[Illustration: LIBRARY OF MELBOURNE.]
Aristocracy is a queer thing in Australia. Many of those now claiming
"respectability" and holding themselves aloof from the members of the
settlements did not have their expenses paid out by government,
because they were born on the island--not convicts, but only the
offspring of those who were. In the race for wealth educated and
refined gentlemen are generally outstripped by those who with less
mind have greater physical strength, more practical knowledge of the
world and more tact in overcoming difficulties; so that one meets
wealthy miners who cannot write their own names, and learned
bootblacks and cooks who have taken their degrees in mathematics and
the languages. One millionaire who had a fancy to be thought literary
sent regular contributions to the English magazines, every line of
which was written by his footman, to whom he paid an enormous salary,
not so much for writing as for keeping his secret, and it was years
before it leaked out. In the struggle for position the man of gold
gains the day, and not unfrequently brute force or unscrupulous
trickery is called in to keep that which wealth has purchased.
Melbourne is the commercial metropolis of Australia, as Sydney is the
capital of the penal colony, and though both are large, well-built
and thriving cities, they are strikingly in contrast with each other.
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