Some Everyday Folk and Dawn

Some Everyday Folk and Dawn,
by Miles Franklin

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Some Everyday Folk and Dawn, by
Miles Franklin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost
and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it
away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Some Everyday Folk and Dawn
Author: Miles Franklin
Release Date: June 1, 2007 [EBook #21659]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME
EVERYDAY FOLK AND DAWN ***

Produced by Suzanne Shell, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:
The Table of Contents is not part of the original book.

SOME
EVERYDAY
FOLK
AND DAWN

MILES FRANKLIN

First published in Great Britain by
William Blackwood & Sons
1909
* * * * *

TO THE
ENGLISH MEN WHO BELIEVE IN VOTES FOR WOMEN
THIS STORY IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED, BECAUSE THE
WOMEN HEREIN CHARACTERISED WERE NEVER FORCED TO
BE
"SUFFRAGETTES,"
THEIR COUNTRYMEN HAVING GRANTED THEM THEIR RIGHTS
AS
SUFFRAGISTS

IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1902.
M. F.
* * * * *

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
ONE.
CLAY'S.
TWO. AT CLAY'S.
THREE. BECOMING ACQUAINTED WITH GRANDMA CLAY.
FOUR. DAWN'S AMBITION.
FIVE. MISS FLIPP'S UNCLE.
SIX. GRANDMA CLAY'S LOVE-STORY.
SEVEN. THE LITTLE TOWN OF NOONOON.
EIGHT. GRANDMA TURNS NURSE.
NINE. THE KNIGHT HAS A STOLEN VIEW OF THE LADY.
TEN. PROVINCIAL POLITICS AND SEMI-SUBURBAN
DENTISTS.
ELEVEN. ANDREW DISGRACES HIS "RARIN'."
TWELVE. SOME SIDE-PLAY.
THIRTEEN. VARIOUS EVENTS.

FOURTEEN. THE PASSING OF THE TRAINS.
FIFTEEN. ALAS! MISS FLIPP!
SIXTEEN. ADVANCE, AUSTRALIA!
SEVENTEEN. MRS BRAY AND CARRY COME TO ISSUES.
EIGHTEEN. THE FOUNDATION OF THE POULTRY INDUSTRY.
NINETEEN. AN OPPORTUNELY INOPPORTUNE DOUCHE.
TWENTY. "ALAS! HOW EASILY THINGS GO WRONG!"
TWENTY-ONE. THINGS GO MORE WRONG.
TWENTY-TWO. "O SPIRIT, AND THE NINE ANGELS WHO
WATCH US ..."
TWENTY-THREE. UNIVERSAL ADULT SUFFRAGE.
TWENTY-FOUR. LITTLE ODDS AND ENDS OF LIFE.
TWENTY-FIVE. "LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM."
TWENTY-SIX. "OFF WITH THE OLD."
TWENTY-SEVEN. "ONE MIGHT THINK BETTER OF MARRIAGE
IF ONE'S MARRIED FRIENDS ..."
TWENTY-EIGHT. LET THERE BE LOVE.
TWENTY-NINE. "THE SAVAGE SELLS OR EXCHANGES HIS
DAUGHTER, BUT IN ..."
THIRTY. FOR FURTHER PARTICULARS CONSULT 'THE
NOONOON ADVERTISER' OF THAT DATE.
L'ENVOI.

* * * * *

GLOSSARY OF COLLOQUIALISMS AND SLANG TERMS.
AUSTRALIAN. AMERICAN EQUIVALENTS. ENGLISH
INTERPRETATION.
Billy A tin pail A camp-kettle. Blokes Guys Chaps--fellows. Bosker
Dandy or "dandy Something meeting with fine" unqualified approval.
Galoot A rube A yokel--a heavy country fellow. Larrikin A hoodlum.
Moke A common knockabout horse. Narked Sore Vexed--to have lost
the temper. Gin Squaw An aboriginal woman. Quod Jail. Sollicker
Somewhat equivalent Something excessive. to "corker" Toff A "sport"
or "swell A well-dressed guy" individual--sometimes of the upper ten.
Two "bob" Fifty cents Two shillings. To graft To "dig in" To work hard
and steadily. To scoot To vamoose or skidoo To leave hastily and
unceremoniously. To smoodge To be a "sucker" To curry favour at the
expense of independence. "Gives me the pip" "Makes me tired" Bores.
"On a string" } Trifling with him. "Pulling his leg"} Kookaburra A
giant kingfisher with grey plumage and a merry, mocking,
inconceivably human laugh--a killer of snakes, and a great favourite
with Australians.
* * * * *

Some Everyday Folk and Dawn.
ONE.
CLAY'S.
The summer sun streamed meltingly down on the asphalted siding of
the country railway station and occasioned the usual grumbling from
the passengers alighting from the afternoon express.

There were only three who effect this narrative--a huge, red-faced,
barrel-like figure that might have served to erect as a monument to the
over-feeding in vogue in this era; a tall, spare, old fellow with a
grizzled beard, who looked as though he had never known a succession
of square feeds; and myself, whose physique does not concern this
narrative.
Having surrendered our tickets and come through a down-hill passage
to the dusty, dirty, stony, open space where vehicles awaited travellers,
the usual corner "pub."--in this instance a particularly dilapidated
one--and three tin kangaroos fixed as weather-cocks on a dwelling over
the way, and turning hither and thither in the hot gusts of wind, were
the first objects to arrest my attention in the town of Noonoon, near the
river Noonoon, whereaway it does not particularly matter. The next
were the men competing for our favour in the matter of vehicular
conveyance.
The big man, by reason of his high complexion, abnormal waist
measurement, expensive clothes, and domineering manner, which
proclaimed him really a lord of creation, naturally commanded the first
and most obsequious attention, and giving his address as "Clay's,"
engaged the nearest man, who then turned to me.
"Where might you be going?"
"To Jimmeny's Hotel."
"Right O! I can just