CONTENTS

AROUND THE BOREE LOG
Oh, stick me in the old caboose this night of wind and rain, . . . .[1]
CALLING TO ME
Through the hush of my heart in the spell of its dreaming . . . .[4]
THE LITTLE IRISH MOTHER
Have you seen the tidy cottage in the straggling, dusty street, . . . .[6]
ONE BY ONE
With trust in God and her good man . . . .[10]
TEN LITTLE STEPS AND STAIRS
There were ten little Steps and Stairs, . . . .[12]
THE TRIMMIN’S ON THE ROSARY
Ah, the memories that find me now my hair is turning gray, . . . .[14]
THE BIRDS WILL SING AGAIN
She saw The Helper standing near . . . .[21]
THE OLD BUSH SCHOOL
’Tis a queer, old battered landmark that belongs to other years; . . . .[23]
SIX BROWN BOXER HATS
The hawker with his tilted cart pulled up beside the fence, . . . .[29]
THE LIBEL
“The flowers have no scent, and the birds have no song,” . . . .[31]
WHEN THE CIRCUS CAME TO TOWN
When the circus came to town . . . .[33]
HIS FATHER
We meet him first in frills immersed, . . . .[36]
THE KOOKABURRAS
Fall the shadows on the gullies, fades the purple from the mountain; . . . .[41]
PETER NELSON’S FIDDLE
Do you ever dream you hear it, you who went the lonely track? . . . .[43]
THE CHURCH UPON THE HILL
A simple thing of knotted pine . . . .[46]
CURRAJONG
Old Father Pat! They’ll tell you still with mingled love and pride . . . .[49]
THE HELPING HAND
When that hour comes when I shall sit alone, . . . .[54]
VALE, FATHER PAT
Yes, that’s the hardest hand at all upon my frosted head— . . . .[57]
JOSEPHINE
The presbytery has gone to pot since this house-keeper came; . . . .[64]
THE OLD MASS SHANDRYDAN
I can see it in my dreaming o’er a gap of thirty years, . . . .[70]
PITCHIN’ AT THE CHURCH
On the Sunday morning mustered, . . . .[78]
SAID HANRAHAN
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan, . . . .[80]
THE TIDY LITTLE BODY
Faith, and little Miss McCroddie was the tidy little body, . . . .[84]
THE PILLAR OF THE CHURCH
Faith, ’tis good to see him comin’ when the bell for Mass is flingin’ . . . .[86]
TEDDO WELLS, DECEASED
Times I think I’m not the man— . . . .[92]
NORAH O’NEILL
That Norah O’Neill is a sthreel, . . . .[96]
THE PRESBYT’RY DOG
Now of all the old sinners in mischief immersed, . . . .[98]
TANGMALANGALOO
The bishop sat in lordly state and purple cap sublime, . . . .[100]
THE ALTAR-BOY
Now McEvoy was altar-boy . . . .[103]
AT CASEY’S AFTER MASS
There’s a weather-beaten sign-post where the track turns towards the west, . . . .[105]
ST. PATRICK’S DAY
’Tis the greatest splash of sunshine right through all my retrospection . . . .[112]
THE CAREYS
Their new house stood just off the road, . . . .[119]
WHEN OLD MAN CAREY DIED
A night of wind and driving rain, . . . .[125]
THE PARTING ROSARY
They have brought the news, my darlin’, that I’ve waited for so long . . . .[128]
OWNERLESS
He comes when the gullies are wrapped in the gloaming . . . .[134]
LAUGHING MARY
With cheeks that paled the rosy morn . . . .[137]
MORYAH
“Wisha, where is he goin’ to now . . . .[139]
A STRANGER IN THE CHURCH
’Twas Callagan who jerked the thumb— . . . .[141]
TELL ME, WHAT’S A GIRL TO DO?
Tell me, what’s a girl to do . . . .[143]
THE WIREE’S SONG
The Wiree sang that Christmas Day, . . . .[145]
WISHA, WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH JIM?
“Wisha, what is the matter with Jim, I dunno? . . . .[147]
SAID THE WHITE-HAIRED PRIEST
Said the white-haired priest, “So the boy has come, . . . .[149]
HONEYMOONING FROM THE COUNTRY
To the rooms where I am dining in the glaring city’s day . . . .[152]
MAKING HOME
No, you don’t quite get the meaning when the fun is at its height . . . .[156]
COULD I HEAR THE KOOKABURRAS ONCE AGAIN
May a fading fancy hover round a gladness that is over? . . . .[162]
COME, SING AUSTRALIAN SONGS TO ME!
Come, Little One, and sing to me . . . .[165]

AROUND THE BOREE LOG

Oh, stick me in the old caboose this night of wind and rain,

And let the doves of fancy loose to bill and coo again.

I want to feel the pulse of love that warmed the blood like wine;

I want to see the smile above this kind old land of mine.

So come you by your parted ways that wind the wide world through,

And make a ring around the blaze the way we used to do;