My Brilliant Career
Miles Franklin
Language: English
Pages: 128
ISBN: 1499592183
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
I Remember, I Remember "Boo, hoo! Ow, ow; Oh! oh! Me'll die. Boo, hoo. The pain, the pain! Boo, hoo!" "Come, come, now. Daddy's little mate isn't going to turn Turk like that, is she? I'll put some fat out of the dinner-bag on it, and tie it up in my hanky. Don't cry any more now. Hush, you must not cry! You'll make old Dart buck if you kick up a row like that." That is my first recollection of life. I was barely three. I can remember the majestic gum-trees surrounding us, the sun glinting on their straight white trunks, and falling on the gurgling fern-banked stream, which disappeared beneath a steep scrubby hill on our left. It was an hour past noon on a long clear summer day. We were on a distant part of the run, where my father had come to deposit salt. He had left home early in the dewy morning, carrying me in front of him on a little brown pillow which my mother had made for the purpose. We had put the lumps of rock-salt in the troughs on the other side of the creek. The stringybark roof of the salt-shed which protected the troughs from rain peeped out picturesquely from the musk and peppercorn shrubs by which it was densely surrounded, and was visible from where we lunched. I refilled the quart-pot in which we had boiled our tea with water from the creek, father doused our fire out with it, and then tied the quart to the D of his saddle with a piece of green hide. The green-hide bags in which the salt had been carried were hanging on the hooks of the pack-saddle which encumbered the bay pack-horse. Father's saddle and the brown pillow were on Dart, the big grey horse on which he generally carried me, and we were on the point of making tracks for home.
half Caddagat.” “What a disgusting thing to say! Uncle, you ought to be ashamed of yourself,” I exclaimed. “Very well, I’ll be careful,” said Aunt Helen, departing. “What with the damned flies, and the tramps, and a pesky thing called Sybylla, a man’s life ain’t worth a penny to him,” said Uncle. We fell into silence, which was broken presently by a dirty, red-bearded face appearing over the garden gate, and a man’s voice: “Good day, boss! Give us a chew of tobaccer?” “I’m not the boss,”
anuff?” “Yes, that will do,” he said; and she struggled to be put down. Three jackeroos, an overseer, and two other young men came in, were introduced to me, and then we began dinner. O’Doolan sat on a high chair beside Mr. Beecham, and he attended to all her wants. She did everything he did, even taking mustard, and was very brave at quelling the tears that rose to the doll-like blue eyes. When Mr. Beecham wiped his mustache, it was amusing to see her also wipe an imaginary one. After dinner
as all formality was dispensed with, it was something like a picnic. The heat was excessive. Every window and door was open, and the balmy, almost imperceptible, zephyrs which faintly rustled the curtains and kissed our perspiration-beaded brows were rich with many scents from the wide old flower garden, which, despite the drought, brought forth a wealth of blossom. When done eating we had to wash the dishes. Such a scamper ensued back and forward to the kitchen, which rang with noise and
It was a very hot day. So extreme was the heat that to save the lives of some young swallows my father had to put wet bags over the iron roof above their nest. A galvanized-iron awning connected our kitchen and house: in this some swallows had built, placing their nest so near the iron that the young ones were baking with the heat until rescued by the wet bagging. I had a heavy day’s work before me, and, from my exertions of the day before, was tired at the beginning. Bush fires had been raging
threw myself on a stool in the kitchen, and felt, to the bone, the sting of having ideas above one’s position. In a few minutes Mother came hurrying out. “Good gracious, what’s the matter? I suppose you didn’t like being caught in such a pickle, but don’t get in the dumps about it. I’ll get him some tea while you clean yourself, and then you’ll be able to help me by and by.” I found my little sister Aurora, and we climbed through the window into my bedroom to get tidy. I put a pair of white