complying with this very reasonable request and had coramoueed anoint ing his curly caudal appendage when our slumbers were rudely interrupted by tho outrance of our young friend mleas boy


he had brought us with dr dicksons com plimentan important document from the muniment room at itundwiek from which we learn that that ancient and venerable corpoiation dues not owe ita fume ontirely to tho wonderful pig after all


r wo are not by any moans bigoted to our own opinion


we abhor pghoadedaess and therefore have much pleasuro in giving the other version bl the story


the do cument has beenkindly translated fir


us from tho original hebrew by our friend nathan to hom wo wish thoa pub licly to return our most sincero thanks for the great obli gation uader which he has thus laid us


lt is called


i


tbo boole of simeontue eyeopener


cnap


v


ina certain oityof tho gentiles a the days of carolus augustus the governor thore dwelt a man of the name of simeon whuae surnume was p


e


now simeon was of tho sect of the kyoopeners


and behold simen went forth out of the city and dwelt in a desert place near thesoa


now this place was tho abode of all manner of creep ing things and it was a barren and howling wilderness


i and simeon budded himself a house in the desert ll lieth on thy right as thou guest from the city towards the sunrrising


f oi


i i now simeonhad


cat his


eyeteeth


and i ho was lu great favour with deas tho eon of thomas the chief secretary


iy


and jsimoon lifted np his voico j and said unto deas give me i pray theo a portion of laud iu the wilderness foran inheritance


j and deas gave unto him tho lund for certain small nieces of silver


and simeon digged the lund rind fenced about and erected gates thereon and said tinto


inmtolf shall not the people of the city come out of the etty with their hures and their chariotsand shall not tiley pay tinto me money when they pass through my gatesnj yv


and tliey did ao


it


nd


simeon got much money


and the people of the city said


lo


simeon fins much land and is became rich


let us go and buy of his hind and obtain riches aleo


and they bought of the land of simeon each one ac cording to bis means j and simeon grew exceeding rich niid waxdd proud


and said unto himsolf shall wo rit have elders in this


plaao and shall not simeon bo tho chief of the eiders and shall nut tlie people bow down before hjtpi


v


and when he


had gathered the people together and opeiiod his mind unto them and told them how they could gain much honour and profit certain uoutur of th nari of john the son of


dick lifted up bis vojee and shoutod aloud for the people to hearken unto simeon und certain fellows of the baser sort made a great uproar


and when the uproar was andd and silonce was re stored that you might have heard a load of bricks drop john again essayed to apeak saying shall we not all be elders and shall not simoon be the chief magistrate and shall wo not have much honour and profit


and the people listened unto bim for they were of the sect of the greenhorns and they allowed themselves to be persuaded


i


and behold simeon was made chief magistrate os ire had


desired


and was clothed in tho robes of tho council and be was exceedingly puffed up und was vory wiso in his own conceit


but when simeon taxed tho people behold their eyes wore opened


and they cursed simeon to his face


but john the son of dick called tho doctor they took and anointed his body with pitch and with tar and they took feathers from the fowls of the air and tho loni hers sticked into the pitch and thu tar und tho doctor was greatly disfi gured thereby and his maternal nnccstor know him not


and a certain man of tho hebrews called isaac whose surname was nntbah poked much fun at the doctor and


simeon


lind thoelders and tho scribes nf tho city jeorcd thom nod tho boya when they wont forth into tho city mocked them saying


these aro suiely not magis trates and elders they aro guys and tho people took lunars at them und saluted them


and simeon was exceeding sorrowful and s did within himselfia not simeon a fool to do this thing


is hu not like unto the frog in tho fable which puffed himscli lip and would fain become na ox


and the rest of thu doings of tho doctor and simeon and tho ciders aro they not written in the book of tho chronicles of polly


geraldine


a tal op f onscience


vol


ii


chap


x eon entering the drawingroom lord ifervey again sought miss graham and inquired in a low voice the succes of her conference with miss carring ton


i can report no success whatever she replied and i rather think it will be the better policy to tbandori the subject of controversy for the present


geraldirne is armed at all points and so far from disliking an opportunity of making us all wiser as she thinks she readily brings all the powers of her mind and all the graces of her playful fancy to make the worse appear the better reason then you think the case hopeless miss gra hatm said lord hervey in so desponding an air and leaning so confidentially over katherines chair that several of the party observed him with surprise and watched miss grahams countenance to discover whether a melodrama of rival friends was about to be acted


i think the case hopeless as far as argument is sconcerned said katherine and i do not think t would be right to work upon her feelings


i have never attempted it and the trial if successful could not be lasting


miss carrington would never con tient to lose her own esteem


then what is your resource miss graham ivhatcah be said what can be done to rescue one so dear to us to you i mean especially p i should advise replied katherine that miss ciarrirgtons protestant friends now preserve total silence that opposition may no longer feed the inergy and resistance of her character


let her on the contrary see all tihe wood


and wire of the fabric which she now so much admires


i would sald believe tis distance lends enchantment to the view and that a near approach will break the ipell


a near approach l repeated lord hervey dobubtfully for the image of de grey crossed his mentalvision do you think that would be wise in miss carringtons present state of mind i


whiy my lord continued miss graham we have seen the little effect of any warnings or reason ings while the priestly power and all its train of tyrannical ibsurdities continue but a speculation a theory


but let our highminded and independent friend begin to feel one link of the popish clhain and she will rebel


i like your plan better than tankervilles and yet there is muci hazard in it said lord hervey


whatdoes major tankerville advise p he advises much sterner methods than any of miss carringtons friends would be inclined to adopt and i grieve to say that a mutual misun derstanding of each others characters has only been ihcreased by my illtimed request that they should engage in argument


he thinks this lovely and endearing creature is completely a spoiled child and intoxicated by the homage tendered to her talents and that bewitchingi know not what to call it daringness or originality of mind which surely is the best test after all that the heart is all candour ahd simplicity


what think you miss graham p i think replied katherine that my dear geraldines character is lilke the limpid stream which dlows over the rich ore its very clearness and grace ful ripple being in itself so attractive that you scarcely remember the golden stores beneath


beautiful cried lord hervey how refresh ingit is to hear one woman sincerely praise another


and so approving did his lordship look on katherine that geraldine who while she talked with lady hungerford was watching the two apart caught that peculiar expression which had hitherto been directed to herself alone and a momentary pang shot through her heart


all now moved at the summons to dinner and as lord hervey was roused to lead in as usual the lady anne scotney while miss graham took the arm of major tanker ville inother look of intelligence passed which was equally observed by geraldine but this time she felt


no pang at the possibility of lord herveys attaching himself to the woman who of all others was perhaps the best suited to him


there even came a sensation of relief that the responsibility of naking lord hervwy miserable was not to be added to her other trials


that katherine had not a thought of self in conversing with his lordship ge raldine was as perfectly persuaded as if she had heard every word that had passed and with her usual ardour she now longed to impart her ideas and wishes to her faithful and unconscious friend who from the other side of the table turned her clear con ftding eyes on her the more fondly because her neighbour major lankerville was imparting to her in a growl which lihe intended for a whisper that no greater sign of reprobation could be given than miss carringtons rejection of gospel truth as imn parted by hits lips that mot ning


during the rest of the evening geraldines thouglts were wholly turned to the communication she desired to have with her friend and after tile party broke up hier impatience sufftred a lonag trial from the seemingly unusual duration of her maids attendance as well as thecontinued discussion which vwent on in the adjoining room between miss graham and phembe respecting the speakers at the late meeting in elverton


at length the tirewomen withdrew and miss graham throwing open the door of comuni cation come to bid her friend good night


oh kate do not say good night yet awhile


but rest in this easy chair and let me talk to you for half an hour


no indeed geraldine we have both talked ehough and more than enough for one day


you looked pale at dinner and lord hungerford who was the first to remark it said lie was sure you kept late hours


i must plead likewise for myself for i am very sleepy


but eatherine i have something really of con sequence to say to you nothing of controversy but yet something which concerns us both


there sit down and i will tell you all about it


miss graham accordingly leaned back in the cushioned chair while geraldine stood a little apart preparing to open her mind when after some little hesitation and delay she perceived on approaching her friend that her comfortable position had invited her into so peaceful a nap that struck with the con trastto her own wakeful and energetic thoughts geraldine gave way to her keen sense of the ludicrous in a merry peal of laughter which awoke katherine and excited sufficient astonishment to fix her attention


i beg your pardondear kate


cried geraldine i did feel very serious quite in keeping with the subject i had to propose but now perhaps after all it would be as well for us both to go to bed


sino said miss graham smiling now that you have begun in so wise a manner to disburthen your mind i am ready to hear the sprightly reo mainder


well then my beloved katherine


cried geraldine tirowing herself on her kneesand taking bothtlhe hands of her friend i have discovered to day that had lord hervey not been already prepos sessed in my favour had he mat us both together for the first time you katherine you would have been his choice


tis true i went to sleep but then i awoke again said miss graham


now yougeraldine are still dreaming


no wonder that such absur dities should make you laugh


buti i did not laugh at the fact i have men tioned though it makes me so happy


it was your composed nap that so much amused me replied geraldine


i was by far more sensibly employed than your self said katherine by resting myself while you were vainly endeavouring to place this unrrmanage able subject in a fair light to me


did i not tell you this morning that you loved to grapple with difficulties pnow heres a delightful impossibility for you


not at all impossible or even difficult per sisted geraldine


lord hervey will soon weary of the hopeless task of reconverting me


i am but apassing fancy


there can be nothing deep in his regard for me the principal bond of union being wariting which is religious sympathy


i know well that lady hungerford declares her son to have loved me from a child but considering that he has married in the interval of his devotion do not feel myself obliged to be more grateful than tiecase re quires


you kniow very well replied miss graham that lord hervey was deterred from avowing his sentiments towards you four years ago from wit


nessing the preference you showed for don carlos duago


lord hervey then left the neighbourhood and very shortly afterwardstoo shortly not to be tray his disappointmenthlie married miss emily tankerville


how could be then do otherwise than forget you


p


would it not also havebeen an insult to her gentle and pious memory to have admitted a thought but of her during the first year of widow hood p


yes


lord hervey has acted throughout with all the feeling and propriety to be expected from lhimlhis only fault being that want of selfconfi dence which prevented his remaining to compete with and overcome his foreign rival


perhaps said geraldine i might have become the wife of lord hervey four years ago had not my fancy been gained by another from whom obedience obliged me to part but i can now see that it was so ordained that i might at this time be left unshackled to follow the dictates of my conscience


therefore do not fear


on my account to love lord hervey if you should find it possible


hib destinies are not linked with mine and while you probably look on this assertion as a flight of the imagination i feel it to beoa truth


dearest geraldine said katherine rising i cannot in conscience suffer you to break through your hours of rest in this manner


your days are now full of conflict and danger let your nights at least be calm and breaking from her friend she entered hier own room leaving geraldine stillonher knees and now absorbed in devotion


the following day was sunday and an early breakfast was attended by those who deemed it their duty to go to the morning service at the parish church


major tankerville having ascertained thiat the rector of sedgemoor held very crroneous views mentioned his intention of going to the baptists meetinghouse where a very godly man led the congregation and lord hervey seemed rather in clined to follow his example


however on starting for a walk across the park according to a previous engagement with colonel torrington geraldine and kathlerine found that lord hiervey and his father were waiting to join them


lord hiungerford gave ills arm to geraldine while his son walked by hier on die otlhei side and miss graham followed with colonel torrington


where the deuce is everard p cried lord ihungerford


gone with lady winefride to the popish mass at burnleigih replied lord hervey


what ac ount does that old nman think of giving at tihe last awful day of this tampering with danger this public sanction of what in his heart hie disbelieves and ought to abhor p better leave everard and hiis conscience to his god replied the earl how do you know that he disbelieves what you abhor b cause hie confesses that lie would give half his learning and half his wealth to believe what tihe catholics believe but that hle cannot


he therefore does not think their faith in all its partsnceassary to salvation and it must be this restless desire of conformity to their church without the capability of believing all she teaches which leads him to form those extravagant schemes which have made him the laughingstock of all parties


everards is but the usual fiate of religious psace makers replied lord lhungerford not l that i meanu to defend all his schemesfor instance lie inot only would have all christian communities to frequent iidiscriminately each others places of worship but would have them intermarry for the sole purpose of compelling toleration anld forbear anice


now this presents many dilfficulties


and the old lord fell into a pondering fit in which he was joined by isis companions not without some embarrassment of feeling lord haevey was the first to break through this silence by introducing some pious subject of legs personal application which lasted till they reached the village church of sedge moor


the prayers were devoutly read and the sermon to avoid which major tankerville had gone to the meetinghouse contained nothing certainly to amuse the intellect no discoveries of hidden mean ing in simple texts no high doctrine but an earnest practical exhortation to the flock on forgiveness of injuries grounded on the pure motive of confor mity to christ our example and as done unto him and for him


from the rectors mode of appeal to his hearers geraldine concluded that dissensions in the parish had given rise to his choice of subject and felt that it must sink deep into the hearts of those personally interested


on their return home by the same rural foot path the sermon as usual was the subject of dis cussion


lord hervey lamented that the preacher had imbibed baxters low views lord hunger ford anathematized that confounded spirit of criticism which had taken possession of most churchgoers miss graham thought the sermon obvious and dull and colonel torrington confessed that he had dreamed of forgiving the rector for something or other and only woke at the gene ral stir


lady hungerford and mrs torrington


drove to church in the afternoon and this little diversity in the monotony of the day together with some letterwriting helped on the tedious hours till dinner before which time lady winefride blount and mr everard returned and the conversation became animated on the question of using horses and employing the coachmen on sundaysa ques tion which has been so often discussed that we will not record the many wise things said by the party at sedgemoor priory respecting the jewish and the christian sabbath mercy to animals the superi ority of mans soul to the brute creation c merely noticing a fresh plan from mr everard that horses should rest on saturday the seventh day it being that originally given for their repose


in the evening lord hervey


who could not fol low miss grahams advice to cease from contro versy with her friend asked geraldine what


were the texts to which she alluded when shie said that protestants with the whole bible before tltem dwelt on some texts to the total exclusion of others p i have so long a list against you said ge roldine smiling that if ionce begin theta will beno time for the sacred music i have prbmised you


then will you come to my mothers rorn after breakfast tomorrow morning l we shall find only herself tinless you will permit me o bring tanker ville


surely said geraldine with some etirbarrass ment i itbelongs to lady hungerford alone to decide whom to admit to her private sitthagroom but if i minght hoie for a calm and friendly discus it should be rather with yourself and mist graham


than with major tankerville then be it so said his lordship rsing


from his seat by geraldine


and now may i bring the harp near the fire that you may not suffer while you give us delight p geraldine however preferred going to the in strument and sang to it during the next hour ijeither voice nor memory failing her


those of tlhe party wheo renii keep awnaho felt and expeop


ed themselves much indebted to the relief which the music gave to the monotony of the sunday evening and the dozers who formed the majority started up occasionally to utter their encomiums


at length on geraldines putting aside the harp to escape quietly to her room lord hervey after expressing the feelings which her exquisite voice and devotional expression had awakened in him informed her in a whisper that his mother and one or two of their guests had consented to accompany himself and major tankerville to another room where they intended to read and expound a chapter before prayer


am quite ready to be one of the party said geraldine but why all this secrecy p my father desired replied lord hervey that if we insisted on turning preachers it should be without attracting his notice


in fact hlie disap proves of any ones explaining the word of god but the clergy and would have refused our request but from his wish tohave his guests happy isi their own way


in the mean time major tankerville with that want of tact for which lihe was so distinguished had roused the sleeping earl to an immediate sense of what he had conditionally granted and not satisfied with toleration was endeavouring in the phrase ology which lord hungerford loathed to persuade him to attend tlheg exposition about to be given


lord hervey looked alarmed and after several ineffectual attempts to gain hiis friends attention called to him by his name


major tankerville now saw hiis mistake and merely lingered to say i am sure that i feel persuaded that of myself i can do no one good tiling to which lord ihungerford replied drily never thiought you could major and again seemed to doze


those of the party who intended to form a portion of thie ihousehlold congregation now dropped off quietly and geraldine taking lady iiungerfords offered arm accompanied liher to thie places assigned thlem in the roomwhere thie servants immediately assembled and to geraldines great satisfaction lord hervey and not major tankerville approached thie table on which lay the bible and opened tise sacred volume at tihe chapter sdected


before however he took the chair placed for him lord hervey approached hiis mother and geralline and telling the former that hie lhad forgotten to express his wish that all present should join in a hymn previous to the reading requested our hieroine to lead the voices after hie should hiave given out tise first verse of the hiymn selected which was


tihe following jesus i thiy blood and righteousness


my beauty are my glorious dress midst slaming worlds in these arrayed swith joy lhaull i lift up my head


when from the dust of death i rise to take my mansion in the skies een thus shall this be all my plea jesus hallth lived


halthl died for me


bold shall i stand in thilat great day for who aught to my charge shall lay p fully thlroughs tlhee absolvd


i am from sin and fear from guilt and shame


and whlen the dead shall hear thy voice thy banishdl children shall rejoice thirir beauty this their glorious dress jesus i tihe


lord our righlteousness


geraldine having chosen a tuie well known to most of those present wns joined at first timidly then more boldly by many around iher especially by one fine manly ice which siae afterwards furnd was colonel torringtons and during the last two versesan impressivechoruswasgivenfromlhe domestics at the farther end of the room


after the hymn was concluded all were again seated and lord hervey read with deep devotion the seven teenth chapter of st johns gospel returning to the fifteenth and seventeenth verses which he had more immediately appropriated for his text


i pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil


they are not of the world even as i am not of the world


sanctify them through thy truthl thy word is truth


lord iierveys commentary on these verses was simple and touching


the household and visiting domestics listened willi the profoundest attention


lady hungcrford wept from a variety of emotions apd ge raldine found herself deeply moved


there was something in the genuine and unaffected piety of this young nobleman which could not fail to in spire a respectful tenderness of feeling


theexpo sition being over all knelt in prayer and here the petitioners expressions rose to eloquence the elo quence of


the earnest and devout


geraldine felt that she was perhaps unconsciously the occasion and object of many of the heartfelt supplications which arose from lord herveys lips and she could scarcely restrain her emotion


it was a relief when the prayer being over she could escape without re turniing to the drawingroom and rushing to her own apartment she gave unrestrained vent to the sorrows of her heart


po why thought she why do i think dif ferently


fromhim p


why if he be justified in thel sight f go has this knowledge been given


me of truth which lie thinks error p would that weohad never met i wretched wretched geraldine arotnher burst of grief followed


she recalled the tite when a similarly painful question had arisen whetlher as a protestant english girl she should be justified in marrying a foreign catholic and she remembered that


the result of her deliberation had benthat provided christians were earnest in their love and fidelity to their divine master and full of forbearance and charity towards each other it was outstepping scriptural prohibition to prevent the union of catholic and protestant


whence comes it then thought she that scruples now arise in my mind as a catholic which never molested me as a protestantp is it that four years experience of disunion amongst chlristians has taught me the bles sedness of being of one heart and one mind or is it that lord herveys cast of disposition leadsme to dreadthat illjudged friends would usurp power over him to mar my freedom and happiness pi cannot analyze my feelings i cannot think to any purpose my only refuge is prayerand geraldine now sinking on lher knees fervently prayed that


she


might be led aright and that the weakness and va cillation of her heart might be overruled to advance the cause of truth at whatever trial to her own feling


to be continued


william a tale of south australian historyby a lady


chapter


ili the next morning william and his companions con tinued their route and the chief having decided on a spot which he deemed suited in every respect for the capital toiled night and day that no time might be lost


scarcely tasting food he would work the whole day under a broiling sun while his night was employed in planning the engagements of the ensuing morning


he cared not for himself he only thought of the ill effects which delay would have on the prospects of the early settlers


he knew not that his health was being impaired and his strength failing him


his companions who loved and reverenced him looked on in great consternation and ventured to urge him to take more rest and nourishment


he smiled and thanked them but declared he took sufficient of both


in the mean time more ships arrived from england in one of these came the colonialstorekeeper and every one was delighted for he was a general favourite with him came several private settlers


their debarka tion made a little bustle and a few more tents were erected at glenelg


the excitement occasioned by the new arrivals having subsided the sandbanks were again mounted and the beach walked every one anxiously watching for the ship which would bring the governor


at last sus pense was put an end to by the arrival of the old buffalo bringing the governor his private secretary the commissioner the colonial chaplain the treasurer and many other settlers and the following week arrived the coromandel bringing the advocategeneral the colonialsurgeon the banker and their ladies and likewise a lady and her family from kangaroo island whose husband remained behind to superintend the im portation of his sheep the first flock landed in the province


the whole of the government officers having now arrived there was nothing to prevent their immediately proceeding to business


the governor therefore fixed an early day for taking formal possession of the colony and directed a collation to be prepared to which all the colonists were invited


the little hut was soon crowded many young and fair faces were there and william kept his eyes on one whom he thought more lovely than the rest


she smiled so sweetly and her eyes shone so bright as she entered the hut leaning on her fathers arm


the governor the next moment commenced reading the proclamation but william heard not one word


he had neither ears nor eyes for any but the fair object before him who was talking and laughing with a young officer at her side


a lady on the other side of william asked twice to be assisted to some dish that was placed near him and when he at last heard her he stammered an apology and placed on her plate something else


the lady gave a smile of contempt and put her plate down deeming it useless to trouble him further but william perceived not her resentment for at that moment the young officer whispered to the object of his fascination


she turned round quickly and their eyes met


william blushed felt confused and slank away but the young lady neither blushed nor felt abashed but still looked after him expecting to see him make his way to her side


williams look of admiration and the mistake he made at the table she had observed but


accustomed to be stared at she was not at all disconcerted for with her admiration was a matter of course


william reached the door of the hut without any intention of leaving it but not liking again to disturb the company which he must do if he endeavoured to return to the place he had left he walked out but had no sooner done so than vexed at his folly he determined on re turning to seek an introduction to the darkeyed girl but knew not how to accomplish it


at last he thought he might contrive an interview through the colonial store keeper whom he had seen speak to her and believed to be a great favourite with the ladies


he was on his way to the hut to seek him when to his great disappointment he found the party had broken up and were returning to their respective habitations


this put an end to all chance of an immediate introduction and william dreamed all that night of dark eyes rosy lips naval uniforms and pistols


the gentlemen were now fully employed in removing their goods from the beach to their huts which were about a mile distant


this was not easily done as everything had to be carried by hand there being neither horses nor bullocks at that time in the colony but after many days and nights of hard labour their task was accomplished


the ladies were obliged to be their own servants their attendants generally having left them on finding they were required to cook in the open air


this was rather an inconvenience at first few of them being altogether familiar with the secrets of the kitchen but they were not only willing to apply themselves to the culinary arts but soon learnt to wait on themselves their husbands and children


they had not it is true many delicacies to cook


salt beef or salt pork with ship biscuit and a few wild herbs gathered off the plains was nearly their only fare


butter milk or butchers meat was quite out of the question there being neither cows nor sheep in the colony and the first fresh beef eaten by the settlers was from a working bullock the property of mr hack which had broken its neck and even this delicacy did not present itself until three months after the period of which we are now speaking


about two months after the arrival of the governor the john renwick made her appearance bringing in her the last of the pioneers


the evenings were now spent in meeting at one an


others huts and relating little anecdotes connected with the voyage some had sailed with morose or stingy captains and had been deprived of every comfort others had been made miserable by the ill temper of some of their fellowpassengers


the pas sengers by the coromandel alone expressing themselves equally pleased with their captain and with each other


there was now a large assemblage of persons at glenelg and all hands had completed such arrange ments as they considered necessary for their comfort during their temporary sojourn there


the wives of the labourers therefore finding time hang upon their hands occupied themselves in drawing comparisons be tween the homes they had left and those they were at present occupying


they soon became discontented log stools were not good enough for them and blanket huts were undignified


the less they had to do the louder were their complaints


a lady thinking a little amusement would turn the current of their thoughts determined to give them a dance


she had a large marquee erected procured the cuddy servant of the coromandel with his violin and issued a general invitation


this of course gave them something new to think of and they could talk of nothing else until the time arrived when about fifty of them dressed in their best made their appearance and many of the ladies and gentlemen kindly joined in this rustic dance


the emigrants were pleased with their attention and commenced the amusement of the even ing with great spirit


hour after hour passed away but they still danced on neither heeding time nor tune until at last quite exhausted they were obliged to halt when to their great astonishment they found their musician fast asleep


the poor cabin boy knew two tunes only and these he had played one after the other as fast as he could until he had broken all his strings and then not knowing what to do he sat staring at the dancers until finding they danced quite as well without his music as with it he very quietly put his instrument down and slumber soon laid its leaden mace upon him


this caused fine fun long and loud was their laughter and after partaking of some wine and water and a little biscuit they returned home and as many of them ex pressed themselves the next morning slept as sound in their blanket huts as they would have done in a palace


this was the first public entertainment in south australia


at a recent meeting of the london statistical society professor sillyphellow read a very interesting paper on the moral and physical condition of omnibus cads in the appendix to which there were some curious tables


it would appear from these that cads and th out of and ths pronounce the word city as if it were spelled cty without an i which would seem to show that they are of welsh extraction and have probably obtained the name of cad by descent from the cadwalla ders


the society has also prepared some curious sta tistical records from a recent survey


in a parish con taining houses there are no less than children in arms giving the enormous average of nearly half a baby to each house and in calculating the number of street doorbells a still larger result is arrived at


of knockers there are out of the reach of a child want fresh painting are in tolerable repair and the remaining has been wrenched off since the societys last survey


out of families occupying rooms had paid their rent had some idea of doing so and re maining had made a point of always running away with the goods in anticipation of any harsh proceeding on the part of the landlord


among children could sing jim crow could whistle it while the remaining had heard if and knew it when played but could not execute a note of it


there were blankets to beds and giving an average of three persons to each mattress there would be ths of a pillow to every father of a family of children leaving the mother the pillowcase


in attics people were employed in washing were occupied in ironing had gone out to pawn trifling articles and was frying sausages


the same curious deductions have been made from the spread of art unions for it would seem that rooms are ornamented with pic tures of them containing portraits of popular per formers of which were decorated with tinfoil and were entirely plain


in a collection of spelling books it was found that ths of them were mayors the th were dilworths and the remainder miscel laneous


leaf in was dogseared in were soiled ths in ths were torn and ths were without any covers


of families there were that regularly purchased punch and the re maining family regularly borrowed it


out of adults who had all taken degrees at oxford were clergymen of the established church were at the bar were gentlemen of independent property and the remaining was lying drunk at the stationhouse


in a series of milkjugs had no handle were without spouts had been riveted while were perfect


of pieces of orangepeel lying in one street were from oranges purchased at the stall at the corner were left there by persons casually passing and the remaining the society after several hours tedious investigation found no means of accounting for


punch


barnaby rudge


o captxbr xs xi


when barnaby returned with the bread the pious old pilgrim amoking his pipe and making himselfo


thoroughly at home appeared to surprisevean hhi the more so as that worthy person instead of putting up the loaf in his wallet as a scarce and preciouss article tossed it carelessly on the table and pro ducing his bottle bade him sit down and drink


for i carry some comfort you see he said


taste that


is itgood


the water stood in barnabys eyes asthoacoughed from the strength of the draughti


an nswered in


the affirmative


drink some more said tihe blind man dont r eafraid of it you ddnt taste anything like that


often eh often i cried barnaby never


too poorl returned the blind man with na sigh ay


thats bad


your mother poor soul would he happier if she was richer birnaby


why so i tell her thei very thing i toldh ier jist before you came tonight when all the goldiasee in the sky said barnaby drawing his chatr nearer to him and looking egerly in his face


nwtellme is there any way of being richr thatid could find any way a hundred ways


ay


aya he returned


do you saylsot


what are they nay motaher sforyo ursakeyi ask not mine for your indeed what are they


the blind man turned his face on which there was a looktof triumph to where the wnidow stood i


great distress and answered why they are not to be found out by stay at homesu my good friend


r


by sttayathomes


cried barnaby catching at hi sleevei


but i am not one now there youli mitakee i am often out before the sun hand travel home when he is gone to rest


i am away in the woods before theday has reached the shady place and am often there when the bright moon is peoping nthrough ithe boughs and looking down


upon the other moon that lives in watei


as i walk along t try to find among the grass and moss some of that small money for which she works so t hard


ail


d


i sed to tshed so many tears


as i lie asleep in the shade i dream of itdream of digging it up in heaps and spying it out hidden under bushes and seeing iat sparkle as the dewdrops do among the leaves


but i never find it


tell me where it is ii go there if the journey were a wholo year long because i know she would be happler when i came home and


brought some with me


speak again


ill listen to you if you talk all night


the blind man passed his hand lightly over the poor fellows face and finding that his elbows were planted on the table that his chin rested on his two hands that he leaned eagerly forward and tilat his whole manner expressed the utmost interestandsid anxiety pauased tfor a minute as thouglh he desired the widow to observe this ifully and then made answer its in the world bold bairnaby the mnerry


world not in solitary places like those you pass your time in but in crowds and where tiheres noise and rattle


good i good i cried barnaby rubbinghi hands


yes i i love that


grip loves it too it auisa us both


thats brave i


the kind of places said ithe blind man that a young fellow likes and inwhich a good son may domore for


his mother and himself to boot in a month than he could here in all hislinfelthat is if lie had a friend you know and some one to advise with


you hear this mother i cried barnaby turning to her with delight


never tell me we shoaldnt heed it if it lay shining at our fteet


why do we heed it so much now


i viy do you toll ofrom morning until night


i surely said the blind man surely


have you no answer widowt


is your mind ie aloily added not made up yet


let me speak with you she ariswerod apart


lay your hand upon my sleeve said stagg rising fromithe table and lead me where you will courage boldilarnaby well talk more of this ive a fancy for you


wait there till i come back i now widow


she led him out at the door and into the littile garden where they stoppedr


i you are a fit agent she saidin a half ibreathr less manner


and well represent the mai who sentein you here


i ll tell him that you said so stagg retorted hehas a regard for you and will respect mie the


more if possible for your


praise we muat have


our rights widoeir


rightsl do you


knsow


she said


that a woed from me why do you stop returned thelblind man calmly after a long pause


do i know that a word from you would placoe my friend in the last


position of the dance of life l


yes i do


what of that it will never be spoken widow


you are stre of that


quiteso sure that i dont come heroto discusis the question isay we must have our rights or we must bebought off


keep to that point or let me return to my young friend for i have an interest in the lad and desire to put him in the way of making his fortune


bahl you neednt speak he added hastily i know what you would say a youithave hinted at it once already


lhave


i no feeling for you because i am blind


no i have not


why do you expect me being in darkness to be better than men who hiave their sight


why should you


is the hand of god more manifest in mny having pa eyes than in your having two


its the cant of you folks to be horrified if a blind man robs or lien or steals ohl yes its far worse in him who can barely live on the few halfpence that are tlirown to him in your crowded slreets lthan in you who cas see and work and arm not dependent on the nmercies of the world a curse on you


i you whto ihave seven setnsee may be wicked at your pleasure we who have six antl want the mnost important are to live and be moral on our afllhction


ihe true charily andl justice of rich to poor all the wuhid over i hi paused a moment wheon tiu had said these words and caughtl tle sountd of inouuy jingliug ii hier hantd


well he cried quickly resuming his former manuer


that should lead to something


the oint widow


first answer me one question she replied you say he is close at hand


has lie left london


being close at hand widow it would seem lie has returned the blind man


mean for good


you know that


yes for good


the truth is


widow that his making a longer stay there might have had disagree able consequences


lie has come away for that reason


listen said the widow telling some money out upon a bench beside them


con six said the blind man listening attentively


any morel


they are the savings she answered of five years


six guineas


he put out his hand for one of the coins felt it carefully puti between his teeth rung it on the bench and nodded to her to proceed


sl these have been scraped together and laid by lest sickness or deaiih should separate my son and me


they have been purchased at the price of much hunger hard labour and want of rest


if you can take them do on condition that you leave this place upon the instant and enter no more into that room where he sits now expecting your return


six guineas said the blind man shaking his head though of the fullest weight that wee ever roined ar hort of twenty pounds widow


fo rs csum as you know i must write to a distant part of the country


to do that and receive an answer i must have time


two days said stagg


more


four days a week


return on this day week at the same hour but not to the house


wait at the coloer of the lane


of course said the blind man with a crafty look i shall find you there p where elsecan i take refuge


is it not enough that you have made a beggar of me and that i have sacrificed my whole atom so hardly earned to pre serve this home


h flumph said the blind man after some consi


deration


set me with my face towards the point you speak of and sin the middle of the road


is this the spot it is


on this dy week at sunset


and think of hiin within doorsm


far tle present good night


she made him no answer nor did he stop for any


lie went slowly away turning his head from time to time and stopping to listen as if he were curious to know whether he was watched by any one


the shadows of niglit were closing fast around and he was lost in the gloom


it was not however until she had traversed the lane from end to end and made ssure that he was gone that she reentered the cottage and hurriedly barred the door and window


mother l said barnaby


whatr is the mattert where is the blind man he is gone


gone


he cried starting up


i must have imore talk with him


which way did lihe take


i dont know she answered folding her arms about him


you must not go out tonight


there are ghosts and dreams abroad


say said barnaby in a frightened whisper


it is not safe to stir


we must leave this place tomorrow


i this place


l this cottage and the little garden mother i


yes tomonrrow morning at sunrise


we must travel to london lose ourselvesin that wide placethere would be some trace of us in any othdr townthen travel on again and find some new abode


little persuasions was required to reconcile barna by to anything that promised change


in another minute he was wild with delight in another full ofgrief at the prospect of parting with his friends the dogs in another wild again then he was fearful of what ahelhad said to prevent his wandering abroad that night and full of terrors and strange questions


his light heartedness in the end nur mounted all his other feelings and lying down in his clothes to the end that le might be ready on the morrow he soon fell fast asleep before the poorturf fire


his mother did not close her eyes but sat beside him wantcshing


every breath of wind sounded in


lher ears like thatl dreaded footstep at the door or like tliat hand upon the latch and made the calm summer


night a night o horror


at length the wvelconmeday appeared


when site had made the litltie epastions hich were needful for their jour ney and had prayed upon her knees with many tears she roused barnaby who jumped up gaily at her summons


g his clothes were few enough and to carry grip was a labour of love


as the sin shed his earliest beams upon the earth they closed the door of their deserted home and tirned away


the sky was blue and briglt


tihe air was fresh and filled with a ilousand perfumes


barnaby looked upward and laughed witlh all his heart


i but it was a day lie usually devoted to a long ramble and one of the dogs the ugliest of them all came bounding up and jumping round him in the fullness ofl his joy


he had to bid him go back in a surly tone and hiis heart smote him while lie did so


the dog retreated turned ewill a half incredulaus halfmploring look came a little back and stopped


sitwas the last appealof an old companion and a failhful friendcast off barnaby could


behr


no more and as he shook hlishead and waved his play mate home he burst into tears


oh mother mother how mournful hewill be when heiscratches at the doorsand finds it always shut i


tihere was such a sense of home in the tholight that though her own eyes overflowed she would not have obliterated the recollection of iteithler from her oi mind orf t iom isifor thewealthof


the whole wideworld


to bte ontlinet panis rradasmni poris that tradesiian assiumes the right of dictating to the taite of lils customers in london be only administers tblii


enteir a parisian shop and ask to be shown velvetsilkor ribaiad to assort with a pattern oou hnaie brought of some particular colour or quality and the mercer lhaving glanced at it somewhat contlmptuously places before you six or eight ieces of a different tint and texture


you tell him tat they are not similar to the pattern and lihe nuswere lthat may be nevertheless my goods are of the newest fishion and inflitelysupertorto your model


a you say you prefer the colour of your own pattern and must match it


hie pro


duces half n dozen pieces still mote unlike what you require and to your renewed assertion that no colour tut the one similar to your pattern will suit you he assures you that his goods are superior to all otbersand whlat you require is out of fashlnn and a very bad article and consequenitly


lthatyou lhad inuch better abandon your taste and adopt his


adv


blcsnhleons idler it france


there isa u nnin in oneof the sotlheru states so very broadshlouldered that it requires nine tailors to take his measure for a coat


american notes for general circulation


by charles dickens


chapter vi return to cincinnati


a stagecoach ride from that city to columbus and thence to sandusky


so by lake erie to the falls of nia gara


as i had n desire to travel through the in terior of the state of ohio and to strike the lakes as the phrase is at a small town called sandusky to which that route would conduct us on our way to niagara we had to return from st louis by the way we had come and to retrace our former track as far as cincinnati


the day on which we were to take leave of st louis being very fine and the steamboat which was to have started i dont know how early in the morning postponing for the third or fourth time haer departure until the afternoon we rode forward to an old french village on the river called properly carondelet and nicknamed vide poche nd arranged that the packet should call for us there


the place consisted of a few poor cot tages and two or three publichouses the state of whose larders certainly seemed to justify the second designation of the village for there was nothing to eat in any of them


at length however by going back some half a mile or so we found a solitary house where ham and coffee were procurable and there we tarried to await the advent of the boat which would come in sight from the green before the door a long way off


it was a neat unpretending village tavern and we took our repast in a quaint little room with a bed in it decorated with some old oilpaintings which in their time had probably done duty in a catholic chapel or monastery


the fare was very good and served with great cleanliness


the house was kept by a characteristic old couple with whom we had a long talk and who were perhaps a very good sample of that kind of people in the west


the landlord was a dry tough hard faced old fellow not so very old either for he was but just turned sixty i should think who had been out with the militia in the last war with england and had seen all kinds of serviceexcept a battleand he had been very near seeing that he added very near


he had all his life been restless and locomotive with an irre sistible desire for change and was still the son of his old self for if he had no thing to keep him at home he said slightly jerking his hat and his thumb towards the window of the room in which the old lady sat as we stood talking in front of the house he would clean up his musket and be off to texas tomorrow morning


he was one of the very many descendants of cain proper to this continent who seem destined from their birth to serve as pioneers in the great human army who gladly go on from year to year extending its outposts and leaving home after home behind them and die at last utterly re gardless of their graves being left thousands of miles behind by the wandering genera tion who succeed


his wife was a domesticated kind hearted old soul who had come with him from the queen city of the world which it seemed was philadelphia but had no love for this western country and indeed had little reason to bear it any having seen her children one by one die here of fever in the full prime and beauty of their youth


her heart was sore she said to think of them and to talk on this theme even to strangers in that blighted place so far from her old home eased it some what and became a melancholy pleasure


the boat appearing towards evening we bade adieu to the poor old lady and her vagrant spouse and making for the nearest landingplace were soon on board the messenger again in our old cabin and steaming down the mississippi


if the coming up this river slowly making head against the stream be an irksome journey the shooting down it with the turbid current is almost worse for then the boat proceeding at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles an hour has to force its passage through a labyrinth of floating logs which in the dark it is often impossible to see beforehand or avoid


all that night the bell was never silent for five minutes at a time and after every ring the vessel reeled again some times beneath the single blow sometimes beneath a dozen dealt in quick succession the lightest of which seemed more than enough to beat in her frail keel as though it had been piecrust


looking down upon the filthy river after dark it seemed to be alive with monsters as these black masses rolled upon the surface or came starting up again head first when the boat in ploughing her way among a shoal of such obstructions drove a few among them for the moment under water


sometimes the engine stopped during a long interval and then before her and behind and gathering close about her on all sides were so many of these ill favoured obstacles that she was fairly hemmed in the centre of a floating island and was constrained to pause until they parted somewhere as dark clouds will do before the wind and opened by degrees a channel out


in good time next morning however we came again in sight of the detestable morass called cairo and stopping there to take in wood lay alongside a barge whose starting timber scarcely held together


it was moored to the bank and on its side was painted coffee house that being i suppose the floating paradise to which the people fly for shelter when they lose their houses for a month or two beneath the hideous waters of the mississippi


but looking southward from this point we had the satisfaction of seeing that intolerable river dragging its slimy length and ugly freight abruptly off towards new orleans and passing the yellow line which stretched across the current were again upon the clear ohio never i trust to see the mis sissippi more saving in troubled dreams and nightmares


leaving it for the com pany of its sparkling neighbour was like the transition from pain to ease or the wakening from a horrible vision to cheer ful realities


we arrived at louisville on the fourth night and gladly availed ourselves of its excellent hotel


next day we went on in the ben franklin a beautiful mail steam boat and reached cincinnati shortly after midnight


being by this time nearly tired of sleeping upon shelves we had remained awake to go ashore straight way and groping a passage across the dark decks of other boats and among labyrinths of enginemachinery and leak ing casks of molasses we reached the streets knocked up the porter at the hotel where we had staid before and were to our great joy safely housed soon afterwards


we rested but one day at cincinnati and then resumed our journey to sandusky


as it comprised two varieties of stage coach travelling which with those i have already glanced at comprehend the main characteristics of this mode of transit in america i will take the reader as our fellowpassenger and pledge myself to perform the distance with all possible despatch


our place of destination in the first in stance is columbus


it is distant about a hundred and twenty miles from cin cinnati but there is a macadamised road rare blessing


the whole way and the rate of travelling upon it is six miles an hour


we start at eight oclock in the morn ing in a great mailcoach whose huge cheeks are so very ruddy and plethoric that it appears to be troubled with a ten dency of blood to the head


dropsical it certainly is for it will hold a dozen pas sengers inside


but wonderful to add it is very clean and bright being nearly new and rattles through the streets of cincinnati gaily


our way lies through a beautiful country richly cultivated and luxuriant in its pro mise of an abundant harvest


sometimes we pass a field where the strong bristling stalks of indian corn look like a crop of walkingsticks and sometimes an enclo sure where the green wheat is springing up among a labyrinth of stumps the pri mitive wormfence is universal and an ugly thing it is but the farms are neatly kept and save for these differences one might be travelling just now in kent


we often stop to water at a roadside inn which is always dull and silent


the coachman dismounts and fills his bucket and holds it to the horses heads


there is scarcely ever any one to help him there are seldom any loungers standing round and never any stablecompany with jokes to crack


sometimes when we have changed our team there is a dif ficulty in starting again arising out of the prevalent mode of breaking a young horse which is to catch him harness him against his will and put him in a stagecoach without further notice but we get on somehow or other after a great many kicks and a violent struggle and jog on as before again


occasionally when we stop to change some two or three halfdrunken loafers will come loitering out with their hands in their pockets or will be seen kicking their heels in rockingchairs or lounging on the window sill or sitting on a rail within the colonnade they have not often anything to say though either to us or to each other but sit there idly staring at the coach and horses


the landlord of the inn is usually among them and seems of all the party to be the least connected with the business of the house


indeed he is with reference to the tavern what the driver is in relation to the coach and passengers whatever happens in hisa sphere of action he is quite indifferent and perfectly easy in his mind


the frequent change of coachmen works no change or variety in the coachmans character


he is always dirty sullen and taciturn


if he be capable of smartness of any kind moral or physical he has a faculty of concealing it which is truly mar vellous


he never speaks to you as you sit beside him on the box and if you speak to him he answers if at all in monosyllables


he points out nothing on the road and seldom looks at anything being to all appearance thoroughly weary of it and of existence generally


as to doing the honours of his coach his busi ness as i have said is with the horses the coach follows because it is attached to them and goes on wheels not because you are in it


sometimes towards the end of a long stage he suddenly breaks out into a discordant fragment of an elec tion song but his face never sings along with him it is only his voice and not often that


h always chews and always spits and never encumbers himself with a pocket handkerchief


the consequences to the box passenger especially when the wind blows towards him are not agreeable


whenever the coach stops and you can hear the voices of the inside passengers or whenever any bystander addresses them or any one among them or they address each other you will hear one phrase repeated over and over and over again to the most extraordinary extent


it is an ordinary and unpromising phrase enough being neither more nor less than yes sir but it is adapted to every variety of cir cumstance and fills up every pause in the conversation


thus the time is one oclock at noon


the scene a place where we are to stay to dine on this journey


the coach drives up to the door of an inn


the day is warm and there are several idlers lingering about the tavern and waiting for the public dinner


among them is a stout gentleman inm a brown hat swinging himself to and fro in a rockingchair on the pavement


as the coach stops a gentleman in a straw hat looks out of the window straw hat


to the stout gentleman in the rockingchair


i reckon thats judge jefferson ant it


brown hat


still swinging speaking very slowly and without any emotion what ever


yes sir straw hat


warm weather judge brown hat


there was a snap of cold last week


yes sir


a pause


they look at each other very seriously


straw hat


i calculate youll have got through that case of the corporation judge by this time now


how did the verdict go sir


for the defendant sir straw hat


interrogatively


affirmatively


both


musingly as each gazes down the street


another pause


they look at each other again still more seriously than before


brown hat


this coach is rather be hind its time to day i guess


doubtingly


rrown hat


looking at his watch


yes sir nigh upon two hours


raising his eyebrows in very great surprise


yes sir


decisively as he puts up his watch


all the other inside passengers among themselves


yes sir coachman in a very surly tone


no it ant


straw hat to the coachman


well i dont know sir


we were a pretty tall time coming that last fifteen miles


thats a fact


the coachman making no reply and plainly declining to enter into any con troversy on a subject so far removed from his sympathies and feelings another pas senger says yes sir and the gentle man in the straw hat in acknowledgment of his courtesy says yes sir to him in return


the straw hat then inquires of the blown hat whether that coach in which he the straw hat then sits is not a new one


to which the brown hat again makes answer yes sir straw hat


i thought so


pretty loud smell of varnish sir


brown hat


all the other inside passengers


yes sir brown hat to the company in general


yes sir


the conversational powers of the com pany having been by this time pretty heavily taxed the straw hat opens the door and gets out and all the rest alight also


we dine soon afterwards with the boarders in the house and have nothing to drink but tea and coffee


as they are both very bad and the water is worse i ask for brandy but it is a temperance hotel and spirits are not to be had for love or money


this preposterous forcing of unpleasant drinks down the reluctant throats of travellers is not at all uncom mon in america but i never discovered that the scruples of such wincing land lords induced them to preserve any un usually nice balance between the quality of their fare and their scale of charges on the contrary i rather suspected them of diminishing the one and exalting the other by way of recompense for the loss of their profit on the sale of spirituous liquors


after all perhaps the plainest course for persons of such tender con sciences would be a total abstinence from tavernkeeping


dinner over we get into another ve hicle which is ready at the door for the coach has been changed in the interval and resume our journey which continues through the same kind of country until evening when we come to the town where we are to stop for tea and supper and having delivered the mailbags at the postoffice ride through the usual wide street lined with the usual stores and houses the drapers always having hung up at their door by way of sign a piece of bright red cloth to the hotel where this mail is prepared


there being many boarders here we sit down a large party and a very melancholy one as visual


but there is a buxom hostess at the head of the table and opposite a simple welsh schoolmaster with his wife and child who came here on a speculation of greater promise than performance to teach the classics and they are suffi cient subjects of interest until the meal is over and another coach is ready


in it we go on once more lighted by a bright moon until midnight when we stop to change the coach again and remain for half an hour or so in a miserable room with a blurred lithograph of washington over the smoky fireplace and a mighty jug of cold water on the table to which refreshment the moody passengers do so apply themselves that they would seem to be one and all keen patients of doctor sangrado


among them is a very little boy who chews tobacco like a very big one and a droning gentleman who talks arithmetically and statistically on all sub jects from poetry downwards and who always speaks in the same key with exactly the same emphasis and with very grave deliberation


he came outside just now and told me how that the uncle of a cer tain young lady who had been spirited away and married by a certain captain lived in these parts and how this uncle was so valiant and ferocious that he shouldnt wonder if he were to follow the said cap tain to england and shoot him down in the street wherever he found him in the feasibility of which strong measure i being for the moment rather prone to con tradiction from feeling half asleep and very tired declined to acquiese assuring him that if the uncle did resort to it or gratified any other little whim of the like nature he would find himself one morning pre maturely throttled at the old bailey and that he would do well to make his will before he went as he would certainly want it before he had been in britain very long


on we go all night and bye


and bye the day begins to break and presently the first cheerful rays of the warm sun come slanting on us brightly


it sheds its light upon a miserable waste of sodden grass and dull trees and squalid huts whose aspect is forlorn and grievous in the last degree


a very desert in the wood whose growth of green is dank and noxious like that upon the top of standing water where poisonous fungus grows in the rare footprint on the oozy ground and sprouts like witches coral from the crevices in the cabin wall and floor it is a hideous thing to lie upon the very threshold of a city


but it was purchased years ago and as the owner cannot be discovered the the state has been unable to reclaim it


so there it remains in the midst of culti vation and improvement like ground accursed and made obscene and rank by some great crime


we reached columbus shortly before seven oclock and staid there to refresh that day and night having excellent apart ments in a very large unfinished hotel called the neill house which were richly fitted with the polished wood of the black walnut and opened on a handsome portico and stone verandah like rooms in some italian mansion


the town is clean and pretty and of course is going to be much larger


it is the seat of the state legislature of ohio and lays claim in con sequence to some consideration and im portance


there being no stagecoach next day upon the road we wished to take i hired an extra at a reasonable charge to carry us to tiffin a small town from whence there is a railroad to sandusky


this extra was an ordinary fourhorse stagecoach such as i have described changing horses and drivers as the stage coach would but was exclusively our own for the journey


to ensure our having horses at the proper stations and being incommoded by no strangers the pro prietors sent an agent on the box who was to accompany us the whole way through and thus attended and bearing with us besides a hamper full of savoury cold meats and fruit and wine we started off again in high spirits at halfpast six oclock next morning very much delighted to be by ourselves and disposed to enjoy even the roughest journey


it was well for us that we were in this humour for the road we went over that day was certainly enough to have shaken tempers that were not resolutely at set fair down to some inches below stormy


at one time we were all flung together in a heap at the bottom of the coach and at another we were crushing our heads against the roof


now one side was down deep in the mire and we were hold ing on to the other


now the coach was lying on the tails of the two wheelers and now it was rearing up in the air in a frantic state with all four horses standing on the top of an insurmountable emi nence looking cooly back at it as though they would say unharness us


it cant be done the drivers on these roads who certainly get over the ground in a manner which is quite miraculous so twist and turn the team about in forcing a pas sage corkscrewfashion through the bogs and swamps that it was quite a common cir cumstance on looking out of the window to see the coachman with the ends of a pair of reins in his hands apparently driving nothing or playing at horses and


the leaders staring at one unexpectedly from the back of the coach as if they had some idea of getting up behind


a great portion of the way was over what is called a corduroy road which is made by throw ing trunks of trees into a marsh and leaving them to settle there


the very slightest of the jolts with which the pon derous carriage fell from log to log was enough it seemed to have dislocated all the bones in the human body


it would be impossible to experience a similar set of sensations in any other circumstances unless perhaps in attempting to go up to the top of st pauls in an omnibus


never never once that day was the coach in any position attitude or kind of motion to which we are accustomed in coaches


never did it make the smallest approach to ones experience of the proceedings of any sort of vehicle that goes on wheels


still it was a fine day and the tem perature was delicious and though we had left summer behind us in the west and were fast leaving spring we were moving towards niagara and home


we alighted in a pleasant wood towards the middle of the day dined on a fallen tree and leaving our best fragments with a cottager and our worst with the pigs who swarm in this part of the country like grains of sand on the seashore to the great comfort of our commissariat in ca nada we went forward again gaily


as night came on the track grew nar rower and narrower until at last it so lost itself among the trees that the driver seemed to find his way by instinct


we had the comfort of knowing at least that there was no danger of his falling asleep for every now and then a wheel would strike against an unseen stump with such a jerk that he was fain to hold on pretty tight and pretty quick to keep himself upon the box


nor was there any reason to dread the least danger from furious driving inasmuch as over that broken ground the horses had enough to do to walk as to shying there was no room for that and a herd of wild ele phants could not have run away in such a wood with such a conch at their heels


so we stumbled along quite satisfied


these slumps of trees are a curious feature in american travelling


the varying illusions they present to the unac customed eye as it grows dark are quite astonishing in their number and reality


now there is a grecian urn erected in the centre of a lonely field now there is a woman weeping at a tomb now a very commonplace old gentleman in a white waistcoat with a thumb thrust into each armhole of his coat now a student poring on a book now a crouching negro now a horse a dog a cannon an armed man a hunchback throwing off his cloak and step ping forth into the light


they were often as entertaining to me as so many glasses in a magic lantern and never took their shapes at my bidding but seemed to force themselves upon me whether i would or no and strange to say i sometimes re cognised in them counterparts of figures once familiar to me in pictures attached to childish books forgotten long ago


it soon became too dark however even for this amusement and the trees were so close together that their dry branches rattled against the coach on either side and obliged us all to keep our heads within


it lightened too for three whole hours each flash being very bright and blue and long and as the vivid streaks came dart ing in among the crowded branches and the thunder rolled gloomily above the tree tops one could scarcely help thinking that there were better neighbourhoods at such a time than thick woods afforded


at length between ten and eleven oclock at night a few feeble lights ap peared in the distance and upper san dusky an indian village where we were to stay till morning lay before us


they were gone to bed at the log inn which was the only house of entertainment in the place but soon answered to our knocking and got some ten for us in a sort of kitchen or common room tapestried with old newspapers pasted against the wall


the bedchamber to which my wife and i were shown was a large low ghostly room with a quantity of withered branches on the hearth and two doors without any fastening opposite to each other both opening on the black night and wild country and so contrived that one of them always blew the other open a novelty in domestic architecture which i do not remember to have seen before and which i was somewhat disconcerted to have forced upon my atten tion after getting into bed as i had a con siderable sum in gold for our travelling expenses in my dressingcase


some of the luggage however piled against the pannels soon settled this difficulty and my sleep would not have been very much affected that night i believe though it had failed to do so


my boston friend climbed up to bed somewhere in the roof where another guest was already snoring hugely


but being bitten beyond his power of endu rance he turned out again and fled for shelter to the coach which was airing it self in front of the house


this was not a very politic step as it turned out for the pigs scenting him and looking upon the coach as a kind of pie with some manner of meat inside grunted round it so hideously that he was afraid to come out again and lay there shivering till morning


nor was it possible to warm him when he did come out by means of a glass of brandy for in indian villages the legislature with a very good and wise intention forbids the sale of spirits by tavern keepers


the pre caution however is quite inefficacious for the indians never fail to procure liquor of a worse kind at a dearer price from travelling pedlars


it is a settlement of the wyandot in dians who inhabit this place


among the company at breakfast was a mild old gen tleman who had been for many years em ployed by the united states government in conducting negotiations with the indi ans and who had just conclude


a treaty with these people by which they bound themselves in consideration of a certain annual sum to remove next year to some land provided for them west of the mis sissippi and a little way beyond st louis


he gave me a moving account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their infancy and in particular to the burialplaces of their kindred and of their great reluctance to leave them


he had witnessed many such removals and always with pain though he knew that they de parted for their own good


the question whether this tribe should go or stay had been discussed among them a day or two before in a hunt erected for the purpose the logs of which still lay upon the ground before the inn


when the speaking was done the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite sides and every male adult voted in his turn


the moment the result was known the minority a large one cheer fully yielded to the rest and withdrew all kind of opposition


we met some of these poor indians afterwards riding on shaggy ponies


they were so like gipsies that if i could have seen any of them in england i should have concluded as a matter of course that they belonged lo that wandering and rest less people


leaving this town directly after break fast we pushed forward again over a rather worse road than yesterday if possi ble and arrived about noon at tiflin where we parted with the extra


at two oclock we took the railroad the travelling on which was very slow its construction being indiffrent and the ground wet and marshy and arrived at sandusky in time to dine that evening


we put up at a comfortable little hotel on the brink of lake erie lay there that night and had no choice but to wait there next day until a steamboat bound for buffalo appeared


the town which was sluggish and uninteresting enough was something like the back of an english watering place out of the season


our host who was very attentive and anxious to make us comfortable was a handsome middle aged man who had come to this town from new england in which part of the country he was raised


when i say that he constantly walked in and out of the room with his hat on and stopped to converse in the same freeand easy state and lay down on our sofa and pulled his newspaper out of his pocket and read it at his case i merely mention these traits as characteristic of the country not at all as being matter of complaint or as having been disagreeable to me


i should un doubtedly be offended by such proceedings at home because there they are not the custom and where they are not they would be impertinencies but in america the only desire of a goodnatured fellow of this kind is to treat his guests hospitably and well and i had no more right and i can truly say no more disposition to measure his conduct by our english rule and stan dard than i had to quarrel with him for not being of the exact stature which would qualify him for admission into the queens grenadier guards


as little inclination had i to find fault with a funny old lady who was an upper domestic in this es tablishment and who when she came to wait upon us at any meal sat herself down comfortably in the most convenient chair and produced a large pin to pick her teeth with remained performing that ceremony and steadfastly regarding us meanwhile with much gravity and composure now and then pressing us to eat a little more until it was time to clear away


it was enough for us that whatever we wished done was done with great civility and readiness and a desire to oblige not only here but every where else and that all our wants were in general zealously anticipated


we were taking an early dinner at this house on the day after our arrival which was sunday when a steamboat came in sight and presently touched at the wharf


as she proved to be on her way to buf falo we hurried on board with all speed and soon left sandusky far behind us


she was a large vessel of five hundred tons and handsomely fitted up though with high pressureengines which always conveyed that kind of feeling to me which i should be likely to experience i think if i had lodgings on the first floor of a powdermill


she was laden with flour some casks of which commodity were stored upon the deck


the captain coming up to have a little conversation and to introduce a friend seated himself astride of one of these barrels like a bacchus of private life and pulling a great clasp knife out of his pocket began to whittle it as he talked by paring thin slices off the edges


and he whittled with such in dustry and hearty good will that but for his being called away very soon it must have disappeared bodily and left nothing in its place but grist and shavings


after calling at one or two flat places with low dams stretched out into the lake whereon were stumpy lighthouses like windmills without sails the whole looking like a dutch vignette we came at mid night to cleveland where we lay all night and until nine oclock next morning


i entertained quite a curiosity in refer ence to this place from having seen at sandusky a specimen of its literature in the shape of a newspaper which was very strong indeed upon the subject of lord ashburtons recent arrival at washington to adjust the points in dispute between the united states government and great britain informing its readers that as america had whipped england in her infancy and whipped her again in her youth so it was clearly necessary that she must whip her once again in her maturity and pledging its credit to all true ameri cans that if mr webster did his duty in the approaching negotiations and sent the english lord home again in double quick time they should within two years sing yankee doodle in hyde park and hail columbia in the scarlet courts of west minster


i found it a pretty town and had the satisfaction of beholding the out side of the office of the journal from which i have just quoted


i did not enjoy the delight of seeing the wit who indited the paragraphs in question but i have no doubt he is a prodigious man in his way and held in high repute by a select circle


there was a gentleman on board to whom as i unintentionally learned through the thin partition which divided our state room from the cabin in which he and his wife conversed together i was unwittingly the occasion of very great uneasiness


i dont know why or wherefore but i appeared to run in his mind perpetually and to dissa tisfy him very much


first of all i heard him say and the most ludicrous part of the business was that he said it in my very ear and could not have communicated more directly with me if he had leaned upon my shoulder and whispered me boz is on board still my dear


after a consi derible pause he added complainingly boz keeps himself very close which was true enough for i was not very well and was lying down with a book


i thought he had done with me after this but i was deceived for a long interval having elapsed during which i imagine him to have been turning rest lessly from side to side and trying to go to sleep he broke out again with i suppose that boz will be writing a book bye and bye and putting all our names in it


at which imaginary consequence of being on board a boat with boz he groaned and became silent


we called at the town of erie at eight oclock that night and lay there an hour


between five and six oclock in the morn ing we arrived at buffalo where we break fasted and being too near the great falls to wait patiently anywhere else we set off by the train the same morning at nine oclock to niagara


it was a miserable day chilly and raw a damp mist falling and the trees in that northern region quite bare and wintry


whenever the train halted i listened for the roar and was constantly training my eyes in the direction where i knew the falls must be from seeing the river rolling on towards them every mo ment expecting to behold the spray


within a few minutes of our stopping not before i saw two great white clouds rising up slowly and majestically from the depths of the earth


that was all


at length we alighted and then for the first time i heard the mighty rush of water and felt the ground tremble underneath my feet


the bank was very steep and was slippery with rain and half melted ice


i hardly know how i got down but i was soon at the bottom and climbing with two english officers who were crossing and had joined me over some broken rocks deafened by the noise half blinded by the spray and wet to the skin we were at the foot of the american fall


i could see an immense torrent of water tearing headlong down from some height but had no idea of shape or situation or any thing but vogue immensity


when we were seated in the little ferry boat and were crossing the swollen river immediately before both cataracts i began to feel what it was but i was in a man ner stunned and unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene


it was not un til i came on table rock and looked great heaven on what a fall of bright green water


that it came upon me in its full might and majesty


then when i felt how near to my creator i was standingthe first effect and the enduring oneinstant and lasting of the tremendous spectacle was peace peace of mindtranquillitycalm re collections of the deadgreat thoughts of eternal rest and happiness nothing of gloom or terror


niagara was at once stamped upon my heart an image of beauty to remain there changeless and indelible until its pulses cease to beat for ever


oh how the strife and trouble of our daily life receded from my view and lessened in the distance during the ten memorable days we passed on that en chanted ground


what voices spoke from out the thundering water what faces faded from the earth looked out upon me from its gleaming depths what heavenly promise glistened in those angels tears the drops of many hues that showered around and twined themselves about the gorgeous arches which the changing rain bows made


i never stirred in all that time from the canadian side whither i had gone at first i never crossed the river again for i knew there were people on the other shore and in such a place it is natural to shun strange company


to wander to and fro all day and see the cataracts from all points of view to stand upon the edge of the great horseshoe fall marking the hurried water gather ing strength as it approached the verge yet seeming too to pause before it shot into the gulf below to gaze from the rivers level tip at the torrent as it came streaming down to climb the neighbouring heights and watch it through the trees and see the wreathing water in the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge to linger in the shadow of the solemn rocks three miles below watching the river as stirred by no visible cause it heaved and eddied and awoke the echoes being troubled yet far down beneath the surface by its giant leap to have niagara before me lighted by the sun and by the moon red in the days decline and grey as evening slowly fell upon it to look upon it every day and wake up in the night and hear its ceaseless voice this was enough


i think in every quiet season now still do these waters roll and leap and roar and tumble all day long still are the rain bows spanning them a hundred feet below


still when the sun is on them do they shine and glow like molten gold


still when the day is gloomy do they fall like snow or seem to crumble away like the front of a great chalk cliff or roll down the rock like dense white smoke


but always does the mighty stream appear to die as it comes down and always from its unfathomable grave arises that tremendous ghost of spray and mist which is never laid which has haunted this place with the same dread solemnity since darkness brooded on the deep and that first flood before the delugelightcame rushing on creation at the word of god


a voyage from sydney to south australia and back again with mems social political agricultural moral and mining


chapter


v the supreme court is held in a building which was once used for the purposes of a theatre


the drama failed and the ever flourishing law entered upon and now occupies the premises


the court was not sitting at the time i was there but i had several opportunities of seeing and conversing with the judge of the province


mr justice cooper who is a middleaged gen tlemanlike man appears to be a very well read lawyer and with a mild and benignant suavity of manner discharges his duties so satisfactorily as to have secured for himselfas general report gave it outthe universal con fidence and respect of the public at large


he is at present overworked but a second judge has been sent for and will probably soon arrive in the colony from england


and now what about the people of adelaide


what are they like


why at the first glance they are very like the people of sydney


living in a latitude only a degree south of ourselves panama hats blouses white jackets and light tweeds are of course as common in the streets of adelaide as in those of our own town


for the rest the south australians are cordial and hearty in their manners and in their persons they generally run or perhaps more correctly speaking i should say they toddle fatter than we do


from the first moment of my landing i was struck with this prevailing stoutness and al though my companions when i mentioned the circumstance said they had not observed it yet they were constantly afterwards remarking the same fact and recalling my attention to it


a larger percentage of fat round happylook ing men i never saw in any population so fat and round that we could not sometimes re sist the feeling that many of them but for pre judice and the appearance of the thing would suffer much less by lying down and rolling along the streets than they evidently does pecially in summer timein attempting to walk


the ladies are of course as handsome elegant and attractive as our own country women are everywhere and thats all we think it necessary to say about them not being disposed to run the risk of marring this delicate part of the subject by our coarse handling


there are not so many showy private equi pages in the streets of adelaide as there are in sydney nor are there in the former town as yet any public carriages plying for hire except the chaise carts before mentioned which run only between the port and the town


a few of the more successful mining speculators have however lately burst upon the world in highly varnished vehicles and in commercial phrase i am inclined to think carriages are looking up among the good folk in general


i had the good fortune to be there at the time of the holding of the yearly agricultural and horticultural show which was calculated to give a stranger a much more accurate idea of the productiveness of the south australian colony than weeks or perhaps even months of a mere desultory sojourn at any other time would enable him to acquire


this very in teresting exhibition was held in a long tent set up in the park lands about a quarter of a mile out of the town and as early as eleven and twelve oclock in the morning great num bers of respectable and welldressed people of all classes were on the move as for pleasure


after twelve oclock most of the people seemed to have struck for a halfholiday and my eyes were every five or ten minutes gladdened by the sight of a whole agricultural family circle condensed somehow or other into the cart evidently in daily use on the farm whilst not a soul from the driver downwards seemed to bestow a single thought on the horse who because he did not protest audibly had the confidence of the company as much as if he had been a locomotive steamengine


these cartloads of happy families were so like what i had fre quently seen in the country parts of old en gland that few of the fine things in the pavilion were calculated to afford a stranger half as much pleasure although they were well deserv ing of admiration as the reader will see


as our only business was to stare about us we were on the road to the show as early as any one and long before oclock p m we found ourselves melting for the day was very hot in a large crowd of respectablelooking people who were awaiting the time at which the rail was to be removed and the public admitted


there were numerous constables present to keep the peace which no one seemed inclined to break for out of the assembled four or five thousand persons who were on the ground during the day not a single police office case occurred


at one oclock the barriers are removed and the taking of the shillings commences the public are admitted one by one but so slowly as it appears to those who are being jammed into fainting fits behind that one almost thinks that every man who is paying is perversely getting change for a sovereign or a pound note


this induces the wholesome advice from those behind to those in front to get their shillings ready which elicits the disco very that there are amongst us several unhappy small boys who are not going into the show at all having only worked into the thickest part of the company and contributed to the crush from the natural taste which all boys have for a suffocating crowd whereupon with out any ceremony and with some indignation in a few of the hottest and most suffering the boys are summarily pushed and hustled off towards the outskirts of the multitude in order to give a little more room for those who are left


at length with time and patience we all get through the barrier and into the pavilion which is a spacious and handsome canvas structure of the style of the crown and anchor at greenwich fair


the first objects which temptingly solicit our attention are the different samples of grapes


there were twentyfour kinds of this fruit from mr george stevensons garden black and white hamburghgrisly black red and white frontiniacdamascus musca dine c c c all of them very beautiful bunches the largest weighing lbs


ounces


to mr stevenson the judges had awarded the first prize and to mr a h davis who also had a very fine show of grapes the second


the display of wine grapes in almost every variety known in europe were set forth at a different table


mr ansteys exhibition of apples however we consider ourselves excellent judges of apples having visited in our school boy days a great number of orchards set us longing like eve


his hawthorden and cluster russets were very good no doubt and so pro bably were his golden harveys and bedford shire foundlings but if those streaked ribston pippins and scarlet nonpareils were not equal to any that ever distressed the virtue of a wan dering schoolboy we will never trust our judgment in this fruit again


mr anstey de servedly obtained the first prize for fruit ge nerally of which there were beautiful samples of pineapples pomegranate guava twenty va rieties of apples one being a noblelooking seedling grown in south australia four varie ties of pears medlars quinces peaches necta rines plums strawberries mulberries and raspberries


the second prize for fruit was obtained by mr george stevenson


the other fruits and articles were so numerous that we can do no more than simply mention them


there were dried figs raisins jordan almonds magnificent bouquets of flowers vegetable seeds some very fine rhubarb cucumbers vegetable marrows salads carrots onions as large as spanish hops honey butter hams bacon cheese malt maize snuff wheat barley one parcel grown by a mr frame at mount barker weighing th lbs


to the bushel which took the first prize the second messrs stanford and burleys weighing th lbs


per bushel


oats grown by a mr mott of watergate taking the first prize weighed per bushel th pounds and the second prize weighing pounds grown by mr shakes of nairne


the specimens of wines we had no opportunity of tasting and therefore we present what has been published in the south australian gazette about them from the pen of a writer who had evidently better means of judging than we had


winethe competitors for this important article were mr armstrong mr john baker and mr duffield


we rejoice to say that upon the whole and making every allowance for the youth of the wine and the unavoidable inexperience in its manufacture the samples produced today gave the highest promise of the future excellence of the wines of south australia


we tasted all the samples and what pleased us most in doing so was that not one of them resembled in the slightest degree the wines of the cape of good hope


they were one and all wholly free from that earthy and inexpressibly disagreeable fustiness we use the term for want of one more de scriptivewhich is the peculiar characteristic of all the wines from that quarter


the wines made by mr baker and mr duffield were sound and pleasantly flavoured and were quite equal to the same description of white wines exhibited by mr anstey


the frontignac produced by the last named gentleman was a perfect wine of its classand in all respects as good for a new wine as could be made in any district of france


to this wine the prize s was awarded


mr anstey exhibited a red wine of last years vintagesound and of great body though of course requiring age to mellow it


we look upon the success of this last wine as of much greater importance than any other variety and we trust mr anstey will at the coming vintage direct more than usual care to its manufacture


bytheby we never meet with any criticism of the last vintage of new south wales in any colonial paper in new south wales why is this


the show of wheat was very fine the grain being as large plump and heavy as any grown in an english county the first prize s was awarded to mr frame the success ful competitor of the previous yearthe weight per bushel was th lbs and as the south australian gazette says was re markable for its cleanness and regularity


the second prize s was taken by messrs sandford and burley weight per bushel being th lbs


the judges con sidered this second sample to be the best wheat but it was not so clean as the first


the articles which came more properly under the head of manufactures were certainly not the least interesting part of the show


there was a lead pumpa very good one to look at and as i was told also a good one to pump manufactured from colonial lead by mr cham berlain


for this he received a prize of five guineas


there were also a number of articles of brassfoundery manufactured by mr pybus a brass forcepump a church bell the tone of which it was said could be heard a distance of four miles which i do not doubt for an atro cious boy who presided over this instrument rang conviction into the ear of every passerby who appeared to be particularly disgusted with the noise


besides this there were house and cattle bells alarm bells elegant bronze scrapers all of colonial metal for which mr pybus re joiced in a prize of five guineas


there was also a very beautiful little steam engine of six horse power which was made by a mr wyatt and which drew a prize of five guineas


a very neat and nicely finished brass counter en gine manufacturers messrs little and saint received a prize of two guineas


a mr george bean seemed to haye concentrated his genius upon the preparation of leather of which the were the following varieties


horse hides of cordovan


seal skins


dogskins


kangaroo skins


calf skins boot legs boottops sides of sole leather boar shield brown harness hogskin for saddles brown seal goat skin brown skin mats white skin mats dog skin in the hair


the judges highly approving of mr beans manufacture recom mended that a prize of s should be awarded to him


basket osiers and straw plat were also exhibited the former of which having been newly introduced by mr duffield secured a prize therefore to that gentleman


the above is merely an abridgement from the south australian gazette of the account of the different fruits commodities and articles exhibited but having seen and examined the whole of them myself i can speak to the ac count being correct and unexaggerated


as many very sensible and prudent men have within my hearing expressed a suspicion that the south australians were going rather mad about their mines and were in a fair way to neglect in their favour the slowerless fascinating but perhaps surer means of securing the prosperity of the community at large i have at the risk of being dull given in detail as above the large variety of indications of south australian industry and enterprise witnessed by myself


from them it will be clearly seen that howsoever sanguine our southern neighbours are about their wealth un


der the earthand that they are very sanguine indeed the reader will see from the account i shall give of themthey by no means neglect those other great branches of industry which are not less indispensable for advancing small communities into great nations


erratum in chapter ivin line from the end for and therefore creaking c read i creaked my boots as little as possible as i evacuated the gallery in favour ot the reporter and once more regained the open air and took to the town


a new series


the mysteries of sydney or the revelations of sin shame and sorrow


chapter x the disposition of the charac tershawk kitely esq holds a levee


it is a custom with dramatists to give a dis position of the characters previous to the fall the curtain so that each one may know his place in the grand tableau and fall most properly in the picture neither thrusting himself too prominently into light nor retiring too modestly into shadow