(... includes some associated families)

Frances Fitzgerald ELMES was the daughter of Dr Thomas Elmes, general practitioner in Berwick from 1870 until his death in 1893. He also treated patients in Upper Beaconsfield, and travelled widely as he was the public vaccinator for the Gippsland area.

Frances was a close friend of Ethel Beatrice Isobel A'Beckett of the Grange, and was probably educated together with the A'Beckett daughters. It is possible that they were taught by Miss Adelaide Robinson, a relative of the A'Beckett family, who established an early girls' school in the building which later became the Berwick Boys' Grammar School (Early Days of Berwick, p44).

Frances was also known as Frances Fitzgerald Fawkner. In the 1880s and 1890s Frances wrote numerous short stories which were mainly published in the Australasian, where she had a number of pen names. From 1900 onwards Frances worked as a journalist with the Argus, and in 1902 was sent to the Mallee to report on the drought. She wrote in excess of 90 articles for the Argus and the Australasian between 1900 and 1905, combining society coverage with social commentary. In 1905 she left for England, where she worked for The British-Australasian. One children's book, The children at Kangaroo Creek was published by The British-Australasian in 1916. Download available at Austlit The Children at Kangaroo Creek

For many years she wrote the column "In the looking glass" as 'Phyllis' for The British-Australasian.

Frances died of influenza in England in 1919.

---

* A Lady's Experience Among Victorian Mountains.
HOW WE CLIMBED THE BUFFALO.  BY F. F.
Seven hours by rail, three by road, and we are at Wandiligong, or Morse's Creek, as the township is still sometimes called. We get there just at sunset, the best time of the day for seeing the beauties of the very beautiful valley which stretches from Bright, the queen of country towns, to some distance beyond Growler's Creek, and then has its progress eternally stopped by hills which no wheels can scale. Growler's Creek was called so from a man who was of so disagreeable a disposition that he was known as "Bob the Growler," while Morse's Creek was also called after one of the oldest inhabitants of the district.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221732428  Weekly Times (Melbourne), Sat 27 Mar 1886, p4

* A Lady's Experience Among Victorian Mountains.
HOW WE CLIMBED THE BUFFALO. THE RIDE TO THE FALLS.  By F. F.
(Continued from last week.)
It is a remarkable fact that one can hardly ride half a mile in any direction on the top of the Buffaloes without coming to a bog, and in our ride to the falls we get the full benefit of them all. From our camp to the head of the falls is a distance of seven miles, and had we not a very careful and cautious guide we should be struggling in the first of the bogs until the middle of next week. On the further side of this first bog is the only erection resembling a human habitation in the whole mountain.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221734392  Weekly Times (Melbourne), Sat 3 Apr 1886, p4

* THE TOURIST.
TARAWERA AND THE TERRACES. A SUMMER VISIT.  By F. F.
If there was one place in New Zealand more than any other in which I should like to have spent a month in rest and quiet enjoyment of Nature's beauties, that spot was Wairoa, a delightful little village within 10 miles of Mount Tare we ra and the wonderful Pink and White Terraces.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142178669  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 9 Apr 1887, p8

* THE TOURIST.
THOSE WONDERFUL CAVES. A LADY'S VISIT. BY F. F.
It was my misfortune, in common with many others, just to miss seeing the wonderful pink and white terraces of New Zealand. I thought there was no hurry, that I would first see all there was to be seen in our own colony before going so far afield as New Zealand. But alas! in the meantime the great eruption came, and the terraces were no more. All that was left to me was to visit their ruins. Lately it came into my mind that if I did not take time by the forelock, and visit the Jenolan Caves of New South Wales, something now quite unforeseen might happen, which would destroy them as effectually as the Tarawera eruption did Rotomahana and Te Tarata.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140706903  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Jul 1891, p39

* THE TOURIST.
THOSE WONDERFUL CAVES. A LADY'S VISIT. BY F. F. No. II.
The next morning after breakfast we go for a walk up the the zig-zag road towards Oberon (on the way to Tarana). The road winds up the hill like the railway zig-zag, and is very steep, ascending 1,800ft. We have time to go about halfway up, and are down again just in time to dress for the caves excursion at 10. We have now our own old clothes, the luggage having arrived.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140707299  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Jul 1891, p48

---

On 30 June 1898 the Waikare, a new steamer, sailed for a six weeks' excursion to the South Seas and Eastern Pacific Islands. Frances Elmes was among the passengers on this trip and wrote a number of articles about it. Another publication was by William Meeks Fehon see https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-395028795/view?partId=nla.obj-395089404#page/n7/mode/1up This includes a list of passengers.

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. FROM THE WAIKARE. BY F. F.
It is very soon forgotten how sad and miserable were the first 48 hours after leaving Sydney. One learns with horrible precision all the details of the cabin, its number, the pattern of the curtains, its furnishing-wonders if sufficient energy could be roused, should there be a wreck, to put on the life-belts placed in readiness; hears and feels the rhythmical beat of the screw, and cruelly unrythmical roll of the waves; feels unreasoning annoyance that anyone can find interest in the menu, and selects from t some such unsatisfactory items as toast and marmalade, or biscuits and a lemon drink.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138603765 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 27 Aug 1898, p32

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F.F. RARATONGA.
"To the Chief and Passengers on boards the S.S. Waikare! Greetings.—Ladies and Gentlemen,— You are thrice welcome to our land, the land of tumutevaru-varu ki te teringa o papa. Come ashore and witness the ways of Raratonga, the land of tumute-varu varu, enough. From (Sga.) Makea Arika."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138604207  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Sep 1898, p46

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F. FITZGERALD.
"We're here; get up, girls!" A head appeared inside our cabin door, then disappeared, and we woke to realise we were in Tahiti. A few minutes later we had begun to dress, and because we were in a hurry "the perversity of inanimate objects" was evinced in our collar-studs slipping from our fingers and rolling under the bunk, hairpins, ties, &c., losing themselves utterly, left hand-gloves appearing in profusion, while right-hand ones were nowhere to be found.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138604970 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 24 Sep 1898, p46

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F. FITZGERALD.
The horse races at Tahiti were the silliest, simplest affair. If there were any bookmakers present we saw nothing of them. If there were any rules in particular they were cheerfully broken.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138605304 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Oct 1898, p32

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F. F.
"Raiatea," said the wife of the Swiss Protestant missionary, "is a very pretty island, but it makes an undesirable residence. The French officials have nothing to do, so they annoy and worry us. They open our letters, pry and peer into our domestic affairs, and make themselves
abundantly objectionable."
"How long have you been here?" we asked, as we sat in the living-room of her dainty cottage, built of Californian wood, furnished with things brought from France.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138605722 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 8 Oct 1898, p23

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F.F.
"You know George Dibbs?" "Yes."
"Nice man, great friend of mine." Our Samoan boatman leant on his oar and smiled. "He was here last year, and always took my boat. Tell him you saw Charlie when you go back."
"This your boat, Charlie?" Charlie grinned and nodded. "You are a rich man, then?"
"Rich! no, you are rich," pointing to our purses. "I am poor. Do you want any clothes washed? My wife will do them; she is a chief's daughter."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138605885 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Oct 1898, p46

* THE EXCURSIONIST. 
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F.F.
At S.... the Tivoli Hotel faces the sea. On verandah and balcony are small tables and cle... where one may sit in the shade and .... cosmopolis. Under big trees light .... and ready for hire. Crowds of natives approach endeavouring to sell beads, ... shells, &c., with which all cabins on the Waikare are already  overcrowded.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138606386 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 22 Oct 1898, p31

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. By F.F.
We are all familiar with the word taboo, and with many of the customs pertaining to it, but totem is a less understood word. In Samoa a totem is a bird, beast, fish, or even a plant, with whose whole class the Samoan finds he has a special affinity. He extends his protection as far as possible to his totem, and is filled with grief if it is injured.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138606578  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 29 Oct 1898, p50

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. AT TONGA. By F. F.
On the run from Samoa to the Tonga group, on a north to south course, we had been sleeping on deck, as the weather was hot, and the rows of deckchairs were loaded with cushions and rugs to make comfortable beds. It was barely daylight, when the quarter-master called out, "You must all get up, ladies. We're near Vavau, and if you want to see a harbour that beats the Sydney one, now's your chance.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138606771 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 5 Nov 1898, p47

* THE EXCURSIONIST. 
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. FROM THE WAIKARE. By F. F.
Tonga, with its green swards, white washed houses, and brilliant flower-gardens, seems to wear a constant air of decorum and respectability. From the churches issue a smiling congregation, the women in gaudy cottons and gay ribbons, the men in white duck, and showing, among various kinds of headgear, an occasional glossy high hat. In Tahiti we saw one high hat decorated with two white ostrich feathers. The remainder of the wearer's clothing consisted of a shirt and a string of red beads. Tongans are infinitely superior to such folly as this. They consider themselves the salt of the earth, and expend some good-humoured contempt on unfortunate beings who are not Tongans. Their King lives in a fine towered palace. Their system of government is capable and advanced.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138667836 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 12 Nov 1898, p37

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. TWO TONGAN GIRLS. By F. F.
I was sitting in my cabin sewing buttons on my gloves when the curtain was pushed aside and the face of a Tongan girl appeared; peering over her  shoulder was a companion, and they inquired if they might enter.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138668060  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 19 Nov 1898, p51

* THE EXCURSIONIST.
SOUTH SEA SIGHTS. CLOSING NOTES. By F. F.
Bidding good-bye to Tonga, our course was directed towards Auckland, and our tour round the South Seas was virtually ended as we steamed across the clear blue waters of the Pacific, past dainty islands studding the way and the horizon, with their graceful fringe of palms.
"It has been a liberal education, said one of the passengers, shaking his head gravely. "The benighted heathen have pointed many a moral to me."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138668720  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 26 Nov 1898, p46

---

Short Stories

"Township Sketches", "Bush Sketches", "The Storyteller",  "In the Beginning"
by F. F. Elmes, F. F., F. Fitzgerald, J. Fitzgerald, F. S. F., F. E., W. E., D. M., Gerald Gordon

* "PARSONS." BY F. E.
I took the papers out to Matthew's, the coachman. He sat on a box in the shade, cleaning harness. Laying down his pipe as I approached, he said— " I was lookin' for ye, mum. The news of the day is the most interestin' thing I know of. Anythin' special ?" " Much as usual," I answered. "Telegrams of wars and massacres, banks shaky, more absconders, suicides, murders. Waning influence of the Church of England, &c."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8393511  The Argus (Melbourne), Sat 9 Jan 1892, p4

* THE SKETCHER.
"A VAST RETRENCHMENT." AN ELECTION SKETCH. By F.S.F.
I had occasion this morning to travel into the country by goods train. Perched high up on one of the comfortable leather seats of the guard's van, I prepared to make the five hours' journey as bearable as possible with a pipe and the various newspapers. The guard, whose acquaintance I had made on a previous trip, was a fresh-coloured, smart, and obliging young fellow, and, except at occasional stations where milk-cans and parcels had to be put out, or where trucks were shunted, he had plenty of leisure for conversation.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8412462  The Argus (Melbourne), Sat 16 Apr 1892, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138626050  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 23 Apr 1892, p39

* THE STORYTELLER.
THE MUGWUMP. BY F. S. F.
We christened him the Mugwump the moment we saw him.
"What's a Mugwump?" inquired Con White.
"Something like a Muntnoot, only larger," exclaimed Charlie, and we all laughed. One can laugh at very feeble jokes when one is young, and healthy, and well fed. We lay on the grass under the apple trees and smoked. The Mugwump came towards us. lie was narrow-shouldered, large-eared, and pale. At times he affected a joviality which was peculiarly distressing in one so ill-fitted for it by nature. 
"I say, you dogs !" he said. " You've been playing 'possum, you have; I want to talk to you." He stood before us swinging his long arms, a peculiar grin on his face, which intimated jocularity.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138030297  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Jun 1892, p42

* THE STORYTELLER.
PERCY WIMBURN. By F. S. F.
He came as junior clerk to the one bank in the township of Bungabong; a fair, delicate lad, with a simple but citified manner. He was young, barely twenty-one, and his knowledge of the world was, till he came up here, distinctly small. He had been care fully brought up, and his manners were nice. His former companions had probably been ordinary, commonplace lads, brainless, perhaps, but honest and gentlemanly. He would have got on better at Bungabong had he let various things alone. He should, in the first instance, have sought his recreations elsewhere than in the billiard-room or bar parlour of the "Bush Inn," and he should have taken to football and cricket instead of card-playing. 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138035026  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Oct 1892, p42
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226756942 Dubbo Dispatch and Wellington Independent (NSW), Fri 28 Oct 1892, p8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61247512 Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW), Tue 15 Nov 1892, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article77217190 The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld), Tue 21 Feb 1893, p3

* THE STORYTELLER. BY F. S. F.
MOGLEY'S STORE.
Mogley’s was the only general store in Bungewuck, and William Mogley drove a very fair trade. He was a quiet, fat little man of about forty, with heart and soul in his business, and a capability of keeping out of the various squabbles and quarrels about him, which many men envied him. Fortescue, at the hotel, said it was on account of his having no wife; but then Fortescue always was sarcastic, so Miss Saxby said, and she ought to know, for she knew everything. On Saturday nights one would find at Mogley’s various members of Bungewuck society. Sitting on its counter, smoking, would be Ned Scott, a handsome insolent fellow, and shire engineer ; below him, on a barrel, old Billy Henderson, the town-drunkard, whose career, if one might believe him, was one vast series of adventure and crime.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138106232  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 28 Jan 1893, p43

* AFTER THE WARRIGALS. BY W. E.
"Hi, lads! Old Mac wants us to go out and have a try after the wild horses."
It was Jack Murcott, our boss, who spoke, as we all loafed round one of the hut doors, after a pretty hard days' sheep-branding. He came towards us, slinging his orders as only he could, and almost before we realised that we were being spoken to, or old Jack Short, who kept fat as a Dutchman even in that hot climate, had well done lifting his fourteen some? from the sacks where he had been lying, we'd all got our orders, and were moving off briskly to our various tasks.
The Argus (Melbourne), Sat 24 Dec 1892 (issue missing from TROVE)

* RIDING A WARRIGAL. BY W. E.
On the ground lay the stunned black leader, a magnificent beast ; loins and withers assuring any amount of force ; clean, slender legs, and lean, racer-like head. His body bore cruel marks of the race. A long sear run along his ribs, a nasty cut showed on the off foreleg, and blood lay on his nostrils, and mingled with the sweat on his neck and back. Beside him stood good old Jack Murcott, ready and eager for such a ride as a man doesn’t do twice in a lifetime. Around, in a circle were those self-banished, big-hearted Australian Ishmaels ; very good to look at as they sat so carelessly at home in their saddles —like the unconscious warrigal, bearing marks of a run not easily for-gotten.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8513926  The Argus (Melbourne), Sat 11 Feb 1893, p13
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101830269  Wagga Wagga Advertiser (NSW), Tue 21 Feb 1893, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52443208  Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld), Sat 25 Feb 1893, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65755703  The Capricornian (Rockhampton, Qld), Sat 4 Mar 1893, p11

* The Tatura Autumn Show. BY F. F.
The residents of the Goulburn Valley have so often heard the remark that their district is far-famed that they have become to look on it as an established fact. There is no gainsaying that the push and enterprise of your residents have indeed advertised it well, but there they stop. The push is mostly all in the blowing of trumpets, and on a run through by railway the first feeling of the visitor is one of disappo ntment. In other parts of the colony the observant reader is informed that the Valley is rapidly becoming one of the " vineyards of the colony," and will soon compete with the older and more widely known district of Rutherglen.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65710074  Kyabram Union (Vic), Fri 10 Mar 1893, p1

* A DINGO HUNT. BY W. E.
That big, powerful, black kangaroo dog Marmarah was well worth looking at, with his broad, deep chest, intelligent, determined eyes, sinews of a gymnast, and ribs like Damascus steel. On his black skin he bore marks of many honourable fights ; the near side showed a long, whitish line where the big emu he had run down, tackled single handed, and finally killed, had laid him open. His chest and legs showed numerous grey scars, each with a history of its own of which he might well be proud. He stood in the dusty station yard at Bungundah, critically inspecting the preparations his master, Charlie Halliday, was making for a chase after a big dingo ; and as old Colonel, the big, muscular chestnut whinnied impatiently to Ladybird as they stood saddled at the fence, Marmarah gave a little low whine of approval, for things had been slow of late, and the prospect of a chase and possible fight appealed to every drop of the good sporting blood in him, and he poked his cold nose into Charlie’s hand knowing it was not for nothing that the Winchester, a companion he admired and respected, was being examined so carefully, not for nothing that such an early start was being made, for the stars were yet in the sky, and the east showed only a faint pink glow, blending quickly into the deep, cool blue.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8535121  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 8 Apr 1893, p4

* "MARMARAH." BY W.E.
"There is a brute of a dog playing the very dickens with the sheep," said Charlie Halliday to his father. "I must have a try for him. I saw him to-day over near that patch of quondongs, by the Red Tank, where Jimmy Battersby hanged himself last summer; we came upon him suddenly, Daley and myself, just as he was worrying the throat of a big wether, and if ever there was a dog whelped to worry mutton he takes the cake. Just enough dingo in him to cock his ears, enough blackfellows’ breeding in him to teach him to bite, and the size and strength of Marmarah there ;" and Charlie pointed with his pipe-stem to where the plucky old dog lay, on the shining yellow skin taken from that big opponent of his only a few months before.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8554138  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 20 May 1893, p13

* AN INCIDENT OF SELF-DENIAL WEEK. BY M. E.
My list was fairly full. I had been up and down various poor little streets, lined on either side with row after row of small wooden cottages, in each of which I had obtained at least a copper, in many threepence or sixpence ; and although the sum total was small, it represented a series of very willing gifts. The last house I visited stood close on to the street, and, going up the couple of steps, I knocked at the half open door." Come in," cried a voice ; and I entered a small, low room, where at the farther end stood a woman at an ironing table ; a basket of linen was on the floor beside her, and several shirts dried before the fire I had put together a few sentences which explained my mission in as few words as possible, and then produced my long blue paper and pencil and ran over some of the names.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8547602  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 6 May 1893, p14

* THE STORYTELLER. BY F. S. F.
"A NEW CHUM."
The mail had just arrived at Corambeen, and in the big diningroom, which, indeed, served as sittingroom and drawingroom as well, stood Helen Perrot and her brother Jack: he, with a week's papers spread out before him, was eagerly scanning telegrams and cricket news, leaving unheeded various narrow envelopes, presumably bills. Helen, standing by the fireplace reading a letter with the crest of the Melbourne Club at the head, suddenly gave a little cry of annoy ance, and her straight brows met in a frown. " What's up ?" asked her brother. " One of Mary's kids got measles?" Then, in the same breath, ''Just listen to this, Giffen went in next, and—— "
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138112222  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Dec 1893, p36

* THE STORYTELLER. BY F. FITZGERALD.
A QUIET STORY. 
Night was falling, the land was silent, a soft little breeze crept whispering through the dark stunted ti-tree which fringed the edge of the cliffs. The flea murmured softly, and the receding tide lapped the pale sands gently. The sun had set some hour or so before, yet the sky was radiant in the west, five or six warm crimson streamers stretching out across the bar of pale gold into the pale blue, which changed gradually to a deeper and deeper tint. An outward-bound steamer left behind it a trail of dark smoke as it passed beyond the Heads, and so gradually out of sight. Along the white, sandy road, with its occasional ruts and small knotted scrub stumps, rolled very slowly a creaking old cart. An old grey horse drew it, and his plodding steps cost him an effort, and the heavy collar rubbed his poor bony shoulder and opened again the barely-healed sore.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138115935  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 7 Apr 1894, p29

* SAM CAREY'S CRIME. A WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STORY. B. GERALD GORDON. PART I.
Joe Moffatt sat down in the shade of a gnarled old messmate. The day had been very hot, and he rubbed a grimy little hand over his grimier, bare feet, to remove the dust and gravel from their soles and toes, and then examined a big rent in the knee of his knickerbockers. The red road stretched away over the flat county for miles, the distance softened by the shimmering heat haze. To either side the paddocks, bounded by light wire fences, showed acre after acre of pale, sun dried grass, and an occasional stunted gum or wattle Joe turned his face towards the trunk of the tree, and read, as he had often done before, the old, tattered, weather beaten notice nailed there.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8656291  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Wed 11 Apr 1894, p3

* SAM CAREY'S CRIME. A WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STORY. BY GERALD GORDON. Part II.
The moon was high, the red hills threw shadows so dark that except to those versed in the lay of the country it was difficult to tell where hill ended and shadow began. Carey and M’Pherson had gone up to the township to a meeting, and Joe, sitting out-side the tent, whistled softly to himself as he watched Emma, the toad, proceed with slow ponderous hops towards the pan of water put down for her.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8658487  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Wed 18 Apr 1894, p3

* THE STORYTELLER. BY F. FITZGERALD.
A MINOR HERO.
He was an odd-looking little man ; his figure was shrunken, his head set far forward in his stooping shoulders. In his expression there was something innocent and childlike, and on the day of his arrival in Woondrook he had been nicknamed " Slavin " as a gentle sarcasm on his appearance and manner.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138596500  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 21 Jul 1894, p32

* "PEGGY." BY F. FITZGERALD.
Joe Macpherson the coachdriver, climbed into his seat, sorted the reins between his fingers, glanced down with little apparent interest at the plunging, terrified chestnut, who had twice got outside the traces, once fallen beside the pole and half a dozen times at least had tried to kick the steady old bay beside him. "All aboard!" shouted Joe, and then scratched his head and looked annoyed as the almost unbroken beast reared and came down heavily against the pole, threatening to smash it. "Can't you hold the brute, some of you?" he asked, adorning the question with several choice expletives and addressing the perspiring grooms.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8711371  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 6 Oct 1894, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59339509  Traralgon Record (Traralgon, Vic.), Fri 12 Oct 1894, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140006031  The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW), Fri 19 Oct 1894, p4

LEFT AT THE POST. A RACING STORY. BY J. FITZGERALD.
He was a jockey-boy right enuft, but t'look at 'is face arter 'e'd bin payin' a visit to the pump you'd take 'im fer a angel or a cherub ; great brown eyes 'e 'ad, like a spaniel dorg's, an' 'e'd tell you a pot o'lies with them there eyes fixed on you, an''arf full o' tears, an' the lashes of 'em lyin' on 'is cheek ; an' 'e was jes the wickedest little devil I ever knew, an' that's sayin' somethin', I can tell you.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8719463  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 10 Nov 1894, p4

* THE STORYTELLER.  BY F. FITZGERALD.
BARBARA.
Everyone in and around the township knew Barbara, knew the sturdy pony she rode, and the many dogs who followed her. She had numerous friends,and took the keenest interest in their doings and in their welfare. She always paused for five minutes to chat to old Johnson the bootmaker, to inquire after his rheumatism, and listen to his complaints about the weather, had a cheerful greeting for any of the school-children she might meet, knowing them all by name ; gossiped with Mrs. Hartley at the store, which was also post and telegraph office.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139708146  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Mar 1895, p23

"JACOB." A WEST AUSTRALIAN MINING STORY. BY F. FITZGERALD.
Jacob whined find grumbled to himself. He was tied up, and resented it. His kennel was an old barrel, and he sat on top of it now, and looked about him dismally. It was very hot, though night had fallen over the red, dusty land. From various tents glimmered lights, and from the distant township came the faint strains of the Salvation Army band.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9353620  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Wed 10 Apr 1895, p3

* THE STORYTELLER. BY F. FITZGERALD.
THE TRIUMPH OF MRS. GREBBIT
" It's awful slow going round alone—don't you think so?"—TRAMP ABROAD.
Grebbit, at the general store, had advertised for a wife, and naturally all the women folk in the township of Pirrin Yallock were virtuously indignant. "The idea!" exclaimed Mrs. Briggs righteously, as she leant over the fence exchanging confidences with her neighbour.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139710071  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 May 1895, p23

THE LAST LEAP. A STEEPLECHASE STORY. BY D.M.
Two men stood beneath a sheoak tree at Woodlands watching a big brown horse being rubbed down in a brush shed after his morning gallop. One of them was young M'Alllister, owner of the estate, the other a sporting Melbourne judge with a love for "leppers," born in Ireland, bred at Flemington, and trained in many a breezy run across the plains after the red deer "Cottrell."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139712065  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 6 Jul 1895, p20

* THE STORYTELLER. BY F. FITZGERALD.
LARRY ROURKE'S STRATAGEM.
Larry Rourke sat at the kitchen table eating bread and jam, and Kitty Kirby leant against the dresser reading a note he had brought her. She folded it at length and put it into the pocket of her apron.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139712089  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 6 Jul 1895, p23

THE STORYTELLER.  By F. Fitzgerald.
THE NEW PARSON.
Ralph Sedgwick paused at the top of the hill and looked about him, and his horse pulled a mouthful of sword-grass and chewed it meditatively. The black clerical coat and neat black hat looked somewhat out of place in the wilderness of the bush, and contrasted sharply with the bushy foliage of saplings and white tree trunks.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139715868  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 5 Oct 1895, p23

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE COACH.
Gundrook still owns to a coach, one of Cobb's own, with four good horses to pull it, and old grumpy Joe Higgins to drive, and it pulls up at Mason's Royal Hotel three times a week, bearing passengers from the railway station thirty miles away.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139719981  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Jan 1896, p44

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
MOREY'S GENERAL STORE.
Bunches of billies and pannikins hang from the ceiling, dippers, tin dishes, also rakeheads, flitches of bacon, lanterns, and balls of string; at either end of the counter are tins of biscuits, lollies, and on the shelves all manner of tinned fish, pickles, and other groceries.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139720480  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Jan 1896, p25

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
MRS. PODDER.
"I'm sixty-six, and I can do a day's work with any woman in Gundrook—not that there's need for it; Podder left a tidy bit behind of him, and Ted and Lewis the both of them send me a five-pound note now and again."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139720803  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 25 Jan 1896, p21

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES.  By F. F.
JACK PENDERTON.
"What's the use of crying, dear, it won't ? things." Jack Penderton was seated on the ground, his hack against a tree, and ? arm round Crossman's little daughter Kitty, who stood beside him.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139722032  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 22 Feb 1896, p27

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
JOE HESSIN'S LOVE AFFAIRS.
" Such a lip, I very near give him the back of my 'and across his fa-ace." The end of the sentence lengthened itself out into the most inimitable drawl, and Eliza Screed  parsed up her lips, dropped her eyelids, and shrugged her shoulders, the very personification and exaggeration of coquettish disdain.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139723341  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 21 Mar 1896, p28

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F.F.
"MAT LENNON."
The long summer had left the country burnt and dry, the grey earth showed great cracks, and the grass was left here and there on it in straw-coloured tufts.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139723715  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 28 Mar 1896, p23

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. FITZGERALD.
"SLACKS."
He usually wore a pair of trousers formerly belonging to a grown man, cut to his length but retaining their original width, and as he was only twelve years old, there was much unnecessary material.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139724090  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Apr 1896, p42

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
DOOLEY.
" Dooley, Doo-o-ley !" Mrs. Dooley was panting with her haste up the main street, and there was asperity in her tone, as her shrill voice echoed after the retreating Dooley.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139725585  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 16 May 1896, p27
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61311936  Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW), Sat 27 Jun 1896, p3

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
ELLA HARTLEY.
The big, over-grown garden overlooked Gundrook; at the farther end, near the creek, silver wattles in full bloom stretched out to catch the clinging rose branches which twined so closely in among the fern-like leaves, and white bunches of roses peeped out from fluffy masses of golden bloom.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139726052  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 23 May 1896, p26

BUSH SKETCHES. BY F. FITZGERALD.
THE WOOING OF MISS GRIGGS.
"Oh, Eliza, dear Eliza, if you dies an old maid,
You've only yourself to blame."
"Two yards of print, one and four; six of silesia, four of calico, six and four. Thanks," and Miss Griggs counted out some change from the till. "How's Mary Ann to-day?"
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139728058  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Jul 1896, p25

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
"JESS AND JESSAMY."
Jessie Rogers was washing up the plates ; Joe Mansel sat by the wide fireplace smoking. Two or three fox terriers lay at his feet, several cats purred in a further corner ; the big fountain steamed merrily, and an air of peace pervaded the room. A lamp hung on the wall, and with the fire-light gleamed on polished tins and white-washed rafters.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139728633  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 25 Jul 1896, p22

THE STORYTELLER. BY F. FITZGERALD.
JOHN SMITH. A STORY OF THE WEST AUSTRALIAN GOLD FIELDS.
" Letters for John Smith? How the devil am I to know what to give you? There are three John Smiths on the field. Where do you expect letters from, eh ?" and the postmaster pulled down a big pile of letters and papers from the pigeon-hole labelled S.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139729903  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 22 Aug 1896, p23

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
IN MEMORIAM.
A warm sun slanting through the thick foliage of lightwoods and wild cherry; straight paths through a slope covered with luxuriant kangaroo-grass, and here and there in the hedged-in five acres little clusters of carefully-tended graves. On Sunday, Gundrook made the cemetery its favourite strolling ground, and though many of the graves were visited from motives of sorrow and affection, at least as many were gazed at and discussed by the disinterested, such as servant girls, Sunday-school children, and sweethearts.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139731049  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 19 Sep 1896, p22

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE FAILURE OF MARIA WHITMORE.
"It was the funniest, thing I ever saw in my life." Jack Penderton tilted his chair back till it rested against the wall, and, blowing a white cloud of tobacco smoke, chuckled as bis thoughts reverted to the event that had formed the subject of conversation.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139731979  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 10 Oct 1896, p25

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
MRS. FARLAND'S PHILOSOPHY.
Mrs. Farland was ironing ; a roll of starched shirts and collars lay beside her ; the big clothes-horse was nearly covered with finished things, stiffening before the fire. Jessie Rogers was making pastry at a small table near the window. There were traces of tears on her face, for she had made Mrs. Farland the confidante of her love troubles, and the recital of them had cost her much grief.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139733662  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 14 Nov 1896, p28

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
LOONEY SAM.
His hut was at the far end of the township, down near the punt. It had been deserted as unfit for human habitation, long years before, but Sam mended the constantly recurring holes with pieces of bark, odds and ends of kerosene tins, and scraps of sacking.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139734259  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 28 Nov 1896, p25

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
"AT THE POST OFFICE."
Outside, a small shop with one big window, filled with toys and draper's miscellany, a letter-box at the side, with V.R. above a caption concerning registered letters.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139735587  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 26 Dec 1896, p30

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
REVOLT OF PUNCH AND PEGGY.
" I hate you ! I hate you ! an' I won't go into your dirty, beastly ole house any more, see !" Peggy's voice was shrill and defiant, and her small hands were tightly clenched at her sides. Punch stood by with stiff tail and somewhat drooping head, and growled in an undertone.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139736936  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 23 Jan 1897, p26

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
"NIPPER."
" 'E was jes' the best dog I've come acrost, be jopers I A mong' right enough, bit o' Irish terrier in 'is 'air, bit of bull dog in his bite, bit o' mastiff in the proud walk of 'im, an' a spaniel an' terrier an' lapdog in 'is affections, an' the ole bloomin' lot put together fer cleverness." Slacks was seated on the kerb stone in front of the general store in company with several other boys.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139737055  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Jan 1897, p43

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
"REMINISCENCES."
They were a select group on the hotel verandah, and Mason turned to old Leighton, and said. "But times are changed now, eh? When we were young things were brisker."
Leighton, a wiry old man, a farmer, shire councillor, and a person of some importance, nodded as he knocked the allies out of his pipe. "You're right." he said meditatively; then a smile broadened his mouth, and his eyes twinkled as he turned to Carey and Lane, and said, "D'ye mind the shire dinner twenty-five years ago, when they made me president?"
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139738942  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 6 Mar 1897, p30

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
"A SECRET."
"You'll never breathe a word if I tell you?" Emma Screed was curling her hair with a slate pencil heated in the candle. Eleanor Jones was seated on the bed, dressed to go out ; she endeavoured vainly to make the top button of her glove meet the top buttonhole as she answered, "Not to a living soul."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139739773  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 27 Mar 1897, p27

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
"FIREFLY."
He stood outside the big stockyard, and cowered as he heard load voices behind him, one delicate ear quivered, a visible tremor ran over him, and he shrank somewhat nearer to the fence.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139740351  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 17 Apr 1897, p5

THE STORYTELLER. BY F. FITZGERALD.
"THE HON. JOHN SYLVESTER."
For days the rain had been very heavy, it had passed off now, the clouds trailing away to south and east, and the evening sun shone on the soaked irregular track, or broad pools by the wayside, and on the wet foliage from which a light wind shook down occasional little showers.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139741173  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 May 1897, p29

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
KATE CROSSMAN.
Mat Lennon stood at the door of his hut smoking. It was a very wet day, and outdoor work was impossible; he had cleaned what harness he possessed, swept and tidied his two rooms, whitewashed the grate, done some mending, and now stood gazing through the heavy mist of rain towards the township.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139742454  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 29 May 1897, p29

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
JOE SLANEY.
Joe Slaney was eight years old and a cripple. In the morning after he was dressed he was lifted into his high chair, and in that he remained all day until bedtime.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139743068  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 12 Jun 1897, p28

AT THE "BUSH INN".  BY F. FITZGERALD
And you still Love me ? Do I conjecture well or ill ?
The country-side was sad, grey, depressed, fences and roofs were sodden and dull, there was no life nor colour anywhere, save near the forsaken saw-mill, where a couple of red cows angered grazing round the ancient heap of sawdust, which many hot summer sun had burnt to a rich warm brown.
The Windsor Magazine, 6 (1897): 339-45.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61320824  Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW), Sat 30 Oct 1897, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186218527  The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld), Sat 1 Sep 1906, p11 (good print)
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article186218718  The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld), Sat 1 Sep 1906, p11 (second edition)
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article181466556  The Week (Brisbane, Qld), Fri 7 Sep 1906, p34
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222254030  Weekly Times (Melbourne), Sat 22 May 1909, p7
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90159145  The Colac Herald (Vic), Fri 4 Jun 1909, p8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221895624  Crookwell Gazette (NSW), Fri 11 Jun 1909, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108651681  The Wyalong Advocate and Mining, Agricultural and Pastoral Gazette (NSW), Sat 12 Jun 1909, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242048821  The Herald (Melbourne), Sat 12 Jun 1909, p3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article233863521  The Young Chronicle (NSW), Sat 12 Jun 1909, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68687599  West Gippsland Gazette (Warragul, Vic), Tue 15 Jun 1909, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112188276  The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser (NSW), Sat 19 Jun 1909, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211690894  The Northam Advertiser (WA), Sat 14 Aug 1909, p8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245004602  Saturday Mail (SA), Sat 4 May 1912, p3

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
EDWIN E. ERRINGTON.
He was fat and short, and his clothes were always excessively tight, and above his collar and below his cuffs queer flannel undergarments betrayed themselves. His linen was never scrupulously clean, owing partly to poverty, partly to shortsightedness; and he peered about him in a vacant absent-minded manner.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139745237  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 7 Aug 1897, p30

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
ARABELLA WAYNE.
After choir practice, Mr. Brown had said to her in a confidential whisper, as he helped her on with her cloak, "Miss Wayne, would like to call upon you to-morrow afternoon, at about 4.30, with reference to a very important matter;" and she had blushed, and replied, "Most certainly," in a nervous voice; and had hurried home to her little cottage with a beating heart and much maidenly trepidation, rather relieved to find that her sister had gone to bed and was asleep, and that she could sit for a few moments alone by the fire and think things out.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138627378  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 4 Sep 1897, p27
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61319945 (better on trove)  Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW), Sat 18 Sep 1897, p2

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. F. F.
"PASSING RICH."
Miss Grove lifted her black silk skirt out of the drawer, where it usually lay folded in brown paper and scented with lavender.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138628669  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 2 Oct 1897, p31

* TOWN SKETCHER. By F. F.
WASHING DAY AT BARTON'S.
The Bartons' front-gate was off its hinges, and held to the posts by loops of wire, so that it could be conveniently opened on either side. Fowls sunned themselves in the garden, and clucked indignantly when hustled out of their resting places in the dust. There were pieces of paper, jam-tins, and orange peel lying about between geranium bushes and rose trees. The verandah was decorated with several old horse-hair chairs, out of which the stuffing protruded, and broken springs made queer angular knobs in the seat. 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138629275  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 16 Oct 1897, p31

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
"THE MATTER OF A FENCE."
"If some people's husbands would spend a little more time looking after their homes, an' a little less ornamentin' the bar o' the Royal, where goodness knows they don't spend much, exceptin' that they cause others to spend it, who should be bringin' their wage to their wife an' children, who are at home starvin'."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138629805  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Oct 1897, p27

THE SKETCHER. By F.F.
THE TRAMP.
He sat by the roadside, and gazed vaguely along the road by which he had come. His boots were in holes, his trousers and shirt ragged, the old blue blanket in his swag was threadbare. A lump of tobacco lay in his cheek, and he turned it over meditatively, then shook his head.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138630804  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Nov 1897, p30

TOWN SKETCHER.  F. F.
MR. AND MRS. BLAND.
"Eleanor, have you seen my hammer?
It's always the way. Directly I begin to do a little work everything is missing. I'm sure I don't know why people always take my things."
Mrs. Bland looked up from her knitting and gave a resigned sign. "I'm sure I don't know where your hammer is, William; I haven't had it."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138661118 The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Jan 1898, p27

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
MRS. TOD'S INGRATITUDE.
It was very hot; the pale sky was blurred with blended dust and smoke. All brightness and colour seemed burned out of grass and trees. The sun glowed fiercely on iron roofs and parched land. The paddocks were bare and brown, gardens shrivelled and dry.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138661635  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 29 Jan 1898, p46

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BARTONS GETTING READY FOR A DANCE.
"Lucy, do, for goodness gracious sake, find some pins; it is nearly eight, and it takes quite an hour to get to the hall."
"Pins! I've used every one I can find. Call out to mother to look for some, she'll get those out of the drapery at the back of the piano."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138662488  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 12 Feb 1898, p28

TOWN SKETCHER. By F.F.
"SAYING YES."
"She's got on her pink."
"And a white feather in her hat, instead of those yellow roses."
"Look, pretending she's reading the tombstone, while all the time she's-squinting at the gate to see if Sam Forbes is coming."
"She'd need to squint to see him, he walks that crooked."
"Oh, you are a cure."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138664225  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 26 Mar 1898, p46

THE TRAMP. By F. F.
A slow old tramp with a vacant eye, the swag on his back an unsavoury collection of rags, his clotnes held together by scraps of string and extraordinary patches. He sat by the side of the road, and gazed stupidly about him, his expression was deprecating, his manner timid and servile.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9796868  The Argus (Melbourne), Sat 2 Apr 1898, p4

THE NOVELIST. BY F. FITZGERALD.  (WRITTEN FOR THE WEST AUSTRALIAN.)
PARKER'S NUGGET.
Parker was dead and lay in his coffin awaiting burial. He had always been unlucky and when he found the great nugget which bore a grotesque likeness to a skull, had answered congratulations and felicitations cynically—"My luck has not turned except for the worst, I've had premonitions that something bad is going to happen, and this lump of a slug is a forerunner."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3200570  The West Australian (Perth, WA), Sat 23 Apr 1898, p9

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. BY F. F.
THE TRIALS OF MRS. JORDAN.
"The lip of 'er, an' her wincy an' copper toes, hoein' potatoes, an' never a antimaccasar or bit of carpet to 'er front room, an' her sendin' in 'er dirty scraps to me!" Mrs. Jordan was at her gate, confiding her troubles to Mr. Sparks, the grocer's assistant." She confided them in loud tones, because Mrs. Dooley, who was at the bottom of them all, was digging in her garden only a few yards away.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138665818  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Apr 1898, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BLANDS GO TO TOWN.
"Where on earth have you put my Gladstone? Here, it is quarter to 9½, and we must start at 11. Nothing ready, of course. My Gladstone boot, no scraps, no—. Ellen where are you!"
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138667332  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 28 May 1898, p46

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. LANDERS AT HOME.
Mrs. Landers sat in the drawingroom, and talked to her guests with that ease and breeding which she was confident obtained in the highest circles. She carried her head a little on one side, and regulated her lips and eyelids with prim precision;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138600359  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Jun 1898, p32

* THE SKETCHER.  By F.F.
AT THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL.
"Nurse, I'm worse than 'im, aint I? 'E can't die of what 'e's got, can 'e? An' I might die any time of what I got, mightn't I?" This was said by a freckled urchin of eight years, to whom much glory accrues in that his is the most serious case in the ward. Nurse assures him that he is very bad indeed, which causes him to triumphantly grimace at the neighbour who dared to question his superiority. "You, you're only a hip—hips never die, they just turn inter cripples." Which taunt rouses the hip to peer round the cradle which proclaims his infirmity.
"You ain't as bad as 'Liza anyway; she's a heart, and she'll die to-night, I dessay." Little 'Liza at the end of the ward is propped up with pillows, her eyes closed, her breath coming in a thick sobbing choke. She is unconscious of everything, her thin white hands move aimlessly, and her drawn white face is cruelly unchildlike.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138600407  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Jun 1898, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MR. BLAND'S COLD.
" Have a cushion behind me! Now, why in the name of all that's sensible shou'd I have a cushion behind me? I'm in a padded chair, there's no draught through that, so far as I know. Of coarse, there's a regular whirlwind blowing in under that door, but that's neither here nor there. Commend me to a woman for making idiotic suggestions."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138601114  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 2 Jul 1898, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
AMY BARTON DRESSMAKES.
"Have you seen my blouse pattern anywhere? I put it away, I know behind the clock."
At one end of the table were the dinner things. Amy had huddled them together, and pushed down the cloth in a heap to allow room for her sewing.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138601371  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 9 Jul 1898, p52

FIGHT FOR THE COMMON. By D.M.
Those who have had the advantage—or fortune, as the case may be—of hearing awful deeds defended in the law courts know that the advocate draws a marked distinction between such acts as ... the outcome of sudden impulse and ... in which careful premeditation is re ..., and which are usually described in the indictment as "of malice aforethought."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138603445  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Aug 1898, p27

THE STORYTELLER. By F. FITZGERALD.
"HILDA."
A bright fire burnt in the grate, a sewing-machine was near the window, and the room was littered with sewing. Betty and Hilda were measuring a pink silk skirt with great care, and Nelly at the machine, was placing some material.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138603775  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 27 Aug 1898, p46

* THE SKETCHER. By F.F.
AT THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL.
"Some said it was pewmoanyer, an' some said it was brown-kiters that Joe 'ad, but 't was nothink but a cold. 'Ou'd 'e go catchin' them 'orrid diseases, an' me that careful, never lettin' 'im play with them nasty little Smiths or Jenkinses'. An' our 'ouse as clean as anythink. I scrub it out meself from end to end twice a week, an' the other Sat'd'y, when I caught Joe playin' in the drain I just packed 'im strite off t' bed with out 'is dinner or 'is tea. That'll show you I looks after me children."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138605328  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Oct 1898, p51

POLLIE PALMER. By F. Fitzgerald.
"One fella longa 'randah. Him gib mine ticket. I say, 'No wanta tea. Good day.' He laugh. I say, 'No wanta sowin' 'chine. Good day. Got five, eighty, twenty.' He laugh; say, 'Gib missy ticket,' " and Daloy, the  black boy, grinned, and held out a visiting card to Pollie, who was washing up.
"Him big fella; budgeree cloes. Mino tink it sell tea," repeated Daley. "Mino say, 'No wanta tea; got ten, five hunred cases.''
'The Honorable E. Randolph Stanbury,' read Pollie. The color flew to her cheeks, and she gave a little gasp of bewilderment. 'You stupid boy, Daley ! it isn't a tea agent, it is Mr. Ted Stanbury's father.
The Windsor Magazine, 8 (1898): 381-86
 First published in the Windsor Magazine (London) Sep 1898, reviewed ...
"The September number of this cheap popular monthly (Windsor Magazine) is to hand, from Messrs Franks and Co. ... "Pollie Palmer" is a pretty tale of Victorian life, with the usual allowance of love making, and family misunderstanding."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150120847  Geelong Advertiser (Vic), Fri 7 Oct 1898, p1
"Colonial readers will be interested in the charming little incident of bush life in 'Pollie Palmer'"
Short stories are contributed by ... F. Fitzgerald (whose work is a good Australian tale),
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article123633878  The Maitland Daily Mercury (NSW), Mon 10 Oct 1898, p2
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199738761  Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic), Sat 15 Oct 1898, p12
"Polly Palmer" is a nice little story by F. Fitzgerald.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article76386382  The Western Champion and General Advertiser for the Central-Western Districts (Barcaldine, Qld), Tue 25 Oct 1898, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article82485597  The Daily News (Perth, WA), Mon 22 Jul 1901, p4
Coventry Evening Telegraph (England), 20 May 1908, p1
Stroud News and Gloucestershire Advertiser (England), 1 July 1910, p5
Also published in "The Bendigonian Annual" Advertised 19 Nov 1912 in Bendigo Advertiser

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. JORDAN'S TROUBLES.
Mrs. Jordan appeared at Mrs. Dooley's back door, and looked into the kitchen where Mrs. Dooley was making cakes. It had required considerable courage to make up her mind to come, but she felt she had right on her side, and must, therefore, win the day. She was somewhat out of breath, however, for she was fat, and had walked fast, and that added to her nervousness.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138670764  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 7 Jan 1899, p51

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF MISS BROWN.
They were very numerous, and if they seemed of flimsy material, and unsatisfactory foundation, the fault surely lay with the unsympathetic listener rather than with the imagination of Miss Brown. "He was the handsomest fellow you ever saw," she would begin; "tall and dark, with such eyes, my dear." Here she would clasp her thin hands together and sigh half coyly, half sadly.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138672867  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Feb 1899, p31

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. BARTON MAKES JAM.
"I want you to sort out the plums, Lucy; the best ones I'll bottle, the others will do for jam; Mrs. Mason was telling me how she did her fruit. We might sell a few jars if it turns out as well as hers."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138674082  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Mar 1899, p47

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
BONES.
An old cart, an old horse, and two disreputable human beings were camped by the roadside in the gathering dusk. In the big paddocks near by sleepy sheep baa-ed as they flocked together. In a pond frogs crackled unceasingly, and crickets whirred near by.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138613596  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 22 Apr 1899, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
A SNAKE STORY.
Lou, aged nine, was recounting marvellous deeds to Kitty, aged eight, and Joe, aged six. They were seated on a sand heap at the end of the yard, hot with their exertions in flying Lou's kite, which had at last got entangled in a tree far out of reach.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138615187  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 May 1899, p46

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BARTON'S BOARDER.
Mrs. Barton had arranged to take a paying guest during the summer months, receiving a guinea a week in exchange for what she had advertised as a comfortable, refined country home. She had also mentioned views, ridiug, driving, fruit, and flowers.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138615731  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Jun 1899, p46

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
KATE.
"We're all that sensitive in the skin; flannin near drives me wild. Ain't it a funny thing? And par's eldest sister, the one that married the undertaker that I was tellin' you about yesterday, she was just the very same.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138616978  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Jul 1899, p27

CAROLINE'S ELOPEMENT.  BY F. FITZGERALD. COPYRIGHT.
"Caroline!"-
"Caro— li— ne!"
A woman in a shrunken print dress peered out through the open door of a small bark hut into the gathering darkness. "Come in, you lazy hussy, and wash your dishes. Caroline, d'ye hear me; I'll warm your ears if I have to call you again."
From somewhere in the dimness came a muttered response from Caroline, and the woman retired into the hut, and poked the fire in the wide stone banked fireplace fiercely. She was a little alert, brisk creature, and kept Caroline, her niece, in absolute submission. Sid, her nephew, rebelled now and again, but anticipating the views of manhood he declared that it was best to keep clear when the old woman was on the rant. As the old woman was rarely off the rant, her niece and nephew had much hard work,
and the result was evident in her neat little farm and home.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198069306  Leader (Melbourne, Vic), Sat 5 Aug 1899, p28

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE PINK DRESS
It was Saturday night, and Cayley's general store was full of customers. Small children holding their mother's skirts gazed longingly at biscuit and lolly tins; the more venturesome sidled up towards the treacle barrel; the spoilt ones clamoured for attention. "Give me a penny, Ma, go on, you giv" Joe one We'nsdye; go on, Ma," and were promptly ordered to "'old their row."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138607431  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 16 Sep 1899, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCH. By F.F.
AT THE BARTON'S.
It was a very wet day, and as the roof leaked a milkpan stood on the dining-room floor to catch the drops; they splashed as they fell, and the carpet was sodden for several feet round. Muddy boots were drying on the fender, and there was an all-pervading smell of eucalyptus, for Lucy had a cold, and in mixing some with sugar had upset the bottle over the tablecloth.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138608903  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 14 Oct 1899, p47

TOWN SKETCHER.  By F.F.
MAUDE-STREET. 
No. 1 Maude-street was a vacant allotment called the green. It was never green, it was grey and dusty in summer, full of mud puddles in winter. On the side bounded by No. 3's fence was a miserable growth of rank grass, which old Rodd's horse cropped when he was allowed out on Sundays. No. 3, and indeed all the other houses in the street, used the green as a rubbish heap, a play-ground for the children, and an occasional drying-ground.
"It's convenient having the green to one side," said Mrs. Major, of No. 3. "Gives you more elbow-room, like."
No. 3 was one of the smartest houses in the street. Being what is known as single fronted, it had a somewhat evil expression, suggesting a person with one eye, and that eye perpetually squinting: but it had an asphalt path to the doorway, and in the asphalt were embedded numbers of white pebbles representing a harp, a heart, and a crown.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138611914  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 9 Dec 1899, p30

TOWN SKETCHER. By F.F.
NO. 5 MAUDE-STREET.
Number 5 had a romance; and number 5, being the first of a terrace of tiny wooden cottages, all so exactly alike from the street that it seemed as if it must matter little to a resident which one he entered, ..in its apparently prosaic shell the ... of a thrilling story.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139774030  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Jan 1900, p27

* THE STORYTELLER. By F. FITZGERALD.
A WHITE GLOVE.
Jack Maciver was in a bad humour; he had been persuaded to come to an upcountry dance, had arrived in the pouring rain, found the only hotel of a most inferior description, after walking half a mile through the mud to reach it.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139775302  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 17 Feb 1900, p51

TOWN SKETCHER. By F. F.
NO. 7 MAUDE-STREET.
Mrs. Lees lived at No. 7, with several small children. Her husband was at work in Western Australia, and sent her £8 a month regularly; therefore she was in affluent circumstances compared with many of her neighbours. But she had a heavy cross to bear in the shape of a crippled brother of her husband's—a cross grained, silent lad of seventeen. He was very ugly and very misshapen, and Mrs. Lees took little trouble to conceal the fact that he was a most unwelcome burden; and, because he was abnormally sensitive and morbid, he grew to hate her with the small, petty, slow hate which dies hard and scents revenge.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139778730  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 21 Apr 1900, p25

TOWN SKETCHER. By F. F.
NO. 9 MAUDE-STREET.
Miss Angela Finn lived at No. 9. She had two fierce fads—the one soap and water, the other patent medicines. She scrubbed her floors continually and violently, then covered them with sacks to guard them from harm. She scrubbed tables shelves, doors, walls. She washed and cleaned perpetually, and everything was always covered with something else to prevent it soiling. Thus her bed had a spotless white quilt, with a patchwork one over it. When she laid the table she spread a second smaller cloth to preserve the purity of the under one. She often wore three or four aprons, each one protecting another. Then she bought every advertised medicine. She was a martyr to indigestion, and as indigestion is the most pretentious of ills, it was able to persuade her at different times that she suffered from heart-disease, cancer, consumption, bronchitis, and so on, beside being responsible for faintness and a sinking feeling.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139779527  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 12 May 1900, p51

TOWN SKETCHER. BY F. F.
NO. 11 MAUDE-STREET. (CELEBRATING THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING.) 
There was a perpetual feud between the Collises and Devlins, which languished occasionally for want of nourishment, and then flared again fiercely under some provocation, the last occasion being the surreptitious removal of a big bell from Mrs. Devlin's dresser.
Bunt and Ed. Collis, with their sisters Fan and Liz as allies, stole the bell. The girls knocked at Mrs. Devlin's front door while the boyd crawled through the back fence, and inquired if she would tell mar where she got them there crysanqums (chrysanthemums), as mar was thinking of starting a garden when she had shifted them broken bones and bricks out of the front.
Mrs. Devlin suspected mischief, and was short in her answers, but Fan was apparently innocent, and stood admiring a miserable brown flower in a manner which did something to allay suspicion.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139780546  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 2 Jun 1900, p52

TOWN SKETCHES. By F.F.
13 MAUDE-STREET.
Mrs. Glover had risen late, which was a habit of hers, and was having breakfast, when there was a knock at the front door. "Sit still, the both of you," she commanded to two fat children, who had risen hastily in their anxiety to see the stranger.
An imposing person in blue uniform, with gold on his cap, explained politely that he was the inspector, and that his orders were to examine every house and yard in the neighbourhood.
"Under order of who?" "The town council, madam!" He made a movement to enter, but Mrs. Glover held the door firmly.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139151330  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 16 Jun 1900, p51

TOWN SKETCHER. BY F. F.
NO. 15 MAUDE-STREET.
Two tiny shrivelled old women lived at number 15. When gossip was scarce any new surmise concerning them was welcome. The favourite one was that they
were misers, and well-connected if they chose to claim their rights. Their cottage was single-fronted, the blind over the one window was always down, the door always shut. Smoke very rarely issued from the chimney. The smaller and older of the two invariably did their meagre shopping.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139154027  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Aug 1900, p51

TOWN SKETCHER. By F. F.
NO. 15 MAUDE STEEET.
.... two Chows took number 15, where the old women lived in," Gordon ... informed his mother. "Me an' ... as bin peltin' them all the ...
sighed wearily, and dipped a grubby ... into the treacle-jar, which stood on a table near him.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139154705  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 25 Aug 1900, p51

LAME BILLY.  By F. F.
A resident of Maude-street has a trial in the shape of a lame nephew. His lameness, which is at times bad, exempts him from lessons or work. He is an energetic fiend of a child, whose happiest moments are spent in devising evil schemes. One ingenious plan invented by him was carried out close to the entrance to a railway station. Billy, with his companions, would start a game of marbles on the footpath.
At a chosen moment, when benevolent persons were passing out, one of the big boys would violently assault Billy, who with pathetic cries would beg for mercy, and limp away. This device was always good for sixpence. One red-letter day it produced half-a-crown, but as the boy who assaulted Bill was soundly cuffed by the donor, he insisted on taking eighteenpence as his share, so the other three only received fourpence apiece. Billy had his revenge in not allowing the big boy to work with them any more.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139155145  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Sep 1900, p45

SUBURBAN SKETCH. By F.F.
NO. 0 ROYAL CRESCENT.
It was a very hot evening, and Mrs. Walker sat on her doorstep crocheting a green border on to a magenta wool mat.
Mrs. Parkes leant over the gate and related the various delinquencies of her numerous family.
"There's Emily Jane getting good wages at the factory yonder; not a penny do I ever see of it; it all goes on her back, and
not a hand's turn does she ever do in the house.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139169653  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 12 Jan 1901, p32

SUBURBAN SKETCH. By F.F.
OLD HARRY.
He lived in a tumbledown cottage in the middle of the crescent, and he had a way of mending his fences with pieces of tin, scrans of iron, and old barrels that suggested not only immense ingenuity, but a very superfluity of laziness. When his gate came off its hinges he rolled a heavy old cart-wheel across the aperture, and it was a work of some difficulty every morning to get himself and his handcart in and out. The yard was littered with all manner of rubbish, grew an immense assortment of rank weeds in winter, and in summer the dry stalks of docks and thistles rattled against one another in the north wind. A small child might easily have lost himself in the wilderness of kerosene tins and cases, broken bottles, planks, sacks, and crazy outhouses.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139158544  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 6 Apr 1901, p51

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BARTONS PICNIC.
They asked everyone to come to it. That is, "everyone who was anybody," as Mrs. Barton expressed it. "I'm not one to draw the line too strictly, for young people should have their chance, but I do think mistakes have been made."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139161516  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Jun 1901, p46

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
TROUBLES IN THE CHOIR.
As is the way with new parsons, Mr. Fleming attempted to alter many of the customs inaugurated by his predecessor. He said that no one used the hymn book now, and that the chant manual was quite of date. He insisted on singing the psalms instead of reading them, and he put flowers on the communion table—he called it altar.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139162772  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 22 Jun 1901, p52

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
DEPARTURE OF THE TOMSONS.
Mr. Tomson, the manager of the bank, had received notice of removal, and in consideration of the spirited and generous way in which he had assisted in all dances, concerts, cricket matches, and bazaars, it was decided to give a "social" to him and his wife, and to add a small token of the public esteem in which they were held.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139164340  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Jul 1901, p28

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BUTT.
In every township there is sure to be some inexhaustible topic or topics—an old and mysterious scandal or romance, the drinking propensities of some one in authority, the perpetual love affairs of some handsome local gallapt, the follies of an old maid, or wanting all these, the doings and misdoings of the township butt. In Guudrook, Sydney Skerrett occupied the position of butt, the only people ignorant of the fact being himself and his mother.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139165874  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 17 Aug 1901, p56

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MR. BIRNAM'S PAINFUL DUTY.
"I refuse to have anything more to do with the case," said the irate little doctor, "if you won't allow me to call in another man in consultation, and if you won't follow my directions in other ma'tters." He lit his pipe, and glared savagely at the huge figure of Mr. Birnam on the other side of the counter in Birnam's general store.
Mr. Birnam shook his head mournfully. "If one doctor can't do any good, I don't see what good two'll do. You can cure her if you know your business. It don't take two carpenters to mend a hole in the roof, and I am not going to pay two doctors for doing the work of one."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139748489  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 19 Oct 1901, p24

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MARY JANE.
She was certainly not an addition to society, and her start in life had not put her in touch with the cleanly, industrious persons whose home she was now expected to share.
Mrs. Perks, thoroughly tired out with the ways of "girls," had decided to do without them altogether, but as some help was necessary, determined to get a child whom she could train in her own ways.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139751244  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 14 Dec 1901, p39

TOWNSHIP SKETCH. THE MACCANS.  By F.F.
For some reason or other there is almost an absolute certainty if annoying an Irishman if he is Mac-anything, by spelling his name merely Mc. or M'. He usually is very firm about the Mac, and a capital for the sad and as important past. MacCan, though a most pleasant gentle creature as a rule, used to grow so indignant at careless spelling in such an important particular that he had been known on occasion to refuse letters at the local post-office where the name was spelt McCan, declaring that they must be for some Scotchman or other, and certainly were not for him.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139754530  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Feb 1902, p32

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE CHALKERS' CALF.
When you pass through a strange township on your way anywhere, and see one or two dusty school children by the road, the village loafer half asleep outside the hotel, and possibly a woman with a perambulator passing along the street, you wonder idly how anyone can live in such a place, what interest there can be; in fact, whether it is possible to find any incident worth gossiping over. There appears to be nothing to do and nothing to think about. You only need to stay a few days in any township to know how wrong you are.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139756290  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 29 Mar 1902, p56

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MISS BILLINGTON.
Miss Billington had come to the township in her early youth with her widowed mother, and they had inhabited for many years a neat little cottage on the outskirts of the main street, where they devoted much time to the cultivation of flowers and the care of fowls. In time Mrs. Billington died, and Miss Billington, finding life  very lonely, invited a young cousin, of whom she knew very little, to stay with her. The cousin wrote a gushing, youthful letter, declaring she would love to come.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139758137  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 10 May 1902, p56

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS POLLETT.
Mrs. Pollett had a knack of turning everything to account, or rather, she said she had this knack. "I waste nothing," she would explain impressively. "I use up everything—there are no scraps in my house."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139126466  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 14 Jun 1902, p55

TOWNSHIP SKETCH. By F. F.
... MADDERS.
(unreadable)
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139132307  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Oct 1902, p31

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE WILKINSES' VENTURE.
Mr. Wilkins decided that he was tired of town life, that it was not healthy for the children, that he could live much more comfortably as a farmer, and make more money than he was doing in his profession. Mrs. Wilkins and he talked the matter over for several weeks, and made all kinds of calculations.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138676107  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Nov 1902, p55

TOWNSHIP SKETCH. BY F. F.
THE CLANCY-MILLWELLS.
The Clancy-Millwells were exceedingly well-connected. Their double-barrelled name was a voucher for this, and Mrs. Clancy-Millwell was prepared with any number of vouchers. Another was the photograph album; wherein a General Clancy-Millwell figured, and, even better, an Honorable Clancy-Millwell. Further, each member of the family possessed very large and rather lumpy nose, always pointed to as the unfailing inheritance of every true Clancy-Millwell.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138677999  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Dec 1902, p26

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE CHURCH BAZAAR.
There was slight friction at the committee's first meeting: Mrs. Lakey objected to having a fortune-teller from town, a point which Mrs. James strongly advocated. Then Mrs. Kelson, who had never realised that an infinite amount of tact was necessary on any and every committee, remarked, in an airy way quite apropos of the matter in hand. "Mrs. Lakey had better have the produce stall, she can spare plenty of butter and eggs."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138679374  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 17 Jan 1903, p30
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article109141224 (easier to read)  The Kadina and Wallaroo Times (SA), Wed 21 Jan 1903, p4

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE MATSONS.
When an untidy man marries a tidy woman, he gives occasional cause for tirade and scolding. The woman, if she is wise, accepts the difficulty, and is not too aggressive in her puttings away and puttings straight. If she is unwise, she grumbles, and complains, and in time becomes a scold.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138684819  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 16 May 1903, p48

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MISS MATHEWS.
The township had become so used to her eccentricities that it was only on some special occasion that it was roused to comment or to express an adverse opinion on her doings. As a rule eyeryone agreed that she was a little cracked, but that her follies hurt no one but herself. She was an old maid of independent means, and she lived in a comfortable cottage, near the main road.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138688240  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Jul 1903, p49

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. LANTY.
"Yes," sighed' Mrs. Lanty. "I've seen trouble. My husbin' was the first, then me little girl, then me sister-in-law. Three deaths in three months; it's warin' to the nerves; and everything seems a bit flat-like."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138692572  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 10 Oct 1903, p50

ANDREW REID'S FAILURE. BY F. FITZGERALD.
The red moon crept up into a dim, hazy sky, below lay smoke-dimmed hills, miles of pale grass, grey fences, stunted trees, a dust-laden main road, stretching across the flat country and disappearing the haze to north and south. Cicads were shrill in the still air; frogs croaked in a brown waterhole, towards whose banks were worn innumerable dusty tracks, the dry grass, brittle and dead, lay crushed and broken underfoot.
The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Mon 9 Nov 1903, p5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174838689

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BILLINGTON BABIES.
The inhabitants of the township declared that no one could count the small Billingtons. They were so many, so alike, and so confusingly energetic. They played on the verandah at sharks.
One little boy sat on the edge and fished with a piece of string, tied to a "walking-stick, and the others flopped on the grass and caught the string between their teeth, and were hauled ashore.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138694701  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 28 Nov 1903, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
AMELIA BILLINGTON.
Amelia was the third Billington and she was seven years old. There were four younger than she, so that she was quite Methusaleh in the eyes of the babies, and they looked up to her with considerable respect.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138696155  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 26 Dec 1903, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
SMITH'S GIRL.
"I wouldn't put it past her," said Mrs. Smith ponderously, "after her taking the scented soap for the washing up." A tousled head inserted itself in the door way, the forehead adorned with such a large number of curling-pins that the tightly screwed. hair drew the eyebrows up obliquely.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138762262  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Jan 1904, p43

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
BILLINGTON STRATEGY.
The Sunday-School treat was impending, and Amelia Billington wished to keep in her mother's good graces until it was over. It would be difficult to manage, she knew, for she had a knack of getting into scrapes, and had a reckless tongue when she was unjustly treated; also she knew that her mother was quite capable of attaching a big punishment to a small crime.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138765485  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 26 Mar 1904, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MARSH'S MARY.
Mary was the general servant at the Rev. Mr. Marsh's. She had been there two years, and was known as Marsh's Mary to most of the neighbours. The reason for this was that her surname was Swedish, and so unpronounceable that no one attempted it. The three Marsh children adored Mary. In confidence, Dora told Ruth that Mary, "was not zackly beautiful," and Ruth gravely returned "No, but her face suits her." And they felt the matter was settled, and discussed other people's looks with Mary, who always settled things to their satisfaction.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138767347  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Apr 1904, p53

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
MRS. MARFITT.
Mrs. Marfitt kept a very sharp eye on her son Joe, and Joe led an entirely unsophisticated life, and never went to races or sports, and when he went to social evenings Mrs. Marfitt went with him, and accompanied him home again, odd they both took off their boots on the mat, so as not to dirty the oilcloth, and opened the door with the key, which was hidden in a flower pot, and partook of bread and cheese and milk before going to bed.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139114708  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 25 Jun 1904, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. TROTTER'S FORETHOUGHT.
Mrs. Trotter sat weeping on the floor, around her snowy piles of household linen. She examined a neatly-darned tablecloth, and then a fresh paroxysm of grief overtook her, and she moaned, "The poor girl; all so well kept, so carefully mended, such a good colour."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139118168  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Sep 1904, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
SAM LANE'S MARRIAGE.
Though Sam Lane owned a nice little farm, had a balance at the bank, and was acknowledged to be a fair business man, he found it difficult to get a wife. Unfortunately for himself, he soared high; he was not content with the girls who would have him, but wanted the girls, or rather a girl who would not. At the local dances, he was always present, and attempted to flirt with anyone who would let him, and luckily for himself did not know that the only reason why he got partners was that they found his conversation sufficiently absurd to be worth repeating.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139119977  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Oct 1904, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. DOWELL'S TROUBLES.
Mrs. Dowell stepped over an empty jam tin and a torn number of the "Family Herald," smacked the cat, who was on the table sniffing at the milk-jug, and then seated herself on the door-step with a sigh.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140773968  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 5 Nov 1904, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
AMELIA.
"So I says, go away, I says; if there's no one else offers in the whole place, I says, I wouldn't go with you." "And what did he say?" Kate Hutchins, who was visiting Amelia in Mrs. Morgan's kitchen, spread butter on both sides of a new scone, and listened to Amelia's recital of her love affairs with outward sympathy and inward disbelief, marking the more striking portions of it in her memory for future ridicule among congenial companions.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140775542  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Dec 1904, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. HANASIDE
Mrs. Hanasyde lived on ten acres of land, but though her farm was small her pride in it was immense.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140778220  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 14 Jan 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCH. By F. F.
MRS. GRIGG.
Mrs. Grigg was weeping bitterly. She had come round to tell Mrs. M'Henry all her troubles. Grigg was dead; died the night before in hospital, and Mrs. Grigg was broken-hearted, and hadn't a penny to go down to the funeral, nor to buy mourning.
Mrs. M'Henry was sympathetic; she poured out another cup of tea for Mrs. Grigg, and told her that something must be done.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140780175  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 18 Feb 1905, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
POPPY.
She was always known as Poppy, and Popsie, and even Pop, though her name was Helen Adrianna Macpherson. She lived with her parents on the top of the hill outside the township, and as she grew from a child to a grown-up young lady the old name clung to her.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139802298  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Mar 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. FLYNN.
Mrs. Flynn, was a childless widow, owning a nice little property; also, she was a smart-looking, buxom person, and she had  several suitors. Ted Gilbert was quite certain that he was the most favoured among them, so certain thatr when Joe Randall drove Mrs. Flynn to the races in the next township Ted merely smiled, and swaggered across the course conscious that many feminine eyes were upon him.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139803923  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 8 Apr 1905, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MISS GARROLD.
Miss Garrold had been engaged to Robert Machiven for a very long while. When she was 25 and Robert 28 he had received an appointment in Western Australia. On the strength of it he had proposed to Rose Garrold, and she was to go over to him and be married the following year.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139807129  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Jun 1905, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE YOUNG MACMILLANS.
They had been married a few months, and this was their first quarrel; it had been simmering for days, and when George pushed away his plate of almost raw mutton practically untouched, Mary coloured, and then said, 'It wasn't my fault it isn't cooked; the wood was green."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139194881  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 5 Aug 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
BILLY'S CAT.
Billy was a queer, wild little boy, very naughty as a rule. His father was a disreputable person, and nice children were forbidden to play with him.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139196408  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 9 Sep 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE WOOING OF JANE.
"It isn't," said Mrs. Morarty, "as if Jane was as young as she might be.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139198367  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 21 Oct 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BARRINGTONS' BABY
It was a most fortunate thing for the baby that it was strong and healthy, or else it could never have survived the care that its anxious young father and mother lavished upon it. Times without number they woke it up to be sure it was alive. Then, when it howled lustily, they sent for the doctor in case something might be the matter with it; they were not sure what, but just vaguely something. As they were club patients, this naturally displeased the doctor, and when Joe Barrington knocked him up at 2 o'clock one morning with an urgent request to come at once he asked testily what was the matter.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139188669  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 9 Dec 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE MINISTER'S WIFE
The township was not inclined to think favourably of the new minister's wife. At a social given to welcome them, Mrs. M'Farlane, for that was her name, appeared in smart garments, that nearly all the women present declared were not at all suitable to her position. Miss Biggs charitably suggested that they had probably been given to her by a rich friend; but Mrs. Clifford pointed out that they fitted far too well for that, and had most evidently been made, for her.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139189784  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 30 Dec 1905, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BACK FENCE.
Mrs. Willcox and Mrs. James had been bosom friends; they lived back to back with one another, and over the fence had spent many sunny mornings and afternoons, exchanging scraps of gossip. Mrs. James had a view of the Wiggins' cottage, and knew how often Wiggins came home drunk, and what had happened when Mrs. Wiggins hid all his clothes. Mrs. Willcox could see a great deal of what went on in the general store opposite, and who came and went, and in consequence the township was fairly correct in saying that what Mrs. Willcox and Mrs. James did not know was not worth knowing.
The trouble began over a broken paling.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139191846  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Feb 1906, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BUTTLES.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139193421 (unreadable on Trove)  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Mar 1906, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES.  By F. F.
MAY PETERKIN'S YOUNG MAN.
May Peterkin was a large, plain, stolid girl of 28. Mrs. Peterkin, who had been a beauty in her youth, worried a good deal over May's snub features and pale eyes. She had no illusions about her children, and saw their imperfections quite as plainly as anyone else could do.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139173877  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Aug 1906, p50

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MISS MORGAN.
Miss Morgan had, for many years, carried off the prizes at the various shows. Her fancy-work was acknowledged to be far the best fancy work that anyone had ever seen. She kept a little drapery-store, and spent all her time embroidering wattle on black satin, discovering new crochet patterns, and making lace.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139177929  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Oct 1906, p47

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
OLD BOTTLE OH!
He was a grubby, grimy old creature, and no one suspected him of being particularly honest. In fact, if a household missed anything after one of his visits, it reprimanded itself, and said, "Well, we really ought to put things away when old Bottle Oh's about; you can't trust him." No one ever complained officially of Bottle Oh's depredations, and he was wise in that he only took odds and ends—a rake-head, a dog's collar, a sack, a pannikin. His worst theft was when he went off with Mrs. Jones's door-mat and sold it to Mrs. Brown for six pence.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139330816  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 5 Jan 1907, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
A COMMITTEE MEETING
"I said to her, I said, 'Bessie, you'll knock over that bucket, and then that'll be a pretty kettle of fish,' and her with her mouth open gaping after Parker's boy, the one with the red mark on his ear, not Joe; and sure enough, round she turned, and over it went, and dirty water of course, and I didn't say a, word? I was that wild with her, I just boxed her ears; and if you'd heard her, you wouldn't have wondered her father ran away from her mother when he did, for Bessie must have learnt the use of her tongue somewhere."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139333602  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 9 Mar 1907, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
EDWIN PERKINS.
Edwin Perkins owned a nice little farm. He also possessed a comfortable balance at the bank, and for many years he bad been contemplating taking a wife. He felt that a wife was necessary to give a certain air of solidity and respectability to his position. In his slow, ponderous way, he frequently thought over the merits of all; the young women of his acquaintance, and he always ended by sighing, as he realised that not one of them quite fulfilled his ideal of what a wife should be.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139762996  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Jun 1907, p53

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
POLLY WESTBY.
Everyone in the township had had Polly Westby at some time or another as a servant and no one had a good word for her; nevertheless, she was always in a place, and always earning good wages. This was, of course, due to no virtue of her own, but merely because domestics were so difficult to get that everyone sighed, and said, "Well, I suppose Polly is better than nobody."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139766058  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 27 Jul 1907, p52

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. PERKINS.
Mrs. Perkins set the parlour door open, for Annie, the servant, was washing up the best cups, and Mrs. Perkins was on the alert for breakages. Mrs. Perkins firmly believed that she earnestly desired a perfect servant, one who always rose at 6 o'clock, who worked hard, broke nothing, never gossiped, cooked well,, swept and dusted with due attention to cornices and corners, ate little, and wasted nothing.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139207134  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 4 Jan 1908, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE WRIGLEYS' AUNT.
The Wrigleys' aunt had money. Just how much no one knew, for she was a crafty old lady, and owned a few good mining shares, kept a little in the bank, had some out on mortgage, and was fond of speculating with the remainder.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139210143  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 29 Feb 1908, p53

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
MRS. POTTER.
Mrs Potter was a woman of method. She washed on Monday, ironed on Tuesday. Each other day of the week had its especial and never-altering duty.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139212365  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 11 Apr 1908, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
"VI'LET."
Vi'let was late, and Mrs. MacGregor told Mr. MacGregor that people who had no help at all were the best off, and that she would do without a servant, and that Vi'let was the worst she had ever had, and this after giving her a new hat only two days ago.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141791832  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 3 Oct 1908, p45

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
FERGUSON'S MARRIAGE.
Old Ferguson had been a widower for two years, and almost from the time of his wife's death speculation had been rife in the township as to the probability of his marrying again. Everyone believed he would, but who the bride might be it was difficult to foretell.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141797674  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 23 Jan 1909, p53

TOWNSHIP SKETCH. BY F. F.
THE GREGSONS.
The Gregsons had money, and everyone .... that they were a most satisfactionary addition to the social life of the township. (hard to read)
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139690328  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Mar 1909, p53

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
MRS. ALBERT.
Mrs. Albert very rarely made mistakes.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139683414  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 10 Jul 1909, p54

* TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE MATCH-MAKER.
The schoolgirls thought Miss Lamb an old lady, that is, with the sole exception of Minnie Bond, who had peculiar views about everything, and admired things that the rest of the class considered commonplace and absurd.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139217995  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 1 Jan 1910, p51

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F.F.
THE BANK'S BUSINESS.
John Moberley had received several hints from headquarters that it would be advisable to be more tactful in his dealings with the townsfolk; and he pondered deeply over the inner meaning of the communication.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142933130  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 15 Oct 1910, p58

TOWNSHIP SKETCHES. By F. F.
THE MELBA OF NARRINGAROON.
"And the funny thing her being called Nelly—that's what gets mother and me. After the concert last night the doctor says to me, 'Mr. Ryan,' he says, 'there's gold in that girl's throat.' "s
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143330069  The Australasian (Melbourne), Sat 20 Apr 1912, p47

PROGRESS OF VICTORIA. A QUARTER OF A CENTURY'S RECORD. BY F.F.
What extraordinary changes have been witnessed in Victoria during the past twenty-five years. In 1885 the colony had practically completed the jubilee of its settlement, for it was in 1834 that the Hentys established a permanent home at Portland, and exactly 50 years had elapsed since Fawkner's party sailed up the Yarra and founded Melbourne. During its infancy the district of Port Phillip had gone through a variety of experiences. In all new countries progress is necessarily slow. A great deal of pioneering work has to be done. Early settlers sow the seed for the prosperity to be subsequently reaped. But Victoria, almost in its very beginning, startled the world by revealing the possession of wealth in a form that has lured mankind to adventure and death ever since the dawn of civilisation.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196396583  Leader (Melbourne), Sat 17 Dec 1910, p3

THE "TAIL" OF A FISH. BY F. F.
Joey Bagstock stood at the bottom of Elizabeth-street and congratulated himself that he was tough—and devilish sly. He had just escaped from the boys, and here he was bound for his virtuous home at the phenomenal hour of 6.30.
There could be no doubt about it. He had frequently had occasion to question the veracity of that bald-faced monitor in the tower. How often with lying finger it had pointed to midnight when Joseph knew it a fact it was not more than half past ten.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154958665  The Age (Melbourne), Sat 24 Apr 1915, p18

THE WOMAN PAYS. By Frances Fitzgerald.
The Australian stood looking into a jeweller's window in Oxford street. He was a pleasant looking young man with keen shrewd blue eyes, and a square jaw. His rather worn, but well-fitting uniform bore a gold A on the upper part of the sleeve, and two wound stripes near the cuff.
A girl on the other side of the street watches him. She wore a short, shabby tweed skirt, thin lace stockings, velvet shoes, and a flimsy, pale pink sports coat. Her hat had a gold lace crown, and a transparent brim of net adorned with roses. Round her neck were a wisp of black tulle, and a string of big yellow beads. Little unwilling corkscrew curls showed beside her ears. She crossed the road, and stood beside the Australian. He looked up, and she smiled.
The British-Australasian (London), 16 Aug 1917, p31

---

Articles by LINO.

Published in The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), unless otherwise indicated. * Articles with an asterisk have been corrected on Trove.

* WOMEN DOCTORS.
"Absolutely abominable, sir! The idea of a woman taking up medicine as a profession." This was  opposition in a fairly mild form. "How they can so forget themselves!" exclaimed their own sex in horror. "I'd rather employ them, never. I'd rather be treated by any man, even a quack, than by those denaturalised creatures. In fact, the most steady opposition has all along been from women themselves.
Wed 17 Oct 1900, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9560248  

MADAME AGNES JANSON.
With the sweetest and most sympathetic manner, and a readiness to talk about her art, her travels and her impressions, Mdme Agnes Janson's charming. A fellow-countrywoman of the world famous Jenny Lind, who is a Swede by birth, a cosmopolitan, in feeling and education, with a very warm affection for London in particular.
Wed 24 Oct 1900, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9560954

THE MAYOR'S BALL.
The Town hall has seldom looked more beautiful than it did last night. The big organ bay was a mass of towering palms, beneath which nestled brilliant azaleas, ornamental plants, and roses. Overhead were strung, in long cross-way lines, gay Chinese lanterns, and between the pink and white lights under the gallery baskets of La France roses.
Fri 26 Oct 1900, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9561290

GARDEN FETE AT BEAULIEU.
The garden fete on Saturday at Beaulieu, Toorak, the residence of Mr and Mrs Mars Buckley, was in every way a great success, and the funds of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children were consequently largely augmented.
Mon 29 Oct 1900, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9561601

THE BEAUTY SHOP.
In olden days charms were supposed to lurk in baths of asses' milk, in plasters of rose leaves, in applications of dew before the sun rose, in the skin of a goldfinch worn while the moon was at the full. Later, less poetical and more uncomfortable methods were adopted.
Wed 31 Oct 1900, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9561813

GOVERNMENT-HOUSE BALL
The approach, like fairyland, the rows of lights, the coloured lamps swung from pillar to pillar, the faint moonlight, and the dark massing of trees made a particularly beautiful picture at Government-house last night, when Sir John and Lady Madden gave their Cup ball.
Thu 8 Nov 1900, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9562912

* GARDEN PARTY AT RIPPON LEA.
Sir Frederick and Lady Sargood give a garden party yesterday afternoon at Rippon Lea to the members of the Municipal Association of Victoria. The day being fine, the beautiful grounds were seen to the best advantage, and the numerous visitors thoroughly enjoyed the hours spent in wandering over the lawns around the lake, or seated, in the shade under the spreading oaks, greeting acquaintances and listening to the band.
Fri 9 Nov 1900, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9563037

GARDEN PARTY AT GOVERNMENT-HOUSE.
The weather has been so favourable to festivities during the past week that some fears were felt as to the possibility of its remaining fine for the Government-house garden party yesterday afternoon.
Sat 10 Nov 1900, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9563099

* THE BACHELOR GIRL.
The modern girl is so far removed from the girl of fifty or sixty years ago in every circumstance of life that when one is compared with the other it is found that there is scarcely a point in common. The busy young woman of to-day, whether she be doctor, nurse, dentist, general agent, artist, dressmaker, or milliner, shudders with horror on reading Miss Betham Edwards's account of the life of the ordinary spinster of her times,
Wed 14 Nov 1900, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9563646

RECEPTION AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE.
The President of the Legislative Council, Sir William Zeal, gave a most enjoyable reception yesterday afternoon at Parliament house after the opening ceremony, to several hundred guests, the spacious and solemn chambers being thrown open, and filled with a cheerful, chattering, laughing crowd.
Thu 15 Nov 1900, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9563860

GARDEN FETE AT WHERNSIDE.
A garden fete in aid of the Victorian Infant Asylum was held on Saturday afternoon and evening at Whernside, Toorak, the residence of Mr and Mrs Albert Miller, and proved thoroughly successful. The fete was opened by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, who was accompanied by Lady Madden. Miss Lesly Madden, and Colonel Campbell. His Excellency, in a very appropriate speech, set forth the needs of the asylum and its claims on public charity. 
Mon 19 Nov 1900, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9564268

FORTUNE-TELLERS.
The woman who does not believe in fortune-tellers reminds one of the man who does not believe in ghosts, and then straightway proceeds to tell a long story about the extraordinary apparition witnessed by his uncle, for which no human being has ever been able to account. In regard to palmistry, nearly every woman says, "Of course, it is all nonsense,
Wed 28 Nov 1900, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9565586

* A JUMBLE SALE.
The jumble sale held in St. Peter's Schoolroom, Eastern Hill, is the very antithesis of a bazaar. A bazaar demands that everything shall be new, dainty, ornamental, and sold at high prices.
Wed 19 Dec 1900, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9568170

* CHRISTMAS WITH THE VETERANS.
Christmas Day at the Benevolent Asylum does not sound a particularly exhilarating thing, but it is a most festive occasion for all that, and there is as much jollity among the several hundreds of old people there as anywhere in Melbourne. Going first into the women's diningroom, one finds a large number of old ladies happily engaged over heaped plates of roast beef or roast pork, with mugs of beer beside them, or possibly with lemonade, for some of them are teetotallers. The very old ones mumble away at their food in silence; others are young enough and brisk enough to talk all the time, and to eat a huge plateful and demand more, and are able even after that to attack a mountain of rich plum-pudding. What they cannot eat they carry off, like Sairey Gamp, wishing to have something handy "when they feel so disposed."
Wed 26 Dec 1900, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9568915

* WITH THE PICNICKERS.
"Now, I'll smack your eyes if you upset that milk, and mind here, Jube (short for Jubilee), if you let Victoria out of sight——"
"Mabel is late, of course. Just like her, always spending hours over her clothes——"
Thu 3 Jan 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10528004

THE SALES.
The sight of a crowded shop, of heaped counters, large red placards and the assurance that goods in being sold at less than cost price excite the true woman in much the same way as the sudden whirr in the glass and the straight quivering tail of a pointer agitates a sportsman.
Wed 9 Jan 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10528833

ROMAN CATHOLIC CEREMONY. RECEPTION OF NOVICES.
"On Wednesday morning, January 9, at 9 o'clock, the Chapel of the Convent of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, Richmond, was crowded to witness the reception of two young ladies, Miss May Slaytor and Miss Aimee Cardiff.
Wed 16 Jan 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10530038

THE SUMMER SCHOOLS.
"I seen teacher going in there," remarked a small, freckled, barefoot girl to her companions in Grattan-street. She signified, the Training School with her thumb.
"What does she go there for?"
"Gets taught. That's why we have holidays, so's the teachers can learn what else to teach us."
Wed 23 Jan 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10531205

WOMEN AS COMMISSION AGENTS.
The fact that it is possible for in agent to obtain a commission on the sale even of such small articles as hairpins or soap has attracted many women into the business, and we have all become familiar with the agitated person who showers cards upon her friends, and implores them to deal with such and such a house, so that she may get her commission.
Wed 30 Jan 1901, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10532252

* EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN.
The one branch of employment for woman in which the demand is greater than the supply is that of domestic service; and the fact that this is the case allows a great latitude to those women who undertake such duties.
Sat 16 Feb 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10535412

ON TAKING BOARDERS.
Very much has been written from the boarders point of view, very little from the boardinghouse-keeper's. Of course, we have Mrs Todgers's, but she is the exception that proves the rule, and her plaint must have found many thousands of sympathisers. "Presiding over an establishment like this," she remarked to the Misses Pecksniff, "makes sad havoc with the features.
Sat 23 Feb 1901, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10536597

* THE SERVANT QUESTION.
The fact that the difficulty lies in the scarcity of servants makes the question a very hard one. Were this merely a temporary friction between employers and employed, time might be trusted to settle the difference, but under the present condition of affairs there are not sufficient servants for everyone, and the registry offices present a kind of scrambling ground, where employers vie eagerly with one another for that priceless treasure—a good servant.
Sat 9 Mar 1901, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10539211

THE DRESSES.
There is a very great contrast between the Spring and Autumn meetings at Flemington. For the former it is almost impossible to find sufficient adjectives to describe its brightness, smartness, and gaiety.
Mon 11 Mar 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10539490

* AUCTION SALES.
The novice and incompetent buyer have taken for an axiom that things are dear when you want to buy, cheap when you want to sell. But the true bargain-hunter knows better than that, and, given time and some ready cash, will furnish a house on half the money a novice would need. She knows just what is cheap and good, she buys only because she wants the article; and no auctioneer on earth has power to flurry her. Serene and immovable, the blandishments and eulogiums are as nothing to her until the right moment arrives, and then every business instinct awakes, and she drives her bargain, or lets it go if it passes the limit she allowed.
Sat 16 Mar 1901, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10540449

RENOVATIONS FOR ROYALTY.
The painters and paperhangers are nearly finished. Carpets are being laid everywhere. Furniture restored to its place. Exquisite hangings and rugs bestowed in the various rooms. From end to end the
Sat 23 Mar 1901, p13   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10541954

* DESCRIPTION OF THE MANSION.
Stonington was built some nine years ago.
Wed 3 Apr 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10543878

MISS ELLA RUSSELL. INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW PRIMA-DONNA.
After waiting a few minutes, Miss Ella Russell, the new prima donna of Mr Musgrove's company, appeared, just off the steamer from London. A tall, fair, white clad figure, with a sparkle of diamonds.
Thu 11 Apr 1901, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10544879

* THE BUTCHER'S BILL.
There is consternation among housekeepers. Meat is going up in price—has already gone up. Butter, milk, and eggs are dearer, yet the same allowances must cover the week's bills. What is to be done? Economise! "I have economised all I can," exclaims the harassed house wife "I can't feed the family on beans and macaroni." Without having vegetarian meals, there still remains something to be done. And the first step is to learn to cook. With that knowledge every thing is possible—without it nothing.
Thu 18 Apr 1901, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10546051

RECEPTION ON THE GROMOBOI.
The huge Russian man-of-war, the Gomoboi, is lying now alongside the Port Melbourne Town Pier, and last night a reception was held on board, to which some four or five hundred guests were invited. It was very difficult to remember that she was a warship when one mounted softly carpeted gangways, passed under brilliant awnings, gay with garlands and flowers.
Tue 21 May 1901, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10551593

EXTRAVAGANCE IN DRESS.
The cost for dressing for women has increased so enormously that it is interesting and instructive to note the changes that have come about in the last few years, also to compile what a man spends on his clothes with what a woman spends. In England we find that a man can dress well on £250 per annum. We also find that unless he is inclined to riot in the matter of fancy waistcoats or fur-bordered great coats he would find it a matter of some difficulty to spend more than that sum in a year.
Sat 8 Jun 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10554661

THE COST OF DRESS.
A fashionable woman is a very expensive creature. Her milliner's bill would keep a family in the necessaries of life, her dressmaker's bill would support three or four families, her whole yearly expenditure would be sufficient to support a small hospital.
Sat 22 Jun 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10557201

VICE-REGAL DANCE.
The dance given in the Prahran Townhall last night by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor and Lady Madden was a very smart affair, the welcome change from the prevailing black being most noticeable in the great number of the gowns.
Wed 10 Jul 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10560404

"NOTHING TO WEAR."
This phrase, familiar and too full of meaning for all women, was made the refrain of a would-be humorous poem in the early part of last century. A certain Miss Flora McFlimsey, with twelve large trunks of clothes, is treated to much sarcasm by her lover when she declares that on a certain occasion she has nothing to wear.
Sat 13 Jul 1901, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10560926

DRAWINGROOMS AND CALLERS.
Drawingrooms were invented for callers. The housewife declares in homely phrase, "One must have a place fit to ask people into." So the "place" is necessary in every well-appointed home, even though that home be a single-fronted villa. In the days of our grandmothers, the name was "parlour;" and a parlour was a very sacred place, indeed, so valuable were the carpets, ornaments, pictures, and other furniture that they were completely covered up.
Sat 27 Jul 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10563395

* AN AFTERNOON WITH THE DISTRICT NURSES.
Every now and then public interest is roused in the excellent work done by the district nurses, either when calls are made for subscriptions, or on the occasion of the annual District Nursing Ball. After that the matter is forgotten again, yet every day, from the home, the four nurses and the sister go out to the various cases demanding their attention in one or other of the suburbs. The Society may be called the charity for charities, the safety-valve for hospitals and benevolent societies, and the handmaid to larger affairs of the kind.
Sat 3 Aug 1901, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10564591

MOVING.
All the numerous reasons for which one moves from one house into another seem quite inadequate when the business of moving begins. It may be drains or trains, too much room or too little, a surly landlord, an uncongenial neighbourhood, or an unhealthy one. It may be a mass of reasons; narrow hall, pokey diningroom, inconvenient kitchen, the fixed tubs may leak, there may he draughts, or the chimneys may smoke; but, no matter how many and weighty the reasons, on the morning when it is necessary to (metaphorically) pull up one's  roots, the whole business seems the veriest tempting of providence.
Sat 14 Sep 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9608164

MAYORESS OF MELBOURNE'S RECEPTION.
Yesterday afternoon, from 3 till 5, the Town hall was filled to overflowing with the guests at the Mayoress of Melbourne's reception. The main hall was thronged, the big refreshment-rooms crowded, the galleries packed, the passages and the stairways streaming with people coming and going. They arrived in trains, trams, cabs, and carriages, met in groups, chatted, broke up, passed on, and then joined the long file which swept slowly along between the red barriers to greet host and hostess.
Fri 27 Sep 1901, p6  http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9610056

* "WHEN THE DRUMS ARE SILENT." DISTRIBUTING THE PATRIOTIC FUND.
When the soldiers have passed by, when the cheering is done, the flags and banners are folded away, and the band is silent. So many more men have gone off on active service to South Africa, and those women who wept as they departed are looked on with pitying interest by the crowd, and then forgotten. If husband, brother, or son should be killed or wounded, the mourners will be comforted with pensions from the Patriotic Fund, to which the subscriptions have been generous enough, there is nothing more to be done let those who need it prove their claim, and accept their dole.
Sat 12 Oct 1901, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9611923

GARDEN PARTY AT GOVERNMENT-HOUSE.
Their Excellencies the Governor-General and the Countess of Hopetoun entertained a large number of guests yesterday afternoon at a garden party at Government-house.
Thu 7 Nov 1901, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9615250

DRESS AND INSTINCT.
This is not a scientific paper in the strict sense of the word, for we find it absolutely denied that the art of dressing can ever become a science, and it is of woman's instinct in reference to clothes that we would speak.
Sat 7 Dec 1901, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9619178

DRESSES FOR ALADDIN.
One finds them all hanging up in rows in the dressing-rooms at the Princess's Theatre in gorgeous masses of colour; clothes belonging to emperors, princesses, soldiers, pages, even washerwomen, and these last are like all else so gay and quaint that one half wishes to be a laundress in China. All these marvels, which come direct from Alias, the great French theatrical costumier, are in process of slight alteration, a little letting out for the plump girl, a little taking in for the thin one. A leading lady has her own ideas about what will suit her, and wants feathers in her cap.
Fri 20 Dec 1901, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9621014

DOWN THE BAY ON BOXING DAY.
There were eighteen persons in our compartment for Port Melbourne, but, though the morning was hot, everyone was in a good humour, and ready to overlook all inconvenience. Two little factory girls, in "white over a colour" with pearl necklaces—each jewel, to judge by its size, being worth a king's ransom—giggled tremendously at being so crowded, an when a young man, standing up near them, inquired if "Someone would tell him where he lived," the elder retorted, "Oh, dickin!" in a tone which was a curious blending of amusement, sarcasm, and coyness.
Thu 2 Jan 1902, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9622516

* AN AUSTRALIAN NURSE AT THE FRONT.
Mrs. Arthur Kennedy, nee Miss Betty Alsop, who trained at the Melbourne Children's Hospital, and at Sir Thomas Fitzgerald's, gives a most interesting account of some of her experiences as a nurse in South Africa. She was married in England, and on her husband being ordered to the front, she determined to resume her profession, and go out there also, following him a week or so after his departure.
Sat 4 Jan 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9622729

* WOMEN WHO WORK. - HARD LOT OF FARMERS' WIVES. THEY DESCRIBE THEIR LIVES.
Her work begins at dawn in the summer and by candle-light in the winter, and, in any case, continues till bedtime. No matter how strong a woman is, and how hard she works, there is never a day when she can complete every task which she has set herself, which she feels and knows is necessary. There are no pleasures for her, she has no time for them, even if they were possible. There is no amelioration of her lot, beyond the fact that her hard outdoor life keeps her strong and healthy.
Mon 13 Jan 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9623793

THE A.N.A. COMPETITIONS.
They have been going on for several weeks in the Masonic-hall, Collins street, and every evening friends and relatives of the competiors have attended in large numbers to enthusiastically applaud
Sat 15 Feb 1902, p17   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9628417

* AT THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.
Nearly everyone imagines the Telephone Exchange to be concealed somewhere in the recesses of the General Post-office. If it is not there, where on earth can it be?
Sat 1 Mar 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9630149

CONVERSAZIONE AT THE TOWN-HALL.
A conversazione was given by Sir Samuel Gillott and Lady Gillott (the Mayor and Mayoress of Melbourne) last night in the Melbourne Town hall to meet their Excellencies the Governor General and the Countess of Hopetoun. A very large number of invitations were issued, and the hall was crowded from end to end with guests.
Tue 11 Mar 1902, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9631396

FELINE AMENITIES.
Under this heading we have had all manner of good stones in the London "Punch" and elsewhere. They are of this type:—Priscilla—"My mother was considered the handsomest woman in London." May (meditatively)—"Ah, then, it was your father who was so plain!" 
Sat 29 Mar 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9633768

WARRNAMBOOL EN FETE. WARRNAMBOOL RACES.
Warrnambool, the city of wide white streets and buildings, with glimpses of a bright blue sea, and a bright blue sky over head, might be an Oriental city had it just those gay jalousies, blinds, and awnings which the East so affects, But race time is far from Eastern. There is a perpetual rush and whirl of gaiety—crowded streets, crowded trains, crowded hotels and boarding-houses.
The Australasian, Sat 3 May 1902, p45   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139758021

BENDIGO EN FETE.
For the last six months Bendigo has been plunged into a perfect whirl of excitement. Beginning with its exhibition, which attracted thousands of visitors, continuing through its Easter Fair and Austral Competitions and concluding with the winter races this week, it will surely be somewhat difficult for Bendigonian to settle down into the ordinary humdrum of life.
Sat 31 May 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9076990

"OLE CLO."
"Seems a pity," said the old clothes buyer, "that you haven't got no silette [sealette]—there's always a run on it. This here serge skirt and jacket is old-fashioned. I couldn't give more than ninepence, and I'll likely lose on it then."
Tue 10 Jun 1902, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9082161

CLOTHES AND COMMON SENSE
A pudding basin, well filled, with its cloth tied in a big round knot on top, does not appeal to one's artistic sense. As a model for hairdressing, it strikes one as being rather crude and gross in outline.
Sat 5 Jul 1902, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9087820

* THE WOES OF "WALLFLOWERS."
"Ballrooms should have a lining of hot-water pipes," complained a "wallflower" lately. "It is so difficult to keep a pleasant, nonchalant expression on one's face while one's shoulders are freezing, and horrid little goose-shivers chase each other up and down one's spine. And just when it seems absolutely certain that bronchitis and pleurisy are sure to follow the evening's so called enjoyment, some wretched girl, who has been capering and bounding through the Lancers, passes with her partner and says to me with malice, "Oh, isn't it hot, I'm just baked—I must have an ice or I'll die."
Sat 19 Jul 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9068087

RECEPTION AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE.
Their Excellencies the Acting Governor-General and Lady Tennyson held a reception last night at Government-house, the majority of the guests, in addition to those in official positions, being members of the Federal Parliament.
Sat 9 Aug 1902, p13   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9065629

A CHAT WITH MRS. SANDOW.
Mrs. Sandow came forward, showing herself the most satisfactory and charming illustration of her husband's system of physical training.
Thu 11 Sep 1902, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9074588

AN AUSTRALIAN STOOP.
Mrs. Sandow, wife of exponent of physical training now visiting Melbourne, was interviewed on September 10 by "Lino," of "'The Argus."
"Your Australian, girls are so pretty," said Mrs. Sandow. "Such sweet, lovely faces I have seen in the streets, but they walk horribly. They stoop, they do not carry themselves, they seem to burden themselves.
The Australasian, Sat 13 Sep 1902, p38   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139130817

THE HOME DRESSMAKER
Miss Dash emptied her month of pins, remarked that string colour was all the go this season, and then proceeded to point out that for slight ladies—a tactful dressmaker never calls you thin, she always says slight—skirts gathered on the hips were very becoming. She ran the cold scissors round the neck of the lining, sending a shiver down her client's backbone, and added that full sleever suited most.
Sat 27 Sep 1902, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9079431

THE MAYOR'S BALL.
The ball given last night by the Mayor of Melbourne and Lady Gillott in the Townhall proved a very great success, several thousand guests being present, and the dresses and scene generally being even more brilliant than in past years.
Fri 31 Oct 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9085266

* WOMEN OF THE MALLEE. TELL THEIR OWN STORY. DISTRESS, YES; DESPAIR, NO!
"There was no outcry from the sufferers themselves, and much of their unhappiness had to be learned from indirect sources.
Sat 1 Nov 1902, p15   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9071177

GOVERNMENT-HOUSE BALL.
Their Excellencies the Acting Governor-General and Lady Tennyson received a number of guests last evening at Government-house, the dancing beginning at half past 9, the first set being danced by Sir George S Clarke and Lady Tennyson, Sir H. Rawson and Lady Clarke, Sir Arthur Havelock and Lady Rawson,
Tue 4 Nov 1902, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9061638

THE DRESSES.
From the woman's point of view, the dresses were slightly disappointing. So much is expected from the great Cup Show that it is difficult to avoid expecting too much. Visitors want to be astonished with the glories of beautiful and elaborate gowns, amused at the vagaries of the extravagant, and possibly annoyed at what is palpably hideous. For some reason—probably the very great heat of the day was to blame—the number of exceedingly beautiful gowns was fewer than usual. Then another disappointment, which was deeply felt, was the non-appearance of Madame Melba.
Wed 5 Nov 1902, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9078743

* WOMEN OF THE MALLEE. TELL THEIR OWN STORY. SEVERE AFFLICTIONS NOBLY BORNE. No. II.
In describing a Mallee home, with its earth floor worn into dusty holes, its hessian lining flapping in each gale of wind,
Sat 8 Nov 1902, p15   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9087424

THE STEWARDESS.
"You have to be nurse, mother, doctor, weather prophet, comforter and friend to many of the passengers," said the stewardess, as she entered the cabin of an old lady who had grave fears concerning the safety of the ship. "When they're very bad you have to treat them as if they were infants."
Sat 10 Jan 1903, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9809825

FROM MARSEILLES TO DOVER.
Reports of fogs and collisions in the Channel, and of rough weather in the Bay of Biscay, frightened many of the passengers, and a large number left the P and O steamer at Marseilles, to thus avoid all the final horrors of the trip. Of course James and Jane landed with the others. Everyone on the ship knew the old couple as James and Jane, and they always created an amused stir and bustle wherever they went. Their desire for knowledge was insatiable, and the amount of unreliable information they collected quite stupendous. Added to this their baggage and paraphernalia was a great worry to them, and Jane mistrusted every one she met, and wore most of her valuables concealed in a large calico bag under her skirt.
Sat 21 Feb 1903, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9819849

THE AUSTRAL CLUB IN LONDON.
Another club has been added to London's vast number—the Austral, in New Bond street. A brisk little, gay little club, quite in its infancy yet, but full of promise. It held its initial social meeting on the 17th February, in pretty greenery-blue rooms decorated by Liberty, and guests and
Sat 28 Mar 1903, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9825239

A PILGRIMAGE TO ST. JOSEPH.
Up a gorse-covered hill, the banks on either side of the narrow, winding road lined with blue periwinkle, clumps of primroses, hart's-tongue fern, and shadowed by great bushes of starry white blackthorn and young willows. Peach, pear, and cherry trees are bursting into bloom, and beyond and below as the steep hill is ascended one sees the white-walled, red-roofed town, and the wide expanse of the Atlantic. 
Thu 14 May 1903, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9813138

FIVE O'CLOQUER.
Biarritz, among other attractions, boasts a very fascinating tea room — a room to which, at about 5 o'clock, everyone drifts to meet everyone else. There are the habitues who come there daily throughout the season, and who somewhat resent strangers taking the tables they particularly affect. There are the casual visitors from Bayonne.
Sat 30 May 1903, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9806914

IN A FLAT.
A flat was lent us for a month. A furnished flat, with Liberty decorations in tones of green. Round the sittingroom windows ran a deep frieze of Kate Greenaway figures in green and white.
Sat 20 Jun 1903, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9814897

ON BOARD A MAIL BOAT.
There had been some friction about the buckets. The quoits were in use for ring quoits, and the ladies who wanted to play "buckets" had, after remarking to no one in particular that some people were very selfish, retired to their deck chairs to dismiss the latest about Miss Pinks and the fifteenth officer.
Sat 8 Aug 1903, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9823435

IN THE SUEZ CANAL.
Seen from the train the ship appear to be moving in a slow, uncanny way across the land. In that endless level the masts and funnels assume magnificent proportions, and stand out sharp and weird against the hot sky. They come up from the desert at one end and zig-zag a course to the other end, following one another continuously, passing one another continuously, and
Sat 22 Aug 1903, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9824560

AT MARKET.
"Lovely little leg of lamb." The butcher speaks persuasively, and almost as if he would regret parting with such a delightful possession. He passes an affectionate hand over a side of mutton and says, "Beautiful meat, and dirt cheap."
"How much that there forequarter?" A boardinghouse lady, with a keen eye, points to the joint she fancies. Two an' three! Where do I come in? Tough as anything, too, I'll be bound. I got some beef off of you last Sat'd'y. I knew it was beef because you said so, but if I'd gone by the taste I'd 've said it was old boots."
Sat 26 Sep 1903, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10573957

THE DRESSES.
Saturday was one of the most beautiful days that Melbourne has experienced this spring, and as a consequence the stand and lawns showed a larger crowd than has been the rule for years past. The flowers were brilliant, though it is at the back of the stand in the shade that the gardens are seen at their best.
Mon 19 Oct 1903, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10577757

THE DRESSES.
From the first moment there was no doubt whatever about the day. It was very hot—a day for the thinnest of muslins, and shadiest of hats. Fashion, however, has made a rather cruel decree this season.
Mon 2 Nov 1903, p9   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10580253

THE DRESSES.
Ladies' day was just a little too cold. There was an east wind blowing, which crept very unkindly through chiffons and muslins, and as the pneumonia blouse was considerably in evidence, it is  probable
Fri 6 Nov 1903, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10580828

WOMAN TO WOMAN. POINTS FOR THE ELECTORS. WHY ALL SHOULD VOTE. THE EVERYDAY WOMAN.
The everyday woman says, "I don't like being dictated to; I'll vote for the men I choose myself."
Thu 3 Dec 1903, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10585653

FOR THE WOMEN. THE APPEAL TO VOTE.
"What I want to know," said the woman of leisure, "is, where will I find the polling-booth?" The housewife sympathised. "You simply won't be able, to miss the pollingbooths, my dear. They will be largely advertised, and anyone and everyone will be ready to point out the way."
Fri 11 Dec 1903, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10587258 
Sat 12 Dec 1903, p17   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10587475

WITH THE PICKNICKERS.
The second-class carriage was already full to overflowing, but that didn't matter, and father, mother, and baby got in somehow. They interrupted some airy badinage engrossing the party of young men and maidens, but only for a minute, and then one Wally threw a banana at a pretty girl addressed as Toots.
Sat 2 Jan 1904, p15   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10590768

A SOCIAL EVENT.
Henley-on- Yarra promises great things for the future as a social event, for Saturday's arrangements, from all points of view, were far beyond expectation. The crowds that assembled on both banks of the river and on the bridge reminded one of the Royal visit, while
Mon 21 Mar 1904, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10604697

BENDIGO EN FETE. THE ANNUAL CARNIVAL.
BENDIGO, Monday. Since Thursday visitors have been pouring into Bendigo not only from Melbourne, but from all quarters, and special trains have arrived laden from end to end with eager holiday-makers, being content to stand four and five hours in packed carriages.
Tue 5 Apr 1904, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10312996

BENDIGO EN FETE. LORD AND LADY NORTHCOTE DESCEND A MINE.
Tuesday in Bendigo proved even as perfect weather as Monday had been, and though the list of engagements before their Excellencies the Governor-General and Lady Northcote was a long one,
Wed 6 Apr 1904, p4   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10313100

* THE HOUSEWIFE.
We have seen all kinds of manuals which claim to give information on the subject of cheap living. Whether anyone ever studies them or not it is difficult to say. Probably the large majority of housewives learn how to economise through hard experience. In Melbourne alone there are thousands of women engaged in the struggle to live decently on small means. Apart from the poor, whose living is precarious there is a large class untouched by actual poverty,
Sat 23 Apr 1904, p17   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10316046

LADY WRIXON'S TEA.
The opening of Parliament is always regarded as a rather interesting social function, improved by the flavour of solemnity and officialdom. It is not, perhaps, an exciting as a fashionable wedding, for interest is divided into many channels, and there is no touch of romance or sentiment.
Fri 1 Jul 1904, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10327344

* A LONG SLEEP. CATALEPSY CASE AT KYNETON. SEVENTEEN DAYS' TRANCE.
The strange case of Susan Tipping who had a long cataleptic sleep at Kyneton has already been reported in the Argus, and has caused much local and general interest the girl's father a miner, says that he never found the girl in any way different from other girls, save that she was inclined to be a little hysterical, and had only a few weeks before declared to him that she was growing afraid to go out in the dark alone.
Mon 4 Jul 1904, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10327785

* SUNDAY IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS.
One or Melbourne's most popular Sunday resorts is the Botanical gardens. It is not only that it is convenient to many suburbs, but it offers so many attractions that every fine Sunday finds it swarming with visitors.
Mon 22 Aug 1904, p9   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10336162

THE DRESSES.
Too often Caulfield Cup day is a day of doubt. The morning is grey and misty, and light gowns are out of place. One has vivid memories of a grand-stand punctuated with red noses, while a keen south wind sowed seeds of future lung trouble beneath pneumonia blouses, shivering voices, bravely asserting despite chattering teeth, that is was not in the least cold.
Mon 17 Oct 1904, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10345669

GOVERNOR-GENERAL AT BALLARAT. AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION.
BALLARAT, Thursday.—The Governor General and Lady Northcote visited Ballarat to-day, and attended the opening of the band competitions under the auspices of the South-street Society. Their Excellencies travelled by special train, and were
Fri 28 Oct 1904, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10347681

"THE BEST DRESSED DERBY."
Did they really understand the art of dressing in 1830 better than they have ever done since, or had they merely a vague plea of the most effective lines and colours? so that we of 1904 have so elaborated and built upon that idea that our last Derby is declared to be the best dressed Derby ever seen.
Mon 31 Oct 1904, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10347961

RACES AT BENDIGO. THE SOCIAL SIDE.
The Bendigo Jockey Club began its spring meeting yesterday, and Cup Day is the day of the season. It is for it that dressmakers and shops have been preparing for weeks and months past, and, as Bendigo always expects hot weather in the spring, the tendency is towards the thinnest and lightest materials.
Thu 24 Nov 1904, p7   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10352026

* THE POSTMAN'S ROUND.
Everyone is warmly attached to the postman, but take a round with him, and it will be seen that his view of life is not rose coloured, especially at holiday time. Living in the suburbs, he catches some train that will bring him to the G.P.O., Melbourne before 6 o'clock. The sharp ring, the flutter in the letter-box and the bang ot the closing gate all occupy a minute where the postman has not to wait for the door to be opened.
Wed 28 Dec 1904, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10357463

* FLOWERS AT FUNERALS. EXTEXT OF THE CUSTOM.
At the cemeteries one sees something of the demand for flowers at funerals. Every day slow, black processions, in their panoplies of woe enter the gates and leave behind them new graves, as a rule mercifully covered with blooms. To begin with, the wide drives are bordered with splendid glowing masses of dahlias, asters, marigolds, geraniums, a few late roses, little blue Michaelmas daisies, gorgeous cannas, fancy grasses, and shrubs. With such abundance of flowers everywhere, the cemetery resembles a garden. Here is a small new grave; the flowers are still fresh and among them are cards bearing messages of sympathy. A wreath of white geraniums and carnations, with soft asparagus fern, bears the words, "With our deepest sympathy for you in the loss of your dear child."
Thu 9 Mar 1905, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9876315

BALLARAT OUTING - DAY AT THE RACES.
Ballarat is generally sure that it will have cold weather for the races. Bendigo may be certain that it will be hot, and Warrnambool not sure of anything; but seasoned racegoers at Ballarat say, "Mind and put on something warm." Cup Day, however, was hot, and the thinnest white muslins were suitable, though only a few were seen, for March is a variable month, and keeps one in a fret as to whether to book muslin or frieze will render one happiest.
Fri 24 Mar 1905, p5   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9910997

* TRAGEDY OF DRESSMAKING.
You ask a typewriter to do some work. Before doing it she will tell you to a penny how much she will charge. You ask a woman to wash, iron, or char, and she will give an instant estimate of how much she is to be paid. Governesses, maids, and lady-helps, all are able to tell you in advance what pay they expect. The dressmaker never does this. She says that such and such a dress shall be made for you for three guineas. When the bill comes in it is for three pounds fifteen and six. She always under, never over, estimates. Has anyone ever been told that a gown will cost five pounds, and then had a bill for four ten?
Wed 26 Apr 1905, p6   http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9900722

---

DREAMS AND THEIR PORTENTS. TWO STRANGE STORIES. Attributed to Frances Elmes (no Byline)
Two stories of curious dreams which he thinks should interest the Psychical Research Society are related by the London correspondent of The Manchester Guardian.
The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Sat 1 Apr 1905, p6
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9875112 
Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1912), Sat 8 Apr 1905, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208002361 
Coolgardie Miner (WA : 1894 - 1911), Wed 12 Apr 1905, p1
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article217429171 
Wodonga and Towong Sentinel (Vic. : 1885 - 1954), Fri 14 Apr 1905, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article69546278

---

Articles / Short Stories by F. F. ELMES and 'By Victoria' written in England.

A POLITICAL GARDEN PARTY. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"Well, we can just give up all hope of everything now, girls. You heard what your father said—a garden party for the Liberal candidate, and this just the very week after Sir George and Lady Pocklington dined with us. It is cruel and wicked and unfeeling!" Tears streamed down Mrs. Society-Smith's cheeks.
"He means it, too," Nelly Society-Smith spoke in a tone of deep dejection. "Oh, he means it. There's no doubt of that, and we'll have to put on new frocks, and smile on all the wretched village people, and take particular notice of that hateful little Mr. Freeport, and his vulgar wife. Lady Pocklington can't help hearing all about it, people will tell her, and it will be in the paper, and the Pocklingtons have shares in a South African mine, and they'll never forgive us, never, because Mr. Freeport always talks a lot of sentimental nonsense about those Chinese. Perfect rubbish it all is, I'm sure. The vicar told me they were far better off than they would be in their own miserable homes, and they have the chance of learning to be Christians."
London Daily News, 16 Sep 1905, p6

THE YELLOW SCHOOL ROOM. (By F. F. ELMES.)
The schoolroom is full of enthusiasm, and yellow guinea. Yellow paper and yellow ribbons decorate it from end to end. Keith has used all the yellow paint in all the paint boxes in adorning covers of copy books and exercise books. Mabel wears yellow ribbon on her brown hair, and coquettish yellow bows adorn her pens and pencils. Many pence have been spent on yellow buttons and badges, even the two year old baby sports them, and his bib is fastened with a "Liberal" button. The fox terrier wears dilapidated yellow bow, and the Persian cat has a yellow satin collar embroidered for him Mabel with the word "victory." Their particular hero, a cousin of father's, is the Liberal candidate for the town, and the fact that the contest will be a close one excites the schoolroom to the verge of hysteria.
London Daily News, 16 Jan 1906, p6

THE TEA ROOM GIRL. (By F. F. ELMES.)
Three of them sat together at one of the marble tables, and exchanged scraps of gossip. It was their half hour off duty.
"What was wrong with 'mutton pie' to-day? He nearly bit my head off when I bumped against him with a tray."
"Oh, he knocked his tea-pot over and swamped his plate, and then wanted to know what the company meant by having such stupid teapots—but be did not say stupid," added the fat, fair girl placidly.
"And what did you say?" —the pretty, red-haired girl pensively broke up a lump of sugar and strewed it over her bread and butter.
"I offered to bring him a clean plate, but two hundred million clean plates would not have pleased him."
London Daily News, 13 Apr 1906, p6

ENGLISH COUSINS. AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA.
"Yes," said the Australian girl, pensively, "gloves are certainly cheaper here, but only one shop in ten will try them on for you. I often sigh for good old Melbourne and Sydney methods, where, even if you did pay six and nine, you got exactly what you wanted."
The British-Australasian, 21 Jun 1906, p18 Published as "English Cousins"
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68670894  West Gippsland Gazette (Warragul, Vic), Tue 28 Aug 1906, p3
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242610517  The Herald (Melbourne, Vic.), Tue 31 Jul 1906, p5
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115731878  The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser (NSW), Sat 8 Aug 1908, p4 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112192751  The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser (NSW), Wed 26 Apr 1911, p6 

ENGLISH COUSINS.
'But their strawberries!' The Australian girl held up a huge red berry. 'I'll never want to touch a strawberry again after leaving England.' 'You eat something like four pounds a day, commented the American girl, 'so you certainly are cultivating a palate.'
The British-Australasian, 12 Jul 1906, p18
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article157193209  National Advocate (Bathurst, NSW), Sat 12 Dec 1908, p2

OURSELVES.
"As far as I'm concerned, no one would ever know Sydney wasn't on the Yarra," said the girl from Pott's Point. "And I'm sure I'm good about Melbourne streets," volunteered the girl from Toorak. "And I —" began the girl from Adelaide, but she was promptly snubbed by the Wellington girl, who said: "Of course, there is nothing whatever to boast about in South Australia."
The British-Australasian, 2 Aug 1906, p18

SHOPPING WITH MOLLY. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"He was one of the dearest men you ...," Molly was ecstatic.
The British-Australasian, 4 Oct 1906

AUNT KATE.
Directly Molly came in I knew she was depressed. She was wearing a plain tailor-made suit, a linen collar, and a hat that was almost unbecoming, though to imagine Molly with an unbecoming hat is almost sacrilege. "Have you quarrelled with Archie?" I inquired.
The British-Australasian, 29 Nov 1906, p18

THE LION AND THE KANGAROO.
The British Lion smiled complacently. "Seasonable weather, young man. It seems absurd to think that out in that queer new continent of yours the weather is hot, broiling, baking. Very disturbing, very upsetting to sensible old stagers like myself."
"Mrs. 'Arris," began the Kangaroo, pensively, laying back his ears in a manner which made him look more than usually innocent.
"Mrs. 'Arris," repeated the Lion in a puzzled tone, "are you referring to anyone I know?"
"Me and the Emu always call You Mrs. 'Arris," explained the Kangaroo, turning large, sad, gentle eyes on the ponderous frame before him.
The British-Australasian, 27 Dec 1906, p56

A HUNTING TRIP ON THE CONGO BORDER. (By F. F. ELMES.)
You get everything in Central Africa. It is a regular Whiteley's among the countries of the world. In matters of sport alone, there are lions, tigers, leopards, all kinds of deer, buffalo, rhinoceros, hippos, birds in the trees, fish in the streams, and if you are keen on them, insects of all sorts.
"The doctor and I," remarked a returned traveller, "started off on a shooting expedition up the Lakanga river in the August of 1905. We took 130 boys with us, and that meant some shooting to keep us all in meat. What a boy can eat is a big order. I've known ten of them eat a 300lb. antelope between dusk and dawn. Still, about 101b. of meat apiece in the twenty-four hours, as well as flour and coffee, is what they look for, and you will only travel comfortably in Central Africa if you feed your boys well, for sick boys are a hindrance.
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 20 April 1907, p300

* RATIONAL "FOODERS." (By F. F. ELMES.)
To a very large extent, the Food Exhibition now open in London is rational—that is, it deals with all kids of patent food designed to supersede the old-fashioned chop and steak, and after studying it carefully from end to end, one is forced to the conclusion that rationalism in any branch is drab. Look at the rational dressers. They were natural wool garments, and rejoice that their rational souls are lifted above the frivolities of colours, scorning the elusiveness of pink and blue bebe ribbons, and the uselessness of artificial flowers. 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10132427  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 7 Sep 1907, p7

AMERICANS IN LONDON. (By F. F. ELMES.)
They come over here in thousands, and do the sights in a breathless, business-like fashion. They are primed with knowledge before arriving, and if you want to know anything about London you should ask an American; they know far more about it than the much-extolled London policemen. They are almost entirely women, the American man stays at home to earn money, and because he is positively certain that no place in the world is so satisfying as America.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10129871  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 16 Nov 1907, p8

ON ENGLISH FOOD. (By F. F. ELMES.)
" Lan' Sakes," said the American girl.
" They simply do not know what you mean by cooking over here. It ia a scandal, a disgrace. No wonnder wretched Englishmen look to America and Australia for wives.
The Australian girl sighed. "It is pathetic. I've been to ever so many hotels and ever so many ladies' clubs, and itis always the same, nothing to eat, or else everything is horrid. I'll tell you what I had yesterday at the Ladies' Blank and Blank Club. Julienne made of burnt water with a few shreds of putty thrown in. Mince that I suspect of being sawdust set in starch. It was old, grey, weary, and evidently had been in the club's service a long, long time. It was garnished with lemon decorated with parsley, red pepper, and olive. Goodness only knows why, it gave it muc the same pathetic incongruous air that an old spinster might have if she put on a child's river hat.
London Daily News, 3 Dec 1907, p6

* MOLLY'S MATCH. A SOCIETY STORY. (By F. F. ELMES.) (Reprinted from the British-Australasian)  
"I think," sald Molly viciously, "plain women ought to know their place." "Which is?" I asked. "Which is that it is absurd, simply horribly, sickeningly absurd to put on airs and graces."
The British-Australasian, 28 Nov 1907
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93269999 The Colac Herald (Vic.), Fri 7 Feb 1908, p8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68680006  West Gippsland Gazette (Warragul, Vic.), Tue 18 Feb 1908, p6 

MOLLY'S METHODS. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"I think I'm an exceptionally clever girl," said Molly, with a self-satisfied air.
"I see that Archie has given you the brooch you wanted."
The British-Australasian, 19 Dec 1907

MOLLY'S DIPLOMACY. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"It is perfectly absurd of Archie;" Molly was cold and contemptuous.
"I don't see anything absurd in it." The cousin was calm and amused. "I think he's very wise. You have flirted and flirted with other men, and now he takes this girl out to tea, and it really serves you right." Molly laughed. "Good gracious, I hope you don't imagine I'm jealous!"
The British-Australasian, 23 Jan 1908, p6

MOLLY AND THE WIDOW. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"I believe in the Suttee," said Molly solemnly. "I think it is a most excellent institution, and I wonder the advanced nations of Europe have not adopted it long ago, it is far more necessary to the general happenings than women's suffrage."
The British-Australasian, 13 Feb 1908

MOLLY MORALISES. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"I've been wondering," said Molly, thoughtfully," whether it pays to tell the truth or not."
"It is supposed to. Honesty is the best policy."
"That is only where there is a chance of being found out. Now if Gwenny Griggs from Adelaide had told young Potts that her father was a butcher, and that her nother used to milk the cows barefoot ——"
The British-Australasian, 12 Mar 1908

MOLLY AND THE MAID. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"I was determined to pay her out," said Molly, placidly, "for the way she treated Archie and me."
"I have no doubt you succeeded," I returned.
"I did." Molly laughed ; "and now she lives in terror that people will find out."
The British-Australasian, 23 Apr 1908, p6

MOLLY AND MRS MEGHAM. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"I was very hard up last week," said Molly, "so I sent for Mrs Meagham."
"You mean Lady Longleas' sister, don't you? Does she lend you money?"
"I'm not talking of the Honourable Mrs. Mogham," returned Molly loftily, "but of a very much more useful person.
The British-Australasian, 21 May 1908, p6

ELEANOR AND VEGETARIANISM. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"Animals," said Eleanor, "are meant to eat, or else they would not be here. Of course it is very cruel and horrid to think of the actual chasing and killing, but we live in an imperfect world. You'd be such a dear, George, if you were not so fond of all these mad new ideas."
The British-Australasian, 11 Jun 1908

* THE BABY SPEAKS. (By F. F. ELMES.)
What I want for my birthday is not stupid old golliwogs and fluffy bears, and rag books. I want old tins, and the dust-pan and brush, and I want to play in the fender, and to take out the coals, and to put matches in the jug.
Percy and I were talking about it in the park yesterday. Percy is one and a-half, and I'm two, and he says that at his house they say to him, "No, no darling don't touch the fender."
The British-Australasian, 25 Jun 1908, p14

AN EXHIBITION IDYLL. (By F. F. ELMES.)
"I found her," said Molly, 'in the New South Wales Court, with her arms around one of the wool pillars, sobbing as if her heart would break." "And you led her away, and bathed her face at the waterfall?"
The British-Australasian, 13 Aug 1908, p12
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211625907  The Northam Advertiser (WA), Sat 5 Dec 1908, p6

AMONG THE BRUMBIES. (By F. F. ELMES.)
I was a youngster in those days, and keen for excitement and adventure, and I got plenty of it with good old Joe Pincott, our boss on the Wooriwooryte run in Queensland. I remember one trip after the wild horses—brumbies or warrigals, we called them—and that is the kind of chase that wants pluck, backbone, endurance, foresight, and doesn't end in mere killing.
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 22 Feb 1908, p8
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21919664  The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld.), Sat 22 Jul 1911, p44

RIDING A WILD HORSE. (By F. F. ELMES.) (Continuation of Among the Brumbies.)
The wild leader of the wild mob lay stunned outside the stockyard. Inside the yard the mob whinnied and screamed, and pushed aimlessly hither and thither, getting many knocks and scars in the process. The plucky black beast who had just successfully half-jumped, half-climbed over that nine-rail fence, deserved something better than the tremendous whack be had received be hind the ear from the butt of Joe Pincott's whip; but Joe also deserved something better than to see the prize he had yarded with such difficulty get away from him. We all, including the animal on the ground, bore marks of that run. Torn, bloody garments were the rule.
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 9 May 1908, p14

FASHIONS IN WHIMS. A LONDON SKETCH. (By F. F. ELMES.)
A change has come in the fashionable actress's smile. No longer are we to be greeted by the "dental advertisement" smile, the latest kind of thing in this way is the "petulant pout and the downcast eyes." A fashionable photographer says that it is an immense relief to him, but that he fears it cannot last long as the latter pose is much easier to acquire than the smile, which will make it less attractive to ...
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10666643  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 29 Feb 1908, p6 

* ROSALIND. (By F. F. Elmes.)
It was strange meeting you that night. I don't know why I had wandered down the embankment, as well there as anywhere perhaps. The water was black, but quivering lights shot through to its very depths, seeking for long lost souls far down in a quiet bed. The city was behind me. Beside me the queer stolid stone known as Cleopatra's Needle with its aura of strange Oriental mystery blending strangely with the squalid materialism of London.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211421809  Critic (Adelaide, SA), Wed 6 May 1908, p28

* THE HOUSEWIFE. (By F. F. ELMES.)
'No,' she says, firmly; "nothing will ever convince me that those automatic sweepers are equal to a good spring cleaning. It stands to reason that there is nothing like getting the carpets right up and taking out all the furniture."
London Daily News, 6 Mar 1908
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article100782754 The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal (NSW), Wed 13 May 1908, p3 (corrected on Trove)
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article192958113  Manilla Express (NSW), Wed 20 May 1908, p4
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article173241442  Guyra Argus (NSW), Thu 21 May 1908, p3 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128736198  Tocumwal Guardian and Finley Free Press (NSW), Fri 22 May 1908, p6  
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115395000  The Cobar Herald (NSW), Fri 22 May 1908, p7 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141094730  The Riverine Grazier (Hay, NSW), Fri 22 May 1908, p5  
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137726943  Jerilderie Herald and Urana Advertiser (NSW), Fri 22 May 1908, p7  
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article114360961  The Shoalhaven News and South Coast Districts Advertiser (NSW), Sat 23 May 1908, p7  
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107686244  The Muswellbrook Chronicle (NSW), Sat 23 May 1908, p3 
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174470205  The Macleay Chronicle (Kempsey, NSW), Thu 28 May 1908, p9  
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199312031  The North West Post (Formby, Tas.), Sat 27 Jun 1908, p3 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR IN REPLY TO THE HOUSEWIFE.
Mrs. Brierley's Reply to F. F. Elmes.
"I am sure all your women readers will be deeply grateful to you for publishing the protest which appeared against the article by F. F. Elmes, as it is so reasonable that they should wish to defend themselves in the face of such an unprovoked attach . . .
But supposing the writer to be a woma, what can be said? Only that slander of the very cruellest type has been heartlessly flung at women by a member of their sex. There is not a single statement made by this lady that anyone who has a mother and sisters or a wife would confirm. So long as it remains the duty of English women to attend to their homes, surely neither man nor woman should reproach them for theor order and cleanliness—two supremely important points in the interests alike of health and comfort. But, despite the length of your contributor's article, there being no fewer than seventeen paragraphs, of which all but one are abusive, no other fault whatever is indicated with the exception of a too conservative tendency—a very pardonable one: every advance guard needs a rearguard ranks for safety.
After much patient effort to sift out some grains of practical common-sense from this ill-timed outburst, I can find none. The article must stand self-condemned to all right-minded people. As to women's being unable to undertake suddenly the arduous duties and responsibilities which appertain to trades, handicrafts, and professions requiring ofttimes years of training for successful practice in them, it is too absurd a remark for notice.
One maight, excepting that one would be ashamed to seem so silly, retort: "What would happen if the men were all called upon one fine morning to take up the duties and burdens of the women?" But alas! F. F. Elmes is before me. She writes, "If all the women in England fell sick tomorrow, it would make no calculable difference," and clenches this most brutal statement by the further one that excepting for the unwashed faces and uncombed hair of the children, "it would not matter a bit." How dreadful a world of men F. F. Elmes must have lived amongst to have come to think such things are true!
One other point and I have done. Your contributor asks three questions, as follow: 1st "Would a woman dare to drive an electric tram?" 2nd. "Would any ship leave the harbour? 3rd. Would we get any coal or meat?" To three queries I think I can justifiably reply that the second and third are so trivial, so absolutely devoid of reason, that they are out of all fair controversy; whilst the first could be replied to in the affirmative very safely.
How large a number of expert lady drivers of motor-cars we have! And certainly, judging by the drivers of the local electric trams here, there is no skill required that a thousand ladies could not equal. But how childish such a controversy!
F. F. Elmes says that in the event of the sudden illness of all the men of the country business would be at a complete standstill. This is another utterly baseless statement; indeed, a very large proportion of it would be transacted as usual. Does your contributor know that in the United Kingdom we have something like a million "surplus" women? Now, naturally, these women are necessarily mostly business women, many perhaps married, but still in business, and how enormous must be the amount of "business" detail got through by this class alone! So that here, too, her statement is rash and groundless.
Thank God history abundantly contradicts such one-sidedness, and despite the depressing strictures of F. F. Elmes, we shall still hope to rear our Florence Nightingales, our Grace Darlings, our Joans of Arc, our Catherines of Siena, etc.—Yours, etc.,
L. BRIERLEY. Willesden Park

* A HELPER IN NEED. MOLLY AND MRS MEGHAM. (Reprinted from the British-Australasian)
"I was very hard up last week," said Molly, "so I sent for Mrs Megham." "You mean Lady Longleas' sister, don't you? Does she lend money?" "I'm not talking of the Honorable Mrs Mogham, returned Molly loftily, "but of a very much more useful person. Mrs Megham would not lend anyone a postage stamp unless she was quite sure they really did not want it. Mrs Megham buys my clothes—my old clothes, I mean—and I always send for her when I am in trouble. ....
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91842954 The Colac Herald (Vic.), Fri 31 Jul 1908, p6  
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article68682645  West Gippsland Gazette (Warragul, Vic.), Tue 11 Aug 1908, p4  

* "THE AWAKENING OF AUSTRALIAN ART." AN INTERVIEW WITH MISS DORA OHLFSEN.
A beautiful medal, bearing the above inscription on its reverse side, is on view at the Franco-British Exhibition, and Hector Carruthers is under treaty with the artist, Miss Dora Ohlfsen for its possible sale to the Sydney Gallery. Miss Dora Ohlfsen is an Australian who has had remarkable success in her art on the Continent. She was born at Ballarat, her father being Mr. C. H. Ohlfsen-Bagge, contractor for the Gong Gong reservoir. Mr. Ohlfsen-Bagge was a Scandinavian, but Mrs. Ohlfsen was an Australian by birth, and their daughter is very proud to call herself Australian, and says:—"The scent and sight of a piece of wattle, the scent of gum leaves, even the trying hot winds of Rome affect me indescribably, and bring with them a nostalgia which shows me that my hearty is always entirely Australian."
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10181867  The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Sat 19 Sep 1908, p4 

* STORY OF A PICTURE.
Miss Dora Ohlfsen, the Sydney sculptor now resident in Rome (writes Miss F. F. Elmes in the Melbourne "Argus"), tells a story of the theft of a picture.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61555951  Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW), Sat 26 Sep 1908, p3

* THE AUSTRALIAN GIRL. HER LONDON EDUCATION. (By Victoria)
The Australian girl is before all things adaptable. Here in our boarding house, where we have visitors from all the States, I have seen many Australian girls launched in England.
There was Betty Sparks, a shy gauche thing, who had come from some township hundreds of miles north of Sydney.
British Australasian, c Apr 1909
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115394788 The Cobar Herald (NSW), Fri 14 May 1909, p7

* THE AUSTRALIAN GIRL. No. 4. (By Victoria.)
Sylvia Harben was to be presented at Court. This puzzled me. The Harbens are charming people. They were fellow-passengers of mine on the Afric, and everyone liked them.
British Australasian 20 May 1909

* THE AUSTRALIAN GIRL. WHY HE WAS SORRY. (By Victoria)
Jean Parker was charming. She had elegant manners, she carried herself well, and dressed well, and she was very good-looking, but she lacked patriotism. She was willing to allow that Australia was a fine country, that its democracy was a real thing, and that its people acquitted themselves well on those occasions when they had opportunity to compare with the people of the world.
British Australasian 1909
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90154360  The Colac Herald (Vic), Fri 25 Jun 1909, p8

* COMING HOME. (By Victoria)
John Crawford had made a small fortune in Queensland. Arriving when he was 18 years of age, and remaining in one district he had identified himself with its interests and was one of its most respected residents. When at the age of 45 he decided on a trip to the Old Country to see three maiden sisters, who wrote to him regularly, Ballinharra gave him a series of send offs, and he was presented with pipes, a gold watch, and a dressing case.
British Australasian 24 Jun 1909

* MRS FLETCHER (MISS LEPPET) (By Victoria)
Many Australians know Mrs Fletcher, and those who do not wish that they did. She has lived in Kensington ever since she left Sydney, and her house is one of the most hospitable in London, while she is one of the most charming of hostesses. She is no longer young but that fact seems to add to rather than detract from her charm, giving her a request to help all and sundry, and to advise when asked for advice.
British Australasian (Publication date unknown)

THE GREY DOG. — AN AUSTRALIAN DINGO HUNT. (By F. F. ELMES.)
White man, black boy, and black dog, standing on the verandah of the Berrimite homestead in the dawn, were all well worth loooking at, all perfect types of their kind. Ted Raymond showed six feet of well-knit, bronzed Australian manhood, with the determined, self-reliant look that comes into a man's face who lives in a wide new world, finding his way across desert or plain by sun and stars, who rides unbroken horses, and self-reliant. Snowy, the black boy, a slip of a thing, with lithe, graceful, snake like body and shining teeth and eyes.
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 11 Sep 1909, p56 (p12-13)
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article133435491  Saturday Referee and the Arrow (Sydney, NSW), Sat 9 Nov 1912, p6

THE DESERT.—A STORY FOR CHILDREN.
The desert was sad. It was alone, always alone, and the few travellers who hurried across it hated it, and called it horrible and cruel. If now and again a tender plant pushed its head through the sand, and saw to what a land it had come, it shrivelled away sadly and died.
The British-Australasian, 30 Jun 1910, p27

---

By A. LEO WATTS.

SATURDAY NIGHT AT CALLANAN'S. BY A. LEO WATTS.
" So 'e ups with the loaf o' bread an' downs 'er; no wonder 'er eyes is black, pore creature." Mrs. Devlin leant across the counter, chatting confidentially to Mrs. Callanan.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211451594  Critic (Adelaide, SA), Sat 31 Dec 1898, p24

THE COURTING OF KATE. BY A. LEO WATTS. (For THE CRITIC)
"You agen, Sam Peters, I never seen any one like you fer hangin' roun' a kitchen."
"Ain't ye?"
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211455100  Critic (Adelaide, SA), Sat 16 Dec 1899, p34

"SLANEY." BY A. LEO WATTS. (For THE CRITIC)
"Look ut here, ye dirthy bastes!"
Slaney's big figure, in its smart uniform, loomed into the light cast by the kerosine street lamp at Moore's corner. The groups of larrikins shifted somewhat uneasily. There were one or two who did not care to come into too close contact with Slaney.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212152536  Critic (Adelaide, SA), Sat 20 Sep 1902, p30

---

Published in The Bulletin

Found Wanting S. O. S. 
"You had better go," she said. "My husband will be in soon, and he still believes in you."
"And in you?" The sneer in the man's tone sent the color to her cheeks.
"Yes—in me, too, and he shall have the reason for it in future which may have been wanting in the past."
The Bulletin, 6 Feb 1897, vol. 18, no. 886, (p. 28)

Memories S. O. S.
The longing of the deaf for the voice of the world, of the blind for the light, of the lover for his lost mistress, in which soul and flesh cry out together passionately, only to sink back in trembling bitter silence — how the wonder grows that death is feared at all, that it is not rather life that terrifies. It terrified us twenty years ago, do you remember? Yet the years have gone somehow. I have not seen your face, nor touched your hand, nor heard your voice in all that time.
The Bulletin, 17 Apr 1897, vol. 18, no. 896; (p. 28)

In the Grey of the Morning S. O. S.
The glamor the dull present throws over the distant past, in which eyes were brighter, smiles sweeter, and lips more dewy! Here, in the same hours, when a long white glove lies forgotten on the floor and a broken fan lies among faded flowers and soiled glasses; when the heat of the wine had vanished, leaving regrets and memory for company; a line of bygone faces file silently round the table more real than the noise, reckless flesh and blood so shortly preceding them.
The Bulletin, 24 Apr 1897, vol. 18 no. 897; (p. 27)

Love for a Day A. Leo Watts
We have been many things in our time, Jack and I, and when we come together, in our casual, Bohemian way, we manage to get fun out of life, impossible to you discreet pharisees and respectable publicans. We are never discreet, and rarely respectable—as you understand Respectability.
We had 10s. between us that day in Sydney, and 10 hours in which to spend it, so we hired a boat from an old friend and rowed away across the harbor. The sea played like a gay child at the knees of the hills, the sky was clear save for one or two dainty clouds the south winds chased ; and the smart squat steamers bustled across, leaving lines of foam and waves that rocked us as they swelled past.
The Bulletin, 1 Oct 1898, vol. 19 no. 972; (p. 32)

"One Way of Love" A. Leo Watts
"George, I want to speak to you,"
He looked up and saw his wife standing in the doorway. Her face was set, her eyes bright. He rose and drew a chair forward for her.
"Let me stand," she said, " I can talk better so."
He looked at her anxiously. "What is it, Helen? Is anything wrong?"
The Bulletin, 29 Oct 1898, vol. 19 no. 976;(p. 31)

"Lose Who May ——" A. Leo Watts
"Dear Antony,— It is a year since we parted, and there has not been a moment for either of us that we have not been conscious of that parting. I know you need me, dear, as much as I need you. Life means nothing now, save a certain stoical courage which may be very admirable in the abstract, and very exemplary, but is  very wearisome. I have been driving to day on the Bois de Boulogne, and have longed for you so that I  could not believe you would not appear in the street, or meet me at the hall-door when I came in. But you did not, and I have felt so before, and you never came. I tell myself that I shall grow used to it in time. I wonder if I shall!"
The Bulletin (Xmas edition), 10 Dec 1898, vol. 19 no. 982; (p. 28)

"Last Night" Mars
Do you know what it is to be stranded in town without a copper? To belong also to that portion of society that wears immaculate linen, and eats its evening meal in swallowtails, To be by birth a toff, and by position a vagrant ; to still retain a decent suit, boots and hat that are only rather shabby, and a self-respect and pride which insists on your refusing such invitations as you believe may be prompted by pity rather than courtesy.
The Bulletin, 18 Feb 1899, vol. 20 no. 992; (p. 32)

Under the Rose Mars
Oh, all you happy lovers, who may acknowledge one another before the world, have a pity for us the outcasts, who must meet and vow eternal constancy in secret, whose love prudence or morals forbids. Your path is so smooth, you sit in snug drawing-rooms, and discreet coughs announce the approach of intruders. Everyone smiles on you and approves of you. We must descend to artifice, strategem, and ruse.
The Bulletin, 8 Apr 1899, vol. 20 no. 999; (p. 31)
The Bulletin Story Book: A Selection of Stories and Literary Sketches from 'The Bulletin' [1881-1901] 1901; (p. 127-130)

Good-bye. A. Leo Watts
 A star in the west
Hangs low o'er a hill, tree-crowned.
The moon in the east
Stares down at us full and round.
A curlew's low cry
Echoes, and is answered again.
A wind in the trees
Murmurs, and dies on the plain.
Wait, stand here ;
This is the end, dear, of all.
A bat flits by ;
At our feet a cricket's shrill call.
Poem — The Bulletin, 8 Apr 1899, vol. 20 no. 999; (p. 3)

Farewell! A. Leo Watts
Farewell! the memories we share are sweet,
And yet so few
Thrice only have we chanced to meet,
Just I and you. 
Poem — The Bulletin, 15 Apr 1899, vol. 20 no. 1000; (p. 3)

Gwendoline. Mars
They made you of sin, Gwendoline ;
They lighted your eyes at the Devil's fires,
And a dimple was set in your chin.
And your hair was a mesh of gold—
And 'twas woven by imps in Hell,
From butterflies' wings, and cobwebby things.
That cling and shimmer as well.
Poem — The Bulletin, 8 Jul 1899, vol. 20 no. 1012; (p. 11)

An Epicure in Emotions Mars
She was small and slight; there was something foreign about her bright dark eyes and scarlet lips, a vivacity and devilry which had lifted her from sordid beginnings to the unlimited creature-comforts so dear to women of her type.
The Bulletin, 15 Jul 1899, vol. 20 no. 1013; (p. 31)

Jones's Wife Mars
Jones was an artist who talked a great deal of nonsense about art-atmosphere, line, depth, and so on. He did a great deal of work that no one wanted, and refused work that anyone did want, scorning to "sell his soul." For so he phrased ordinary humdrum pot-boiling. He loved his wife, but he starved her. He read her much bad poetry that he wrote himself, extolling the color of her eyes and hair, which was comfort of a-vague kind. Also he painted dreadful impressionist pictures of her, which she had to force herself to say were exquisite, but which she loathed.
The Bulletin, 30 Sep 1899, vol. 20 no. 1024; (p. 31)

Kisses Mars
Just wander back along the vistas of memory and recall a few of them. You have forgotten a great many, of course, but there are some that burnt in, and live in your veins, and start throbbing in your pulse as you remember them. Do you recollect the evening you leaped up the stairs to the attic where Lily lived?
The Bulletin, 11 Nov 1899, vol. 20 no. 1030; (p. 32)

Bilious Mars
 Love could even live for ever if no lover had a liver
But a liver and a lover are as vinegar and milk.
Love is bliss and heaven ever coos with thrilling all a-shiver;
But a liver is a needle in a cushion made of silk.
How can love that lives on roses, on the breath of pretty posies, 
Make me sing of lover's rapture when my liver will not gee;
When each organ each opposes, walking, waking, or in dozes,
Like the whirly winds of summer-time that never can agree?
Poem — The Bulletin, 22 Dec 1904, vol. 25 no. 1297; (p. 13)

Married and Marred. Mars
Wanted, a Single Man.—Common Squatter Advertisement.
It's no good to talk of splicin'
When a bloke can't get a show
With his blushin' bride enticin'
Into Hymen's nets to go.
It's a nark to a spark
When he's owner to donah—
Bit o'skirt—that's not too slow.
Poem — The Bulletin, 26 Jan 1905 vol. 26 no. 1302; (p. 16)

Bill's Redemption Mars
Bill Cummins was a bachelor, with a good daily-farm in a good district ; but the scrub and ferns overcame Bill. Others prospered. Bill did not. He came to be regarded as an arrant loafer, a muddler, and a fool—by all but Annie.
The Bulletin, 23 Mar 1905, vol. 26 no. 1310; (p. 36) 

"The Lion sat on the white chalk cliffs, looked o'er the foaming blue" Mars
Verse on the proposed Jap naval visit to England too jerky, though it has some good points.
Sample of good points herewith:—
The Lion sat on the white chalk cliffs, looked o'er the foaming blue,
And sucked the tip of a thoughtful tail with a kind of doubtful chew.
As the Jappy ships came steaming on in their cocky, uppish way,
He swallowed a lump with a kind of gulp and went to say "Good day!"
The Lion said to the little Jap he hadn't done too bad,
The tune he'd played to the dancing Bear was one that made him glad;
But the Monkey got some rooseter quills, and fixed them in a row
To the freer end of his long backbone, and then began to crow.
Poem — The Bulletin, 2 Nov 1905, vol. 26 no. 1342; (p. 15)

"The silent note that Cupid strikes"  Mars
The silent note that Cupid strikes
Reverberates in hidden strains
Of harmony that spreads afar
To thrill in Friendship's blest domains,
Whose lute, in concord to the tune,
Adds rich harmonics to the sound,
Till in that witching lure of love
Refrains that picture peace abound ;
And Cupid feels the subtle thrill
That adds completeness to his song,
And, joining hands in Friendship's own,
Both singing, wend their way along.
Poem — The Bulletin, 7 Jun 1906, vol. 27 no. 1373; (p. 2)

 

Compiler: Marianne Rocke

Page created by John Cardinal's Second Site v8.03.