The selector's wife removes the newspapers, and reveals a thick,
yellow layer of rich cream, plentifully peppered with dust that has
drifted in somehow. She runs a forefinger round the edges of the
cream to detach it from the tin, wipes her finger in her mouth, and
skims. If the milk and cream are very thick she rolls the cream over
like a pancake with her fingers, and lifts it out in sections. The
thick milk is poured into a slop-bucket, for the pigs and calves, the
dishes are "cleaned"--by the aid of a dipper full of warm water and
a rag--and the wife proceeds to set the morning's milk. Tom holds up
the doubtful-looking rag that serves as a strainer while his mother
pours in the milk. Sometimes the boy's hands get tired and he lets
some of the milk run over, and gets into trouble; but it doesn't
matter much, for the straining-cloth has several sizable holes in the
middle.

The door of the dairy faces the dusty road and is off its hinges and
has to be propped up. The prop is missing this morning, and Tommy is
accused of having been seen chasing old Poley with it at an earlier
hour. He never seed the damn prop, never chased no cow with it, and
wants to know what's the use of always accusing him. He further
complains that he's always blamed for everything. The pole is not
forthcoming, and so an old dray is backed against the door to keep it
in position. There is more trouble about a cow that is lost, and
hasn't been milked for two days. The boy takes the cows up to the
paddock sliprails and lets the top rail down: the lower rail fits
rather tightly and some exertion is required to free it, so he makes
the animals jump that one. Then he "poddies"-hand-feeds--the calves
which have been weaned too early. He carries the skim-milk to the
yard in a bucket made out of an oil-drum--sometimes a kerosene-tin--
seizes a calf by the nape of the neck with his left hand, inserts the