My Brilliant Career Miles Franklin (best mobile ebook reader txt) đ
- Author: Miles Franklin
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Now that it was settled that I had no more to teach the dirty children, out of dirty books, lessons for which they had great disinclination, and no more to direct Lizerâs greasy fingers over the yellow keys of that demented piano in a vain endeavour to teach her âchoones,â of which her mother expected her to learn on an average two daily, it seemed as though I had a mountain lifted off me, and I revived magically, got out of bed and packed my things.
I was delighted at the prospect of throwing off the leaden shackles of Barneyâs Gap, but there was a little regret mingled with my relief. The little boys had not been always bold. Did I express a wish for a parrot-wing or water-worn stone, or suchlike, after a time I would be certain, on issuing from my bedroom, to find that it had been surreptitiously laid there, and the little soft-eyed fellows would squabble for the privilege of bringing me my post, simply to give me pleasure. Poor little Lizer, and Rose Jane too, copied me in style of dress and manners in a way that was somewhat ludicrous but more pathetic.
They clustered round to say goodbye. I would be sure to write. Oh yes, of course, and they would write in return and tell me if the bay mare got well, and where they would find the yellow turkey-henâs nest. When I got well I must come back, and I wouldnât have as much work to do, but go for more rides to keep well, and so on. Mrs. MâSwat very anxiously impressed it upon me that I was to explain to my mother that it was not her (Mrs. MâSwatâs) fault that I âailedâ from overwork, as I had never complained and always seemed well.
With a kindly light on his homely sunburnt face, MâSwat said, as he put me on the train:
âSure, tell yer father he neednât worry over the money. Iâll never be hard on him, anâ if ever I could help ye, Iâd be glad.â
âThank you; you are very good, and have done too much already.â
âToo much! Sure, damn it, wotâs the good er beinâ alive if we canât help each other sometimes. I donât mind how much I help a person if they have a little gratitood, but, damn it, I canât abear ingratitood.â
âGoodbye, Mr. MâSwat, and thank you.â
âGoodbye, me gu-r-r-r-l, and never marry that bloke of yours if he donât git a bit er prawperty, for the divilâs in a poor match.â
XXXIII Back at âPossum GullyThey were expecting me on the frosty evening in September, and the children came bounding and shouting to meet me, when myself and luggage were deposited at âPossum Gully by a neighbour, as he passed in a great hurry to reach his own home ere it got too dark. They bustled me to a glowing fire in no time.
My father sat reading, and, greeting me in a very quiet fashion, continued the perusal of his paper. My mother shut her lips tightly, saying exultingly, âIt seems it was possible for you to find a worse place than home;â and that little speech was the thorn on the rose of my welcome home. But there was no sting in Gertieâs greeting, and how beautiful she was growing, and so tall! It touched me to see she had made an especial dainty for my tea, and had put things on the table which were only used for visitors. The boys and little Aurora chattered and danced around me all the while. One brought for my inspection some soup-plates which had been procured during my absence; another came with a picture-book; and nothing would do them but that I must, despite the darkness, straightaway go out and admire a new fowl-house which âHorace and Stanley built all by theirselves, and no one helped them one single bit.â
After Mrs. MâSwat it was a rest, a relief, a treat, to hear my motherâs cultivated voice, and observe her ladylike and refined figure as she moved about; and, what a palace the place seemed in comparison to Barneyâs Gap! simply because it was clean, orderly, and bore traces of refinement; for the stamp of indigent circumstances was legibly imprinted upon it, and many things which had been considered âdone forâ when thirteen months before I had left home, were still in use.
I carefully studied my brothers and sisters. They had grown during my absence, and were all big for their age, and though some of them not exactly handsome, yet all pleasant to look uponâ âI was the only wanting in physical charmsâ âalso they were often discontented, and wished, as children will, for things they could not have; but they were natural, understandable children, not like myself, cursed with a fevered ambition for the utterly unattainable.
âOh, were I seated high as my ambition,
Iâd place this loot on naked necks of monarchs!â
At the time of my departure for Caddagat my father had been negotiating with beer regarding the sale of his manhood; on returning I found that he had completed the bargain, and held a stamped receipt in his miserable appearance and demeanour. In the broken-down man, regardless of manners, one would have failed to recognize Dick Melvyn, âSmart Dick Melvyn,â âJolly-good-fellow Melvynâ âThorough Gentlemanâ and âManly Melvynâ of the handsome face and ingratiating manners, onetime holder of Bruggabrong,
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