Page:Digger Smith (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/61

 "Well, it takes two to make a row," sez little Digger Smith. "A bloke can't argue 'less 'e 'as a bloke to argue with. I've come 'ome from a dinkum scrap to find this land uv light Is chasin' its own tail around an' callin' it a fight.

"We've seen a thing or two, us blokes 'oo've fought on many fronts; An' we've 'ad time to think a bit between the fightin' stunts. We've seen big things, an' thought big things, an' all the silly fuss, That used to get us rattled once, seems very small to us.

"An' when a bloke's fought for a land an' gets laid on the shelf It pains 'im to come 'ome an' find it scrappin' with itself; An' scrappin' all for nothin', or for things that look so small— To us, 'oo've been in bigger things, they don't seem reel at all.

"P'r'aps we 'ave 'ad some skite knocked out. an' p'raps we see more clear, But seems to us there's plenty cleanin'-up to do round 'ere. We've learnt a little thing or two, an' we 'ave unlearnt 'eaps, An' silly partisans, with us, is counted out for keeps.

"This takin' sides jist for the sake uv takin' sides—Aw, 'Struth! I used to do them things one time, back in me foolish youth.