By Henry Lawson, Author of “While the Billy Boils”.
Ninth Thousand. With photogravure portrait and vignette title.
Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 5s.; post free, 5s. 5d.
Mr. R. Le Gallienne, in The Idler: “A striking volume of ballad
poetry. A volume to console one for the tantalising postponement of Mr.
Kipling's promised volume of sea ballads.”
Weekly Chronicle, Newcastle (Eng.): “Swinging, rhythmic verse.”
Sydney Morning Herald: “The verses have natural vigour, the writer has
a rough, true faculty of characterisation, and the book is racy of the
soil from cover to cover.”
Melbourne Age: “'In the Days when the World was Wide and Other Verses',
by Henry Lawson, is poetry, and some of it poetry of a very high order.”
Otago Witness: “It were well to have such books upon our shelves... they
are true History.”
New Zealand Herald: “There is a heart-stirring ring about the verses.”
Bulletin: “How graphic he is, how natural, how true, how strong.”
While the Billy Boils: Australian Stories.
By Henry Lawson.
Author of “In the Days when the World was Wide”.
Twelfth Thousand. With eight plates and vignette title by F. P. Mahony.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.; paper cover, 2s. 6d. (postage, 6d.)
Also in two parts (each complete in itself), in picture covers, at 1s.;
post free, 1s. 3d. each (Commonwealth Series).
The Academy: “A book of honest, direct, sympathetic, humorous writing
about Australia from within is worth a library of travellers' tales. Mr.
Lawson shows us what living in the bush really means. The result is
a real book--a book in a hundred. His language is terse, supple, and
richly idiomatic.”
Mr. A. Patchett Martin, in Literature (London): “A book which Mrs.
Campbell Praed, the Australian novelist, assured me made her feel that
all she had written of bush life was pale and ineffective.”
The Spectator: “In these days when short, dramatic stories are eagerly
looked for, it is strange that one we would venture to call the greatest
Australian writer should be practically unknown in England. Short
stories, but biting into the very heart of the bushman's life, ruthless
in truth, extraordinarily dramatic, and pathetically uneven....”
The Times: “A collection of short and vigorous studies and stories of
Australian life and character. A little in Bret Harte's manner, crossed,
perhaps, with that of Guy de Maupassant.”
[The Announcements at the end of this section give alternate titles
for two of Lawson's works, to wit: “On the Track” is given as such, but
“Over the Sliprails” is given as “By the Sliprails”, and the combined
work “On the Track and Over the Sliprails” is given as “By Track and
Sliprails”. Of course, only “On the Track” had actually been printed at
the date of the advertisement, so it might be theorized that these had
been working titles, afterwards discarded, whose inclusion here was
overlooked.--A. L., 1998.]
About the author:
Henry Lawson was born near Grenfell, New South Wales, Australia on
17 June 1867. Although he has since become Australia's most acclaimed
writer, in his own lifetime his writing was often “on the side”--his
“real” work being whatever he could find. His writing was frequently
taken from memories of his childhood, especially at Pipeclay/Eurunderee.
In his autobiography, he states that many of his characters were
taken from the better class of diggers and bushmen he knew there.
His experiences at this time deeply influenced his work, for it is
interesting to note a number of descriptions and phrases that are
identical in his autobiography and in his stories and poems. He died at
Sydney, 2 September 1922. He is most famous for his short stories.
“On the Track” and “Over the Sliprails” were both published at Sydney
in 1900, the prefaces being dated March and June respectively--and so,
though printed separately, a combined edition was printed the same
year (the two separate, complete works were simply put together in one
binding); hence they are sometimes referred to as “On the Track and Over
the Sliprails”. The opposite occurred with “Joe Wilson and His Mates”,
which was later divided into “Joe Wilson” and “Joe Wilson's Mates”
(1901). All of these works are now online, as well as one book of
Lawson's verse, “In the Days When the World was Wide” (1896).
. . . . .
An incomplete glossary of Australian terms and concepts which may prove
helpful to understanding this book:
Billy: Any container used to boil water, especially for tea; a
special container designed for this purpose.
Bunyip: [pronounced bun-yup] A large mythological creature, said
by the Aborigines to inhabit watery places. There may be some
relation to an actual creature that is now extinct. Lawson uses an
obsolete sense of the term, meaning “imposter”.
Gin: An aboriginal woman; use of the term is analogous to “squaw”
in N. America. May be considered derogatory in modern usage.
Goanna: Any of various lizards of the genus Varanus (monitor
lizards) native to Australia.
Graft: Work; hard work.
Gunyah: (Aboriginal) A rough or temporary hut or shelter in the
bush, especially one built from bark, branches, and the like. A
humpy, wurley, or mia-mia. Variant: Gunya.
Jackeroo/Jackaroo: At the time Lawson wrote, a Jackaroo was a “new
chum” or newcomer to Australia, who sought work on a station to gain
experience. The term now applies to any young man working as a
station hand. A female station hand is a Jillaroo.
Jimmy Woodser: A person who drinks alone; a drink drunk alone.
Larrikin: A hoodlum.
Lorry: A large, low wagon without sides, used for heavy loads.
Mia-mia: (Aboriginal) A rough or temporary hut or shelter in the
bush, especially one built from bark, branches, and the like. A
humpy, wurley, or gunyah.
Native bear: A koala.
Pa: A Maori village.
'Possum/Possum: In Australia, a class of marsupials that were
originally mistaken for the American animal of the same name. They
are not especially related to the possums of North and South
America, other than being marsupials.
Public/Pub.: The traditional pub. in Australia was a hotel with a
“public” bar--hence the name. The modern pub has often (not
always) dispensed with the lodging, and concentrated on the bar.
Push: A group of people sharing something in common; Lawson uses
the word in an older and more particular sense, as a gang of violent
city hoodlums.
Ratty: Shabby, dilapidated; somewhat eccentric, perhaps even
slightly mad.
Selector: A free selector, a farmer who selected and settled land
by lease or license from the government.
Shout: To buy a round of drinks.
Skillion: A lean-to or outbuilding.
Sliprails/slip-rails: movable rails, forming a section of fence,
which can be taken down in lieu of a gate. “Over the Sliprails”,
the title of this volume, might be translated as “Through the Gate”.
Squatter: A person who first settled on land without government
permission, and later continued by lease or license, generally to
raise stock; a wealthy rural landowner.
Station: A farm or ranch, especially one devoted to cattle or
sheep.
Stoush: Violence; to do violence to.
Tea: In addition to the regular meaning, Tea can also mean a light
snack or a meal (i.e., where Tea is served). In particular, Morning
Tea (about 10 AM) and Afternoon Tea (about 3 PM) are nothing more
than a snack, but Evening Tea (about 6 PM) is a meal. When just
“Tea” is used, it usually means the evening meal. Variant: Tea-
time.
Tucker: Food.
Whare: [pronounced war-ee] A Maori term for a hut or similar
dwelling.
Also: a hint with the seasons--remember that the seasons are
reversed from those in the northern hemisphere, hence June may be
hot, but December is even hotter. Australia is at a lower latitude
than the United States, so the winters are not harsh by US
standards, and are not even mild in the north. In fact, large parts
of Australia are governed more by “dry” versus “wet” than by Spring-
Summer-Fall-Winter.
(Alan R. Light, Monroe, North Carolina, April 1998.)
A number of obvious errors were corrected, after being compared against
other editions. The original edition was the primary source.