26 Australian Life 



in the drawing-room the lamps are lighted, and 

 the cheerful sound of the piano invites an adjourn- 

 ment. For an hour or two, possibilities of drought 

 or flood are forgotten, and but for the bronzed 

 faces of the men it would be easy to imagine one's 

 self in a city drawing-room. The evening ends 

 at an early hour, however, for work starts at day- 

 break upon an Australian station. 



On Sunday, Church service takes place in the 

 schoolroom, when the owner or his representative 

 reads the prayers, and possibly a sermon from a 

 volume of some popular divine. When the bishop 

 or his representative visits the station, the wool- 

 shed is converted into a church, and visitors flock 

 in from every side. Neighbouring selectors bring 

 in their children for baptism, and the gathering 

 is at once a representative and a friendly one. 



There are gay seasons on a station, too, when 

 the town mansion is deserted, and the whole 

 family, with town visitors as well, gathers in the 

 homestead. A round of dances and picnics is 

 arranged, and a race meeting, with a race ball to 

 follow. 



The race meeting is quite unlike anything of its 

 kind in the cities, for it is really a picnic on a 

 grand scale, with the addition of horse-racing. 

 The attendance of book-makers is discouraged as 

 far as possible, and a large proportion of the races 

 are confined to amateur riders. Among the horses 

 taking part in the sport may be seen some mag- 

 nificent specimens of the thoroughbred, but a con- 



