Home and Social Life 181 



especially to a youngster who has newly aban- 

 doned the attractions of a big city, and the one 

 spot less boresome than the rest is the hotel 

 parlour. It is recognised in Australia that young 

 men who would remain steady in other sur- 

 roundings are apt to acquire intemperate habits 

 during a period of township life. 



It is not an attractive picture, although, unfor- 

 tunately, it has its counterpart in other countries. 

 Years go by and bring little change to the dull 

 hamlet, with its single dusty street and its gen- 

 eral unfinished air of rusty untidiness. The 

 railway comes, and the one event of the day is 

 the arrival of the up- train, just as the one topic 

 of conversation is the latest aspect of the peren- 

 nial quarrel between the bank manager and the 

 publican. 



Dingo Bill arrives from " way back " and paints 

 the place red, until his career is cut short by the 

 constable, after which the doctor treats him for 

 delirium tremens, and he departs, penniless, but 

 satisfied. Once a year comes the show, or the 

 sports, followed by drinking, fighting, and a 

 general scene of licentiousness and disrepute. It 

 is Australian life at its worst: worse than the life 

 of the big cities, and infinitely worse than the 

 brave struggle on the lonely selection. 



