The Boss of Taroomba

'The Boss of Taroomba' by E.W. Hornung opens with a sensitive musician singing a sentimental song to an unsympathetic audience in a small room filled with young men in cord breeches and leather belts. They mock him behind his back, but the musician hears everything. When they ask him the price of the last song, the musician says it's half a crown, which the audience thinks is a stiff price. The musician can't afford to charge less because he gets his music from Melbourne. The audience asks the musician to sing another song, and he reluctantly agrees, hoping to show that there is no ill will.