Joe Wilson and His Mates

Henry Lawson

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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. An incomplete glossary of Australian, British, or antique terms and concepts which may prove helpful to understanding this book

Sujets

• Historical fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 27 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819922995
• Langue: English

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JOE WILSON AND HIS MATES
by Henry Lawson
An incomplete glossary of Australian, British, orantique terms and concepts which may prove helpful to understandingthis book:
“A house where they took in cards on a tray” (fromJoe Wilson's Courtship): An upper class house, with servants whowould take a visitor's card (on a tray) to announce their presence,or, if the family was out, to keep a record of the visit.
Anniversary Day: Mentioned in the text, is now knownas Australia Day. It commemorates the establishment of the firstEnglish settlement in Australia, at Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour),on 26 January 1788.
Gin: An obvious abbreviation of “aborigine”, it onlyrefers to *female* aborigines, and is now considered derogatory. Itwas not considered derogatory at the time Lawson wrote.
Jackaroo: At the time Lawson wrote, a Jackaroo was a“new chum” or newcomer to Australia, who sought work on a stationto gain experience. The term now applies to any young man workingas a station hand. A female station hand is a Jillaroo. Variant:Jackeroo.
Old-fashioned child: A child that acts old for theirage. Americans would say 'Precocious'.
'Possum: In Australia, a class of marsupials thatwere originally mistaken for possums. They are not especiallyrelated to the possums of North and South America, other than bothbeing marsupials.
Public/Pub. : The traditional pub. in Australia wasa hotel with a “public” bar— hence the name. The modern pub hasoften (not always) dispensed with the lodging, and concentrated onthe bar.
Tea: In addition to the regular meaning, Tea canalso mean a light snack or a meal (i. e. , where Tea is served). Inparticular, Morning Tea (about 10 AM) and Afternoon Tea (about 3PM) are nothing more than a snack, but Evening Tea (about 6 PM) isa meal. When just “Tea” is used, it usually means the evening meal.Variant: Tea-time.
Tucker: Food.
Shout: In addition to the regular meaning, it alsorefers to buying drinks for all the members of a group, etc. Theuse of this term can be confusing, so the first instance isfootnoted in the text.
Sly-grog-shop: An unlicensed bar orliquor-store.
Station: A farm or ranch, especially one devoted tocattle or sheep.
Store Bullock: Lawson makes several references tothese. A bullock is a castrated bull. Bullocks were used inAustralia for work that was too heavy for horses. 'Store' may referto those cattle, and their descendants, brought to Australia by theBritish government, and sold to settlers from the 'Store'— hence,the standard draft animal.
Also: a hint with the seasons— remember that theseasons are reversed from those in the northern hemisphere, henceJune may be hot, but December is even hotter. Australia is at alower latitude than the United States, so the winters are not harshby US standards, and are not even mild in the north. In fact, largeparts of Australia are governed more by “dry” versus “wet” than bySpring-Summer-Fall-Winter.
— A. L.
JOE WILSON AND HIS MATES
Author of “While the Billy Boils”, “On the Track andOver the Sliprails”, “When the World was Wide, and other verses”,“Verses, Popular and Humorous”, “Children of the Bush”, “When I wasKing, and other verses”, etc.
The Author's Farewell to the Bushmen.
Some carry their swags in the Great North-West
Where the bravest battle and die,
And a few have gone to their last long rest,
And a few have said “Good-bye! ”
The coast grows dim, and it may be long
Ere the Gums again I see;
So I put my soul in a farewell song
To the chaps who barracked for me.
Their days are hard at the best of times,
And their dreams are dreams of care—
God bless them all for their big soft hearts,
And the brave, brave grins they wear!
God keep me straight as a man can go,
And true as a man may be!
For the sake of the hearts that were always so,
Of the men who had faith in me!
And a ship-side word I would say, you chaps
Of the blood of the Don't-give-in!
The world will call it a boast, perhaps—
But I'll win, if a man can win!
And not for gold nor the world's applause—
Though ways to the end they be—
I'll win, if a man might win, because
Of the men who believed in me.
Part I.
Joe Wilson's Courtship.
There are many times in this world when a healthyboy is happy. When he is put into knickerbockers, for instance, and'comes a man to-day, ' as my little Jim used to say. When they'recooking something at home that he likes. When the 'sandy-blight' ormeasles breaks out amongst the children, or the teacher or his wifefalls dangerously ill— or dies, it doesn't matter which— 'and thereain't no school. ' When a boy is naked and in his natural state fora warm climate like Australia, with three or four of hisschoolmates, under the shade of the creek-oaks in the bend wherethere's a good clear pool with a sandy bottom. When his father buyshim a gun, and he starts out after kangaroos or 'possums. When hegets a horse, saddle, and bridle, of his own. When he has his armin splints or a stitch in his head— he's proud then, the proudestboy in the district.
I wasn't a healthy-minded, average boy: I reckon Iwas born for a poet by mistake, and grew up to be a Bushman, anddidn't know what was the matter with me— or the world— but that'sgot nothing to do with it.
There are times when a man is happy. When he findsout that the girl loves him. When he's just married. When he's alawful father for the first time, and everything is going on allright: some men make fools of themselves then— I know I did. I'mhappy to-night because I'm out of debt and can see clear ahead, andbecause I haven't been easy for a long time.
But I think that the happiest time in a man's lifeis when he's courting a girl and finds out for sure that she loveshim and hasn't a thought for any one else. Make the most of yourcourting days, you young chaps, and keep them clean, for they'reabout the only days when there's a chance of poetry and beautycoming into this life. Make the best of them and you'll neverregret it the longest day you live. They're the days that the wifewill look back to, anyway, in the brightest of times as well as inthe blackest, and there shouldn't be anything in those days thatmight hurt her when she looks back. Make the most of your courtingdays, you young chaps, for they will never come again.
A married man knows all about it— after a while: hesees the woman world through the eyes of his wife; he knows what anextra moment's pressure of the hand means, and, if he has had ahard life, and is inclined to be cynical, the knowledge does him nogood. It leads him into awful messes sometimes, for a married man,if he's inclined that way, has three times the chance with a womanthat a single man has— because the married man knows. He isprivileged; he can guess pretty closely what a woman means when shesays something else; he knows just how far he can go; he can gofarther in five minutes towards coming to the point with a womanthan an innocent young man dares go in three weeks. Above all, themarried man is more decided with women; he takes them and thingsfor granted. In short he is— well, he is a married man. And, whenhe knows all this, how much better or happier is he for it? MarkTwain says that he lost all the beauty of the river when he saw itwith a pilot's eye, — and there you have it.
But it's all new to a young chap, provided he hasn'tbeen a young blackguard. It's all wonderful, new, and strange tohim. He's a different man. He finds that he never knew anythingabout women. He sees none of woman's little ways and tricks in hisgirl. He is in heaven one day and down near the other place thenext; and that's the sort of thing that makes life interesting. Hetakes his new world for granted. And, when she says she'll be hiswife— — !
Make the most of your courting days, you youngchaps, for they've got a lot of influence on your married lifeafterwards— a lot more than you'd think. Make the best of them, forthey'll never come any more, unless we do our courting over againin another world. If we do, I'll make the most of mine.
But, looking back, I didn't do so badly after all. Inever told you about the days I courted Mary. The more I look backthe more I come to think that I made the most of them, and if I hadno more to regret in married life than I have in my courting days,I wouldn't walk to and fro in the room, or up and down the yard inthe dark sometimes, or lie awake some nights thinking. . . . Ahwell!
I was between twenty-one and thirty then: birthdayshad never been any use to me, and I'd left off counting them. Youdon't take much stock in birthdays in the Bush. I'd knocked aboutthe country for a few years, shearing and fencing and droving alittle, and wasting my life without getting anything for it. Idrank now and then, and made a fool of myself. I was reckoned'wild'; but I only drank because I felt less sensitive, and theworld seemed a lot saner and better and kinder when I had a fewdrinks: I loved my fellow-man then and felt nearer to him. It'sbetter to be thought 'wild' than to be considered eccentric orratty. Now, my old mate, Jack Barnes, drank— as far as I could see—first because he'd inherited the gambling habit from his fatheralong with his father's luck: he'd the habit of being cheated andlosing very bad, and when he lost he drank. Till drink got a holdon him. Jack was sentimental too, but in a different way. I wassentimental about other people— more fool I! — whereas Jack wassentimental about himself. Before he was married, and when he wasrecovering from a spree, he'd write rhymes about 'Only a boy, drunkby the roadside', and that sort of thing; and he'd call 'em poetry,and talk about signing them and sending them to the 'Town andCountry Journal'. But he generally tore them up when he got better.The Bush is breeding a race of poets, and I don't know what thecountry will come to in the end.
Well. It was after Jack and I had been out shearingat Beenaway shed in the Big Scrubs. Jack was living in the littlefarming town of Solong