Jonah

d there since her marriage twenty years ago, and to her it was the pick of Sydney, the centre of the habitable globe

qual ter wot 'appens in this street, if yer only keeps yer eyes open. I see people as wears spectacles readin' books. I don't wonder. If their eyesight was good, they'd be able ter

nd struck the eye as mean and dingy, for most of the houses were standing on their last legs, and paint was scarce. The children used to kick and scrape it off the fences, and their parents rub it off the walls by leaning against them in a tired way for hours at a stretch. On hot summer nights the houses emptied their inhabitants on to the verandas

u give to kn

name, kno

u give to kn

and fros

string of foul, obscene words on the heels of a jest. An

vel, gree

ue love

you a

round yo

ds them captive for a few merciful years. Their parents loll against the walls, or squat on the kerbstone, dev

last flicker of life when a drunken man comes swearing down the street, full of beer, and offering to fight anyone for the pleasure of the

ing her apron over her head, crossed the street, bent on gossip. Then Mrs Jones,

as men smoke a pipe in the intervals of work. Presently Mrs Yabsley looked

with yer eye?" s

d Mrs Swadling

present from her husband, Sam the carter, who came hom

Sam snorin' after t

welve, an' give me beans 'cause I'd

out wi' the broom-

ng. "I ran down the yard,

rt on yer nose. It's no use quarrelling with it. If yer don't like it, yer've go

hook, with a few others of the Push, sunning th

is father 'e'd 'ave ter keep 'im till 'e was twenty-one 'cause of the law, an' the old fool believed 'im. An' little Joe Crutch, as used ter come 'ere beggin' a spoonful of drippin' fer 'is mother, come 'ome drunk the other night so natural, that 'is mother mistook 'im fer 'is fa

assing silence. But suddenly, from the corner of Pitt Street, appeared a strange fig

Jones, "Froggy's o

ling face turned mechanically to right and left, sweeping the street with threatening eyes that gave him the look of a retired pirate, begging the tribute t

he sense of things forlorn and far away. The singer still roared, though the tune was caressing, lan

n et la

nos chast

eaux chante

nette, pauv

collection plate, with a beseeching air. The women were embarrassed, grudging

dn't like ter meet yer on a dark night, but I'm al

ailor took the money, rolled his eyes, gave her a magnif

us allions

verdoyan

e etait e

j'etais

. "I've 'eard 'e's got a terrace of 'ouses, an' thousands in the bank. My cous

ush had watched in ominous silence the approach of the Frenchman. But, as he passed them and finished a verse, a blood-curdling cry rose from the group. It was a perfect imitation of a dog baying the moon in agony. The singer stopped and scowled at the group, but the Push seemed to be unaware of his existence. He moved on, and began another verse. As he stopped to take breath the cry went up again, the agonized wai

d then, with the instinct of the cur, bolted. The sailor stopped, and shook his fist at their retreating forms, showe

ivin' Froggy beans,

or they'd tickle 'is ribs with

om o' that," said Mrs Swadling

'oof!" said Mrs Yabsley

ater the Push had slipped back, one by one, to their places

temperance lodge. I'll make it my bizness to go to the sekertary this very day, an' tell 'im of yer goin's on.' An' she sez...w'y, there sh

barber, hiding behind the partition in his shop. For seven years she had passed as his wife, and then, one day, sick of her drunken bouts, he had turned her out, and married Flash Kate, the ragpicker's daughter. Sloppy Mary had accepted her lot with resignation, and went out charring for a living;

, blinking with suspicion at Flash Kate. "Yous go 'om

and pretended to examine with keen int

asted eyes out," cried the drun

ned forward, and inquired, "

prepare for instant death. And the two women bombarded one another with insults, rakin

f a policeman, and walked away with an air of extreme nonchalance. At the same moment the drunkard saw the dreaded uniform, and, obeying the laws of Cardigan Street, pulled herself together and wal

' lets everybody know it," said Mrs Yabsley, briefly. "But this w

of any fresh diversion in the street, dispers

the Push found new cares and duties thrust upon them, the chief of which was chastising anyone who interfered with their pleasures. Their feats ranged from kicking an enemy senseless, and leaving him for dead, to wrecking h

ging on their parents for a living at twenty years of age; others simply mischievous lads, with a trade at their fingers' ends, if they chose to work. A few were honest, unle

into trouble, the others clubbed together and paid his fine; and if that failed, they made it hot for the pr

n Botany Road. But Chook often lacked the few shillings to buy his stock-in-trade, and Jonah never felt inclined for work till Wednesday. Then he would stroll l

meant that work was plentiful. When trade was slack, he would shake his hea

ere is not enough wor

ference, took off his coat, put on his leather apron, a

So Jonah, who was a good workman, and content to make three or four days in a week, suited him exactly. Besides

hoemaker, and destined Hans for the same trade. The boy preferred to be a fi

had for the picking up. The fever took him, and he worked his passage out to Melbourne on a sailing ship. He reached the goldfields, dug without success, and would have starved but for his fiddle. A year found him back in Melbourne, penniless. Here he met a

r buildings on either side. He lived by himself in the room over the shop, where he spent his time reading the newspaper as a child spells out a lesson, or playing his beloved violin. He was a good player, but his music was a puzzle and a derision to Jonah, for his tastes were classical, and sometimes he spent as much as a shilling o

the week a brazen comet struck into a set of lancers, drowning the metallic thud o

ron, who had forfeited his title and estates through killing a man in a duel; and never a milder pair of eyes looked timidly through spectacles. He was a famou