A KALATHUMPIAN.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1902, 10 September 1874, Page 3

A KALATHUMPIAN.

At a meeting at Omeo the other day Mr Perry asked Mr Jack if he were a Kalathumpian, a question that might well puzzle a stranger, though the term is well understood at Omeo ; where it originated in this wise : — A well-known official in this district who commenced colonial life as a digger, had for his first two mates an Irish Doctor, who has long since quitted the pick and shovel to follow his pro • fession, and the erratic son of an English Church dignitary who, like parsons sons, ran wild, and had no great respect for religion. They lived in a hut belonging to the doctor, known from its airy construction as the " bird cage. " To thia hut, on Sunday morning, hied a worthy country woman of the doctor's who had been afew months married, and wished to consult the medico upon a delicate subject but it being the turn of the parson's son to be hut keeper, she found the doctor and his other mate absent, and Master Dan., who was a bit of a wag, in possession of the premises. After a little conversation on general subjects, the good lady, fancying perhaps that on such an important and critical occasion, she wotild be saferin thehandsofoneof her ownfaith, I inquired in the blandest terms if Dan could inform her whether his mate, the doctor, was a Catholic ; whereupon Dan, putting on aseriousface as became so solemn an occasion replied, { ' I think not, marm . I believe the doctor is of the same religion as myself." « ' And what might be that Mr W V " A Kalathumpian, marm." " And what's a Kalathumpian ? Well, bless me, I've heard of several religious sects with strange names — Quakers, Shakers, and such like — but I never heard of a Kalathumpian before. May Ibe permitted to ask what you believe in V " Oh yes, mann," replied Dan, " we believe in three things — grog, gals, and gold. " This is the religion of a good many others I fancy. A witty clergyman to whom this anecdote was related, called it not inaptly, " The Digger's Trinity."