[1] Mrs. A. H. Spicer, Chicago.




CHAPTER III

HUMAN SNOWBALLS

'Way out back in the Never Never Land of Australia there lives a
patriotic breed of humans who know little of the comforts of civilized
life, whose homes are bare, where coin is rarely seen, but who have as
red blood and as clean minds as any race on earth.

The little town of Muttaburra, for instance, has a population of two
hundred, one-half of whom are eligible for military service.

They live in galvanized-iron humpies with dirt floors,
newspaper-covered walls, sacking stretched across poles for beds,
kerosene-boxes for chairs, and a table made from saplings. The water
for household uses is delivered to the door by modern Dianas driving a
team of goats at twenty-five cents per kerosene-tin, which is not so
dear when you know that it has to be brought from a "billabong" [1] ten
miles away.

Most of the men in such towns work as "rouseabouts" (handy men) on the
surrounding sheep and cattle stations. At shearing-time the "gaffers"
(grandfathers) and young boys get employment as "pickers-up" and