Swaggers.
I often in my walks fall in with swaggers, both of the class who seek for work and those who seek to escape from it. The latter kind furnisk most melancholy subject* to a student cf human nature. Such a homeless, purposeless wanderer, with wasted, years behind him, and dreary uncertainty in front of him, seems to me a more tragic figure than any created by Sophocles or Shakespeare. On the other hand, I could record many humorous incidents in connection with swaggers. It was an- oppressively hot day when I was walking between Balclutha and Catlins. I overtook a swagger on the road. He seemed to be a genuine working man, and his swag corroborated this impression — for a man's history and character are perceptible in the get-up of his swag. I offered to give him a rest and carry his swag a few miles for him. Quite willingly he handed me the burden. He himself walked in silence for a few minutes, when he exclaimed, "It is fearfully hot ;" and taking off his coat, he handed it over to me saying, " You may carry that too ; it will make it easier for me."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18910319.2.143
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 28
Word Count
196Swaggers. Otago Witness, Issue 1934, 19 March 1891, Page 28
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