Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Ethel Castilla

An Australian Girl

SHE has a beauty of her own,

A beauty of a paler tone

Than English belles.

The Southern sun and Southern air

Have kissed her cheeks until they wear

The dainty tints that oft appear

On rosy shells.

Her frank, clear eyes bespeak a mind

Old-world traditions fail to bind.

She is not shy

Or bold, but simply self-possessed;

Her independence adds a zest

Unto her speech, her piquant jest,

Her quaint reply.

O’er classic volumes she will pore

With joy; and some scholastic lore

Will often gain.

In sports she bears away the bell,

Nor under music’s siren spell

To dance divinely, flirt as well,

Does she disdain.