Sydney town,


s: He wandered over street and park, he wandered up and down.


s: He loitered here, he loitered there, till he was like to drop,


s: Until at last in sheer despair he sought a barber's shop.


s: ''Ere! shave my beard and whiskers off, I'll be a man of mark,


s: I'll go and do the Sydney toff up home in Ironbark.'


s: The barber man was small and flash, as barbers mostly are,


s: He wore a strike-your-fancy sash, he smoked a huge cigar:


s: He was a humorist of note and keen at repartee,


s: He laid the odds and kept a 'tote', whatever that may be,


s: And when he saw our friend arrive, he whispered 'Here's a lark!


s: Just watch me catch him all alive, this man from Ironbark.'


s: There were some gilded youths that sat along the barber's wall,


s: 'I'll make this bloomin' yokel think his bloomin' throat is cut.'


s: 'I s'pose the flats is pretty green up there in Ironbark.'


s: A grunt was all reply he got; he shaved the bushman's chin,


s: Then made the water boiling hot and dipped the razor in.


s: Upon the newly shaven skin it made a livid mark --


s: No doubt it fairly took him in -- the man from Ironbark.


s: He fetched a wild up-country yell might wake the dead to hear,


s: 'You've done for me! you dog, I'm beat! one hit before I go!


s: I only wish I had a knife, you blessed murdering shark!


s: But you'll remember all your life, the man from Ironbark.'


s: He lifted up his hairy paw, with one tremendous clout


s: He landed on the barber's jaw, and knocked the barber out.


s: He set to work with tooth and nail, he made the place a wreck;


s: He grabbed the nearest gilded youth, and tried to break his neck.


s: And 'Murder!  Bloody Murder!' yelled the man from Ironbark.


s: A peeler man who heard the din came in to see the show;


s: He tried to run the bushman in, but he refused to go.


s: And when at last the barber spoke, and said, ''Twas all in fun --


s: 'Them barber chaps what keeps a tote, By George, I've had enough,


s: That flowing beards are all the go way up in Ironbark.


s: I had ridden over hurdles up the country once or twice,


s: By the side of Snowy River with a horse they called 'The Ace'.


s: And we brought him down to Sydney, and our rider Jimmy Rice,


s: 'Are you ready?' said the starter, as we held the horses back,


s: All ablazing with impatience, with excitement all aglow;


s: Before us like a ribbon stretched the steeplechasing track,


s: And the sun-rays glistened brightly on the chestnut and the black


s: Well, I scarcely knew we'd started, I was stupid-like with wonder


s: And we flew it like a hurdle, not a baulk and not a blunder,


s: As we charged it all together, and it fairly whistled under,


s: And then some were pulled behind me and a few shot out and led.


s: So we ran for half the distance, and I'm making no pretences


s: When I tell you I was feeling very nervous-like and queer,


s: you would think they'd lost their senses


s: Are there riders on Monaro?  ----' but I never heard the rest.


s: Let us mend the pace a little and we'll see who cries a crack.'


s: So we raced away together, and we left the others standing,


s: And the people cheered and shouted as we settled down to ride,


s: And we clung beside the Quiver.  At his taking off and landing


s: I could see his scarlet nostril and his mighty ribs expanding,


s: There was no one next or near me for the field was fairly slated,


s: And he shook my hand and told me that in all his days he never


s: Met a man who rode more gamely, and our last set to was prime,


s: And we wired them on Monaro how we chanced to beat the Quiver.


s: And they sent us back an answer, 'Good old sort from Snowy River:


s: with the pants and the eyeglass and all.


s: Amateur! don't he just look it -- it's twenty to one on a fall.


s: With his pants just as loose as balloons,


s: All you can do is to hold him and just let him jump as he likes,


s: Fell at that wall once, he did, and it gave him a regular spread,


s: he'll take first-class care he don't fall,


s: And I think that's the lot -- but remember,


s: Well, he's down safe as far as the start,


s: Only his baggified breeches would ruinate anyone's seat --


s: They're away -- here they come -- the first fence,


s: Good for the new chum, he's over, and two of the others are down!


s: Now for the treble, my hearty -- By Jove, he can ride, after all;


s: Oh, good, that's the style -- come away!


s: Rataplan's certain to beat you, unless you can give him the slip;


s: Battleaxe, Battleaxe, yet -- and it's Battleaxe wins for a crown;


s: And neighb'ring stations brought their men


s: Their champions ride; with laugh and song


s: The 'boss' was kindness through and through.


s: He toiled and toiled while lived the light,


s: Thro' that long lane of death and shame:


s: And there rose the sound thro' the livelong day


s: Of the constant clash that the shear-blades make


s: When the fastest shearers are making play,


s: But there wasn't a man in the shearers' lines


s: That could shear a sheep with the two Devines.


s: They had rung the sheds of the east and west,


s: Had beaten the cracks of the Walgett side,


s: And the Cooma shearers had giv'n them best --


s: When they saw them shear, they were satisfied.


s: From the southern slopes to the western pines


s: They were noted men, were the two Devines.


s: 'Twas a wether flock that had come to hand,


s: Great struggling brutes, that the shearers shirk,


s: For the fleece was filled with the grass and sand,


s: 'At a pound a hundred it's dashed hard lines


s: To shear such sheep,' said the two Devines.


s: But the shearers knew that they'd make a cheque


s: When they came to deal with the station ewes;


s: They were bare of belly and bare of neck


s: 'We will show the boss how a shear-blade shines


s: When we reach those ewes,' said the two Devines.


s: But it chanced next day when the stunted pines


s: Were swayed and stirred with the dawn-wind's breath,


s: That their father lay at the point of death.


s: So away at speed through the whispering pines


s: Down the bridle track rode the two Devines.


s: It was fifty miles to their father's hut,


s: And the dawn was bright when they rode away;


s: At the fall of night when the shed was shut


s: And the men had rest from the toilsome day,


s: To the shed once more through the dark'ning pines


s: On their weary steeds came the two Devines.


s: 'Well, you're back right sudden,' the super. said;


s: 'Is the old man dead and the funeral done?'


s: 'Well, no, sir, he ain't not exactly dead,


s: But as good as dead,' said the eldest son --


s: 'And we couldn't bear such a chance to lose,


s: So we came straight back to tackle the ewes.'


s: They are shearing ewes at the Myall Lake,


s: With the clashing sound that the shear-blades make


s: When the fastest shearers are making play,


s: And a couple of 'hundred and ninety-nines'


s: Are the tallies made by the two Devines.


s: Sold as he stands, and without recourse,


s: Weary and battered and screwed, of course,


s: Straightway the crowd and the auctioneer


s: For my heart went back to the droving days.


s: Where the air so dry and so clear and bright


s: The deep blue gleam of the phantom lakes.


s: That stirred the boughs of the sleeping trees,


s: And brought a breath of the fragrance rare


s: That comes and goes in that scented air;


s: For the trees and grass and the shrubs contain


s: A dry sweet scent on the saltbush plain.


s: Were revealed to me in the droving days.


s: And the kangaroos through the Mitchell grass,


s: But there rose a shout and a wild hubbub


s: When the dingo raced for his native scrub,


s: And he paid right dear for his stolen meals


s: With the drover's dogs at his wretched heels.


s: While the packhorse joined in the stirring chase.


s: And a wild halloo at the kill we'd raise --


s: We were light of heart in the droving days.


s: 'Twas a drover's horse, and my hand again


s: For I felt the swing and the easy stride


s: Of the grand old horse that I used to ride


s: That same old steed was my comrade still;


s: When we kept our watch in the cold and damp,


s: If the cattle broke from the sleeping camp,


s: With my head bent down on his waving mane,


s: Through the boughs above and the stumps below


s: At a racing speed; he would choose his course,


s: And my life was safe with the old grey horse.


s: When an outlaw broke from a station mob,


s: With a right good will was the stockwhip plied,


s: As the old horse raced at the straggler's side,


s: And the greenhide whip such a weal would raise,


s: We could use the whip in the droving days.


s: The drover's friend that had seen his day,


s: To be flogged and starved in a hawker's cart.


s: And the memories dear of the good old game.


s: Third, and the last time, one! two! three!'


s: And the old grey horse was knocked down to me.


s: On the lucerne flats by the Homestead Creek;


s: For though he scarcely a trot can raise,


s: He can take me back to the droving days.


s: 'He was always his mother's idol, since ever his father died;


s: Away in the gloomy ranges, at the foot of an ironbark,


s: The bonnie, winsome laddie was lying stiff and stark;


s: For the Reckless mare had smashed him against a leaning limb,


s: And his comely face was battered, and his merry eyes were dim.


s: But the mother pined and faded, and cried, and took no rest,


s: And rode each day to the ranges on her hopeless, weary quest.


s: Seeking her loved one ever, she faded and pined away,


s: 'I know that sooner or later I shall find my boy,' she said.


s: But she came not home one evening, and they found her lying dead,


s: 'Mid the great grey forests that know no change.


s: 'I have never been over the Moonbi Range.


s: And I live with granny in yon wee place.'


s: 'Where are your father and mother?' we said.


s: She puzzled awhile with thoughtful face,


s: Then a light came into the shy brown eye,


s: And she smiled, for she thought the question strange


s: On a thing so certain -- 'When people die


s: 'And what is this country like, my lass?'


s: 'There are blossoming trees and pretty flowers,


s: And shining creeks where the golden grass


s: Is fresh and sweet from the summer showers.


s: They never need work, nor want, nor weep;


s: No troubles can come their hearts to estrange.


s: And wake in the country over the range.'


s: Child, you are wise in your simple trust,


s: For the wisest man knows no more than you


s: But we know that God hath this gift in store,


s: We shall meet with our loved ones gone before


s: To the beautiful country over the range.


s: 'Richard Bennison, a jockey, aged 14, while riding William Tell


s: Out in the grey cheerless chill of the morning light,


s: Out on the track where the night shades still lurk;


s: Ere the first gleam of the sungod's returning light,


s: Round come the race-horses early at work.


s: Reefing and pulling and racing so readily,


s: Close sit the jockey-boys holding them hard,


s: 'Steady the stallion there -- canter him steadily,


s: Don't let him gallop so much as a yard.'


s: Fiercely he fights while the others run wide of him,


s: Reefs at the bit that would hold him in thrall,


s: Plunges and bucks till the boy that's astride of him


s: Goes to the ground with a terrible fall.


s: 'Stop him there!  Block him there!  Drive him in carefully,


s: Lead him about till he's quiet and cool.


s: Sound as a bell! though he's blown himself fearfully,


s: Now let us pick up this poor little fool.


s: 'Stunned?  Oh, by Jove, I'm afraid it's a case with him;


s: Ride for the doctor! keep bathing his head!


s: Send for a cart to go down to our place with him' --


s: No use!  One long sigh and the little chap's dead.


s: Only a jockey-boy, foul-mouthed and bad you see,


s: What did you do for him? -- bad was the best.


s: Yearly you send your well-advertised hoard,


s: But the poor jockey-boy -- shame on you, shame on you,


s: 'Feed ye, my little ones' -- what said the Lord?


s: Him ye held less than the outer barbarian,


s: Have you no precept -- 'go gather them in?'


s: Knew he God's name?  In his brutal profanity,


s: That name was an oath -- out of many but one --


s: What did he get from our famed Christianity?


s: Where has his soul -- if he had any -- gone?


s: Fourteen years old, and what was he taught of it?


s: What did he know of God's infinite grace?


s: Draw the dark curtain of shame o'er the thought of it,


s: Draw the shroud over the jockey-boy's face.


s: A sequel to [Mowbray Morris's] 'A Voice from the Bush'


s: With a heart that was well nigh to breaking,


s: But the old joys have lost their sensation --


s: 'Midst youngsters that chatter and prate,


s: And they call me 'the Man who was Someone


s: And I look, sour and old, at the dancers


s: Would scarce think him worthy the catching,


s: Sharply feel that oblivion my place is --


s: And the youngsters, fresh-featured and pleasant,


s: Of excitement and praise they are chary,


s: They are bored from the days of their birth.


s: I could show them the road -- to the devil,


s: I could show them the road where the stumps are


s: And the game where the Devil's three trumps are,


s: Shall the blind lead the blind -- shall the sower


s: Though they get to their goal somewhat slower,


s: For the world never learns -- just as we did,


s: Draws a harvest each year from the soil,


s: So the fools grow afresh for the spoiling,


s: And a new crop of thieves for the spoil.


s: Let them drink while the drops are of gold,


s: I have tasted the dregs -- 'twere surprising


s: What are the joys that my heart discloses?


s: With the wonderful scent of the big red roses.


s: Down on the hearth where the firelight dozes;


s: Flicker and flutter the lights and shades,


s: Whose memory comes with the scent of roses.


s: And a ball-room belle that superbly poses --


s: With a single flower from a bunch of roses.


s: God in His wisdom her young life closes;


s: She was always fond of the big white roses.


s: In the Western Park when the day is done,


s: I watch as the wild black swans fly over


s: With their phalanx turned to the sinking sun;


s: And I hear the clang of their leader crying


s: To a lagging mate in the rearward flying,


s: And they fade away in the darkness dying,


s: Where the stars are mustering one by one.


s: Oh! ye wild black swans, 'twere a world of wonder


s: For a while to join in your westward flight,


s: With the stars above and the dim earth under,


s: Through the cooling air of the glorious night.


s: As we swept along on our pinions winging,


s: We should catch the chime of a church-bell ringing,


s: Or the distant note of a torrent singing,


s: Or the far-off flash of a station light.


s: From the northern lakes with the reeds and rushes,


s: Where the hills are clothed with a purple haze,


s: Where the bell-birds chime and the songs of thrushes


s: They will hold their course to the westward ever,


s: Till they reach the banks of the old grey river,


s: Where the waters wash, and the reed-beds quiver


s: Oh! ye strange wild birds, will ye bear a greeting


s: To the folk that live in that western land?


s: Then for every sweep of your pinions beating,


s: Ye shall bear a wish to the sunburnt band,


s: To the stalwart men who are stoutly fighting


s: With the heat and drought and the dust-storm smiting,


s: Yet whose life somehow has a strange inviting,


s: When once to the work they have put their hand.


s: Facing it yet!  Oh, my friend stout-hearted,


s: For the hopes deferred and the gain departed?


s: Nothing could conquer that heart of thine.


s: And thy health and strength are beyond confessing


s: As the only joys that are worth possessing.


s: May the days to come be as rich in blessing


s: As the days we spent in the auld lang syne.


s: I would fain go back to the old grey river,


s: To the old bush days when our hearts were light,


s: But, alas! those days they have fled for ever,


s: They are like the swans that have swept from sight.


s: And I know full well that the strangers' faces


s: Would meet us now in our dearest places;


s: For our day is dead and has left no traces


s: But the thoughts that live in my mind to-night.


s: There are folk long dead, and our hearts would sicken --


s: We would grieve for them with a bitter pain,


s: If the past could live and the dead could quicken,


s: But on lonely nights we would hear them calling,


s: We should hear their steps on the pathways falling,


s: We should loathe the life with a hate appalling


s: In our lonely rides by the ridge and plain.


s: In the silent park is a scent of clover,


s: And the distant roar of the town is dead,


s: And I hear once more as the swans fly over


s: They are flying west, by their instinct guided,


s: And for man likewise is his fate decided,


s: Did you ever hear tell of Chili?  I was readin' the other day


s: Of President Balmaceda and of how he was sent away.


s: Well, he was for Balmaceda, and after the war was done,


s: And Balmaceda was beaten and his troops had been forced to run,


s: The other man fetched his army and proceeded to do things brown,


s: He marched 'em into the fortress and took command of the town.


s: Cannon and guns and horses troopin' along the road,


s: Rumblin' over the bridges, and never a foeman showed


s: And there as they watched they noticed a flutter of crimson rag,


s: And under their eyes he hoisted old Balmaceda's flag.


s: Well, they sent him a civil message to say that the war was done,


s: And them with their hundred cannon and him with a single gun:


s: The odds were a trifle heavy -- but he wasn't the sort to flinch,


s: They pounded his boat to pieces, they silenced his single gun,


s: And captured the whole consignment, for none of 'em cared to run;


s: They turn out the real Maginnis when it comes to an uphill fight.


s: And General Alzereca was killed in the battle's front;


s: I'm travellin' down the Castlereagh, and I'm a station hand,


s: I'm handy with the ropin' pole, I'm handy with the brand,


s: And I can ride a rowdy colt, or swing the axe all day,


s: But there's no demand for a station-hand along the Castlereagh.


s: So it's shift, boys, shift, for there isn't the slightest doubt


s: That we've got to make a shift to the stations further out,


s: With the pack-horse runnin' after, for he follows like a dog,


s: We must strike across the country at the old jig-jog.


s: He takes a lot of beatin', and the other day we tried,


s: It was shift, boys, shift, for there wasn't the slightest doubt


s: That I had to make him shift, for the money was nearly out;


s: But he cantered home a winner, with the other one at the flog --


s: He's a red-hot sort to pick up with his old jig-jog.


s: I asked a cove for shearin' once along the Marthaguy:


s: 'We shear non-union here,' says he.  'I call it scab,' says I.


s: I looked along the shearin' floor before I turned to go --


s: It was time to make a shift with the leprosy about.


s: So I saddled up my horses, and I whistled to my dog,


s: And I left his scabby station at the old jig-jog.


s: I went to Illawarra, where my brother's got a farm,


s: He has to ask his landlord's leave before he lifts his arm;


s: The landlord owns the country side -- man, woman, dog, and cat,


s: Their little landlord god and I would soon have fallen out;


s: Was I to touch my hat to him? -- was I his bloomin' dog?


s: So I makes for up the country at the old jig-jog.


s: But it's time that I was movin', I've a mighty way to go


s: Till I drink artesian water from a thousand feet below;


s: Till I meet the overlanders with the cattle comin' down,


s: So, it's shift, boys, shift, for there isn't the slightest doubt


s: We've got to make a shift to the stations further out;


s: The pack-horse runs behind us, for he follows like a dog,


s: And we cross a lot of country at the old jig-jog.


s: There's never a stone at the sleeper's head,


s: And the wandering stock on the grave may tread


s: For he rode at dusk, with his comrade Dunn


s: They were outlaws both -- and on each man's head


s: They had taken toll of the country round,


s: With a black that tracked like a human hound


s: He could run the trail where a white man's eye


s: He had hunted them out of the One Tree Hill


s: But they wheeled their tracks with a wild beast's skill,


s: Then away to the hut where their grandsire dwelt,


s: And their grandsire gave them a greeting bold:


s: And we'll drink success to the roving boys,


s: But they went to death when they entered there,


s: For their grandsire's words were as false as fair --


s: He had sold them both to the black police


s: In the depth of night there are forms that glide


s: And around the hut where the outlaws hide


s: And they wait till the first faint flush of dawn


s: But Gilbert wakes while the night is dark --


s: He has heard the sound of a sheep-dog's bark,


s: And he says to his mate, 'There are hawks abroad,


s: Their rifles stood at the stretcher head,


s: They wakened the old man out of his bed,


s: 'In the name of the Queen lay down your arms,


s: He pointed it straight at the voice and drew,


s: For the water ran from the rifle breech --


s: It was drenched while the outlaws slept.


s: Then he dropped the piece with a bitter oath,


s: 'We are sold,' he said, 'we are dead men both,


s: I'll stop and I'll fight with the pistol here,


s: So Dunn crept out on his hands and knees


s: And he made his way to a patch of trees,


s: And the trackers hunted his tracks all day,


s: But he laughed as he lifted his pistol-hand,


s: Then out of the shadows the troopers aimed


s: With the rifle flashes the darkness flamed,


s: And they riddled his body with rifle balls


s: There's never a stone at the sleeper's head,


s: And the wandering stock on the grave may tread


s: 'Twas a chosen band that was kept at hand


s: Was it south or north we were started forth,


s: If word reached town that a bridge was down,


s: Then a piercing scream and a rush of steam


s: With a measured beat by the slum and street


s: By the uplands bright and the homesteads white,


s: And the pilot swayed with the pace we made


s: And the country children clapped their hands


s: But their elders said:  'There is work ahead


s: Then across the miles of the saltbush plain


s: Where the grasses waved like the ripening grain


s: The Governor's special must stand aside,


s: Let your orders be that the line is free


s: The bell is set a-ringing, and the engine gives a toot,


s: There's five and thirty shearers here are shearing for the loot,


s: So stir yourselves, you penners-up, and shove the sheep along,


s: The musterers are fetching them a hundred thousand strong,


s: And make your collie dogs speak up -- what would the buyers say


s: In London if the wool was late this year from Castlereagh?


s: The man that 'rung' the Tubbo shed is not the ringer here,


s: That stripling from the Cooma side can teach him how to shear.


s: They trim away the ragged locks, and rip the cutter goes,


s: And leaves a track of snowy fleece from brisket to the nose;


s: It's lovely how they peel it off with never stop nor stay,


s: They're racing for the ringer's place this year at Castlereagh.


s: The man that keeps the cutters sharp is growling in his cage,


s: He's always in a hurry and he's always in a rage --


s: 'You clumsy-fisted mutton-heads, you'd turn a fellow sick,


s: You pass yourselves as shearers, you were born to swing a pick.


s: Another broken cutter here, that's two you've broke to-day,


s: It's awful how such crawlers come to shear at Castlereagh.'


s: The youngsters picking up the fleece enjoy the merry din,


s: They throw the classer up the fleece, he throws it to the bin;


s: The pressers standing by the rack are waiting for the wool,


s: There's room for just a couple more, the press is nearly full;


s: Now jump upon the lever, lads, and heave and heave away,


s: Another bale of golden fleece is branded 'Castlereagh'.


s: There came a whisper down the Bland between the dawn and dark,


s: Above the tossing of the pines, above the river's flow;


s: It stirred the boughs of giant gums and stalwart ironbark;


s: It drifted where the wild ducks played amid the swamps below;


s: It brought a breath of mountain air from off the hills of pine,


s: A scent of eucalyptus trees in honey-laden bloom;


s: And drifting, drifting far away along the southern line


s: It caught from leaf and grass and fern a subtle strange perfume.


s: And others heard the whisper pass, but could not understand


s: The magic of the breeze's breath that set their hearts aglow,


s: Nor how the roving wind could bring across the Overland


s: A sound of voices silent now and songs of long ago.


s: The mighty rolling western plains are very fair to see,


s: Where waving to the passing breeze the silver myalls stand,


s: But fairer are the giant hills, all rugged though they be,


s: From which the two great rivers rise that run along the Bland.


s: Oh! rocky range and rugged spur and river running clear,


s: The message that the breezes bring to call the wanderers home.


s: And we shall live to see once more those sunny southern hills,


s: And strike once more the bridle track that leads along the Bland.


s: Down along the Snakebite River, where the overlanders camp,


s: Where the serpents are in millions, all of the most deadly stamp;


s: Mixes up among the doughboys half-a-dozen poison-snakes:


s: Where the wily free-selector walks in armour-plated pants,


s: There it was that William Johnson sought his snake-bite antidote.


s: Johnson was a free-selector, and his brain went rather queer,


s: For the constant sight of serpents filled him with a deadly fear;


s: Old goanna cure himself with eating little pfeller tree.'


s: Thus it came to pass that Johnson, having got the tale by rote,


s: Followed every stray goanna, seeking for the antidote.


s: Saw him, happy and contented, lick his lips, as off he crept,


s: While the bulging in his stomach showed where his opponent slept.


s: 'Here it is, the Grand Elixir, greatest blessing ever known,


s: Twenty thousand men in India die each year of snakes alone.


s: Saved from sudden expiration, by my wondrous snakebite cure.


s: It will bring me fame and fortune!  In the happy days to be,


s: Men of every clime and nation will be round to gaze on me --


s: Scientific men in thousands, men of mark and men of note,


s: Rushing down the Mooki River, after Johnson's antidote.


s: It will cure Delirium Tremens, when the patient's eyeballs stare


s: At imaginary spiders, snakes which really are not there.


s: Then he rushed to the museum, found a scientific man --


s: 'Trot me out a deadly serpent, just the deadliest you can;


s: I intend to let him bite me, all the risk I will endure,


s: Just to prove the sterling value of my wondrous snakebite cure.


s: Even though an adder bit me, back to life again I'd float;


s: Said the scientific person, 'If you really want to die,


s: Give your dog the snakebite mixture, let the other fellow rip;


s: Both the dogs were duly loaded with the poison-gland's contents;


s: Johnson gave his dog the mixture, then sat down to wait events.


s: 'Mark,' he said, 'in twenty minutes Stump'll be a-rushing round,


s: While the other wretched creature lies a corpse upon the ground.'


s: And the scientific person hurried off with utmost speed,


s: Tested Johnson's drug and found it was a deadly poison-weed;


s: Half a tumbler killed an emu, half a spoonful killed a goat,


s: All the snakes on earth were harmless to that awful antidote.


s: Down along the Mooki River, on the overlanders' camp,


s: Where the serpents are in millions, all of the most deadly stamp,


s: Somehow seems to dodge the subject of the snake-bite antidote.


s: And the world's success is the only goal


s: For the lust of power and the pride of place


s: Wilt thou take thy part in the crowded race


s: The choice is thine, and the world is wide --


s: In the restless days and the sleepless nights


s: Thou shalt wake from sleep with a startled cry,


s: Thou shalt use thy friend as a stepping-stone


s: When the curtain falls on the sordid strife


s: Thou shalt look with pain on the wasted life


s: Thou hast sold thy life for a guerdon small


s: There has been reward -- but the end of all


s: For the night has come and it brings to naught


s: And thine epitaph shall in brass be wrought --


s: Thou shalt seek my side with a footstep swift,


s: Is the love of Art and the greatest gift


s: And the world's concerns with its rights and wrongs


s: Thou shalt end thy days with a quiet heart --


s: So the painter fashions a picture strong


s: Well, we grieve to disappoint you, and it makes us sad to hear


s: That it wasn't cool and shady -- and there wasn't plenty beer,


s: And the loony bullock snorted when you first came into view;


s: Well, you know it's not so often that he sees a swell like you;


s: Where the sunbaked earth was gasping like a creature in its pain


s: You would find the grasses waving like a field of summer grain,


s: But you found the bush was dismal and a land of no delight,


s: Did you chance to hear a chorus in the shearers' huts at night?


s: Than the little city urchins who would greet you with a curse?


s: Is not such a life much better than the squalid street and square


s: Did you hear no sweeter voices in the music of the bush


s: Would you make it a tea-garden and on Sundays have a band


s: Where the 'blokes' might take their 'donahs',


s: You had better stick to Sydney and make merry with the 'push',


s: For the bush will never suit you, and you'll never suit the bush.


s: Oh, the new-chum went to the back block run,


s: But he should have gone there last week.


s: But of turkey or duck he saw never a one,


s: For he should have been there last week,


s: There were flocks of 'em there last week.


s: And he should have gone there last week.


s: But the day was hot, and the stream was small,


s: For he should have gone there last week,


s: He went for a drive, and he made a start,


s: For the old horse died of a broken heart;


s: So he footed it home and he dragged the cart --


s: So he asked the bushies who came from far


s: If they'd dine with him, and they said 'Hurrah!'