The Drover’s Wife
The Drover’s Wife: "The Drover's Wife" is a dramatic short story by
the Australian writer Henry Lawson. It recounts the story of an Outback woman
left alone with her four children in an isolated hut. The story was first
published in the 23 July 1892 edition of The Bulletin magazine, and was
subsequently reprinted in a number of the author's collections, and other
anthologies (see below).
The two-roomed house is built of round timber, slabs, and
stringy-bark, and floored with split slabs. A big bark kitchen standing at one
end is larger than the house itself, veranda included.
The Drover’s Wife: Bush all around - bush with no horizon, for the country is flat. No ranges in the distance. The bush consists of stunted, rotten native apple-trees. No undergrowth. Nothing to relieve the eye save the darker green of a few she-oaks which are sighing above the narrow, almost waterless creek. Nineteen miles to the nearest sign of civilisation - a shanty on the main road.
The drover, an ex-squatter, is away
with sheep. His wife and children are left here alone.
Four ragged, dried-up-looking
children are playing about the house. Suddenly one of them yells: "Snake!
Mother, here's a snake!"
The Drover’s Wife: The gaunt, sun-browned bushwoman dashes from the kitchen, snatches her baby from the ground, holds it on her left hip, and reaches for a stick.
"Where is it?"
"Here! Gone in the
wood-heap;" yells the eldest boy - a sharp-faced urchin of eleven.
"Stop there, mother! I'll have him. Stand back! I'll have the
beggar!"
"Tommy, come here, or you'll
be bit. Come here at once when I tell you, you little wretch!"
The youngster comes reluctantly,
carrying a stick bigger than himself. Then he yells, triumphantly:
The Drover’s Wife: "There it goes - under the house!" and darts away with club uplifted. At the same time the big, black, yellow-eyed dog-of-all-breeds, who has shown the wildest interest in the proceedings, breaks his chain and rushes after that snake. He is a moment late, however, and his nose reaches the crack in the slabs just as the end of its tail disappears. Almost at the same moment the boy's club comes down and skins the aforesaid nose. Alligator takes small notice of this, and proceeds to undermine the building; but he is subdued after a struggle and chained up. They cannot afford to lose him.
The Drover’s Wife: The drover's wife makes the children stand together near the
dog-house while she watches for the snake. She gets two small dishes of milk
and sets them down near the wall to tempt it to come out; but an hour goes by
and it does not show itself.
It is near sunset, and a
thunderstorm is coming. The children must be brought inside. She will not take
them into the house, for she knows the snake is there, and may at any moment
come up through a crack in the rough slab floor; so she carries several armfuls
of firewood into the kitchen, and then takes the children there. The kitchen
has no floor - or, rather, an earthen one - called a "ground floor"
in this part of the bush. There is a large, roughly-made table in the centre of
the place. She brings the children in, and makes them get on this table. They
are two boys and two girls - mere babies. She gives some supper, and then,
before it gets dark, she goes into house, and snatches up some pillows and
bedclothes - expecting to see or lay or hand on the snake any minute. She makes
a bed on the kitchen table for the children, and sits down beside it to watch
all night.
The Drover’s Wife: She has an eye on the corner, and a green sapling club laid in readiness on the dresser by her side; also her sewing basket and a copy of the Young Ladies' Journal. She has brought the dog into the room.
Tommy turns in, under protest, but
says he'll lie awake all night and smash that blinded snake.
His mother asks him how many times
she has told not to swear.
He has his club with him under the
bedclothes, and Jacky protests:
"Mummy! Tommy's skinnin' me
alive wif his club. Make him take it out."
Near midnight. The children are all asleep and she sits
there still, sewing and reading by turns. From time to time she glances round
the floor and wall-plate, and, whenever she hears a noise, she reaches for the
stick. The thunderstorm comes on, and the wind, rushing through the cracks in
the slab wall, threatens to blow out her candle. She places it on a sheltered
part of the dresser and fixes up a newspaper to protect it. At every flash of
lightning, the cracks between the slabs gleam like polished silver. The thunder
rolls, and the rain comes down in torrents.
Alligator lies at full length on
the floor, with his eyes turned towards the partition. She knows by this that
the snake is there. There are large cracks in that wall opening under the floor
of the dwelling-house.
She is not a coward, but recent
events have shaken her nerves. A little son of her brother-in-law was lately
bitten by a snake, and died. Besides, she has not heard from her husband for
six months, and is anxious about him.
He was a drover, and started
squatting here when they were married. The drought of 18-- ruined him. He had
to sacrifice the remnant of his flock and go droving again. He intends to move
his family into the nearest town when he comes back, and, in the meantime, his
brother, who keeps a shanty on the main road, comes over about once a month
with provisions. The wife has still a couple of cows, one horse, and a few
sheep. The brother-in-law kills one of the latter occasionally, gives her what
she needs of it, and takes the rest in return for other provisions.
She is used to being left alone.
She once lived like this for eighteen months. As a girl she built the usual
castles in the air; but all her girlish hopes and aspirations have long been
dead. She finds all the excitement and recreation she needs in the Young
Ladies' Journal, and Heaven help her! Takes a pleasure in the fashion plates.
The Drover’s Wife: Her husband is an Australian, and so is she. He is careless, but a good enough husband. If he had the means he would take her to the city and keep her there like a princess. They are used to being apart, or at least she is. "No use fretting," she says. He may forget sometimes that he is married; but if he has a good cheque when he comes back he will give most of it to her. When he had money he took her to the city several times - hired a railway sleeping compartment, and put up at the best hotels. He also bought her a buggy, but they had to sacrifice that along with the rest.
The last two children were born in the bush - one while her husband was bringing a drunken doctor, by force, to attend to her. She was alone on this occasion, and very weak. She had been ill with fever. She prayed to God to send her assistance. God sent Black Mary - the "whitest" gin in all the land. Or, at least, God sent King Jimmy first, and he sent Black Mary. He put his black face round the door post, took in the situation at a glance, and said cheerfully: "All right, missus - I bring my old woman, she down along a creek."
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