AustLit

Dick Allerton returns penniless to Melbourne from seeking work up-country, hoping to receive news from his rich English uncle. He runs into the former coachman of the Raby's,a rich merchant of Brighton and his daughter Lucy whom Tom had loved but been refused because of his poverty. Mr Raby has been ruined through chicanery and his coachman Tom Noble has brought the bill of sale over Raby's furniture to prevent its loss. Allerton agrees to enter the house as a bailiff over Christmas - to give Hood grace time - but is recognised first by Tom's wife Martha, the cook, then by Mr Raby and Lucy when he is discovered reading letters addressed to himself and kept there. Lucy loves him, his letter contains news of a comfortable inheritance, etc. Twins finish the picture years later. (PB)

Dramatised account of the courage of Margaret, Lady Ogilvy, in fighting for Prince Charles in Scotland in 1744. She rode to Culloden with her husband, helped him escape, was captured herself and sentenced to be executed. She cleverly escaped to France and died at 39. (PB)

Description of a desolate pass in the San Bernadine Mountains near Death Valley at Christmas. Hot, pebbly, full of despair. Anecdote of everything there being petrified. Brief - not very descriptive. (PB)

English Christmas tale of a marital separation of many years being reconciled through the performance of their acclaimed son in his native village church of the anthem 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear'. Raised by his mother in Yorkshire until age 7 then educated with his aunt in Milan and trained as a singer, he puts his whole remaining strength into softening his parents' hearts, succeeds in reaching them - and dies. They seem satisfied that his soul is singing in heaven. Scenes of crowds jamming church to hear him sing. (PB)

Father-son tale of crime and reform. An Italian peasant lad loves the last surviving of his ten peacocks dearly, and when a brigand appears and kills it he is heartbroken. He does not change his hatred of the man even when he discovers him sitting at the home table - his father, who has returned after six years in hiding - and accuses him of being a thief and a wicked man. The village priest appears and bids the brigand reform and go to America to earn a new living for his family, or be turned over to the police. The boy only hugs his father and forgives him once he promises to reform. (PB)

Benevolence repaid. On Christmas Eve an earnest street-beggar's sincerity extracts a shilling from the narrator along with his card. A year later, fallen on hard times himself through mining speculations, the narrator is sought by the beggar who has become rich. He repays the shilling with a thrashing - the shilling had been counterfeit ... Humour of incongruity. (PB)

Child's life and death - sentiment and pathos. A little girl laden with Christmas presents on a Chicago train chats to the gentleman sitting next to her. Her humour and liveliness contrasts to his silence - she reminds him of his own dead daughter(PB)

An Arizona cowboy's Christmas changes when he discovers a lost child in the desert and cares for her. She leads him to her aunt and father from New York - and he discovers the woman he loved there 8 years before loves him still. (PB)

A Texan cowboy loves a spirited lady of Texan and Mexican blood but her guardian threatens to disown her if she marries against his will and the cowboy's money is lost in his uncle's financial failure. He goes to Colorado to hunt for gold with a handsome fellow Texan who is in league with the girl's guardian to double-cross the cowboy. A hard and dangerous ride on a stolen horse dressed in men's attire enables the lady - actually the cowboy's wife of a year - to save him from his companion's plot to ruin him. (PB)

A Melbourne villain and his mate Johan rob a widow of the letter and one pound sent her by her poor, weak but good son Humphrey who is selling his farm. The thieves then go to the township where one enters the house as a tramp. They murder the brother for his money and impersonation follows. A faithful old servant, a hearty farmer and daughter and a trooper catch them ... (PB)

English comic romance of marital relations and the role of the New Woman. A Cambridge educated woman and her less intelligent unassertive new husband 'agree' to set up a modern style of housekeeping - she to study and write articles, he to be housekeeper. The laughter of the servants, their neglect of the house and their resignations combined with his wife's ill-health from overwork and criticisms of his management finally drive him to London and the advice of an old friend who understands women. A plan to fire all their servants and replace them with 'lady-helps' soon brings the wife to agree to housekeep herself ... Happiness reigns. Very anti-New Woman ... (PB)

English tale of a son disguised as his elderly father in order to win a local tennis prize - a costly silver cup - with the handicap he is given. Strangers who had seen the real old man on the train, and a maid who finds a false beard, foil their scheme at the last minute. (PB)

A father's theft of his son's watch at the theatre to teach him caution backfires when both watches are stolen. (PB)