Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one classic short stories and tales.

This is your host and storyteller, John Haggardorn.

Today begins the first of two stories from one of my favorite writers, Henry Lawson, from Australia. He was a great folk writer,

considered one of the best writers and poets in Australia. The first story is called,

Shall We Gather at the River?

And the second story, which comes in just a few days, actually Wednesday, it'll drop at about 5.30 p.m. Wednesday, Eastern time, is called His Brother's Keeper.

Now, I may have done His Brother's Keeper a few years ago, but didn't know that this story

should really be a prelude to it, shall we gather at the river?

So you understand the character's a whole lot better.

And this time when you hear the story,

his brother's keeper, it'll make a lot more sense to you.

It's a terrific, terrific story of hard life in the Australian Outback.

And now shall we gather at the river by Henry Lawson.

Oh, and by the way, hello fans down under.

I know we have a lot of listeners in Australia, and I know you enjoy Henry Lawson very much.

This one's for you.

God's preacher of churches unheeded, God's vineyard, though barren the sod, plain spokesman

where spokesman is needed, rough-linked, twixt the Bushman and God, the Christ of the Never.

Well, I never told you about Peter McLaughlin. He was a sort of bush missionary up country and out

back in Australia, and before he died, he was known from River Reno down south and New South Wales

to a way up to the Never Never country in western Queensland. His past was a mystery, so, of course,

there were all sorts of yarns about him. He was supposed to be a Scotsman

...