Some Everyday Folk and Dawn | Page 2

drop you on the way to Clay's," said he; and the big
swell grunted up to a box seat, while I took a position in the body of the
vehicle commanding a clear view of the grossness of the highly
coloured neck rolling over his collar.
The journey through the town unearthed the fact that it resembled many
of its compeers. The oven-hot iron roofs were coated with red dust; a
few lackadaisical larrikins upheld occasional corner posts; dogs
conducted municipal meetings here and there; the ugliness of the horses
tied to the street posts, where they baked in the sun while their riders
guzzled in the prolific "pubs.," bespoke a farming rather than a grazing

district; and the streets had the distinction of being the most deplorably
dirty and untended I have seen.
The same could be said of a cook, or some such individual of whom I
caught a glimpse when landed at a corner hotel, where I sat inside the
door of a parlour awaiting the appearance of the landlady or the
publican, while for diversion I watched the third arrival wending his
way from the station on foot and shouting something concerning
melons to a man in a dray in the middle of the roadway.
Evidently it was the land of melons and other fruits and vegetables.
Over at the railway, loaded waggons, drays, and carts were backed
against a line of trucks drawn up to convey such produce to the city and
other parts of the country, while strings of vehicles similarly burdened
were thundering up the street. Some carts were piled with cases of
peaches, grapes, tomatoes, and rock-melons--the rich aromatic scent of
the last mentioned strongly asserting their presence as they passed. On
some waggons the water-melons were packed in straw and had the
grower's initials chipped in the rind, others were not so distinguished,
and at intervals the roughness of the thoroughfare bumped one off. If
the fall did not break it quite in two, a stray loafer pulled it so and tore
out a little of the sweet and luscious heart, leaving the remainder to the
ants and fowls. The latter were running about on friendly terms with
the dogs, which they equalled in variety and number. Droves of small
boys haunted the railway premises at that time of the year and eagerly
assisted the farmers to truck their melons in return for one, and came
away with their spoils under their arms. Never before had I seen so
many melons or so large. Some weighed sixty and eighty pounds or
more, while those from sixteen to twenty-five pounds, in all
varieties,--Cuban Queens, Dixies, Halbert's Honey, and Cannon
Balls,--were procurable at one shilling the dozen, and nearly as much
produce as sent away wasted in the fields for want of a market.
An hour after arrival, having refused the offer of refreshments, which in
such places are not always refreshing, I betook myself to a
comparatively cool back verandah to further investigate my temporary
surroundings.

A yellow-haired girl with rings on her fingers sprawled in a hammock
reading a much-thumbed circulating-library novel and eating peaches.
This was the landlord's daughter, and a very superior young lady indeed
from her own point of view.
I learnt that at present there would only be one other boarder besides
myself. He came up for the week-end, and had just gone down to Clay's
to see some one there. If he could get a berth at Clay's he would not
come back; but the only hope of being taken in there during the
summer weather was to bespeak room a long way ahead, as there was a
great run on the place. It was built right beside the river, and they kept
boats for hire, which attracted a number of desirable young men from
the city to engage in week-end fishing, picnicing, swimming, &c.; and
the young gentlemen attracted young ladies, who found it difficult to be
taken in at all, because old Mrs Clay allowed her granddaughter, Dawn,
to boss the place, and she favoured men-boarders.
The tone of Yellow-hair suggested that perhaps the men-boarders
favoured Dawn; at all events, it was an attractive name and aroused
interested inquiry from me.
"Oh yes, some thought her a beauty! There were great arguments as to
whether she or Dora Cowper--another great big fat thing in a hay and
corn store over the way--was the belle of Noonoon;" but for her part,
Yellow-hair thought her too coarse and vulgar and high-coloured (Miss
Jimmeny was sallow and thin), and she was always making herself seen
and known everywhere. One would think she owned Noonoon!
"There she is now," exclaimed the girl, pointing out another who was
driving a fat pony in a yellow sulky. "Talk of the devil."
"Perhaps