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Joe Wilson and his mates
JOE WILSON AND HIS MATES
By Henry Lawson
Author of "While the Billy Boils", "On the Track and Over the Sliprails",
"When the World was Wide, and other verses", "Verses, Popular and Humorous",
"Children of the Bush", "When I was King, 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.
Contents.
Prefatory Verses --
The Author's Farewell to the Bushmen.
Part I.
Joe Wilson's Courtship.
Brighten's Sister-In-Law.
`Water Them Geraniums'.
I. A Lonely Track.
II. `Past Carin''.
A Double Buggy at Lahey's Creek.
I. Spuds, and a Woman's Obstinacy.
II. Joe Wilson's Luck.
III. The Ghost of Mary's Sacrifice.
IV. The Buggy Comes Home.
Part II.
The Golden Graveyard.
The Chinaman's Ghost.
The Loaded Dog.
Poisonous Jimmy Gets Left.
I. Dave Regan's Yarn.
II. Told by One of the Other Drovers.
The Ghostly Door.
A Wild Irishman.
The Babies in the Bush.
A Bush Dance.
The Buck-Jumper.
Jimmy Grimshaw's Wooing.
At Dead Dingo.
Telling Mrs Baker.
A Hero in Dingo-Scrubs.
The Little World Left Behind.
Concluding Verses --
The Never-Never Country.
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JOE WILSON AND HIS MATES
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Part I.
Joe Wilson's Courtship.
There are many times in this world when a healthy boy 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're cooking something at home
that he likes. When the `sandy-blight' or measles breaks out
amongst the children, or the teacher or his wife falls dangerously ill
-- or dies, it doesn't matter which -- `and there ain't no school.'
When a boy is naked and in his natural state for a warm climate
like Australia, with three or four of his schoolmates,
under the shade of the creek-oaks in the bend where there's a good clear pool
with a sandy bottom. When his father buys him a gun, and he starts out
after kangaroos or 'possums. When he gets a horse, saddle, and bridle,
of his own. When he has his arm in splints or a stitch in his head --
he's proud then, the proudest boy in the district.
I wasn't a healthy-minded, average boy: I reckon I was born for a poet
by mistake, and grew up to be a Bushman, and didn't know what was the matter
with me -- or the world -- but that's got nothing to do with it.
There are times when a man is happy. When he finds out
that the girl loves him. When he's just married. When he's a lawful father
for the first time, and everything is going on all right:
some men make fools of themselves then -- I know I did.
I'm happy to-night because I'm out of debt and can see clear ahead,
and because I haven't been easy for a long time.
But I think that the happiest time in a man's life is when
he's courting a girl and finds out for sure that she loves him
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