"Who is she?"

"One of our squatter's girls. That's her father and mother with her.
They've got miles of land, plenty of sheep and heaps of tin. He'll be
a lucky fellow who gets her."

"You know, old chap, I never thought you produced women like that in
Australia. No offence, you know. What I really mean is that the sun,
the want of what we call society, and the lack of cultured institutions
such as we have at home, must be a great handicap in bringing up a
girl."

"Young man, you're talking through your hat," was the blunt reply. "We
have ladies in Australia just as we have at home. And can you guess
what we haven't got?"

"No."

"Snobs! No time for all your damned conventions--'At Home' scandals
and Society calls. These girls of the bush are natural, jolly,
unconventional, but not loose. So far and no farther is their attitude
to mankind. And they've got an independence of character which knocks
you fellows sick when you meet them. They don't want any of these
insidious palavers and hollow attentions, and they'll tell a man pretty
quick what they think. My word! can't they choke a Johnny off."

"But, my dear fellow, all my friends who have visited Australia say
they haven't got manners, and all have a cockney twang. When they open
their mouths they always spoil the picture."

"I expect your friends have been dealing with the Pitt Street toughs or
Manly larrikins. By the way you speak, I don't suppose they have ever
been in the bush or visited some of our squatters' homes. Do you know
that some of these squatters are descendants of some of the finest
families in England. Apart from that, you will find better ladies on a
squatter's veranda than you will in Park Lane. I have been in London,
young fellow; in fact, I'm English, although I've been a long time in
Australia. So don't say I'm biased. But I am speaking from an
intimate knowledge of the people--not from a superficial glance which a
hen-brained tourist gets. It isn't affectation, trinkets, dresses and
a Society drawl that makes a lady. That's your standard. Society at
home--at least, in certain circles, is the most hollow and unhappy
creation I know. Everyone is in it, because they've got to be, but
every real white man or woman knows that it's the rottenest show on
earth. We don't stand for all that sort of thing out there. They
accept folks for what they are worth--I mean, if a person is decent,
law-abiding, cheerful and ambiti