The Man From Snowy River | Page 3

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The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses (2 ed.)
by Andrew
Barton `Banjo' Paterson [Australian Poet, Reporter -- 1864-1941.]

[Note on text: Italicized stanzas will be indented 5 spaces. Italicized
words or phrases will be capitalized.
Lines longer than 75 characters
have been broken according to metre, and the continuation is indented
two spaces. Also,
some obvious errors, after being confirmed against
other sources, have been corrected.]
[Note on content: Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson were writing for
the Sydney `Bulletin' in 1892 when Lawson suggested a `duel' of
poetry to increase the number of poems they could sell to the paper. It
was apparently entered into in all fun, though there are reports that
Lawson was bitter about it later. `In Defence of the Bush', included in
this selection, was one of Paterson's replies to Lawson.]
[The 1913 printing (Sydney, Fifty-third Thousand) of the Second
Edition (first published in 1902) was used in the preparation of this
etext. First edition was first published in 1895.]
THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER AND OTHER VERSES by A. B.
Paterson ("The Banjo") with preface by Rolf Boldrewood
Preface
It is not so easy to write ballads descriptive of the bushland of Australia
as on light consideration would appear. Reasonably good verse on the
subject has been supplied in sufficient quantity.
But the maker of
folksongs for our newborn nation requires
a somewhat rare
combination of gifts and experiences.
Dowered with the poet's heart,
he must yet have passed his `wander-jaehre' amid the stern solitude of
the Austral waste -- must have ridden the race in the back-block
township, guided the reckless stock-horse adown the mountain spur,
and followed the night-long moving, spectral-seeming herd `in the
droving days'. Amid such scarce congenial surroundings comes oft that
finer sense which renders visible bright gleams of humour, pathos, and
romance, which,
like undiscovered gold, await the fortunate
adventurer.
That the author has touched this treasure-trove, not less
delicately than distinctly, no true Australian will deny. In my opinion
this collection comprises the best bush ballads written
since the death

of Lindsay Gordon.
Rolf Boldrewood
A number of these verses are now published for the first time, most of
the others were written for and appeared in "The Bulletin" (Sydney,
N.S.W.), and are therefore already widely known
to readers in
Australasia.
0. B. Paterson
Prelude
I have gathered these stories afar,
In the wind and the rain,
In the
land where the cattle camps are,
On the edge of the plain.
On the
overland routes of the west,
When the watches were long,
I have
fashioned in earnest and jest
These fragments of song.
They are just the rude stories one hears
In sadness and mirth,
The
records of wandering years,
And scant is their worth
Though their
merits indeed are but slight,
I shall not repine,
If they give you one
moment's delight,
Old comrades of mine.
Contents
Prelude
I have gathered these stories afar,
The Man from Snowy River
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
Old Pardon, the Son of Reprieve
You never heard tell of the story?
Clancy of the Overflow

I had written him a letter which I had, for want of better
Conroy's Gap
This was the way of it, don't you know --
Our New Horse
The boys had come back from the races
An Idyll of Dandaloo
On Western plains, where shade is not,
The Geebung Polo Club
It was somewhere up the country, in a land of rock and scrub,
The Travelling Post Office
The roving breezes come and go, the reed beds sweep and sway,
Saltbush Bill
Now this is the law of the Overland that all in the West obey,
A Mountain Station
I bought a run a while ago,
Been There Before
There came a stranger to Walgett town,
The Man Who Was Away
The widow sought the lawyer's room with children three in tow,
The Man from Ironbark

It was the man from Ironbark who struck the Sydney town,
The Open Steeplechase
I had ridden over hurdles up the country once or twice,
The Amateur Rider
HIM going to ride for us! HIM --
with the pants and the eyeglass and
all.
On Kiley's Run
The roving breezes come and go
Frying Pan's Theology
Scene: On Monaro.
The Two Devines
It was shearing-time at the Myall Lake,
In the Droving Days
`Only a pound,' said the auctioneer,
Lost
`He ought to be home,' said the old man,
`without there's something
amiss.
Over the Range
Little bush maiden, wondering-eyed,
Only a Jockey
Out in the grey cheerless chill of the morning light,

How M'Ginnis Went Missing
Let us cease our idle chatter,
A Voice from the Town
I thought, in the days of the droving,
A Bunch of Roses
Roses ruddy and roses white,
Black Swans
As I lie at rest on a patch of clover
The All Right 'Un