Part 39 (1/2)
”Poor devil!” soliloquised the squatter, filling the glass for himself
”He's a bad lot--a d----n bad lot--a d---nation bad lot Bitter, vindictive sort of man You're familiar, like myself, with Shakespear; now, Morris reminds me of titus Andronicus--Better luck, boys”
”Thank you, Mr Stewart”
”Thank you, Mr Stewart”
”This titus, as you may remember, was expelled from Athens by the people, after they had elected him consul They could n't stand his d----d pride
He took up his abode in a cave, and, for the rest of his life, met every overture of friendshi+p with taunts and insults Even in his epitaph, written by himself:--
Here rests his head upon the lap of earth----
”Now, d---n it, I coo
I wish I could recall thee, Mr Stewart,” said I modestly:--
Here lies a wretched corse, of wretched soul bereft; Seek not his naue consume you wicked catiffs left
Here lie I, Ti men did hate
Pass on, and curse thy fill, but pass, and stay not here thy gait
”Good,” replied the squatter--all his hurry forgotten in the fascination of profitless gossip ”Now there you have Morris to the very life
Hopeless d----d case!”
”But the misanthropy of the Shakespearean hero was not without cause, Mr Stewart,” I urged ”Given certain rigorous circuiven temperament, and you have a practically inevitable sequence--perhaps a pious faith; perhaps a philosophic calm; perhaps an intensified selfishness; perhaps a sullen despair--in fact, the variety of possible results corresponds exactly with the variety of possible circumstances and temperaments In the case of the Greek misanthrope, the factor of temperament is first carefully stated; then the factor of circuenius of the dra, in such a manner as to excite sy from cause to effect, we see the inevitableness of the issue But in Morris's case, we must reason from effect to cause We see a certain outcome”----
”D----d unmistakably,” muttered the squatter
----”And it rests with us to account for this from prior conditions of temperament and circumstances Then we shall have, so to speak, the second and third terms; and from these it won't be difficult, I think, to calculate the term which should antecede them, namely, tenificent singer, and, in a general way, one of those tawny-haired tigresses who leave their mark on a man's life, and are much better left alone”----
”Has he any children?” asked Stewart
”Well, no; these tawny-haired tigresses don't have children Anyway, she died soo; but at the time of her death they had been separated for about three years”
”They could n't have been living long together; or else he ested Stewart
”No, they were n't long together: but Alf is a man of peculiar moral constitution; he frets a lot over her memory; loves and hates her at the sa with his father, which caused Alf to clear off, leaving the old iving you the heads; and my information is derived from no random hearsay, but is obtained by an intransht as much!” muttered Stewart
”It remains, then,” I continued, ”to determine the teiven the result which is already before us Now, I think that that te to the volcanic, must have been a sensitive and an amiable one; however it may have soured and hardened into misanthropy and avarice We can't all be philosophers, Mr Stewart”
”If there's one thing I hate like (sheol)” replied the squatter gravely, ”it is the quoting of Scripture as against my fellow-creature; but, d--n it, we are told that 'when the righteous hteousness, and coiveth him under the sun, he shall be likened unto a foolish man that built his house upon the sand' You know the rest If we take upon us to judge Morris at all, we enerous, but nonsensical; mine is rational, but churlish--d-----d churlish” He paused, in evident discomfort, flicked a roley-poley with his whip, and continued
”You know, I had his, when Barker's sawing-plant was there Well, without going into details----Capable fellow, too; fine coh-and-ready bushman Strictly honest, also, I think--only for his d--nable disposition”
”Doctor Johnson liked a good hater,” I suggested sadly, for it was evident that e had already, in his own peculiar way, recoine, by that circu tincture of venom was held in solution by this feeble tenant of an hour Indeed, if the matter had rested with the squatters, they would have starved him out of Riverina by industrial boycott But the in-transport of wool, and the out-transport of goods, are cares that, as a rule, fall to the lot of the forwarding fir no predilections (though, let us hope, the siood soul of a carrier, with lots of spring in hiroceries, whose breath often so, and who on--is very naturally passed over in favour of the ives quarter And the personal popularity of the latter with his own guild is not enhanced by this preference
”Doctor Johnson be d----d!” replied the squatter warmly ”What is his dictum worth? What the (sheol) entitled him, for instance, to sneer at the very element of population that has made Britain a nation? You knohat I allude to? Now, speaking with strict impartiality, it strikes land ever saw is the road that leads froentler tone