CHAPTER XX 



THE AUSTRALIAN 



SOME time ago a London paper published, as 

 a seasonable supplement, a coloured picture 

 entitled Christmas in Australia. It represented a 

 bearded man in red flannel shirt, and top-boots, 

 sitting alone in a log-hut, grasping a large packet 

 of letters. His eyes were closed and he was 

 dreaming. Lest this fact should not be suf- 

 ficiently obvious, one corner of the picture was 

 given up to the representation of his dream. It 

 was the home of his boyhood: outside, the snow 

 was thick upon the ground, but within, the 

 family circle was gathered around the cheerful 

 fire. Venerable parents, golden-haired daughters, 

 and manly sons were effectively grouped, but one 

 vacant chair marked the fact that the family exile 

 was not forgotten. 



It is not the fault of the average Briton that 

 the man in the red shirt represents his conception 

 of the Australian to-day. The globe-trotter is 

 not alone responsible for the notion that the 

 people of Australia are "more English than the 

 English," and that native-born Australians, who 

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