AustLit

A former soldier is distracted from attending to an important personal task by a chance encounter with some of his old companions. He joins them in sampling the wares of all the local pubs and when he endeavours to catch a tram home in a highly intoxicated state, he leaves himself vulnerable to the misguided ministrations of an elderly woman.

Riding on a train, a returned soldier develops an inexplicable dislike for a fellow passenger. A subsequent conversation with the train driver vindicates his presentiments.

An old man recognises that his death is imminent and indulges himself in memories of his youth, particularly those involving affairs of the heart.

Scanlon offers an account of a Rememberance Day service in Melbourne.

Small town locals gossip about the mad behaviour of a reclusive old woman who lives on the town's outskirts. A young man, intrigued, sets out in a spirit of bravado to solve the mystery. However, he is chastened when the poor old woman invites him in and he learns that she keens in grief every night for her seven sons, all of whom were killed in action.

A list of the faults inherent in boarding house landladies.

The narrator wistfully describes the adventures of a young local boy who has wagged school.

The narrator recounts the adventures of a resilient rat named Whiskers who weathered all sorts of hardship and near-misses, travelled around the world, then ended up back where he was born, though now with a large family in tow.

Scanlon offers an insight into the processes of getting books published and the experiences of his door-to-door salesmen.