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The Zigzag Series.

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN EUROPE.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN CLASSIC LANDS.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE ORIENT.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE OCCIDENT.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN NORTHERN LANDS.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN ACADIA.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE LE.VANT.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE SUNNY SOUTH.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN INDIA.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE ANTIPODES.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE BRITISH
ISLES.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN THE GREA T NORTH-
WEST.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

ESTES AND LAURIAT, Publishers,

BOSTON, MASS.

A MAIL-CARRIER OF THE AUSTRALIAN INTERIOR.

Zigzag Journeys

AUSTRALIA;

OR,

A VISIT TO THE OCEAN WORLD,

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED.

BOSTON:

ESTES AND LAURIAT,

PUBLISHERS.

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.

Qsio
13n X

PREFACE.

T is the purpose of the Zigzag books to give a
view of the political and moral progress of different
countries, in order that young people may intelligently
discuss the topics of the times. This volume seeks
among its interpolated stories and incidents of travel
to explain, —

The Australian Ballot System, its history and influence; the
Wakefield Theory that the profits of the rise in value of waste lands
caused by immigration should be shared by the immigrants ; the
great reformation wrought in the lives of tens of thousands of
transported convicts by the opportunity of securing new homes in
new lands where their old tempters and errors did not follow them ;
the teaching of temperance physiology in the Australian schools ;
and the progressive ideas of young Australia, and their influence
on the world.

The author is indebted to Mr. Douglas Sladen, the Australian
poet, for courtesies and helps; to Mr. C. A. Stephens for the use
of a part of his illustrative story on the Black Men ; and to the
"Christian Union," " Chautauquan," and "Youth's Companion" for
matter which he originally wrote for their pages, and which were
first published by them ; and to the latter paper for the use of Mr.
Eden's "story, and the narrative of the late Captain Jordan.

28 Worcester St., Boston, Mass.

4HSS31
LIB8EK

CONTENTS.

Chapter Pace

I. The Far Continent of the Sea 13

II. The Wonderful Features of Australia 36

III. Grandfather Tamany's New England Home . . , 57

IV. Captain Bridewell's Story of Life among the Black Australians . So
V. Thanksgiving at Captain Tamany's .... 103

VL What Australia teaches in Regard to Moral Recovery . . . . 118

VII. The Ocean Cure 130

VIII. The Sea-Birds 143

IX. Catching a Ghost by Flash-Light* 149

X. More Queer Stories at Sea 166

XI. The Conquest of the Whale. — New Zealand 180

XII. A Sabbath at Sea 193

XIII. The Austral World 213

XIV. The Famous Zigzag Railway over the Blue Mountains 242

XV. Old Allspice's Strange Story :22

XVI. x'Vnother Excursion over the Zigzag 272

XVII. The Delightful Schools of Australia. — The Temperance Teach-
ing. — The Bower- Bird 282

XVIII. The Australian Poets 295

XIX. A Visit to Queensland, the Land of the Eucalyptus 309

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

A Mail-Carrier of the Australian Interior

Frontispiece

Grass-Trees 14

Captain Cook 15

Death of Cook 16

On Buzzard's Bay 17

A Kangaroo Battue 20

Sumner's Sarcophagus 23

Sunset in the Bay 25

Natives of Australia hunting the Kanga-
roo 31

Australia's Giant Trees 37

An Australian Sheep 38

A Corroboree 39

The Tasmanian Devil 42

The Giant King-Fisher, or Laughing

Jackass 46

The Hundred- Weight Nugget .... 50

" Only his Cockatoo to greet him " . . 52

Sunrise in the Indian Ocean .... 53

Massasoit welcomed by the Puritans . 59

A Princess of Massachusetts .... 61

Death of King PhiHp 63

An Australian Bear and her Young . . 66

The Cradock Mansion, Medford ... 70

An Indian alarmed T})

A Native Hunt in Australia .... 77

Dingoes 84

Young Austr.ilians 87

Native of South y\ustralia 89

" He dealt the Boa a Succession of Sharp

Blows ■' 97

A Kangaroo at Bay 10 1

The Old Negro Preacher and the Chest-
nut

Near the Source of the Murray . .

A Devil-Fish of the Indian Ocean

An Australian Whip

A Waddy Fight

Statue of Captain Cook, at Sydney .

" Its Broad Expanse of Water" .

On the Sea . .

The Province House

The Indian Ocean

The Albatross

A King Penguin

A Victorian Lake

Coaching in Victoria. — A Sharp Corner

The Bottle-Tree

Aunt Heart Delight's Beau ....

" Seas of Sun and Calm "

An Abandoned Wreck

The Southern Pacific ......

Pitcairn Island

The Crew of the " Bounty " at Otaheite

Captain Bligh of the " Bounty " cast Adrift

A Descendant of the Mutineers of the
'• Bounty " on Board of a Visiting Man-
of-War

Whaling in the Arctic Ocean ....

The " John Williams," Missionary Ship

Natives of New Zealand and their Homes

New Zealand

A New Zealand Merry-Go-Round

New Zealanders in the Canoes

A Coral Island of the Pacific ....

Page

105
to7

•9
:i

1-5

[33
[35
[39
146
r48
50
51
[55
161

167
[68
[69

[75

178

183
187
188
189
191
192
195

ILL USTRA T/OJVS.

Page

Mount Kosciusko, New South Wales . 203

In an Australian Forest . . . . . . 211

Government House and General Post-

Office, Adelaide 215

Public School, Adelaide 216

Botanical Gardens at Adelaide . . . 217

Camel Teams, South Australia . . . 218

Melbourne, 1840 220

A Railway Pier, Melbourne . . . . 221

The Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne . . 223
Government Buildings, Macquarie Street,

Sydney 224

View of Sydney Twenty Years Ago . , . 225

The Town Hall, Sydney 229

Views in Sydney : Government House,

the Cathedral, and Sydney Heads . . 233

On the South Esk, Tasmania .... 235

On the River Derwent, Tasmania . . 236

Corra Lynn, Tasmania 237

The " Erebus " and " Terror "in the Ice

of the Antarctic Sea 239

Mounts Erebus and Terror .... 240

Zigzag Railway in the Blue Mountains . 243

Gum-Trees on the Blackspur River . 245

Cascade on the Blackspur 247

The Laughing Jackass 248

" A Little Head protruded from her

Pouch " 249

Page

A Boomerang . 250

Silver-Stem Eucalypts 253

The Eucalyptus serving as a Bridge . . 257
Railroad through the Gippsland Forest,

Victoria 262

" I lived all Alone in a Shack " ... 266
Vineyard of St. Hubert on the Yarra

Yarra River 268

Yarra Yarra River, at St. Hubert . . . 270

Emu Plains, New South Wales . . . 273

The Valley of the Grose 274

The River Murray in a Freshet . . . 275

Traces of Civilization 279

On Lake Wellington, Victoria . . . 283

Australian Vegetation 285

Views in Tasmania 291

The Bower-Bird 294.

The Lyre-Bird 296

Courtship in Western Queensland . . 297

The Mad Shepherd 303

A Pioneer of Australia ...... 307

A Native Encampment, Queensland . 310

"A Rough Mining Cabin" 311

Roadway through the Silver-Stem Euca-
lypts 3'3

Turnsville, North Queensland . . . 314

Sugar Plantation, Queensland ... 315

Brisbane 317

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER I.

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA.

The History of the Wakefield Theory and of the Australian Ballot System, and
THE Queer Story of the Old Gray Goose that kept a Flying School.

CEANICA, — the fifth continent, the fra^^
ments of a once great ocean world !
Strange animals and birds were found
there by the early voyagers and dis-
coverers ; strange birds and flowers,
and stranger men. There once lived
the dodo; there was found the emu,
the wonderful kangaroo, and more re-
--'- markable yet, the platypus, — an ani-

mal half beast and half bird, that lays eggs, or in fact,
a beaver with a bill. There the beautiful lyre-bird was
found in the great reed fields and marshes, proud of his beautiful
plumes, and charming his mate as he passed before her in the burning
atmospheres. There the tawny tiger snake was discovered ; and tlie
adventurer was warned against its deadly fangs. There startled
sailors saw animals flying through the air in the dusk of the even-
ings and under the dim moon, — animals like cats moving abou:

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

in the airy regions as upon invisible trees, seemingly all bodies and
heads, without wings or feet. The odd pitcher-tree was there, and
the curious grass-tree.

There the people roamed about naked, and lived like the animals.
There were the boomerang people, whose deadly weapons returned to

them again, as evil deeds do to the
dwellers in all lands. Men were
there who ate raw flesh ; some who
ate human flesh. Moral ideas there
were none. Men were governed by
their appetites and passions ; it was
a vast region of war and blood, —
an island world of human strifes, yet
beautiful as the gardens of Hesper,
full of fruits and flowers, ever glo-
rious wuth the sun and the rising
and falling tides of the 'sea.

It was Captain Cook who made
known to the world this vast con-
tinent of gardens of the sea.

Capt. James Cook, one of the
most celebrated of English navigators, was born in Yorkshire in 1728.
He was a common sailor in his early years ; but he entered the royal
navy, and having an inquiring mind, he learned so many useful things
that he was made a ship-master. While a marine surveyor he made
charts that drew the attention of certain members of the Royal
Society who were looking for some trustworthy commander to take
charge of an expedition to the South Seas to observe the transit of
Venus across the disk of the sun. They honored Cook with the com-
mission. He sailed from Plymouth, England, in 1768, and arrived at
Tahiti after a voyage of some eight months. He visited New Zealand,
and afterward New Holland, now called Australia, but which he

GRASS-TREES.

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA.

named New South Wales. The young reader should procure the
" Life of Captain Cook," which may be found in almost any good
library. This explorer's adventures are more marvellous than the
story of Robinson Crusoe. He was a real Sinbad the Sailor, and a
review of his life, if the reader has
any adequate knowledge of the con-
dition of these islands at the present
time, shows how wonderfully nations
change under civilizing influences.
Captain Cook was killed by the na-
tives of Hawaii in 1779. The latter
had stolen a boat from his ship, and
he went to the shore to recover it.
The wild men fell upon him and
overcame him before he could re-
ceive assistance. His death filled
England with great sorrow; and his
memory has been honored by many
memorials, amono^ them a noble
monument at Sydney.

Capt. John Tamany was a sea-captain of New Bedford in the
years of the conquest of the whale. He bore the name of Captain
Jack in port, and he spelled his name Tamany, though he was captain
and part owner of a ship which was named " Tammany." Capt.
Jack Tamany of the " Tammany " comprehended his simple his-
tory for many years. New Bedford became a flourishing seaport
town through the whale fisheries; she grew rich through the harvests
of the sea. After the war of 181 2, and until the finding of wells of
oil in Pennsylvania and the oil regions of the middle west, Buzzard's
Bay, on which New Bedford is situated, was full of whale ships. The
port at one time harbored some four hundred vessels. Some of the
captains of these vessels met with reverses, but they, as a rule, became

CAPTAIN COOK,

ZIGZAG JOL/RA'EVS IN AUSTRALIA.

well-to-do, if not rich men, and retired from their perilous occupation
to spend the afternoon of life on fine estates.

Captain Tamany had made many prosperous voyages, and he
was able to purchase a fine farm near New Bedford overlooking
the bay.

DEATH OF COOK.

He had sailed round the Horn — "doubled Cape Horn," as he
called his voyages to the Pacific Ocean — many times. He had visited
the Northern Pacific Ocean three times ; and he did not meet with
losses when a great number of New Bedford vessels were wrecked
at one time in that far ocean world.

He had visited Fiji. " Beautiful Fiji " he used to call the island ;
and wonderful were the stories that he used to relate to his grand-
children of the shores of that " quiet sea."

" Talk of sowing turnip-seed," he used to say to his gardener, "why,
man, in Fiji seed sprouts and bursts in the ground in one day.
Plant turnip-seed one morning, and the next morning it is 2ip, and

nuiswr

-iiiiiiiiiiiiilililiiiiiiiiiliillliiiiiiiililiilliliilJiiiii

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA. 1 9

in four weeks the turnips are all ready for eating. There bread grows
on the trees. What do you think of that, man, — what do you think
of that ? "

If his gardener stopped to stare at such a statement, the indus-
trious captain would say, " Work away, work away. 'T was nothing
uncommon; work away."

Captain Tamany, like Tammany, the old Delaware chieftain who
gave the name to the Tammany Halls of Philadelphia, New York,
and other places, had a local reputation for sound judgment, and
people often came to him for advice. Every land that he had visited
had taught him something new. Fiji had. He had seen the King
of the Cannibal Islands converted to Christianity, and used to say,
" Any man can reform if he has a sufficient reason for it. Offer a
drunkard a thousand dollars to keep from his cups a week, and he
can do it. If not, offer him ten thousand. The missionary offered
heaven to the poor cannibal, and it was enough. Any man can over-
come his sins if he has a sufficient inducement."

Captain Tamany had many social and political theories. He
used to talk of them almost constantly when in port. One of these
he called —

THE WAKEFIELD THEORY.

About the year 1830 there arose in England some enthusiastic
political theorists, now known as the " Theorists of 1830," who taught
that the waste land of the British empire should be occupied by set-
tlers ; and that as immigration was the cause of the rise in the value
of new lands, the profits of such increased values belonged to the
immigrants themselves. Therefore, according to this theory the Gov-
ernment should use such profits to assist emigration, and to build
homes, institutions, and towns for the immigrrants, and thereby add
to the wealth, power, and glory of the British nation. The leader

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

of these theorists was Edward Gibbon Wakefield. He published a
book which may be found in many libraries, advocating these ideas.
The result of these theories has been reviewed in a book entitled
" New Zealand after Fifty Years," ^y Edward Wakefield.

#^^"- J

KANGAROO BATTUE.

The Wakefield theory met with strong opposition at the time, but
was favored by the Duke of Wellington. For this reason the great
commercial city of New Zealand was named Wellington.

The colonies of New Zealand and of Adelaide in New South
Wales were the results of the ideas of the " Theorists of 1830."
Captain Tamany held that these were the right principles of
colonization.

" Look at Adelaide," he used to say ; " she is the model city of the
world. Look at her schools, churches, gardens, and parks ; and look

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA. 2 1

at her homes. I believe in giving subsidies to ships, and farms to the
poor, and on the same principles, in helping the poor build houses.
Homes are the strength of a nation. England was wise when she
helped her colonists build homes. I would have it so here. I
would have the Government become the father of the poor."

Captain Tamany seemed to anticipate much of the speculative
thought of recent times. He was never more happy than when he
could secure some sympathetic listener to the views suggested by
the Wakefield Theory. He once wished to be nominated for Con-
gress on the principle that the Government ought to loan money to
poor people at very low rates of interest, to build homes. He claimed
that such an enactment would enrich the nation and make o^ood
citizens and build up noble communities more readily and rapidly
than in any other way.

He was also an enthusiastic advocate of the secret ballot, or the —

AUSTRALIAN BALLOT SYSTEM.

Long before the secret ballot was adopted by the Legislature of
Massachusetts, Captain Tamany used to go to the polls in New Bed-
ford, saying, " You ought to see how they do it in Australia ! "

Nothing at this time so much offended him as to be asked
how he was going to vote at an impending election.

" I shall wait until the evidence of how I ought to vote is all in,
and then I shall vote according to my convictions," he used to say,
and add, " He who instructs me how to vote insults my intelligence."

The ways to the voting precincts in New Bedford used to be lined
with political workers offering ballots. Captain Tamany was a very
even-tempered man, but he used to quite lose self-control at such
times, and exclaim, "Oh, I wish that I were in Australia!"

The Australian Ballot System, or the privilege of voting secretly,

2 2 ZIGZAG JOURXEYS I\ AUSTRALIA.

owes its beginning to Francis S. Dutton, of the Legislature of South
Australia. He was a member of this body from 1S51 to 1865. He
found the will of the common people overborne by organized political
societies, who bribed men or caused them to vote by influence. The
political condition became so bad that independent voting became
almost impossible. The right of manhood seemed to be lost. Popular
tvranny ruled the polls; riots and bloodshed were common. Mr.
Dutton proposed to the Legislature in 185 1 the secret ballot as a
remedy for these evils. It became a law in 1857. " I can safely say,"
said Mr. Dutton before an English committee, " that no act of my life
ever save me so much satisfaction."

The bill giving to the people the right of secret ballot was at first
opposed by Sir Robert R. Torrens, a member of the Government of
South Australia; but he became a convert to it when he saw the
excellent influence of the working of the system.

This method of voting was adopted by England in 1872, and by
Canada in part in 1874. It became a part of the political systems of v
Belgium and Italy.

It was really used by the Massachusetts Legislature at the time
of the election of Charles Sumner to the United States Senate.
Twenty-five unsuccessful ballots had been cast.

" Go to your hesitating friends in the Legislature, and labor with
them, and you will be elected," said a politician to young Sumner.

" Never ! " was the answer. " I will go to Cambridge, and I will
allow no member of the Legislature to see me until the contest is
decided."

It was proposed that the twenty-sixth ballot should be taken
by the use of secret envelopes. On this ballot, taken in this manner,
Charles Sumner was elected.

The Australian Ballot System became the law of Massachusetts
in 1888. and it has since been adopted by nearly all of the States.

The Farmers' Alliance has oiven much effort to advocating

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA. 2"

schemes much like the Wakefield Theory ; so it is an odd fact that
in our recent political methods, and in much of our public thouo-ht
we have not led, but followed, the island continent of the sea.

Captain Tamany of the " Tammany " was a fluent story-teller.
At the age of sixty, he lost his only daughter, who left two children,

Sumner's sarcophagus.

Eric and Mary Hartwell. wliom he took to his home and heart
His wife was an excellent woman, of Quaker parentage. The com-
munity loved her, and pitied her as well, for she was an invalid. It
was Captain Tamany's delight to relate sea stories to his grand-
children and to his patient wife, who was always happy when he was
in port.

It was a pleasant picture to see this family in the long summer

24 • ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

evenings, as they sat on the cool verandas overlooking the city, the
port, and Buzzard's Bay, enjoying a sunset on the water. The sea-
birds drifted through the crimson sky; the bay was white with sails;
old ships lifted their masts here and there, like the tall trees left in
a hewn forest ; and the cool sea winds came through the orchards
and over the long meadows. Eric and Mary were almost always to
be seen on such evenings near their grandparents, Eric thought that
there never existed a man, except Solomon, who possessed so much
wisdom as Captain Tamany of the " Tammany ; " and the captain was
sure that Eric was the most remarkable boy that he had ever met
in all his travels by sea or land. Each loved the other, and each
was happy in the other's love.

Captain Tamany's stories were often peculiar. He was a man full
of sympathy with nev/ and progressive ideas, and he used to laugh at
his neighbors for telling people what they already knew. There was
one queer story that he once related to an advocate of some old idea,
which so much pleased his grandchildren that they often used to ask
him to repeat it. It was about a certain —

OLD GRAY GOOSE THAT KEPT A FLYING SCHOOL.

There was once an old gray Goose that had led a very lonely life. She had
wandered for years about the green pastures all alone. She had read in the
poets the cheerful promise, —

" There never was a goose so gray
But sometime, soon or late,
An honest gander came that way,
And took her for his mate."

But that gander never came. Every spring and fall the wild geese crossed the
sky; but no polite gander ever dropped down to speak with her, or to propose
mateship to her.

At last she lost all faith in the poet, and she said, " Since I shall never have
any family of my own, I will make myself a mother to the whole feathered

SUNSET ON THE BAY.

THE FAR COXTINEXT OF THE SEA.

world. I came of a high family; the wild Geese, my ancestors, all fly high. I
will pride myself on my old family history, and will open a school of art and
philosophy, and teach all the birds in the world to fly."

This seemed a very happy and useful plan, and it made her cackle with
delight, " Quack, quack, quack ! " Her cackle caused a little Duck to lift up
her head and turn it aside, and say, —

" How now, Mother Goose ! You seem to be very happy to-day. What has
happened? "

" Lucky Duck, Lucky Duck, rejoice with me ! I am going to teach all the
birds in the world how to fly. I am going to open a flying school."

" But, Goosey Lucy, you don't know how to fly yourself You never have
flown, except when chased by a dog. You have just waddled about the pas.
tures all your life. You might keep a swimming school for Ducks, but not a
flying school for Eagles. That would never do, Goosey Lucy."

" I guess you don't know what a high family I came down from," said old
Goosey Lucy, proudly. " The whole world knows that the Goose family can
fly. If some Geese don't fly, it is because they do not need to, not because
they are not highly connected."

So old Goosey Lucy wrote an essay on the " Art of Flying," and read it to
an assembly of birds called a symposium.

The birds listened to the learned essay with wonder. They all rejoiced
that the art of flying had at last been discovered, and that when Goosey Lucy
should open her College, the little birds and great birds and all the birds
would be taught how to fly.

"We have been waiting many thousand years for this new philosophy
school," said the Guinea-hen. " What an. age we live in ! "

The Eagle was the King of birds at this time, and he dropped down from
the blue sky with the sun on his wings, to attend the Symposium. He heard
what Goosey Lucy had to say on the new art of flying, and screamed, —

" Flying is not an art; it is an inspiration." And he mounted royally aloft
out of the atmosphere of quackery, and was soon lost to view in the brightness
of the sun.

Goosey Lucy was a happy bird. She looked upon herself as the phi-
losopher for which the bird world had waited for ages ; and she wondered
how it was that the great gift of teaching birds to fly had been kept wait-
ing all these years, and discovered by her. She asked Lucky Duck how it
was so.

" It is because there never was a wise Goose before," said Luck}' Duck.

*' That is a very far-seeing remark," said Goosey Lucy. " It shows )-our

28 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

wisdom. You are a very wise bird ; I will make you one of the professors in
my College of the New Philosophy."

So Goosey Lucy opened her Flying School in the herony under the tall
trees near the lake ; and all the bird families were delighted at the new wisdom
that had come to the world, and came to the School to learn how to fly. The
School grew, and its fame filled the air. It was a wonderful science, said they
all. As soon as a bird received its diploma, it was able to fly. The air around
the College became full of birds flying about with diplomas on their wings,
signed by Goosey Lucy. Each little diploma read, —

DIPLOMA.

You can now fly.
(Signed) G. Lucy, LL.D., F.R.S.

Then the whole world could see what an excellent thing it was to have a
diploma stating that one could fly.

The fame of the Flying School under the herony grew and grew. All the
birds came to it for wisdom, even the Jackdaw, the Wren, and the Owl. The
Thrushes came to Goosey Lucy to learn how to sing. Such is fame !

The little animals came also. One little mouse came to learn how he might
become as big as a lion. The question is often asked yet.

" A mouse in a fog Is as big as a lion," said wise Goosey Lucy.

" Then I '11 become a poet," said the mouse; and Goosey Lucy said that he
was a very wise little mouse, and had the insight of success.

A little kitten came to study how little kittens might find their tails, for it
had been discovered that when little kittens turn round to put their paws on
their tails, the tails turn too, and leave nothing behind them.

This was a hard question for the new School of Philosophy; but the
ancient preceptress was equal to it. " Get under the feet of the cook," said
she. " That will make your tail jump, so you will not have to jump for your
tail."

The little kitten the next day got under the feet of the cook, and soon
found where her tail was, and one lesson was quite satisfactory; she never
jumped for her tail again.

A little dog came to learn how his tail could be shortened without causing
him much pain.

" Have it cut off piece by piece at a time, until it is the right length," said
Goosey Lucy. The little dog was as happy in thus learning the art of curtail-
ment as the little kitten had been in solving the problem of angles. There was
evidently great improvement going on in the world.

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA.

The College of the New Philosophy was a lovely one. There was a great
colony of Herons in the tall pine tops above it, and a silvery lake stretched
before it in the sun. Around the lake the red-winged Blackbirds swung from
the alders, and the brown Thrushes sang on the witch-hazels. Afar were green
hills and cool elms, where the Orioles lived ; and below the Bobolinks toppled
in the wild grasses.

In the evening, as the great moon rose behind the dark herony, the Owl
would come and talk with Goosey Lucy about the progress of philosophy in
the world, and give lectures to the School, telling the pupils how he had taught
the Moon to rise (illustrated by the stereopticon of the Moon herself). The
lectures were very luminous, and gave a very wonderful insight into the forces
of nature.

The Mocking-bird — the tree poet — sometimes came, and, like other
poets, recited what he heard everywhere. The Mocking-bird is a very great
poet.

Mistakes were sometimes made in this new school of wisdom and art. One
day a poor Hen who had been bereft of all of her children by a Hawk came to
the new school.

" What shall I do to rid myself of the Hawk? " she asked. Many Hens have
asked the question since these historical happenings.

"Quack! quack! When you again see the Hawk coming," said Goosey
Lucy, " fly up into the air toward him, and he will think that you are trying
to catch him!' The problem seemed solved, on the principle that like cures like.
Lucy picked her feathers, and said, " Quack ! quack ! "

The next morning the poor Hen saw the shadow of the Hawk on the grass,
and she flew up into the air, with her feathers all ruffled, so as to seem twice
her usual size. But alas and alas ! That Hen was never seen again, but
" only the feathers where the Hawk had been." Some theories don't work well
at first. It takes time.

The College grew and grew, as before; nothing grows like the fame of a
new success — for a time. All the birds in the world came to the new School
of Philosophy ; even the Skylarks came over from England to build their nests
about the hill meadows, that their little ones might learn the new art of flying.
The great Auk came from the North, the Rain-dove from the Carolinas, and
the Ibises from Florida. Some Parrots also came from the Amazons to learn
how to speak English. The Crows came to learn how to pull corn, and re-
ceived their diplomas at once for excellent scholarship.

One day there was a great flutter in the School. The professors had re-
ceived a message from the Eagle. He sent it by the Skylark. He announced

30 ZIGZAG yOURXEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

that the next day at noon he was coming down from the sun to visit the
School. The old gray Goose was all feathers and excitement.

" Quack ! quack ! " she said. " The King himself is coming down from
the sun. Cackle! cackle! I must have my spectacles cleaned." So she had
her spectacles cleaned. " Quack ! quack ! "

She arranged the School for the descent of the Eagle, just like a village
school-mistress for the coming of the Esquire and the Committee. She had the
Ibises stand on one leg, in high-art fashion, in a long row in the pond. The
Thrushes were assigned to the witch-hazels, and the Larks to the alders. She
put a chorus choir of Orioles in the elms. The Herons all sat by their nests
in the tops of the trees. The Woodpeckers looked out of their holes in the
old trees. The Robins all had orders to sing, " Cheer up ! Cheer up ! " from
the orchards. The old gray Goose, in her tortoise-shell spectacles, stood upon
the stump, and the little birds sat in rows around her on the brakes and ferns.
On the margin of the pond were gathered the Ducks and Waterfowl.

Now the Peacock had proved a very stupid scholar in the new School of
Philosophy. He had aspiration ; he was ambitious to soar to the sun like the
Eagle. He would rise up beautifully on his wings a little way into the air, and
then he would come, down again with a squall that made the old gray Goose
nervous. The Peacock was told to hide under the blueberry bushes during the
descent of the Eagle.

It was a beautiful day. The sun blazed, and the Ospreys wheeled in the
sky. There was a speck in the sky, and the birds all began to sing ; the Eagle
was descending from the sun. The speck became a shadow, and the shadow
a cloud of wings. The great Eagle dropped down into the herony, and sat
above the old gray Goose on a blasted pine bough.

The old Goose sat reading her essay on Occult Forces as the Eagle came
down.

Then she raised her spectacles and said, " Ouagk! quack! Have }-ou any
questions to ask? Quack ! "

The Eagle looked very grave, and at last said, —

" Who taught you the art of flying? "

" No one. Quack ! quack ! I discovered it." Then the gray Goose wiped
her spectacles and waited for a more difficult question. ^

" Where is the Peacock?" asked the Eagle.

" Come out here, Peacock ; the King calls for you. Quack ! quack ! "

The Peacock came out of the bushes, and looking up to the Eagle, spread
his tail, as a matter of " very distinguished considerations," as the old letter-
writers might say.

3)-.vx \^<s,aSaa*i

NATIVES OF AUSTRALIA HUNTING THE KANGAROO.

THE FAR CONTINENT OF THE SEA.

" Fly ! " said the Eagle.

The old Goose was greatly ruffled.

The poor Peacock dropped his tail.

" You will have to excuse him," said the old gray Goose, greatly mortified.
" Quack ! quack ! "

Then the poor Peacock retired to the bushes again. Birds with fine feathers
never roost in the sun.

"Where are the young Skylarks? " asked the Eagle.

" They have just entered the new School," said the old gray Goose. *' They
have not yet learned the art of flying. Quack ! quack ! "

" Call one of them up," said the Eagle.

So the old gray Goose called up a plain little Skylark ; and it came out of
the grass and flew up on a bush near the old gray Eagle.

" My dear little bird, can you fly? " asked the Eagle.

" I never have been taught to fly," said the'little Skylark.

" Did you never wish to fly? "

" I have often wished to fly, but I have no philosophical diploma." These
words almost broke the little Lark's dehcate vocal cords.

" Did you ever sing? "

" I never have been taught to sing. Goosey Lucy will soon teach me to
sing; she has a beautiful voice in the lower notes."

" Did you never wish to sing? "

" I feel a desire to sing every morning, but I never have taken any lessons.
I love to hear the other birds that Goosey Lucy has taught sing. They sing
beautifully."

"Well, my little bird," said the Eagle, "just try to mount up into the air
and sing — NOW."

The little Skylark began to mount up above the trees and over the bright
water and hills, making a little whistle like this: "whir-whir-whir." Then she
began to circle round and round, and the whistle grew like this: " we-en —
we-en — we-en." Then her flight became a little spiral thread or stair of liquid
song like this: " w-e-e-e — chee-chee-chee; " and then the little bird became a
speck, and was lost in the sky, but its song could still be heard, chee-chee-chee-
chee, away off in the golden regions of the sun, out of sight.

The School was greatly astonished. The birds all held up one leg and
listened.

" Quack ! quack ! " said the old gray Goose. " Quack ! quack ! "
" Chee-chee-chee, we-ea-we-ea ; " it was the song of a little bird lost in
the sky.

34 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" Why," said the old gray Goose, taking off her spectacles, " that is per-
fectly astonishing. What dii^ ever make that bird fly and sing so? Quack!
quack ! "

The Eagle looked very grave, and was silent.

"Have you any remarks to make to the School?" asked the old gray
Goose, pensively. (This maybe the origin of the above quotation.) " Quack!
quack 1

The Eagle gave a scream ; and all the School was silent, and very much
afraid.

" A philosopher," said he, " is not an old Goose who tells people what
they knew before." (Here the old gray Goose uttered a loud quack.) "You
cannot make an Eagle run round a farmyard like a gobbling Turkey, or teach
a Peacock to soar to the sun like a Lark. Birds used to fly before this School
of Philosophy was founded." (The old gray Goose seemed greatly surprised.)
" If you can teach birds to fly better than before, it is well to do so. Do you
think you can do this. Goosey Lucy? "

Poor Goosey Lucy took off her tortoise-shell spectacles and laid them down
on the stump.

" Quack ! quack ! " she said, clearing her throat. " Do you mean to say
that I did not discover the art of flying?" she asked the Eagle at last, in a
discouraged voice.

" Yes, yes," said the Eagle. " Your new School of Philosophy only teaches
people to be what they already know."

There was a silence. Then he added solemnly, " The new School of Phi-
losophy is now dismissed."

" Quack ! quack ! " said the old gray Goose, as she hid her head under her
wing. That night the Owl came to comfort her ; and the next morning the little
Skylark returned, to find the herony almost empty, and all the world going on
as before.

" Oh, little Skylark, little Skylark, you wicked bird ! You have ruined
me," said the poor old gray Goose. " What did make you fly and sing so, and
break up my new School, when all the world was following me?

" I could n't help it," said the little bird, meekly. " I think \\ was inspira-
tion that made me do it. I am very sorry ; it was a lovely school.

" Yes, yes," said the old gray Goose. "Quack! quack! I see; if it were
not for that strange thing they call Inspiration, there might be a great deal
more of philosophy in the world."

The Ospreys were wheeling in the sky; the Orioles and Thrushes were
singing ; birds were flying about everywhere ; and the poor old gray Goose said.

THE FAR CONTIAENT OF THE SEA. -^c

" Quack ! quack ! quack ! quack ! I '11 have to leave the world to follow
its inspiration after all, and just go off in the pasture and nibble grass again.
It is not every Goose can be a philosopher, but (quack ! quack !) I think it
does some good in the world to make the world see what it did know before."

And with this argument, this benevolent old Paracelsus of the pasture
went quietly on her way the rest of her days, simply saying, " Quack ! quack !
quack ! "

CHAPTER II.

THE WONDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA.

The Tasmanian Devil.

The Laughing King-fisher.
Gold.

Buckley the Wild Man.

ELL us more about Australia," was a common request
on the cool vine-hung verandas of the Tamany
Farm. Eric and Mary Hartwell and their young
friends used daily to ask Captain Tamany of the
" Tammany " for strange stories of the South Pacific
Seas.

*' Tell us something wonderful," little Mary Hartwell used to say.
" Tell us something wonderful, Grandpa. How large is Australia ? "
she would perhaps add as a leading question, " just to draw him out,"
she would say aside to Grandmother Tamany.

Grandfather Tamany would look over his paper, lift his gray eye-
brows, and answer slowly, —

" Australia is as large as the United States, and almost as large
as all Europe. She measures from north to south seventeen hundred
miles, and from east to west twenty-four hundred miles, and is sur-
rounded by islands as large as States. The people here who have not
been to the South Seas do not seem to comprehend that Oceanica is
a world."

He would resume his reading.

"Now, Grandma," Mary would say, "you ask him another, and
draw him out."

THE WONDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA,

" How big are gum-trees
there ? " Grandma would say
accommodatingly.

Grandpa Tamany of the
" Tammany " would drop his
paper again.

" Oh, forty feet round, some
of them."

" How do they climb such trees as
those } "

" Oh, don't tease me. How do they
climb.? They cut steps in the bark, and
put their feet in them as they go up. You
should see a native climbing a gum-tree in
search of an opossum. He carries a hatchet
in one hand, and makes his own stairs as he
goes. He looks like a monkey,"

" How many people are there in Austra-
lia ? " continued Mary.

" People } " Grandfather would drop his
paper. " People, — civilized
white people t Well, there
are about three millions in
all. Australia has an area of
about three million square
miles, so there are about as
many inhabitants in all as
there are square miles. A
great part of the island is
used for growing wool. Aus-
tralia raises some seventy
million sheep. Think of
that ! Seventy million ! "

Australia's giant trees.

■;8 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" Do they have storms there ? "

" Yes ; and one kind of a storm that never is known here. It is
the hot wind storm. The air comes rushing down the coast like a
blast from a furnace, and seems to wither everything. The birds

AN AUSTRALIAN SHEEP.

drop dead from the trees. But it passes away, and the earth turns
green again."

Captain Tamany would then relate some incident of the peculiar
customs of the people, as, for example, the corroboree, — a kind of
opera among the native blacks, in which the performers passed around

THE WOXDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA.

in a circle uttering a dismal chant, and he who made a false note lost
his place. The song continued until all had made a false note. He
who sang correctly for the longest time was accounted the victor.
Captain Tamany called this the ''classical music" of Australia; and
he would imitate it, much to the amusement of his young friends.

" For an orchestra," he used to say, " they used their feet, beating
time on the earth with them as they passed around ! Kind o' Wag-
ner music," he would add. His education in the subtilties of the
higher schools of music had been very limited, and like most un-
schooled minds, he only liked Wagner when that musical composer
violated his own theories and produced some haunting melody.

The statement that Captain Tamany sometimes made, that
Australia was as large as the United States, needs some qualification,
for this area was not supposed to include Alaska on the part of the
. United States, and yet to include not only the great island continent,
but all of the Australian possessions. The island of Australia has
an area about the size of the States of the American Union.

Captain Tamany had made a large collection of books and pam-
phlets relating to Australia and the island world. Among these were
a few narratives of a peculiar character that had interested greatly
the young people of his household. One of these related to a
curious animal, known in Australia as the Tasmanian devil. The
account appeared in a London periodical some years ago. It was as
follows : —

THE TASMANIAN DEVIL.

Some years ago I met in London Elias Hart, a well-known adventurer.

In the course of a conversation with him on the remarkable animals I had
met, I asserted that the ferocity and courage of many inhabitants of the forest
had been greatly overstated.

" Why," said I, "there is n't an animal in all Austraha that in open ground
would face my old hound, Hero."

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" I can tell you of an animal," said Hart, " if not found in Australia, yet
common enough in the remoter backwoods of Van Dieman's Land, that would
not only face your Hero in the open country, but would refuse to move an

inch out of the path to let a drove of bul- ^ ^

locks pass. Did you never hear of the
Tasmanian devil?"

No ; I never had heard of the Tasma-
nian devil.

" The devil," he continued, " is a beast
about the size of a large bull-dog, in ap-
pearance something between a polecat and
a bear, but in kind a poucher, like the
opossum or the kangaroo.

THE TASMANIAN DEVIL.

•' The wildcat is a devil by nature, so are the fox, the Indian buffalo, and
the stone marten ; but the wickedest of all animals is the Ursian SarcopJiilus, or
the Tasmanian devil.

" In English he is called the devil ; his name in French is diabh\ and in
German, tenfel ; and I am told that the Royal Society has given the Latin name
of devil to the whole race."

THE WONDERFUL FEATi'RES OF AUSTRALIA. 43

I desired him to tell me all that he knew concerning this remarkable
animal.

" His natural propensities are gluttonous and sluggish. He will be quiet
enough when gorged with flesh and left to undisturbed repose; but the slightest
provocation will turn him at once into a veritable fiend. He then becomes in-
stantly the very type of senseless fury, attacking all before him, dead or living,
flying with equal fierceness at a mastiff" or a barn door. Nor is there, while life
is left to him, either truce or quarter. As long as a shred of flesh remains to
tear, or a last bone to shatter, he fights on, regardless of the numbers that sur-
round him, or of his own subsiding strength, until at length his jaws snap faintly,
and his life goes out with a most malicious snarl.

" Though taken young and brought up in captixit}', his nature undergoes
not the slightest modification. He lives to the last the same surly life, and
usually dies in some mad struggle with the bars of his cage. After years of
experience he repeats the same acts of profitless and exhausting frenzy.

" Without apparent motive he will rush at the wall, beating the air like a
rabid lunatic, uttering long howls that seem to choke him, till they break out
suddenly into a piercing bark.

" He does not show the smallest attachment to his guardians or feeders,
whom he nienaccs from the moment they approach him till they pass com-
pletely out of sight.

" When tired out or overfed, he becomes stupid or sleep}', rolls himself up
into a corner, and falls into a leaden slumber, from which it is not always easy
to rouse him.

" Nothing can be cheaper than to feed him. He will be satisfied for days
together with huge bones, which he cracks up like biscuit, and usually swallows
entirely.

" The full-grown devil is an animal of strange appearance. His coat Is
rough and looks like a blanket brushed the wrong way. His head and stomach
are of brownish-black; the tail is also black, but with a patch of white just
above the insertion. An apron of white covers the chest, and there are spots
of white on the front paws.

" In a wild state hi-^ habits are nocturnal, and he appears as sensitive as an
owl to the action of the solar rays. When the sun remains on high, he keeps
within the clefts of rocks, or under roots of trees, and sleeps so soundly that the
noisiest pack may pass without awakening him.

" No sooner, however, do the shades of night begin to fall, tlian he issues
forth in search of prey; and then woe to the living thing that passes windward
within scent. Once fairly griped, the \ictini. wliatex'cr its kind, is doomed

44 ZIGZAG JOURXEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

inevitably. A feeble squeak, an unconscious struggle, and all is hushed except
the muffled crepitation of bones smashed up and swallowed with the flesh that
covers them.

" The female bears from three to five cubs, which she carries about with her
in her pouch until they grow too big to get into it. She loves them with a sort
of fiery ardor, and to save or shield them she would no doubt attack an army
or plunge into the flames.

" The voracity of the animal renders him an easy prey to trappers. The
clumsiest snare suffices, provided it be strong enough to hold him. Any bait
that can be scented attracts him.

" It is difficult to secure him by means of dogs. No single dog will attack
him twice, and he will fight any number until he falls completely exhausted."

From the time I heard Hart's narration I was ambitious to add to my
natural history collections the Ursian Sarcophihis, or Tasmanian devil. I had
travelled over three quarters of the globe in connection with my profession, and
I now resolved to visit Van Dieman's Land.

The year i860 found me, accompanied by my dog Hero, at Nobbler's End,
where, with a party of rangers, I began my first expedition in search of remark-
able animals, having more especially in view the Tasmanian devil.

Our party consisted of six men and seven dogs.

I felt at times a little nervous about poor old Hero, notwithstanding his
spiked collar and prodigious strength. I knew his courage, for he had been
my constant companion for years of perilous travel, and I dreaded to see
him smart undeservedly, from his entire ignorance of his opponent's mode of
warfare.

I was told that the devil, once roused, entirely neglects his own defence, and
thinks only of wounding his aggressor. When attacked by a dog, his effort is
to seize it by the fore-leg; and if he fairly gets hold, the bone snaps at once,
and the dog limps off, disabled.

Toward evening of the first day of our expedition, we reached a sort of
rocky platform, from which one of the party pointed out a spot where he had
assisted in killing a sarcophilus some months before. It was there, he said, we
should find the devil, if anywhere. The place, he believed, had not been dis-
turbed for years, and he knew there were devils in the neighborhood.

The whole of the next day was spent in beating fruitlessly the covers. At
nightfall we held a council, and determined to keep watch until moonlight, on
the chance of surprising a sarcophilus hunting on "a scent, at which time the
animal betrays his passage by his voice. But the moon arose, and the night
brought no encounter.

THE WONDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA. 45

Toward evening on the following day, I was startled by a series of piercing
whistles and boisterous holloes in advance that told me clearly that there was
an end to ambush, and that the battle so long sought for had in reality begun.
Shout followed shout in quick succession, and then there came a long howl, so
long and dismal that old Hero pricked his ears and sprang forward in the
direction of the sound.

I called him back, determined to have him under my own immediate con-
trol, and we hurried on together to the scene of action. I shall not soon forget
the sight which broke on my view as I emerged into the open ground.

With his back to a large overhanging stone, there stood, half crouched
before the dogs, the most horrible-looking beast imaginable. Not that his
contour was villanous, — in form he resembled a badger; but his physiognomy
was literally diabolical.

His jaws were just wide enough apart to reveal his large white teeth, and
from these seemed to issue a continuous growl. But what most arrested me
was the animal's eyes, which gleamed with the lurid light of intense malicious-
ness and rage.

When I arrived on the ground, one wounded dog was howling piteously,
with his tail curved under him, and holding up his fore-foot. The five others
were close to the devil, dodging within distance, but not venturing to close
with him.

A shot had been fired, evidently with some effect, as the animal was bleed-
ing from the ear. One gun was on the ground, bitten short off at the slope of
the stock.

On seeing Hero, the men at once hounded him on the devil, and not hear-
ing my half-muttered counter-orders, looked petrified at his apparent want of
courage.

At last the smallest dog of the pack closed, and the others took heart
immediately. A fearful strife ensued, in the midst of which I let loose Hero
with a shout, meant to explain his previous passiveness.

With one bound he reached the devil, and fastened fiercely and heavily on
his throat. This turned the scale at once, for the sarcophilus was already at
bay with the whole pack, and. Hero's weight and galling collar completely
mastered him.

On seeing him thus pinned, a spearsman stepped forward and ended the fight
abruptly with a mortal thrust. The devil watched the dogs defiantly, til! his
life went out with a snarl that seemed to go right down and expire underground.

The first dog was maimed irreparably, and his master shot him on the spot.
Two others were badly wounded. Hero had not a scratch.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Captain Tamany, in describing the strange animals and birds of
Australia, used to say that —

THE LAUGHING KING-FISHER

was the homeliest bird in all the world.

" Tell us about it," was sure to follow this announcement.

" Oh, he would make you laugh ! " he would reply. " He himself

THE GIANT KING-FISHER, OR LAUGHING
JACKASS.

laughs, just like a jackass. He
is called the laughing jackass in
Australia. Did you ever hear a
jackass laugh ? "

THE WONDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA. 47

" There are no jackasses in New Bedford," Grandma would ven-
ture ; " and we never went where there were any."

" Whom does he laugh at ? " once asked Mary.

" At everybody."

" Did he ever laugh at you ? "

" Oh, yes, the piping crow, or musical magpie, as he is called, has
laughed at me many a time. He is a great favorite among the
settlers, although he is so homely. In early times, he used to ^w^
people the time of day, and so was called ' The Settler's Clock.' "

" How did he give the people the time of day } "

" By laughing at sunrise and moonrise, and always just at the
noon hour. He used to be regarded as a bird of good omen, because
he was believed to destroy venomous snakes. He seemed to like the
settlers, and as they were often very lonely, he became a very welcome
bird."

Among Captain Tamany's curious narratives of Australia was one
entitled " Buckley the Wild Man," as it appeared in printed form, but
which the captain used to call " How the Cannibals used to Live."
It portrays the scenes of savage life before the European emigration
to Australia, as few, if any, civilized people ever saw it.

BUCKLEY THE WILD MAN.

William Buckley was born at Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, in
1780. He became a soldier, and falling into bad ways, was sentenced
as a convict to Australia. Here he escaped, and took to the bush,
and lived for many years among the savages, and became as one of
them, a wild man.

He says in his journal, in describing the people among whom he
had cast his lot, —

" They have no notion of a Supreme Being, although they have

48 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

an idea of an after-life ; and they offer up a kind of prayer to the sun
and moon. They believe that the earth is supported by props, which
are in the charge of a man who lives at the end of it. They were
dreadfully alarmed on one occasion by news that passed from tribe to
tribe that the earth was about to fall."

In his wanderings he met a tribe called the Pallidurg-barrens, who
were cannibals, and killed one another for food. They had no homes
or huts, but lived exactly like the animals, and even lower than the
animals, for animals do not devour their own species. The women
were noted for their ferocity, and seemed to be almost devoid of
natural affection. They became so obnoxious to the neighboring
tribes that the people of the bush formed an alliance to destroy them,
which they did by driving them into a great thicket, and setting the
thicket on fire.

This man lived some thirty-five years among the savage tribes, but
was rescued at last by the white settlers, and was pardoned by the
Government. His narrative, which is well known in Australia, abounds
in incidents which only a scientist would profitably read. It shows
how degraded it is possible for the human species to become.

It was the finding of gold that suddenly changed Australia into an
almost European continent. Until this event the great island was
but little known to Europe except as a place to which England trans-
ported her convicts. It was the land of savages, cannibals, and ticket
of -leave men.

In 185 1, a dish of earth was found in the interior of New South
Wales that glimmered with gold. That pan of earth sent a thril]
through Great Britain, and made an em.pire. In a few^ years the
great island had yielded to the treasuries of the world more than a
thousand millions of dollars.

THE WONDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA. 49

THE HUNDRED-WEIGHT NUGGET

was found in Australia in a very curious way, — one of the largest nuggets of
gold ever seen in the world. Some miles from Bathurst there was a large
sheep ranch belonging to a certain Dr. Kerr. He wanted an aboriginal shep-
herd, and secured such an one of most trustworthy character, who had been
brought up at one of the mission stations. The man was one day tending his
flock near Murroo Creek when a shining object caught his eye. It was in the
sheep walk. " The shepherd had, perhaps," says Archibald Forbes, in describ-
ing the event, " used it as a pillow for his noonday doze, or as a prop for his
back while he sat and soothed his solitude with his clay pipe. But the black
fellow had heard the talk about gold discoveries. He upheaved his tomahawk,
struck a blow, and lo ! it was a slice of yellow metal that the sharp edge pared
off.

" The honest native had a good master, and probably had himself a fine
indifference for larger financial resources than the ' white money ' that rep-
resented the price of a ' nobbier ; ' anyhow he hurried' off to the station head-
quarters at Brucedale, told Dr. Kerr of what he had chanced upon, and
sublimely made his master a present of the discovery. Dr. Kerr rode to the
spot at a gallop, and promptly ' realized.' The nugget, or rather the bowlder,
had originally been one piece, but was now in three adjacent fragments, whose
edges fitted one another.

" The largest of the three blocks was about a foot in diameter, and weighed
seventy-five pounds gross. Before separation, it, like the other two pieces,
was beautifully encased in quartz. The quartz included, the auriferous mass,
as the pieces were lifted out of their clay bed, weighed about two and one half
hundred-weight. It was entirely isolated. Some of the clay in which it had
lain was taken down to the creek and washed, but gave not the slightest indi-
cation of gold. This precious bowlder, quartz outside and pure gold within,
had come, no man could say whence. It might have rolled down from the
ridge behind ; it might have been carried down and deposited by some fierce
flood in the creek. Anyhow, there it lay ; about that, at least, there could be
no question. It has been unique ; no such mass of gold has the world yielded.
This was a bowlder ; its closest approximation has been no more than a big
nugget.

" And yet is it veritably ' the lonely one '? Who can tell? The Bathurst
Mountains have been rummaged in vain ; yet at the time, a black fellow averred

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

that years previously, when he was a child, he had seen a ' plenty bigger '
block of the yellow stuff about which so much fuss was being made. Only he
could not remember precisely where, nor did he ever regain recollection on
that important point.

THE HUNDRED-WEIGHT NUGGET.

" It was a grand error that Dr. Kerr made in- breaking the three great
pieces into smaller fragments, in order to cram his new-found riches into his
saddle-bags. Great Britain could have afforded to preserve, as a national

THE WONDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA. 51

cabinet curiosity, the grandest specimen of gold in situ ever beheld. Looking
at the monster lump in a speculative light, Mr. Barnum would have cleared
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in a few months, by exhibiting it along
with the black fellow who found it, arid would probably have sold it afterward
for at least twice as much as Dr. Kerr realized.

" The hundred-weight was sold in Bathurst by auction for twenty thousand
eisht hundred dollars."

When the gold fever, as the great immigration of gold hunters
was called, had subside*, Australia became largely a pastoral em-
pire. Her sheep runs, or ranches, are the largest in the world. A
sheep run of a thousand square miles was sometimes leased from
the Government.

The shepherd life in these vast regions used to be very solitary
and lonely ; the shepherd wandered day after day with sheep over
an ocean of vegetation and under a blazing sky, until he sometimes
lost the faculty of speech. He lived in a rude shanty, without wife
or family, with perhaps only his cockatoo to greet him on his return
to the place he called his home. Home } The very name mocked
him, as he thought of the old English cottage on the Thames or the
Humber, or the green coast where mothers, grandmothers, and chil-
dren haunted the vine-clad doors. All this is chanCTino- now. The
shepherd has his family like other men. Wife and children await his
home-returning instead of the solitary cockatoo. The great desert of
the interior is blooming with farms, and the iron horse runs hither
and thither, and the church spire points its finger of faith toward the
sky. Greater England is here, full of loyal hearts, free as the air of
the plains, and with prospects as bright for the future as any land
of the sun, the shade, and the sea.

Captain Tamany of the " Tammany " had learned to love the
mellow climate of the Northern Pacific Ocean. The Indian Ocean
to him was like a dream ; and he loved to talk of the islands of the
gum-trees, the palm, and fern. In the bleak Northern winters on

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Buzzard's Bay, he grew rheumatic and hugged the fire and talked
of the tropic seas. He had a beautiful home and easy wealth, and
yet he was discontented
Twenty years at sea had
unfitted him for the un-
eventful life of a New Eng-
land estate.

" 1 sometimes think
that I shall make one more

"ONLY HIS COCKATOO TO GREET HIM."

voyage," he said one day to his wife. " I want to see the South
Seas once more. The ' Tammany ' is owned in part by the Ade-

THE WOXDERFUL FEATURES OF AUSTRALIA. 55

laide Company, and she will be ordered to Australia. I may take her
back."

" Oh, you are too old, and I and the grandchildren need you here.
I am an invalid, with half-crippled limbs and knotted muscles ; and the
time has passed for me to be left alone."

" I had thought of taking you with me. The sun of the Pacific
may be just what you need ; it is the sun that heals rheumatic affec-
tions. You went with me on my first voyage to Sydney. Do you
not remember how well you were ? You seemed to feed on the
sea breezes. You rtever had such health as in those calm days on
the Pacific."

" Yes, but I was young then. I could not leave the grand-
children now, even if the voyage would restore me to health again."

" I would take them with me."

" That would deprive them of a year of school life."

" That would give them a year of school life. The highest edu-
cation comes from travel. If a well-read man has been around the
world, no one cares to know whether he has studied geography or not
in the higher schools of education. It is better to see the world than
to learn about it in books. I hope the time will come when travel will
form an essential part of our system of education ; when every boy
and girl will complete a full course of study by a tour around the
world."

" But you would leave the ship at Adelaide. What would we do
then .? "

" Return by the way of the Red Sea and Suez Canal on some
agreeable steamer."

" That would be a tour around the world."

" Just what I would like, and you would enjoy, and just what the
children need. It would be likely to make us all happier and better
in mind and body. Why should we not go } "

" A Tour around the World ! " said Eric, who had overheard the

c6 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

proposal of the plan. " Oh, Grandfather, if I only could go with you
around the world, I would remember it forever."

"We would carry a ship-load of stories," said Mary, "and bring
back another load as good as Grandpa's. I should want to go if
Grandma went."

" I think we shall all go sometime," said Captain Tamany.

CHAPTER III.

GRANDFATHER TAMANY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. "

His Old Red Settle, and the Stories he used to tell before the Fire.

A Visitor.

||EW BEDFORD grew rich by the harvests of the sea.
Her mines were the stormy and perilous Atlantic
and the sunny and calm Pacific, though it was in
the beautiful Pacific that her greatest disasters and
misfortunes came at last.
The shores of Buzzard's Bay are lovely in summer-time, with their
green orchards, odorous meadows, noble trees, and ample houses.
Many of the farms here are owned by sea-captains or sea-farino- men.
These hardy people, who have been around the Horn and doubled the
Cape of Good Hope, are generous, hearty, and hospitable, but always
restless, and desirous of making " one more voyage."

Such was Captain Tamany. He loved the bay and the old towns
on the Cape, and he rode almost constantly over the old roads and b\-
ways in summer; but winter was a cheerless season for him, notwith-
standing that he was a great reader of the best books, and had much
good company and a devoted family.

The old county of Plymouth, Mass., is a haunted region. The fami-
lies of the early Pilgrim colonists settled there. The estates have his-
tories that antedate the Revolution. Some of them are associated
with the tragedies and scenes of tlie old Indian War.

58 ZIGZAG JOURXEYS IX AUSTRALIA.

Captain Tamany loved to ride through these old towns in sum-
mer and fall, with the children, and to tell them stories by the
way.

There was one town, now called Lakeville, that he especially
liked to visit in this way. Near it lived an old Indian woman and
her family, in whom he took a great interest, and whose stories he
would rather hear than any one's in the cultivated city. This woman
was a widow, and had a remarkable ancestry and a touching family
history. There is an Indian Reservation of virgin forest in Massa-
chusetts, removed from the public ways, and on this Reservation live
the descendants of the great sachem Massasoit, who protected the
infant nation in Plymouth for nearly forty years.

The wife of King Philip and her young son were sold into slavery,
and carried away to the Windward Islands. But Massasoit left a
young daughter, the Princess Amie. She married Tuspuquin, the
Black Sachem. Her descendants in the seventh generation — the
Tuspuquin or Gould family — live in a forest bordering on a lake, at
Lakeville, formerly a part of Middleborough, Mass., and once known as
" Middleborough Ponds."

There are other traditions associated with the history of the
Massasoit family that are poetic but unhistoric. One is that the
wife of Philip, the beautiful Wootonekanaske, on being borne away
to the Windward Islands, saw the top of Mount Hope in the sunset,
as the ship skirted the shores of Rhode Island, and was so over-
whelmed with grief that she leaped into the sea, and so ended her
life. This, however, is a poet's fancy.

The old Indian woman whom Captain Tamany used to visit was
some eighty years old, and has been called a princess of Massachu-
setts. She is a direct descendant from Amie, the daughter of Mas-
sasoit and sister of King Philip. She is known at Lakeville, where
she still lives, by the name of Zerviah Gould Mitchell, and is perhaps
the only aged representative of the Indian race who once ruled in old

GRANDFATHER TAMAXY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME.

Pokonoket, which territory extended from the shores of Cape Cod to

Mount Hope and Narrangansett bays.

One is surprised at the character of this aged woman's face. It is

ahiiost as fresh as that of a woman of forty, and as placid as a

Quaker's ; it has a spiritual expression
that would have won a kindly regard in
a most Christian community.

And yet it is not improbable that
the great Massasoit had the same amia-
ble and benevolent traits that this calm

A PRINCESS OF MASSACHUSETTS.

face reveals. It was Massasoit who offered the Pilgrims a royal greet-
ing ; who invited them to his rustic palaces ; who gave a warm home
to Roger Williams in the white and icy winter of his exile. It was
Massasoit of whom one of his warriors said on hearing a false report
of his death, " My beloved sachem, my beloved sachem ! Many have
I known, but none like thee."

62 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

The home is a simple house, of two rooms, and these women had
built it with their own hands. It was beautiful without in the forest.
Captain Tamany often sat down in the still autumn sunshine, and heard
anew this old woman recount the dramatic and thrilling story of her
race. She has frequently related it to strangers, and it has been pub-
lished in book form. Its end was pathetic. After recounting her
wrongs, she would add, " And now they even cut my wood, and carry
it away, and no voice is raised in defence of the bit of land on which I
am allowed to live ! "

What a tale of tragedy was this story^of the vicissitude, the wrongs,
and the cruelties that ended in the extermination of a race, — the
mysterious death of Waitisutta, after his visit to Plymouth ; the shoot-
ing of Philip, and the dividing of his body among the colonies ; the
agonized drowning of Queen Weetamoe, the sister of Philip's wife;
the selling of Philip's family into slavery ; the capture of Anawan, and
the execution of the chiefs of the Indian War!

But the last great tragedy of the family was that of Tuspuquin.
In July, 1676, Capt. Benjamin Church, the " Indian fighter," learned
that the war chief Tuspuquin was at Assawamset, now Lakeville,
where his descendants, of whom I have written, live. Church had
already slain or captured many of Tuspuquin's warriors. He
surprised the chief near Lakeville, and captured nearly all his fol-
lowers, and took them away, but left behind him two old squaws
as messengers.

" Tell the Black Sachem," he said, " that I have his wife and chil-
dren, and shall take them to Plymouth. I shall spare their lives. If
he will come to Plymouth and surrender, his life shall also be spared."

This was told the defeated chief. " My tribe is gone," he said.
" T have nothing left but my wife and children. I shall go to them,
but I shall never return." Broken in spirit, he took his lonely trail
toward the hills of Plymouth.

Here Tuspuquin surrendered, in the hope of being with his family

DEATH OF KIXG PHILIP.

GRANDFATHER TAMANY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. 65

once more; but he had been such a terror in the colony, and the
bitterness of the people was so great against him, that he was im-
mediately bound, and soon after put to death. What dreams of the
past must haunt the few Indians that remain in these secluded
forest lodges !

When Captain Tamany built his great house overlooking Buz-
zard's Bay, he caused open fireplaces to be made in all of the prin-
cipal rooms, after the manner of the colonial houses. He had a
settle made for the kitchen, and painted red, like those seen in the
early colonial times ; and he used to move this setde before the great
fire in winter, and when he told strange tales of the South Sea
Islands and of the old New England days of Indian war and witch-
craft, he always sat upon the settle. The young people were accus-
tomed to refer to the captain's narratives as " the old red settle
stories." In early times in New England it was the popular diversion
to relate wonderful ghost stories and incidents of remarkable provi-
dences on the red settle before the fire while roasting apples or pop-
ping corn.

Sea stories became popular at later seasons of colonial development.
The New England story in these days never came out of fairy-land
or angel-land. It was usually something awful, or at least fearful.
The bleak wintry coast, the old Indian War, the hard work in the
rocky fields or the perils on the sea, suggested to the natural story-
teller a dark and avenging spirit-world, and not Pucks or Robin Good-
fellows, or visits of any pretty sprites or happy divinities. The Indian
story and ghost story gave place at last to what were known as " sea
yarns " or " fish stories," and among the latter, adventures in the goblin-
like regions of the " King of the Cannibal Islands."

There was one story of a pleasanter character that Captain Tamany
of the " Tammany " used to tell of Australia and that his grandchildren
often asked him to repeat. He called it, —

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

THE LITTLE AUSTRALIAN BEAR THAT RODE PIGBACK.

The title was a fanciful one, and the story may have been in part
the same. It was like this: Life in trees of Australia is of a most re-
markable character. Out of the tree-tops in the dusky evenings even
animals seem to fly. The trees seem to have voices in the morning

and at noon ; for then
the piping crow, or
laughing king-fisher, is
in his most talkative
moods, and his cachin-
nations ring loud and
clear. Here snakes live
in trees, and startle the
black boy in his search
for honey. The opos-
sum makes his home in
the gigantic gum-trees ;
and the black fellow
searches for him there,
and not unfrequently
surprises him.

One day, as I was
wanderine in an Australian wood, a sailor came running to me with
a surprised look, saying, —

" What do you think I have seen .? "
"Anything here," said L "What?"
" A bear," he answered.

" The Australian bear is harmless," said I. " He always runs away ;
he never hugs or bites."

AN AUSTRALIAN BEAR AND HER YOUNG.

GRANDFATHER TAM AMY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. 67

" But this one has two heads, one great head, lifted up so, and a Ht-
tle bear growing out of it. Do they have such animals as that here ? "^

" I never heard of any. There are animals here that lay eggs,
and animals that shelter their young in their own bodies, but I never
heard of any with two heads before."

" Come with me," said the sailor.

I followed him a little distance amid fan-like trees. Presently an
immense gum-tree appeared, and one of its branches revealed a very
curious sight. There certainly seemed to be a bear with two heads,
a large head and a small one.

I raised my gun, and my fixed look startled the animal. She ran
along a dry limb, and dropped upon a lower limb, and thence to the
ground.

As she did so, a more curious thing happened. One head
dropped off, and revealed a little bear, one of the prettiest creatures
I ever saw.

The little bear had learned to ride on its mother's head. I did
not fire ; I had no wish to end its happy life, or to disturb its mother
in her own harmless forest life. The sailor leaped and slapped his
sides when the little head fell out of the large head, and declared that
" Barnum himself never saw the likes o' that." He had somewhere
heard the old saw of the man with the kettle on his head, and he
made a riddle in regard to the odd incident which he used to give
to the crew.

Two heads up,

Eight legs down ;

But only four legs

Moving up and down.

One head on a head,

Two heads there ;

And four legs on the head

Four legs bear.

What is my riddle true ?

Tell it who can,

And r 11 give a pound to you.

Where is the man .''

68 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

No one was ever able to guess the odd riddle ; the poetry was
poor, like its old model, but the meaning was exclusive, and belonged
to the cult.

" Jack," I said one day to the riddle-maker, " suppose some one
should guess your riddle ; you have no pound to spare."

'' Oh, yes, I have, plenty o£ it ; I did n't mean the kind of a pound
that you are thinking of. There are different kinds of pounds."

The towns around Buzzard's Bay abound with Indian traditions
and curious folk-lore stories. Captain Tamany's sea-life had given
him a taste for these old local tales, and he liked to visit the localities
and houses where strange events had happened, and picture the in-
cident and its place on the red settle before the fire. One of his
favorite stories, which he used to relate in this way, he called, —

THE TWO BRASS KETTLES.

I was introduced to them in an unexpected way, and I did not soon recover
from the intense curiosity excited by my first impressions of them.

I had gone to the old Minot House, in Dorchester, Mass., to take dinner
with my aunt. We two, my aunt and I, had wandered over the old house,
up the huge stairway, and down into the cellar. Suddenly Aunt opened the
door of an old pantry, on the floor of the porch, and said, " Child, look
here ! "

"What, Aunt?"

" The Two Brass Kettles."

Two enormous brass kettles met my eyes. They were turned over on
the floor, and each would have held the contents of a half-barrel.

" Those are the ones, my dear."

"What ones, Aunt? "

" The ones that saved the two children from the old Indian straggler."

" What Indian straggler? " I asked with intense interest.

" Oh, the one in King Philip's War. Did n't you ever hear the story? "

" No, Aunt."

" Well, I '11 get Uncle Zebedee to tell it to you after dinner. Come."

GRANDFATHER TAMANY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. 69

" But what could any one do with such kettles as these? Where did they
hang them?" I continued.

" Come here, and I will show you."

She swept away, and I shut the door of the dark room, which was lighted
only by opening the door, and followed her. We went into the kitchen. She
pointed to an enormous fireplace, and said, " There, child ! "

"But, Aunt, how did the Two Brass Kettles save the children?" I asked
again.

" Oh, they crawled about all over the floor here, there, and yonder,"
pointing.

*' Which crawled about, the kettles or the children, Aunt? "

A din here fell upon the air, and echoed through the great, fortress-like
rooms. It was the huge bell for meals.

" Come, child, let 's go. Uncle Zebedee will tell you all about it."

In a moment we were in the dining-hall. How grand it all seemed ! The
sideboard was full of baked meats and steaming pies. Over it hung a flint-
lock gun or a blunderbuss. The room had been decorated for the occasion
with creeping-jenny, and boughs loaded with peaches that had been broken
off" by a September gale. There was a whitewashed beam across the room, on
which were great hooks and staples. The table was oak, and the chairs were
of a curious old pattern. At the head of the table was a great chair, and in it
sat Uncle Zebedee, a good old man, now nearly ninety years of age.

After the family were seated, Uncle Zebedee was asked to say grace. He
had a habit of saying " and " after ending a sentence, and this made another
sentence necessary, often when he had nothing more to say. It was so even
in his prayers, and was very noticeable in his story-telling. There usually
followed an " and " when the story was done.

It was a queer structure, — the old Minot House in Dorchester. It was
really a brick house encased in wood, — a fort house it was called. It was
built in this way to protect the dwellers against rude Indian assaults. There
is but one house standing that resembles it, — the Cradock Mansion in Med-
ford. There were many such houses in the old colonies, but one by one they
grew gray with moss and vanished. The Minot House itself was burned
about twenty years ago, after standing about two hundred and thirty years.

The old people of Dorchester and Neponset must remember it. It rose
solemn and stately at the foot of the high hills overlooking the sea meadows.
The high tides came into the thatch margins near it, and went out again,
leaving the abundant shell-fish spouting in the sun. The fringed gentians grew
amid the aftermath of the hay-fields around it. The orioles swung in the tall

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

trees in summer-time; and ospreys circled and screamed in tiie clear sky
over all.

THE CRADOCK MANSION, MEDFORD.

But the orchards, — here were the fulness and perfection of the Old New
England orchards! The south winds of May scattered the apple-blossoms

GRANDFATHER TAMA NY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. 71

like snow over the emerald turf, and filled the air with fragrance. The earliest
bluebirds came to them, and there the first robins built their nests. How
charming and airy it all was in May, when the days were melting into summer;
and how really beautiful and full of life were all of these venerable New
England homes !

After the old house was burned, I visited the place, and brought away a
few bricks as a souvenir of a home of heroic memories, — of happy memories,
too, if we except a single tragedy of the Indian War. The great orchards
were gone, the old barns and their swallows ; only the well remained, and a
heap of burned bricks, and the blackened outline of the cellar wall.

It was a house full of legends and stories, — wonder tales that once led the
stranger to look upon it with a kind of superstitious awe. It had its historic
lore, and like all great colonial houses, its ghost lore ; but the most thrilling
legend associated with the old walls was known as the Two Brass Kettles. The
legend may have grown with time, but it was well based on historic facts, and
was often told at the ample firesides of three generations of Dorchester
people.

The dinner, like Uncle Zebedee's prayer, seemed never to end. After the
many courses of food there was an " and," — " and " pies and apples and nuts,
and all sorts of sweetmeats.

" Uncle Zebedee," I piped.

"Well, dearie."

" Aunt said that you would tell us the story of Two Brass Kettles after
dinner."

" Why, dearie, yes, yes. I 've been telling that stor}' these eighty years,
come October. Did n't you never hear it? I thought all little shavers knew
about that. The Two Brass Kettles, yes.

" They 're in the old cupboard, now. Bring them out, and I will tell you
all about 'em. I sha'n't live to tell that story many more years. Maybe I shall
never tell it again."

The servants brought out the two kettles into the kitchen, where we could
see them through the wide dining-room door.

" Put 'em in the middle of the floor before the window," said Uncle Zebedee.
" There, that will do. That is just where they were when the Indian came.

" You see the window," he added.

It had a great deep-set casement. Grape-vines half-curtained it now on the
outside, and the slanting sun shone through them, its beams glimmering on
the old silver of the table. It was past the middle of the afternoon of the
shorteninsr days of autumn.

72 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" You have all heard of Philip's War," began Uncle Zebedee, leaning for-
ward from his chair on his crutch. " Everybody has ; it destroyed thirteen
towns in the old colony, and for two years filled every heart with terror.
Philip struck here, there, and everywhere. No one could tell where he would
strike next. The sight of an Indian lurking about in the woods or looking out
of the pines and bushes usually meant a mascree [massacre].

"One Sunday in July, in 1675, the family went to meeting, leaving two
small children, a boy and a girl, at home, in the charge of a maid named
Experience. The kitchen then was as you see it now. The window was open,
the Two Brass Kettles had been scoured on Saturday, and placed bottom up-
ward on the floor, just as you see them there.

" It was a blazing July day. The hay-fields were silent. There was an
odor of hay-ricks in the air, and the bobolinks, I suppose, toppled about in the
grass, and red-winged blackbirds piped among the wild wayside roses, just as
they do now. I wish that you could have seen the old hay-fields in the long
July afternoons, all scent and sunshine ; it makes me long for my boyhood
again, just to think of them. But I shall never mow again.

"Let me see, — the two children were sitting on the floor near the two
kettles. Experience was preparing dinner, and had made a fire in the great
brick oven, which heated the bricks, but did not heat the room.

" Well, on passing between the oven and the window, she chanced to look
toward the road, when she saw a sight that fixed her eyes, and caused her to
throw up her hands with horror, just like that."

Uncle Zebedee threw up both hands, like exclamation points, and let his
crutch drop into his lap.

" Well, the maid only lost her wits for a few moments. She flew to the
window and closed it, and bolted the door. Then she put one of the children
under one of the brass kettles, and the other child under the other kettle, and
took the iron shovel, and lifted it so, and waited to see what would happen,
and — "

Uncle Zebedee lifted his crutch, like an interrogation point, and we could
easily imagine the attitude of the excited maid.

"And — where was I?"

" The children were under the Two Brass Kettles, and the maid was stand-
ing with the fire-shovel in her hand so — "said Aunt. "La, I 've heard that
story ever since I was a girl."

" Yes, yes ; I have it all now," said Uncle Zebedee. " She was standing
with the fire-shovel up so, when she discovered that the Indian had a gun, —
a gun.

GRAADFATHER TAMAXY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME.

" You see that old flintlock there, over the sideboard? I used to fire it off
every Fourth of July, but the last time I fired, it kicked me over once — don't
you never fire it, children. It always kicked, but it never knocked me over
before. I don't think that I am quite as vigorous as I used to be, and — "

" What did the maid do with the g^un? " asked Aunt.

AN INDIAN ALARiMED.

" The gun, — yes, that was the gun, the one up there. The gun was up in
the chamber, then, and she dropped the shovel and ran upstairs to find it. But
it was not loaded, and the powder was in one place and the shot in another, and
in her hurry and confusion, she heard a pounding on the door, just like that."

Uncle Zebedee rapped on the old oak table with startling effect, and then,
after a moment's confusion, continued, " She loaded the gun, and went down to
the foot of the stairs, and looked through the latch-hole of the stair door, so, —
and, — yes, and the Indian was standing at the window. That window. His

74 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

two eyes were staring with wonder on the Two Brass Kettles. He had proba-
bly never seen a kettle like these before, and he did not know what they were.

" While he stood staring and wondering, the kettles began to move. Two
little hands protruded under the bail of each of them, like turtles' paws, for the
kettles stood on their ears, which lifted them a little way from the floor. One
of the children began to creep and to cry, moving the kettle. The other began
to do the same. The cries caused the kettles to ring. Two creeping kettles !
They looked like two big beetles or water turtles, and such the Indian might
have thought them to be, but they bellowed like two brazen animals, and —
did you ever hear a child cry under a kettle?" said Uncle Zebedee, with a
curious smile.

We all confessed that we never had.

" Then, child, you just get under one of those kettles and holler. You
need n't be afraid, — there ain't no Indians now to do ye any harm. Holler
loud ! "

I did so.

"Do you hear that?" said Uncle Zebedee. "You never heard such a
sound as that before. Hollow as a bell. Just like a man with lungs of brass
and no body. There, let another little fellow try it."

Another child was placed under one of the kettles, and uttered a continu-
ous cry. The sound rang all over the room.

"There," said Uncle Zebedee, " did any one ever hear an}'thing like that?
It rings all over the room, scary-like.

" Well, the children did not know about the Indian, and they began to
creep toward the light of the window, moving the kettles like two enormous
beetles, and crying and making the kettles rumble and rumble all around,
boom-oom-oom, just like that. The Indian's black eyes glowed like fire, and
he raised his gun and fired at one of the kettles. But nothing came of it; the
shot did not harm the child under the kettle. It frightened both of the
children, and made them cry the louder and louder, and scream as though they
were frantic. ' Ugh ! ' said the Indian, ' Him no goot.'

" The kettles were all alive now, moving and echoing. He was more
puzzled than before. What kind of creatures could these be with great brass
backs and living paws, and full of unheard-of noises like those? 'Ugh! ugh! '
said he, just like that. The kettles kept moving and sounding, and the Indian
grew more and more excited as he watched them. Suddenly he threw up his
great arms and turned his back, and — now it all goes from me again."

" He said ' Ugh ! ' and threw up his arms and turned his back," prompted
Aunt.

GRANDFATHER TAMAA'V'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. 75

" And the maid opened the stair door and fired," continued Uncle Zebedee ;
" she drew quickly back, and waited for the family to return. The children
continued to cry. But they were safe, as they could not overturn the kettles,
and bullets could not reach them. The family came in an hour in great alarm.
They had seen human blood in the road, but no Indian.

" A few days afterward the Indian's body was found in some hazel-bushes
by the brook. It was buried in the meadow there, and — "

" The Indian's grave," said Aunt, prompting.

" Yes, I used to mow over it when I was a boy, and — "

" That is all. Uncle Zebedee," said Aunt. " You 've got through now."

" Yes, I 've got through now. I don't think that I ever shall tell that story
again — and — "

There was something pathetic, and yet beautifully prophetic, in the con-
tinuance. The slanting sun shone through the old window, and the chippering
of birds was heard in the fields.

Uncle Zebedee never did tell the story again. The final conjunction of
his long peaceful life came soon after he told the tale to me. The violets and
mosses cover him in the old Dorchester burying-ground. The old house is
gone, the two kettles, the gun, and even the gray stone from the field that
rudely marked the Indian's grave.

The incidents of this story are true, so far as essential events are
concerned, but it has some colorings of fancy. A story is a story;
and while truth must always remain the same, a story may grow, and
most stories grow in the telling, where historical fact is not demanded.
Grandfathers' and grandmothers' stories are apt to enlarge, especially
grandfathers'. The difference between a narrative and a oenuine story
is that the latter may have wings of fancy, and not be untruthful in
intention or spirit. Captain Tamany of the " Tammany" was a very
truthful man, and was governed by a sense of honor in all of his con-
duct in life. On being questioned one day by Mary in regard to the
exact facts of the two stories last related, he said, —

" Oh, the Australian bear carries her little one on her head, or has
been seen to do so, which recalled to mind the old riddle ; and as for
the Minot House story, an Indian did come to the House when the

76 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

people were away at church, and a maid hid two children who had
been left in her care under two brass kettles, and got a gun and shot
the Indian. I once visited the place where the house stood, and I
pictured the rest in mind, and made of the whole a story."

The idea of making one more voyage to the Pacific Ocean grew
in Captain Tamany's mind. He took the papers of Sydney, Mel-
bourne, and Adelaide, and reading them made him restless. He
loved to watch the progress of events in the great ocean island em-
pire. The expansion of the plans founded on the Wakefield Theory,
the progress of the Australian Ballot System in different parts of the
world, the development of the rights of labor, the success of the eight-
hour law, and the good effects of the teaching of temperance as a
physical principle in the schools, all kept his eye fixed on Australia,
and carried his heart back to the sunny waters of the South Seas.

" There labor is honored," he used to say ; " there a man works but
eight hours a day, and so has time to know his family, and to live over
again his old youth with his children. There people read, and have
time to read not books only, but Nature, the great book of God.
There schools grow and churches multiply, and all on the principle
that all mankind is a unit; that all men are one man; and that all
good people are equally essential to the welfare of the whole, and that
each should assist the other. Australia has wellnigh solved the hard
problems of labor and society. Her theories are practical, and are
leading the world. The last has become first, and the far-away,
near. Australia is not a flying school."

Captain Tamany had lived in Adelaide when that beautiful city
of churches and schools was in its infancy. He had there met a
settler by the name of Bridewell, who had immigrated into the
country, and had taken up land after the Wakefield Theory, and
had prospered. This man became interested in sea-faring enterprises,
and purchased a share in the " Tammany."

He had never visited "the States," as he called America, but had

r-'

GRANDFATHER TAMANY'S NEW ENGLAND HOME. 79

often expressed a desire to Captain Tamany to do so. He corre-
sponded witli the New Bedford captain, and always said in his
letters that he would one day meet him in his home on the Atlantic
Coast.

One day early in November a great surprise enlivened the house-
hold of the Tamanys. Captain Bridewell had indeed arrived without
announcing his coming. He had had business in San Francisco, and
had there suddenly determined to visit his old friend in New Bedford.
The bells would have rung there, had there been any to ring, as in
the halls of old ; he was a welcome guest.

CHAPTER IV.

CAPTAIN BRIDEWELL'S STORY OF LIFE AMONG THE BLACK

AUSTRALIANS.

APTAIN BRIDEWELL had lived for some time in
his early years in Australia among the Black Men, as
the native Australians are called. He from time to
time related incidents of this adventurous life; and he
promised Mary and Eric that some cold winter even-
ing he would sit down on the red settle, " grandfather-fashion," and
tell them the whole story of his experiences in the bush.

The cold winter evening soon came, — a November night windy
and stormy, with snow whirling and eddying, filling the groaning
woods, and piling up under the roadside walls.

The great fireplace looked friendly that night. The settle was
placed before it, and Grandfather Tamany said, —

" Now, Captain Bridewell, give us the narrative of your life in the
bush among the Black Men. I have told all of my Australian ad-
ventures over and over again to the children. Australian stories are
so inspiring that I usually begin mine with the words, ' The top of
the world to ye all ! ' and when I use these words they know it means
progress, and that something Australian is coming. But my stories
are old. Give them something rrew."

Captain Bridewell, like Captain Tamany, seemed to find Australia
a congenial climate for his mind on a night like this. His story

LIFE AMONG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS. 8 1

presented a vivid picture of the manner of life among the colonists
in the early days of the great immigration.

AMONG THE BLACK FELLOWS.^

In 1846 I was a " fresh" in Victoria, as a new settler was called, or what
in the American West would be termed a " tenderfoot." I was a young
emigrant, and had been only two months in Australia. I had ^700 in
my pocket, and desired to invest it in sheep, and so make a fortune in a few
years.

There were many opportunities for investments even in those early days.
I had been ashore in the then infant town of Melbourne only two days when I
saw the " run " or sheep farm, on Wallaby Creek, destined to be the scene
of my future efforts as a farmer, advertised on the door of a new shop.
Relying quite too much on the word of the seller, I purchased it, and paid for
the land at once. As a natural result of such incautious haste, I found my-
self — after journeying out to my new place from Melbourne, a distance of a
hundred and fifty miles — confronted by a number of disagreeable problems.
The run was rather sterile and droughty during a large part of the year, and
my flock of sheep was in lean condition.

The location and scenery, however, were pretty, even picturesque. My
run lay along the plain on the north bank of the creek, — a tributary of the
Goulburn River, — where were many noble gum and box-wood trees, while in
the background, thickets of scrub and broad purple patches of " pig-face "
bushes stretched away to the crest of a low range of hills.

My abode was a slab hut fifteen feet by ten. There was a bark shed at a
distance of a hundred yards from the hut, and around it several hurdle-yards,
folds, or corrals. The run itself comprised an area of sixty or seventy square
miles, and the sheep, divided into two flocks, each in charge of a hired shep-
herd, were now several miles from the hut.

The two shepherds had agreed to remain with me at an annual salary of
;!^50 each ; but the overseer, a Scotchman named Rose, appeared to be in
great haste to put me into possession, and go to Melbourne.

As I had decided to dispense with the services of an overseer, and dis-
charge the duties of that office myself, there seemed no necessity of his re-

^ This picture of life in tlie bush was prepared by Mr. C. A. Stephens for the " Youth's
Companion," and is used by permission.

82 ZIGZAG JOURXEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

maining; so early the following morning I saw him depart by the same dray
and team which had taken me out into " the bush."

It was by Rose that I had been assured of the wholly inoffensive character
of the aborigines, who still, in considerable numbers, infested the plains and
river valleys of this portion of the Port Phillip district, as it was then called, —
now the colony of Victoria; and indeed the few black fellows whom I had
seen about the streets of Melbourne seemed to be harmless and good-natured.

From circumstances which came later to my knowledge, in my life at
Wallaby Creek, I have good reason to think that the overseer, Rose, had,
shortly before the time of my taking possession, had trouble with the natives,
and had probably done them some injury, which roused their animosity against
him. This may have been the reason of his haste to leave.

Or it may be, as I have heard hinted, that there was a plot on his part —
for I did not like the appearance of the fellow — to get me into difficulty with
the blacks, in the expectation that from fear or from losses, I would soon be
willing to sell my hasty purchase at a sacrifice. Tricks of this sort were
common. *

At any rate, I was left alone at my hut on the very morning after my
arrival from town. When the overseer had bidden me farewell, I sat down on
a log near the hut door, and watched the bullock dray move away. There
were four speckled cattle, and a driver wearing a broad cabbage-tree hat.
Behind the cart walked Rose and another " passenger " on his way to the
distant town.

Very soon the dray disappeared from view among the scrub, and then I
began to realize that I was alone in this vast, far-southern continent, where for
years I must live and work hard, if I hoped ever to see home and friends again
with a competence in my pocket.

The day was pleasant, the sun bright and warm, but somehow the country
had a wild, strange look. A certain feeling of uneasiness stole over me, and I
remember that I carefully looked to my gun, a double-barrelled fowling-piece,
and that I made up a number of cartridges ready for immediate use.

The fact was that I was utterly unused to such solitude, and I can never
adequately describe how long that first day seemed to me. I had my horse,
" Dick," to look out for, and spend what seemed hours attending to him,
shifting his hobble rope, and taking him to drink at the creek.

I then cooked some " damper," a kind of hastily mixed bread, and boiled
a quantity of corned beef for my shepherds, who came to the hut every second
day for a supply of food. Indeed, I quite exhausted my occupations, and yet
found hours of idle time on my hands before nightfall.

LIFE AMONG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS. 83

Save my horse, there was but a single other living creature at the hut, a
large mastifif which Rose had left behind him, chained to a ring just outside
the door. His name, I had been told, was " Roger," his eyes were bloodshot,
and altogether he was so ugly a brute to look at that I had half resolved to
shoot him. His presence at my door gave me a certain sense of security, how-
ever, and I decided to spare his life for a few days at least.

The night seemed longer and more dispiriting than the day. I slept fit-
fully, but was a prey to a thousand nocturnal fancies, and started at the least
noise.

It rained a little during the night, and there was fog and drizzle in the
morning; but Xhejaarings (cockatoos) were squalling noisily along the creek.
Accordingly, shortly after kindling a fire, I heard ducks quacking in the
water holes.

Thinking I might secure a brace of them, I drew out the heavy charges
of kangaroo-shot from my gun, and replaced them with smaller pellets, and
went in the direction of the ducks.

It was qu,ite foggy. Crows were cawing here and there ; I got a glimpse
of several of them, flying about in the fog. In voice, color, and size they
much resembled the common crow of other lands.

Suddenly a tvigilopka, the first I had ever heard, burst forth into his loud,
jeering laugh, and I saw the bird fly from a tree close in front of me. The
settlers called it the " laughing-jackass."

A very large bird, which from the glimpse I had of it I decided must
be an emu, started up and ran away from the opposite bank of the creek
as I approached. Game seemed plentiful that wet morning all about the
place. In a few moments the ducks flew up out of the creek, and out of
range before I had sighted them. Seeing no others, I turned back, thinking
that I would first prepare my breakfast and then shoot for an hour or two.

Going back, I passed near the long bark shed, — a loose, tumble-down
structure, built of poles and sheets of bark off" the gums. I probably went
within twenty feet of the corner of it, and had passed it a few steps, when I
heard a slight noise either inside of it or behind it, I could not tell which.
It was a peculiar sound.

I stopped short and looked back. I could see a part of the interior of
the shed, but as I saw nothing, I supposed that the noise might have been
made by a crow or some other bird on the roof. So I went on to the hut, —
a distance of a hundred yards, — and set the coffee to brew, and cut the fat
pork to fry.

I heard the mastifif growl once or twice, — a thing he had not done during

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

the night; but I concluded it was because of an emu or a kangaroo which he
sighted or smelled.

Meantime, the ducks came back into the creek close by. I heard them
quacking again, and sat down to eat my breakfast in haste, in order to try for
another shot; but I had not swallowed many mouthfuls when old Roger
suddenly burst forth, barking and growhng furiously.

Knowing there must be something unusual in sight, I ran to the door and
saw the apparent cause of the outburst in another dog with a very bushy tail,
which stood sniffing toward the hut about halfway to the bark shed.

DINGOES.

I had heard of the native Australian dog, or dingo ; and it came into my
mind that this was one of them, and also that he had better be disposed of at
once, for the shepherds had told me that they were bloodthirsty little brutes,
and often made havoc among the sheep and lambs.

With more experience I should have known that the true wild dog would
never have exposed himself to a shot so near a hut, and that this was the dog
of some black fellow, and that his master was probably not far away.

But a new-comer has everything to learn. I caught up my gun, and
standing in the doorway, took aim and snapped first one barrel and then the
other. Both missed fire. The fog, or wet from the bushes at the creek, had

LIFE AMOXG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS. 85

Spoiled the priming. At the instant of snapping the second lock, I saw
through the fog two black fellows emerge from the shed, at the very hole
into which I had looked ten minutes before, and come walking toward the hut.
They had their spears, shields, and waddies, and were painted as these fellows
usually dress their bodies when on some bloody errand.

One can scarcely imagine the horrible effect produced by a few bars and
circles of white clay pigment along the ribs, down the limbs,, and about the
cheeks of the stark black bodies of these men ; for it seems as if the bony
skeleton were projected forward from the flesh.

A shudder passed through me at sight of them. I knew so little of the
habits of these people and their modes of fighting that I was quite at a loss
how to understand the movement.

Probably they had showed themselves to prevent my shooting their dog.
But what circumstances had prevented them from spearing me when I passed
so near their hiding-place a little before, I cannot guess. Possibly they saw
my gun well in hand, and their courage failed them.

" White pella no shootum ! " they exclaimed, and holding up their hands,
pretended to laugh good-naturedly, as they came toward the hut.

I stepped hastily inside the door, threw back the locks of both barrels,
brushed out the damp priming, and poured fresh powder in from a flask on
my table.

When I looked out again, the two fellows had stopped at a distance of
twenty yards, and were watching my dog ; for he was growling savagely and
making strenuous efforts to break loose.

One of them raised his spear as if to throw it at the dog ; the other said,
" Tlago, tlago!" ("No, no!") Then they seemed to consult. Of course I
was excited; for I felt by no means certain that my gun would not again miss
fire, and the blacks held their weapons in a manner that convinced me that
they would use them very handily.

At length I said, "What black fellows want?" imitating as nearly as I
could the jargon which I had been told held the place of a common language
between the settlers and the natives.

They seemed somewhat disconcerted by the question, and laughed in a
forced, unnatural manner, looking at each other. I repeated my query.

One of them then replied, "Give black pella bacca ; " and the other im-
mediately added, " S'pose give plenty bacca." They had evidently associated
with the whites and understood many of our words. One of them was a heavy-
set, powerful fetiow, very muscular for a black. The other was much more
slender, but of good height and lithe of limbs, and seemed quite young.

86 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

A year later I should have at once ordered them off, knowing that they
were only watching for a chance to attack me without exposing themselves to
danger ; but I was then so ignorant of their ways as to think that they perhaps
meant no harm.

As I wished to be on good terms with them, I said, " Very well ; you
stay there. I will give ' bacca.' "

I had a box of common fig-tobacco set on a shelf along the side of the hut,
and stepped back to get some from it. The cover was nailed on, and I was
obliged to take a hammer and knock it off; but with the first strokes of the
hammer, I heard a fierce snarl from old Roger, a sharp snapping sound, and a
rattle of the dog-chain as if he had broken it.

Whirling around quickly, as a man will at such an alarm, I saw the younger
of the two at the door, in the very act of launching his spear at me; but the
doorway was narrow. The shaft of his spear grazed against the post as he
threw it, and it went aside.

We were not more than eight or ten feet apart, and we clinched each other
instantly.

I had the hammer still in my right hand ; there had been no time to drop
it for my gun. We fell across a bench and struck against the table of the
hut.

The black had the better hold, but my right hand coming free, I contrived
to deal him a blow on the head which stunned him for a moment. His grip
relaxed, when springing up, I caught my gun and with the butt of it gave him a
second blow. I then leaped to the door, for I heard a frightful outcry outside.

The dog was loose. He had hold of the larger of the blacks, who seemed
to be trying with both hands to choke the dog. The other dog was leaping at
the mastiff, biting him.

The combatants were by this time fifty or sixty feet from the door. The
black was partly bending over, partly lying on the dog, with his back to me.
I hurried toward the place, when the black sprang over the dogs and fell ; but
the mastiff had lost his hold, and before I could reach them, the black rose and
ran, the dogs following him off past the bark shed.

I did not follow him, for by this time I felt anxious to know how the man
inside was getting on. I found him insensible still, and bleeding both from his
nose and ears. I drew him out into the yard and left him. The mastiff came
back, and I found it hard to prevent him from throttling the unconscious native.

The rascal breathed regularly; I concluded that he would live — if allowed
to live. His spear was sticking in the rear wall of the hut; and four others lay
about the door, with both their shields and two waddies.

LIFE AMOXG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS.

YOUNG AUSTRALIANS.

Meantime, Dick had taken alarm at the commotion and sh'pped his tether.
I shut the mastifif up in the hut, took my gun, and went to catch the horse. I
had nearly half a m.ile to go, and when I got back with him, my black friend
had disappeared.

I had received no injuries in the affray, except some slight bruises in falling
over the bench ; and so far from being disma\'ed by the attack, it gave me
courage. In fact, I never felt much afraid of the blacks afterward.

88 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

It would be difficult to picture a more solitary and completely isolated life
than that of a sheep farmer in Victoria in 1846-47.

In my own case, I did not usually see a brother farmer oftener than once a
month, and my two hired shepherds, who were in no sense companionable per-
sons, came to the hut but once in two or three days, and then only for a few
minutes, or for an hour at most. Sheep-shearing and the packing-off of the
wool for Melbourne, and the arrival of the dray and bullock teams with the
season's stock of groceries, were the chief events of the year.

The monotony of solitude had to be relieved somehow, and as a means of
enlivening myself, I took up the diversion of playing knight-errant on an
original plan.

My run lay in the valley of the Goulburn River, and one had but to cross
the low range of hills to the west and north of the river plains to enter upon un-
explored country, stretching away toward the interior deserts. This vast region
was inhabited only by tribes of wandering blacks. Here roamed the emu and
the kangaroo, and we knew not what other animals or monsters.

To set off alone into this unknown tract and explore it, in this or that
direction, making maps of my journeys, and connecting them one with another,
became my chief source of recreation. The dangers were from the blacks and
from losing my way.

For a long time I confined my trips to excursions of one day only, and
returned at nightfall. There is this security in the matter of losing one's way
upon these interior plains; the trail made by a horse in the loose soil can be
quite readily followed, so that if uncertain of one's way, the wanderer has but
to turn about and follow his own trail home.

In time, as the features and landmarks of the region grew somewhat familiar
to me, I ventured on longer excursions of two, three, and four days, embracing
circuits of a hundred miles and more.

My outfit was simple. I always carried a three-quart canteen full of water,
two quarts for Dick, and one for myself. A quart pot for coffee, a pack of
damper bread, a frying-pan for game or fish, a tinder-box, a hatchet, a
blanket, and a long line for tethering my steed, sufficed even for my longest
excursions.

In my pocket I always carried a compass and a good knife; while for
weapons, like errant cavaliers of earlier times, I was not without a good equip-
ment, consisting of a double-barrelled fowling-piece, carried by a strap across
my back, a long flintlock horse-pistol, and a light cutlass.

I had little fear from any chance meeting with one, two, or three natives;
and in the event of falling in with a large party, disposed to be hostile, I
counted on Dick's speed to be able to distance them.

LIFE AMOXG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS.

My greatest apprehensions came from the danger of being waylaid while
camping on the plains at night. For greater safety on these occasions I used
always, after it had grown dark and I had got my supper, to leave my fire, and
lead Dick off to a distance, to some thicket or recess among rocks, where no

'^>%o

NATIVE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

lurking party of natives, who might have seen my smoke, would be likely to dis-
cover us during the hours of darkness.

But though I would not infrequently see the smokes of the blacks, and
hear them cooceing miles away, it was not often that I met them. Upon one of
the very first of my long trips, however, I had a rather singular adventure

90 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

with a young black fellow, who proved to be anything but a pleasant
acquaintance.

I was riding slowly along the bank of a small creek, where grew thick
groves of stately old gum-trees, when the strokes of a tomahawk came to my
ears at no great distance ahead.

Dick raised his head a little to listen, as was his wont at the least unusual
noise; but I allowed him to walk slowly on toward the sounds, for I had a
curiosity to see what the blacks were doing.

Directly ahead of us was a thicket of young mallec scrub, where manna
might have been pulled off by the pint; and passing this, we came to an open
growth of box and gum trees. Here I found the axeman, thumping away
lustily at the trunk of a big hollow gum-tree, which he had felled by burning it
off at the roots.

Evidently he was hunting opossums. No other person was in sight; he
was alone, — a tall, lithe young fellow, in the scantiest of apparel. A single,
long Jaaring feather, white as snow, was stuck in his curling back hair. His
back was turned to me ; and his stone tomahawk made such a noise on the
hollow gum that he heard nothing of my approach over the soft, yielding soil.

I let Dick walk leisurely along till he was within fifty yards of the gum-
tree, then drew rein and stood still, to watch the action of the native when he
should discover us.

After a time he ceased his blows, to rest for a moment, and then a slight
snort from Dick instantly attracted his attention. With a sudden jump, like
that of a startled cat, he faced us, and stood with dilated eyes, petrified with
amazement or fright.

Probably he had never before seen a horse, or a white man on horseback.
He may well have taken us for one and the same creature, — some monster of
which he had never even heard.

I raised my hand in token of peaceful intent, and spoke reassuringly, though
it is not to be supposed that the young native understood my words. He was
as straight as a gun-barrel, and he faced me, every muscle tense, and all his
senses on the alert.

At length, with an audible puff of his breath, he slightly shifted his posi-
tion, and then, without stooping, he raised, with the toes of his bare right foot,
one after the other, three spears, each made of a long light reed, that lay on
the ground close by. Next he picked up with the other foot his woolba, or
throwing stick.

Seeing that he was preparing to take the offensive, having resisted his first
natural ipipulse to run away, I quietly unslung my gun, still speaking in a

UJ^E AMONG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS.

gentle tone to him, and had just got it in my hands when he had a spear fixed
in the ivoolba ready to throw.

The muscles of his right arm rose in a big knot, and the spear quivered like
a serpent's tongue. At the same instant I presented my piece ; then for some
moments we watched each other's movements.

I could but admire the nerve displayed by the savage. There was not a
sign of fear in his attitude, which was that of full defiance, if not aggression.
Dick so much disliked both the smell and the looks of him that he presently
gave vent to a loud snort.

Up to that moment I had expected the black would throw his spear, but
the snort of the horse seemed to alarm the native more than the sight of us
had done. With a quick backward leap, he cleared the trunk of the gum,
and sprang to the cover of a clump of young box-trees.

Not at all sorry that the affair had terminated without a contest, flowered
my gun, waved my unarmed hand in token of good intent, and touching Dick
with the spur, rode away. Glancing back, I could see the black form of the
resolute native still in the cover of the box-woods. He was watching us with
an expression anything but friendly.

I should like to know what idea led him first to watch and mark my
course and then follow on my trail; for follow me he did all that day and
longer.

Toward night I came to a lake of which the creek was the outlet. It was
a pretty sheet of water, with sandy and pebbly shores; and about a hundred
yards from the point where I halted to cook my supper that night there was a
cluster of three small islands covered with malice brush.

The evening was warm. I bathed and led Dick into the water for a rub-
down ; and finding the water shallow, it occurred to me to cross over and sleep
on one of the islets. Accordingly, after dusk had fallen, I led Dick across to
one of the most fertile of them, and hitching him up among the scrub, spread
my blanket on the dry, earthy bank and fell asleep there.

Late in the night the moon rose in a clear, starlit sky, and it must have
been two o'clock when I was wakened by a slight splashing in the still water.
Raising up a little, I looked shoreward, and saw a dark object, a black, I felt
sure, standing in the lake, between the island and the shore. Something in the
form suddenly brought to my mind the young hunter of the previous forenoon ;
and fearing that he had summoned a party, I glanced rather anxiously along
the moonlit shore, but could see nothing.

He was alone ; but that he was hunting for me with evil intentions. I was
sure. Plainly he had reconnoitred my camp-fire and my tracks thoroughly

92 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

enough already to conclude that I had crossed over to the islets, and was
now considering the idea of attempting to surprise me there.

Of course I could easily have shot him where he stood, and possibly,
under the circumstances, might have been held excusable for doing so; but I
did not wish to injure him unless compelled to do so in self-defence. I de-
termined to scare him. Accordingly I suddenly shouted at him in tones
that were re-echoed from the entire circuit of the lake shores.

He started back at this sudden salute ; but after a few minutes' hesitation
he again advanced into the water to cross over, brandishing his spear and
muttering to himself.

I waited till he was within a hundred feet of the bank where I lay, then
discharged one barrel of my gun over his head. The flash and the report — a
sound probably never heard by him before — had the effect which I had an-
ticipated. With a sharp cluck in his throat, my nocturnal visitor made a rapid
retreat, and regaining the sandy beach, disappeared.

I did not fall asleep again, but saw nothing further of him until morning.
His tracks in the sand, all about the place where my fire had been kindled,
abundantly testified to his faithful efforts to find me.

I cooked my breakfast and set off on my way home, feeling content to let
this newly discovered lake be the limit of my westward riding for this trip ;
and although I had kept a very sharp eye out for any traces of my sable
acquaintance, I saw nothing of him at first. But when I had ridden about two
miles, and was passing a little thicket at a walk, and within sixty or seventy
feet of the brush, what seemed like a flash of yellow light shot past my face,
and I heard a soft low whiz.

It startled Dick ; he bounded suddenly forward and struck into a canter.
Glancing back, I saw my very much-attached friend looking after me from the
edge of the copse, with a disappointed expression on his round young black
face. He had launched a spear at me, and barely missed his mark.

Startled and angry, I was much tempted to requite his effort with a charge
of kangaroo-shot, but contented myself with promising it to him next time if
he did not desist.

My horse went on at a good pace for four or five miles ; we then entered
a sage plain and toiled across this, at a walk, for several hours. Coming at
length to a water-hole, where there was fresh grass, I dismounted to allow Dick
to feed a while.

After a time I stepped upon a rock to look about, and at almost the same
instant saw a black head — minus the feather now — rise up cautiously for a
look, twenty or thirty rods from where I stood.

LIFE AMONG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS. 93

The rascal had been tracking me, and had, like a snake, burrowed along
beneath the sage brush, hoping to creep up within spearing distance, unob-
served. Perceiving now that I saw him, he rose up boldly and spat toward
me. Evidently he had conquered his fear and was hot for revenge. I fancied
that by discharging my gun over his head the night before, I had probably
given him the idea that it was a weapon of noise rather than of harmful execu-
tion ; but badly as he was behaving, I yet disliked to fire upon him.

By night, however, he would prove a dangerous neighbor, particularly
on the sage plain. I felt that I was obliged to act in self-defence in the
matter.

Withdrawing the heavy load from my left barrel, I recharged it with bird-
shot, leaving the kangaroo-shot in the right as a last resort. Remounting the
rock, I then called out in a threatening tone of voice to my pursuer.

He replied with a shout of defiance, and advanced menacingly, shaking his
spears ; and perhaps to try my courage, he sent one of his boomerangs hur-
tling over my head.

Just at this point I discovered a serpent in the trees. I discharged my gun
at it, and the shot severed its head from its body, and he came tumbling down.
The sight alarmed the black, and he disappeared ; and I rode hastily away, but
felt insecure until the next day. He did not appear again this time.

One day in October, of the year 1848, — October is a mid-spring month in
Victoria, — a party of Wongut blacks from up the Goulburn River made a raid
on one of my outlying flocks. This act annoyed me very much, and led to a
collision which might well have brought my career as a sheep farmer to an
abrupt termination.

The flock in question consisted of two hundred and seventy-five weaned
lambs, now nearly grown and mostly fat. I had separated them from the par-
ent flock, and placed them under the care of a young Irishman named Cough-
lin, who had recently come out from the old country.

On this particular forenoon, Mike, my boy, was sitting under a box-wood
bush, watching his lambs and smoking, when his reveries were suddenly inter-
rupted by a tap on his shoulder from the handle of a spear. Turning, he saw
a strapping black, in all the beauties of the war-paint, which were as yet new
to him. He was fully armed with shield, spear, and waddy.

To say that Mike was alarmed would be a mild way to describe his mental
condition. His terror may have amused the sable warrior, and led him to
change his first intention of knocking out the shepherd's brains.

" He grinned horrid, sir," so Mike afterward related, and merely said,
pointing to the pipe, " Give smoke." Mike gave up the pipe instantly. The

94 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

black placed the pipe in his own mouth, drew a few whiffs, and said, " White
pella sit down."

Mike lost no time in doing so, and then the intruder quietly took up the
Irishman's gun, which stood against a bush close at hand, and walked away
with it. When at a distance of a hundred yards, he gave a shrill " coo-ee ! "
and fifteen or sixteen other blacks came out of a scrub thicket a little way off,
where tliey had been lying hidden. They ran around the flock, divided it,
separated from the rest about a hundred and thirty of the lambs, and drove
them away.

Mike, who had been sitting on the ground meantime, and " trimblin' loike
a lafe," as he very honestly confessed, now came home as fast as he could to
report. He told me his story with tears in his eyes, and gave, me his opinion
that it was " a very onruly counthry, sir, intirely."

Upon riding to the place, we found a hundred and forty-five of the lambs
quietly feeding, and Mike's gun lying on the ground where the black had in-
vited him to be seated. It w^as not easy to understand why they had returned
it, unless they wished us to know that mutton was the only thing which they
felt in need of. Perhaps they thought returning the gun would partly excuse
the theft of the lambs.

Captain Tamany added to this account of life in the bush a
curious story that he had heard of an adventure with the great
serpents of Australia, called the Australian boas.

THE SLEEPING BOAS.

Besides the enormous tiger-snake, one meets in the forest of
Australia boas of enormous size, length, and weight. They
live in trees much of the time, and shelter themselves under the
leaves by night, and sun themselves on the branches by day. They
so closely resemble the dead branches of the trees when they are
dormant or watching for their prey that one fails readily to discover
them.

In Australia, one may not see a serpent for many weeks, or one
may be frequently surprised by finding enormous boas and tiger-

LIFE AMONG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS. 95

snakes in one's way. The old couriers or postilions used to relate
many fearful adventures with boas, and the early explorers described
their encounters with tiger-snakes. Horses and dogs share the uni-
versal fear of these death-dealing foes.

I once heard a story of a traveller who had lain down to sleep
by a fire in a hut made of bushes, and became aware that there was
some unknown living thing in the place.

He could hear a slow movement, but could not tell what it meant.
He became drowsy at last, when he was suddenly startled by a cold,
heavy body creeping over him. He knew it was a deadly snake,
and that his only safety was to remain perfectly motionless.

The long body grew heavy, but passed slowly along over his
shoulders. At last the weight became less and less, and finally the tail
disappeared, and the sound of the movement died away in the bushes.

Qne day as an explorer was travelling through an Australian
forest with a band of natives, his attention was attracted by the odd
appearance of a long dead limb of a tree, which seemed to have
grown double. He halted, and pointed toward it.

" A boa," said a black boy in the party.

The explorer was uncertain.

*' I will go and see," said the black boy.

The bo}' ran up a tree near the forest giant whose high limb
presented the odd appearance.

" A boa," said the boy. " He is a big one. I will kill him."

He secured a heavy stick, and climbed up the great tree and dealt
the boa a succession of sharp blows on the head, and sent it tumbling
to the ground.

He slid back to the ground, saying, " I see another."

" Where } " asked the explorer.

"In the leaves up there."

In a tree almost over the heads of the party was a shining cluster
of green leaves. Tangled among the sunny foliage was another

96 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

terrible snake. The boy ran up the tree, dealt the monster a blow,
which caused it to spring into the air, and fall- to the earth.

The blacks killed both of the serpents, and began to drag the
bodies away.

" What are you going to do with them ? " asked the traveller.

" Eat them," was the answer.

That evening, the blacks made a great oven, and heated it. They
put into it the huge bodies of the two serpents, and covered them
with grasses and leaves that the steam might not escape. When the
oven was opened an hour later, the black men had a feast. The flesh
when cooked was white like an eel. It looked inviting ; but our
explorer, with his hereditar}'^ aversion to reptiles, could not be induced
to taste it. The blacks thought that his taste was very peculiar, and
could see no reason for his refusal to sup with them on such rich
food.

Grandmother Tamany said one or two such stories as the last was
enough for a single evening, and begged that for the sake of her
nerves, and the sleep of the young people, the story-telling might turn
to some more cheerful subject.

"To the kangaroos," said Eric.

" Yes, that would be better," said Grandmother Tamany, " though
one would not care to dream of kangaroos."

" The Australian kangaroo," said Captain Bridewell, " is the most
curious animal in existence. It is called a marsupial because it has a
pouch in which it carries and nourishes its young, Its fore-feet are
small, and look like arms ; its hind-feet are long and very strong, and
are armed with sharp nails. The great kangaroo is nearly eight
feet lono", and stands some five or six feet hiH-i, and looks in the
distance like a human being. The animal was first made known to
the world by Captain Cook, who discovered it in 1770. His story
sounded like one of the tales of Sinbad the Sailor. It was hard to
believe that there really existed an animal whose young lived in her

=—^^^^^

■^ - v^^^

^"'i-^i-^-l—

HE DEALT THE BOA A SUCCESSION OF SHARP BLOWS.

LIFE AMONG THE BLACK AUSTRALIANS.

own body, and whose heads would protrude from it to eat herbage as
she passed about.

" The kangaroo outleaps the run of the swiftest dogs. When
tired out with the pursuit of dogs and brought to bay, it rises upon
its hind-legs, and awaits attack. It is able to kill a dog by a single
stroke of its sharp claws.

" Its meat is greatly esteemed, and the hunting of the kangaroo
is one of the principal diversions of Australia. It is a very timid
animal, and becomes easily tamed, but is dangerous if brought to bay."

Little Mary Hartwell was a dreamer, and she had heard the old
sea-captains relate their stories of the Antarctic Sea so many times
that her fairy-land became the South Pacific Ocean. While other
children were playing with dolls, tin soldiers, and wooden animals,
Eric and Mary made ships of wood and paper and sailed them over
imaginary waters. " Let 's go to sea," Mary used to say to Eric, " and
catch whales ; " and they would make a South Pacific Ocean of the
carpet, and harpoon imaginary whales and return rich with barrels
of oil to the supposed port of New Bedford.

It was queer to hear the pale little girl shout in her play, " There
she blows! You harpoon him, Eric, and I will cut up the blubber;
and we will return after a good voyage with all our sails a-flying, and
fire a cannon when we come to port."

One day Mary said to the captain, " Do you really think that you
will ever go to sea again } "

" Oh, I don't know, pet, I am growing old."

" I would like to go to sea, Grandpa."

" You ! what would you do at sea } "

" Catch whales."

The captain laughed, and said, "Catch whales; the top of the
world to ye all ! "

" Does n't it hurt them to harpoon them, — torture them, I mean } I
would want to kill them quick ; I would hate to see them suffer."

lOO ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" What ideas my little girl has in her head ! " said the captain.

" When I go whaling, I shall just see the whales blow, and let
them go. What is the use of money only to have a good time with ?
I would n't kill anything for money ; I would rather be a missionary.
But I would like to go to sea."

"What for?"

" Oh, I don't know. To see the sun shine on the wide, wide
waters ; to see the lovely birds ; to see the whales ; to see all the things
that you have told us about ; to see the storm, and hear the wind
whistle, and then to drift and sail day after day, day after day, and feel
that the land was far, far away; to feel well; to feel happy; to hear
the sailors tell their yarns ; to dream of home ; to be away, away, — I
can see it all in my mind. If you ever do go to sea again, I have de-
cided that I want to go with you. I 'd be company for you, — would
sing for you, would sew for you. I would like to go around the
Horn, and drift and sail, and drift and sail under the sky. Oh, there
is something that makes me want to go. I have been thinking of
what you said of the voyage around the world, and I love to dream of
it all; to think of the sunrise on the big ocean, and the stars, and the
great waves and the calms, — I should think it would be like being all
alone with God. I do hope that you will go to sea just once more,
and let me go with you. It would make me grow."

"Yes, you dear child," said the captain, "it would make you grow;
the top of the world to ye ! I would be very happy at sea with you
with me. Four eyes can see with twice the delight of two. But you
are young, and I am getting old ; and I never shall grow any younger
again. Our years will always be just so many apart, until I shall
make my last voyage to the port from which I never shall return.
But I may go to sea again ; I can't tell what may happen."

" And if you do, }'ou will let me go with you .?-"

"Yes," said Captain Tamany, "yes, yes! that I will; the top of
the world to ye ! "

CHAPTER V.

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANY'S.

HANKSGIVING DAY is the New England Christmas.
It was the Puritan day of family reunions, of sports,
games, and story-telling. That day the red settle shone
in the light of the great log-fire.
Captain Tamany of the " Tammany " kept Thanksgiv-
ing, as all the old New Bedford sea-captains did. He desired to make
the festival of this year a particularly joyful one, on account of Captain
Bridewell's visit.

" What shall be our plan ? " he asked of his wife one day.
" I do not know. Leave the dinner to me, as my part. I will see
that that comes on the table well. You and the children must
arrange for the amusements."

Mary Hartwell sang and played well ; and there was one piece of
music that was always sung at Captain Tamany 's on Thanksgiving
days, when the captain was at home. It was " The Landing of the
Pilcrrim Fathers in New Enoland," beeinnine, —

•'The breaking waves dashed high."

The words were written by Mrs. Hemans after reading an account
of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in a paper once sent to her
by her brother in Canada, and the music was composed by her sister,
Miss Browne. The poem and music were given to Sir Walter Scott
to secure a publisher. Captain Tamany loved this piece of music

I04 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

because it caught the spirit and heroism of the scene. He first se-
lected that as a part of the Thanksgiving entertainment, and assigned
it to Mary.

Captain Tamany had made his home famous for the uniqueness of
his hoHday parties. He loved children, took an interest in the day-
school and Sunday-school, and on Christmas days made presents
"from over sea," as he said, to the boys and girls in a charity house
near the city.

Among the unique parties that Captain Tamany gave was an
orange party, at which all kinds of oranges were served with orange
cake and orange sherbet; and the rooms were decorated with orange,
and the guests wore orange colors. The scene was enlivened by
the banjo and songs of the South.

As unique was an apple party, at which many varieties of apples
were served, and the guests wore colors of green, yellow, and red.

" I have hit upon a plan of amusement for Thanksgiving evening,"
the captain said to Mary while the subject was under discussion. " We
will have a nut party, at which we will tell the old folk-lore stories.
We will serve as many kinds of nuts as possible, and have nut cake,
almond cake, and walnut taffy, and we will call the stories that we tell
on the red settle before the fire, ' Nuts to Crack.' The stories shall be
humorous, and relate to mysteries. The old towns used to be full
of stories like these, — queer old ghost stories."

Captain Tamany was a natural story-teller. He had an instinct
for story-telling. He loved to collect quaint old stories of the early
New England days, of colonial houses, and of whale-ships and sea-
faring craft.

He was a lover of ghost stories and wonder tales, — not those
awful tales of mystery that used to send children frightened to bed,
but those with a comical ending, in which the cause of some super-
stitious excitement was fully explained. He had a large store of
queer stories of this kind ; and however much one might object to

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMA NT'S.

105

ghost stories in general, as a cause of deceptive and unnatural terror,
every one liked to hear /izs stories, and children especially. So when
invitations began to go out to the nut party, and Mary and Eric
announced to their friends that the captain would relate some stories
that would be " nuts to crack," an
unusual interest and expectation
was awakened in the old New Bed-
ford neighborhood.

The night was a glorious one,
crisp and
clear. The
hunter's
moon rose
over the
sea like a

golden sun. The Thanksgiving
dinner had been one that embraced
all the dishes of the old New Eng-
land days, beginning with succo-
tash, and ending with pumpkin
pies and apple dumplings with
potato crusts, and nuts of
many varieties.

The evening party was at-
tended by all of the children in
the neighborhood. Nuts of many II
kinds, and cakes, and confections
made partly of nuts, had been pro-
vided for all the guests; and Captain Bridewell and Aunt Tamany
as well as the good captain of the " Tammany " had prepared them-
selves to relate stories which would furnish mental " nuts to crack."

Captain Tamany began the story-telling with an odd account of an

THE OLD NEGRO PREACHER AND THE
CHESTNUT.

I06 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

old negro preacher who took a chestnut into the pulpit, and declared
that he was as sure of gaining the heavenly estate as he was of eating
" that chestnut." " Holy Moses ! " the preacher suddenly exclaimed,
as he proceeded to carry out his object-teaching, — " Holy Moses! and
can I ebber believe my eyes ? The thing is rotten ! " Aunt Tamany
related a story which used to be known as " Would you, or would n't
you ? " The story was often told a half-century or more ago beside the
fires of old New England inns. According to this story, a traveller
who had stopped at an inn which was full of guests, had been sent for
lodgings to the old storehouse chamber, and was awakened very early
in the morning by the sound of the voices of the landlord and land-
lady, who entered the room very softly, the woman holding a light, and
the man having a huge knife in his hands. At every step the man
halted and said, " Would you, or would n't you ? " and the woman
would make answer, " Yes, go along." The couple had really come to
cut some ham for breakfast ; but the traveller thought it was their
purpose to murder and rob him. Grandma Tamany, or Aunt Tamany,
as she was generally known, had a very vivid imagination, and she
made the journey of the innkeepers in the traveller's room a very long
one, and held the company in suspense as to the meaning and out-
come of the suggestive event.

Captain Bridewell related an odd story of a haunted ship ; and
then Captain Tamany gave a "Nut to Crack" which much pleased
the children. It was as follows : —

THE MYSTERIOUS SACK; OR. TWO BUSHELS OF CORN.

Farmer Brown was shelling four bushels of corn on the cob, which, accord-
ing to the mathematics and tabular weights and measures of old New England
days, would make two bushels of corn for the purpose of the farm bin or the
miller. He was shelling the four bushels of corn by use of a common cob in
his right hand, which cob he used to remove the kernels by pressure. This

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANY'S.

107

oldtime way of shelling corn made the hands hard and horny, and the mus-
cles of the wrist strong. Woe be to the culprit who should have fallen into the
hands of a professional corn-sheller ! He might as well have been bound with
withes of hornbine. The boy who felt the withy grasp of such a left hand, and
the application of a but-
ton-wood rod by such a
right hand, was sure to
have his memory perma-
nently quickened, and
the lesson usually
proved effectual. Such
farmers, from their lord-
ly dialogues with their
oxen, had strong voices
as well as hands, and
when one of them said,
" Boy," it meant much.
And " boy" was just the
word that Farmer Brown
said while shelling corn.
Harry Brown, the
" boy," started. " Boy "
was a word of command
from the generalissimo
of the farm.
"Sir?"

Mrs. Brown was sit-
ting in the armchair by
the stand, knitting by
the tallow candle. Mr.
Brown was shelling corn

because he had nothing else to do; and Mrs. Brown was knitting because she
had nothing else to do; and Harry Brown was studying a music-book by
good old William Billings, of Stoughton, because he sang in the choir of Hard-
Scrabble Church, — which is a real name, and not one made up for story-
telling purposes. Harry had been drawling " Do, mi, sol, do," when the word
of command came.

" Boy, seeing as it is now almost Thanksgiving time, I 'm going to do just
the rieht thine — "

» ^'>^ -^--^.^^^^^e^

NEAR THE SOURCE OF THE MURRAY.

Io8 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA,

Mrs. Brown dropped her needles. What was going to happen? She was
a thrifty, frugal woman. Was Mr. Brown going to give away something out of
their hard earnings and savings? If so, what, and to whom? No unworthy
person, she hoped.

'• I 've been thinking over this bushel of corn ; I always do a deal of
thinking when I am shelling corn."

*' What you been thinking about, Eben? "

" About the sermon that Elder Leland preached on the text, ' For if ye
love them that love you, what reward have ye; do not even the publicans
so? ' Now, Peter Rugg has not used me just right, and I am going to make
him a present of two bushels of corn. And, boy, you shall carry it over to him
to-morrow morning on horseback."

Mrs. Brown's cap border lifted. She dove at the snuffers, and snuffed the
candle with a spiteful dive at the long black wick.

"Eben!"

"Well, Eunice?"

" Peter Rugg just gets his living by doing nothin', don't he?"

" Yes, but he is sick now ; and you know the text. There 's no merit in
doin' just what you want to do, and havin' your own way and will, and lookin'
for reward, Elder Leland says — "

" And Peter Rugg's wife, she goes a-visitin' for a livin', and eats up every-
body's plum-cake and apple-sass — "

" Yes, yes ! but Peter was shiftless — born so, tired-like — and she had to
eat something; and he's sick now."

" Well, I don't approve no such doin's. I don't believe in encouragin' idle-
ness. If a man will not work, neither shall he eat ! There now, Eben ! "

" Do, mi, sol, do," sang Harry.

"The morning sun shines from the east,
And spreads its glories to the west."

He was practising the " Ode on Science," — the crowning attainment of all
musical efforts in these simple singing-school days.

" Well, I do declare, Eben, I hope if you send two bushels of corn, of your
own shellin too, to that shiftless Peter Rugg— I do hope — "

"What, Eunice?"

" That it will never get there."

"Sho! Eunice; that ain't the right sperit, —when our barns and cribs are
full too, and Peter is the only real poor person in the town too ; and he 's the
only one in all the world that has n't used me quite right too. I '11 have to

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANY'S. lOQ

send it to him, or else be very poor and mean in soul, and carry about with me
a feelin' that I have n't done my duty, and been grateful for all my blessin's.
Eunice, I 'm goin' to do it anyhow."

" Well, all that I 've got to say is that I do hope that the grist will never
get there."

" Now, boy, you may go to singin'-school."

Harry slipped away with the parallelogram of an "American Vocalist"
under his arm. The singing-school made great progress on the " Ode on
Science " that night, and Harry had descended into those deep and cavernous
regions of solemn bass foundations with the ambition of a basso profiuuio.

The moon was hanging over the dark shoulders of Greylock, and the lights
glimmering on Stafford Hill, as he returned. It was a crisp night, with a
gleam of frost crystals everywhere in the bare harvest fields, the blue gentian
pastures, and alluvial cranberry meadows. He continued to sing; he could
not help it, — the piece haunted him. Nothing at all so wonderful as the
accomplishment of that piece by the singing-school had ever before come into
his experience. The words, too, were magical to him, — like a new world.
So in the new creations of the poet and composer, he jogged along, singing,
until he came to the graveyard where Capt. Joab Stafford and the heroes of
Bennington lie buried, and then he continued to wJiistle the same tune. A
boy at that time did not know what might happen when he was passing a
graveyard.

The next morning Harry received the same peremptory summons to atten-
tion, — "Boy!" Now, this was not intended in this strange case to be re-
proachful toward Harry, but to let prudential Eunice understand that in this
case of casuistry his mind was made up.

" Boy, bring the old roan horse ; and I will put on his back the two bushels
of corn."

Eunice heard the order, and she knew that the laconic word was meant for
her ears. She said nothing, but went on grinding coffee,- pounding locker,
mixing johnny-cake, straining milk, boiling potatoes, breaking eggs, " settin' "
the table, " shooing " the hens from the doorstep, feeding the dog, and " scat-
ting " the cat ; and all those varied and multiple duties that fall to the expe-
rience of a thrifty farmer's wife for the sake of being supported.

The sun rose red over the valley and intervales. The blue jays seemed to
blow about screaming, and the crows cawed in the walnut-trees. The con-
quiddles had ceased to sing; but there was a chipper of squirrels everywhere.
One could hear the old mill-wheel turning in the distance two miles away.
The trees on Park Lane, the scene of the Mason farms, were blazing like an

no ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

army with crimson oriflammes, and fat turkeys were- gobbling around every
farmhouse for miles. This was J:he farm region of the famous Cheshire cheeses,
— one of which, weighing more than twelve hundred pounds, had been pre-
sented to President Jefferson, Elder Leland acting as envoy for the merry
farmers, and preaching all the way to Washington and back while executing
the curious commission.

After breakfast Harry brought the sorrel horse to the door, and Eben,
whose benevolent heart had prompted him to a duty in spite of itself, put on
his back the two bushels of corn so as to form a kind of saddle, one bushel
on one side, and the other on the other.

" Take the corn to the mill," said Eben ; " have it ground, then take the
meal to Peter Rugg, and be sure to tell him that /sent it."

Harry was no idiot boy like that in Wordsworth's tale of Betty Foy; but
this morning his wits went wool-gathering. The " Ode on Science " and his
musical triumphs of the night before had quite turned his head, and he started

off singing, —

" The morning sun shines from the east,
And spreads its glories to the west."

This was literally true. The morning was bright and the air exhilarating, and

the mountains in all the over-floods of glory most inspiring. After singing

the " Ode on Science," Harry essayed " Majesty," and he made the woods ring

with : —

" On cherub and on cherubim

Full royally he rode,

And on the wings of mighty winds

Came flying all abroad."

He made even the chipmunks run, and the grave jays stop to listen.

He was a happy boy, a very happy boy. It was a long way from the red
house and barn of Eben Brown's farm to the great wooden mill-wheel on the
Housatonic ; but Harry did not urge the roan horse, who had no disposition
to be urged. Why should one travel fast when everything is bright and
beautiful?

Eben had tied the bag tightly the night before, after he had reduced the
four bushels of corn to two. He picked up every kernel of corn that he had
chanced to scatter over the floor, and put it into the bag.

Now, in the house there were mice, — sly mice. And when all the family
were in the other world of dreams on the night before, one or two of these mice
had explored the kitchen, and finding not so much as a single kernel of corn,
after all the vigorous shelling, had each gnawed a little hole, one in either end

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANY'S. Ill

of the bag, and had made a dainty meal, and slipped away, leaving the two
little holes. The motion of the sorrel horse, as he walked mathematically
along, began to shake out the corn through either end of the bag, slowly at first,
but very freely at last, unperceived by Harry, whose mind was on wings in the
far-off musical sky.

As he went on singing and whistling, and sifting the corn unperceived, a
strange annoyance befell the felicitous knight of the two bushels of corn. The
hens ran after him from the farmhouses, the great flocks of turkeys gobbling,
the waddling geese quacking. He passed the great dairy farms under the cool
shadow of Greylock.and the Park Lane Ridge. Everywhere there followed
him great flocks of poultry, — hens, ducks, geese, and turkeys ; they grew to
be almost an army at last, cackling, quacking, gobbling.

But Harry did not stop to investigate the cause of all this gathering of
wings and bills behind him. The fowl all seemed happy; so was he. It was a
bright and happy morning.

Once or twice he shook his fist at some new flocks of turkeys that came
flying and gobbling down from an old stone wall.

" Don't you gobble at me ! " he said, and then went on, singing.

The composite army of farm fowl left him at last, and he came in sight of
the foaming mill-wheel that was tossing the cool waters of the Housatonic near
the grand old orchards of what was once one of the New Providence farms.
New Providence is a vanished village now. Its churches and inns used to be on
Stafford Hill, but Cheshire village has taken its place. One cannot so much
as find New Providence on the map. It was settled by the Masons and Browns
and Coles from Swansea, Mass., and Coventry, R. I. The colony went to
Sackville, N. B., first, but finding the climate too rigorous, followed their pas-
tor, Elder Mason, to the Berkshire Hills and founded Cheshire under the name
of New Providence.

Suddenly Harry ceased singing. The horse's back began to grow hard.
He thought that he would adjust the bag and make his position easier. He
clasped the bag — and what a look of amazement must have come into his
face ! there was nothing in it, not so much as a single kernel of corn !

Harry had heard of witches and things bewitched, of people casting an evil
eye, of the awful ghost story that Elder Leland used to tell. He recalled his
mother's wish, and wondered if that had not bewitched the bag. Had the bag
untied? He looked to see. No, there was the string. His heart thumped,
and he felt hot flashes and cold shivers creep over him.

He stopped the horse. Crows cawed above him. The mill-wheel turned
and turned before him. Why should he go forward? He had nothing for the

112

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

miller; and what, oh, what could he say to the miller if he went to the mill
with an empty bag?

He would retrace his way, and see if that would offer any clew to the ap-
palling mystery; but it offered none. There was not so much as a kernel of
corn in the road, and the turkeys and geese and ducks and pullets everywhere
seemed contented, with full crops and fat sides. They did not even gobble or
quack or cackle. The world all seemed serene and happy.
What should he say to his father? And to his mother?
And what would the world say now? And Elder Leland, who had been
visited by a ghost and had heard voices from the sky?

So toward the red farmhouse Harry Brown turned his horse's head in
wonder and amazement. He thought of the awful Indian tales and ghost tales
of old Swansea, from which the early settlers had come; of witches riding on

broomsticks in the air,
and " spells " and " evil
eyes " and all sorts of
imaginary mysteries. In
this frame of mind he
rode up under the hour-
glass elm in front of the
house, and his father
came to the door.

" Did he receive it
well, sonny ? " asked
Eben, with a beaming
face.

" It is gone," said
Harry, with a doleful
face.

"What gone?"
" The grist."
"Sho! Where?"
Here Eunice's white
head appeared. She
A DEVIL-FISH OF THE INDIAN OCEAN. thrcw her apron over it

and listened anxiously.
" It disappeared."
"Where?"
" Into the air."

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANYS. 113

" How? "

" Spirits."

" Boy ! "

" There, Eben," said Eunice, " mind what I told you ! The universe is
agin ye. You could n't get a grist to Peter Rugg's if you were to go yourself.
'T would be flying in the face of Providence. The powers are agin ye. I used
to know all about spells and such things in old Swansea."

" We '11 see ; we '11 see," said Eben.

That evening Eben shelled out two more bushels of corn. In the morning
he brought out the old roan horse, and put a bag with the corn on his back.
He then went to the barn and brought a stiff button-wood rod which he had
used for various purposes of discipline and correction.

"Boy! "

"Sir?"

" Mount that horse."

Harry mounted as before.

" Go to mill ; I '11 follow."

The pilgrimage was performed with alacrity and safety. The meal was
carried to poor Peter Rugg, and received with a grateful and penitent heart.
Eben returned home happy, but whatever became of that first bag of two
bushels of corn was always a wonder to Harry, to Eunice, and their friends.

Eben's expectations were realized in regard to Peter Rugg. The good act
restored his better will and heart, and made him a true friend for life. Eben
used to tell the story, and say, " Always follow your better will, and do your
duty, though the universe be agin ye." And so I will close by saying, " The
top of the world to ye all."

The entertainment was continued by the song of " The Land-
ing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England," a precocious effort by
Mary, and was concluded by a reading by Captain Bridewell. This
reading consisted of a selection of poetry altered from Michael Scan-
Ian, and adapted for recitation with music. While Captain Bridewell
was rendering the last stanzas, Mary played the Kerry Dance on the
piano, using the soft pedal.

114 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

THE BEAUTIFUL CITY OF DERRY.

When I was a bachelor, young and hearty,

Comfort-taking,

Merry-making,
The pride of each frolic and party,
I had friends whom I loved and who loved me,
In their kindness who never reproved me.

I was full of youth's fires

And wild desires,
And gave play to each spirit that moved me.

Unburdened by care,

I went to the fair
And danced to the Humors of Kerry,

The gayest of boys

For frolic and noise
In the beautiful city of Derry.

But discontent like a blight came o'er me;

Song and story,

Gold and glory.

Mixed in gleams

Of glowing dreams,
Were forever flowing before me.
I resolved to cross the wide ocean,
To carve out wealth and promotion ;

Come back, make amends

By enriching my friends, —
'T was a wild, a fanciful notion.

So I bade good-by

To my friends, and I
Kissed my love's lips of cherry,

And the very next day

I sailed away
From the beautiful city of Derry.

I worked on many a winding river,

In vale and in mountain,

Never countin'

The years going by.

So sure was I
In my dreaming that Fortune would give her

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANY'S. 1 15

Rich stores of golden treasure,
Pour out her soul without measure.

I spent my life

In labor and strife,
And fled the gay smiles of pleasure,

Still dreaming of home

And bright days to come,
When boys should all call me Sir Terry,

And on comrades of old

Should lavish my gold
In the beautiful city of Derry.

At last I won Miss Fortune's smiling,

And with the witch's

Smiles came riches,

To bless me at last

For the barren past
And her years of deceit and beguiling.
And soon o'er the blue waters going,
With fair winds merrily blowing,

The days of my youth

On the winds of the south
Came back to my memory glowing.

By my side on the green

Was Kitty McQueen,
And we danced to the Humors of Kerry;

The moonbeams danced too.

As they used to do
In the beautiful city of Derry.

A gorgeous summer night was shaking

Her dark locks over

Her ocean lover,
And I saw the red morning was breaking ;
'T was then o'er the blue waves appearing.
We saw the green hills of old Erin.

The sun flung his light

Through the shadows of night,
And we hailed the glad omen with cheering.

Into the bay

I sailed that day.
And I leaped to the shore from the wherry.

The dream I had prized

Was at last realized, —
I was rich in the city of Derry.

Il6 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

I looked around in wildest wonder,

Paused and faltered ;

Things looked altered.

In all the place

I knew no face ;
The town seemed all battered asunden
I asked for my friends in the city,
I searched through the maidens for Kitty ;

But none heard before

Of the name that I bore,
Till an old man looked on me with pity,

And he said with surprise,

While tears filled his eyes,
" Why, God bless you, jour name must be Terry,

That sailed far away

On that long summer day,
When we two were boys in Derry.

•' Ah, many a year your love sat sighing,

Patient waiting.

Never mating
(She named your name in dying) ;

Her heart beat true

Alone for you.
And oft when the roses were blooming,
And the bees through the gardens went humming,

The boys used to meet

At the end of the street.
And talk with delight of your coming;

But the long years passed on,

And they took, one by one,
The sad, the serene, and the merry.

Some are gone o'er the waves,

And some to their graves
In the beautiful city of Derry."

I wander away in the shadowy gloaming,

Sadly musing,

Always choosing

The path of glooms

Among the tombs,
And think —do they know I am coming?
I sit on the graves where they 're sleeping,
Lone watch in my lone years keeping.

THANKSGIVING AT CAPTAIN TAMANY'S. 117

And this is thy meed,

worldly greed,
Sorrow and woe and weeping ;

1 'd give all the gold
The ocean can hold

To kiss my love's lips of cherry,

Be young once more,

With friends galore,
In the beautiful city of Derry.

CHAPTER VI.

WHAT AUSTRALIA TEACHES IN REGARD TO MORAL RECOVERY.

USTRALIA has solved the problem," Captain Tamany
used to say from time to time, as he would drop the
morning paper, and look absently out to sea.

One late autumn morning, he took off his spectacles
suddenly, and tapped them on the table, and exclaimed
with more than usual vigor, " Australia solved that problem long,
long ago ! "

By " that problem " his good wife knew that he did not mean a
right ballot system, or the Wakefield principle in regard to the rela-
tion of land to immigration, or temperance physiological teaching in
school, but something new. Australia, in the captain's view, had
solved many of the problems of life, and had illustrated the truth of
the literal teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, which the world
is so slow to interpret rightly and follow.

" What problem now.? " asked Grandmother Tamany.
" Oh, the problem that General Booth is studying, and which the
Prince of Wales, Canon Farrar, and the leaders of English thought
are commending. Any man may become a good man if he has a
sufficient reason and the opportunity. The Gospels teach that, and
the work of all the world's sympathetic evangelists show it. Now
moral truth is a sufficient reason, but emigration is the opportunity.
General Booth is right ; Australia solved that problem long ago. The

WHAT AUSTRALIA TEACHES.

119

convicts of her early penal colonies recovered. Why ? They would
not have recovered had they been turned loose in England. But as a
rule, they did recover in the great ocean continent. The land offered
them not only a new opportunity, but one where the stigma of their
old crimes did not follow them. In Australia the world offered them
a fair chance. There, when a man repented, his sins were blotted out.
Yes, yes. General Booth is right, — it is running water that becomes pure
and fertilizes the earth.
The world is wide ; the
British empire is im-
mense. Give the poor
people in the dark dis-
tricts of London a chance

in the free air. General Booth's plan is not a flying
school ; it is one of the most sensible movements of the
time ; it is the Gospel, — the real spirit of humanity and
Christianity. I tell you that old Van Dieman's Land
solved that problem long ago."

Captain Tamany had advocated the Australian ballot
system long before it was adopted in the States, and the Wakefield
theory before it began to be discussed by the Farmers' Alliance, and
temperance teaching in schools before it became a part of the work of
the W. C. T. U. He had often talked to clergymen and others of
the general reformation of the expirees of Australia, and what that re-
formation taught, and he was delighted to find that the plans of General
Booth, which proposed the removal of the most degraded people of
London to colonial waste lands, were receiving the commendation
of the most influential English people.

It was interesting to hear Captain Tamany advocate these views.
He was often asked to speak on public occasions before societies of
beneficence, and his favorite topic was Moral Recovery, or The Expirees
of Australia. He believed that the change wrought in many of the

I20 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTHALIA.

expirees and bush-rangers was a lesson for the world to learn in the
methods of benevolent work. He used to give a lecture on the sub-
ject, that expressed his views. It was called, ■ —

THE EXPIREES OF OCEANA; OR, MORAL RECOVERY.

Among the heroes of the world none have done a better work for mankind
than those who by obeying the spiritual laws of God have changed evil hered-
ity into good heredity. Happy is his lot who has had good ancestors. *' There
is born in man an essence that makes him the kind of being he is," says a
writer on heredity ; and to purify life and make its tendency high and noble is
more than to gain wealth or fame. " Character is everything," said Charles
Sumner when dying. The best legacy a man can leave those who come after
him is moral strength and a renewed life. What a true man would wish his
children to become, that he will be for the sake of his children.

There was published in France some years ago a book of startling analy-
sis of family life. It has been republished in America under the simple title,
" Heredity." No right-thinking man could ever read this work without hun-
gering for righteousness, and praying to be delivered from his evil desires and
inherited weaknesses. One shuts the book, appalled at the power that lies
within him to bless or curse the future, to create happiness or misery, to be
merciful or cruel to unborn generations. He is made to see that the strength
of his own overcoming is likely to be the moral strength of his offspring, and
that righteousness is the one crown of life. The book is scientific, but its un-
conscious moral teaching is the ancient declaration of Moses in regard to sin
and holiness.

Many are doubtless familiar with that popular scientific work, Galton's
" Hereditary Genius." Such are able to see clearly that genius produces its
own children, and that great minds in literature, statesmanship, and the arts
are the results of predisposition. The evidence is overwhelming. It is an
agreeable thing thus to follow the rising tide of literary ability until there
comes out of such favored ancestry a genius of such open vision as to lead
and influence mankind. But the laws of the degeneracy of the mental capac-
ity and perceptions are as real. A muddy tide bears impure water through all
its course, and the low tide runs out. The unrestrained temper of the grand-
parent may become a murder in the inherited weakness of a grandson, for the
weakness of evil traits often skips one generation.

WHAT AUSTRALIA TEACHES.

121

"Where did the crime begin?" asked a warden of a prisoner.

"In my ancestors," was the reply; "in me their weakness sunk into a
felony."

A young man who studies the influence of evil on family life and character
will resist the earliest tendencies to sin. He becomes very restrained and sober
who is made to see that what he is, his Hfe-work will be, and his offspring's
will tend to be.

A WADDY FIGHT.

" I cannot resist this evil," once said a young man to me.

" You are about to marry," said I ; " would you have your children slaves
to the passion that holds you ? "

" No, never ! " said he. " I must overcome. I will overcome. How could
I ever look into a cradle and feel that my child was a slave?"

It is a principle of moral evolution that any one can overcome evil if he
has a sufficient motive.

One bright autumn day I was asked by a stranger in Boston to go with
him to Mount Auburn, and to act as guide to the historic graves. I love to visit

122 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

this last resting-place of illustrious benefactors ; it inspires life to do so, and
it impresses one with the brevity of the opportunities of time. " Be true to
thy best self, for the time is short," is the voice that the soul hears everywhere
among these blossoming marbles. Mount Auburn itself is one great poem, as
well as a resting-place of poets.

My friend and I passed under the imposing Egyptian portal into a wide
flower-garden of the dead, and went to the notable graves near, among them,
to those of Spurzheim and Longfellow. Then returning to the main way, we
bent our steps toward the chapel, to see the statues and rose windows, and to
walk around the Sphinx. We were passing the bronze statue of Nathaniel
Bowditch, when my friend paused and said, " Did you ever read an English
book called " Turning-points in Life ' ? I am reminded of it by an anecdote
of the early days of Bowditch. Although he became a man of science, and
among the greatest of his time, he was in youth a great lover of the violin.
The violin was not a popular instrument among the best people then, although
it is becoming so now. The young man's love of the instrument led him into
the company of idlers, and he made some unprofitable friends in this way, —
people of light character and of no earnest purpose even in their own art.
One day he saw the tendency of his life. 'What am I doing,' he said, 'keep-
ing company with men of unprofitable influence, simply because they love my
favorite music? I will do so no longer. I must follow my highest inspirations
and seek to do my best in life.' He turned from light music to science as his
better calling. He mingled with the best men of his times; and the record is
here, or rather in human progress. What a mistake it would have been had
he become an ale-house fiddler ! "

Bowditch was too grand to have become a low type of a man ; but he owed
much of his greatness to this correction of life, and to a like spirit in all that
he did. He was careful not to make second mistakes.

A student of history once said, " If I were to choose the character among
all men that I would most wish to become, it should be John Hampden."

I was recently sitting in Harvard Memorial Hall, amid the walls filled with
statues and portraits, and windows beautiful with efiigies of heroes and bene-
factors. A window brightened in the sunlight, its colored glass making the
figure in it gleam like a vision. The picture or statue in glass was that of
John Hampden.

What does not English and American liberty owe to this man ! How
clearly he saw the cause of the people! How he pleaded for soul liberty, and
how earnest was his life ! He may be said to be the father of the liberties
of the English race. The oft-quoted lines of the poet Gray came to me, and

WHAT AUSTRALIA TEACHES. 1 23

then I recalled that the historians gave a picture of a period of his life when
he began to give himself up to selfish pleasures, gratifications, and ambi-
tions. He saw the harvest of such courses, and turned his back firmly upon
every dissipation that would tend to waste the time of others or to weaken
his own powers. From the gayest of men he became one of the most
thoughtful, and so prepared his heart to receive the great inspirations that
came to him.

There are three orders of young men in the course of moral gravitation.
The first are those who are able to resist every allurement of vice, and who
are little tempted by what they so grandly refuse to learn, — men like young
Gladstone, or Bishop Heber, or Wendell Phillips. The second are those who
make mistakes, but who do not make second mistakes ; who correct life.
The third are those who repeat evil until it becomes habit, and habit, character,
and a weak character, the probable destiny of a family.

The second class claims our attention here. The young man, who, finding
an evil tendency in his life, corrects his mistake, has not only saved his own
reputation and spiritual power, he has given to the future an influence and
tendency. Some of the noblest characters in the world have been developed
from }'oung men who have corrected mistakes.

RESISTING EVIL TENDENCIES.

In the early days of-American art there went from Boston to London a
young man of luminous genius and a pure heart. He was poor in everything
but character. The inspiration of the great masters of painting which he saw
filled him with a high sense of his calling; he desired to paint nobly, to live
nobly, and leave an influence that would help mankind.

Among the pictures that he painted was one that was in itself pure, but
such as a sensuous mind might pervert by an evil interpretation. To a good
mind its influence was good; to an evil imagination it might be made food
for evil.

A connoisseur of rank and wealth came to this young man's studio, saw
this picture, and purchased it. The money relieved the young artist from
pressing needs, and the compliment at first made him happy.

But when the picture was gone, the artist began to think of the bad influ-
ence it might have over the weak and tempted. His conscience began to
torture him ; he could not rest. He went at last to his patron.

" I have come to buy my picture back."

" Buy it back? Did I not pay you well for it? Do you not need money? "

"Yes, I am poor; but my art is my life. Its mission must be good. The

124 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

influence of that picture is not good. I cannot be happy with it before the
eyes of the world. It must be withdrawn, if I can recall it."

The patron admired the heroic purpose of the young artist's life, and sent
back the picture. The dialogue was like that we have given, though not in
the exact words. The young artist became great, and his character came to
command the respect of the two nations.

One day there came to him a young pupil whom he felt was in moral
danger. He gave the young man his first lesson in almost these exact words :
" Young man, if you would succeed in art, you must be pure, for Nature does
not reveal herself to those whose eyes are clodded by any known fault or
grossness of character."

This man corrected his first mistake in life, and never repeated it. He
died full of years and honors, and was buried by torch-light in the old ceme-
tery in Cambridge, Mass. It is said that the moonlight fell upon the bier
as the last rites were being performed, revealing a face so morally and
spiritually beautiful as to be of itself an artistic inspiration.

The principle that one can overcome evil if he has a sufficient motive,
and that religion is the highest of all motives, has made the evangelist powerful
in his work. It is true of all life. Bolingbroke left his dissipations when the
vision of the crown rose before him. Shakspere thus pictures the altered

life of Henry V. : —

The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seemed to die too ; yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came,
And whipped the offending Adam out of him.

It is especially true of art. It is those who root out the Aveeds of evil
tendency that make life most fragrant with roses and lilies.

His strength was like the strength of ten
Because his heart was pure.

Two men stand side by side in a profession. They seem equally capa-
ble, equally aspiring, equally moral. Suddenly one of them advances before
the other, and becomes a greater master of life and opportunity. In most
cases like this, it is the one who has kept his spiritual vision most clear that
has seen the larger field of success, and the royal way to it. His life is eclipsed
already whose spiritual sight is dimmed. This last principle was the one so
clearly recognized by Allston and given to a pupil who became an eminent
Christian painter of the Claude School, an impressionist.

STATUE OF CAPTAIN COOK, AT SYDNEY,

WHA T AUS TRA LI A TEA CHES.

127

• The impressionist is one who receives impressions, uses them in art, and
gives them to the world. The School of Impressionists is a distinct one in
France in all branches of art. It differs from the schools of the creative
imagination, or the romantic and fictitious schools.

Wordsworth was an impressionist in poetry, while his friend Southey was
a realist; and Coleridge dealt in creative art. "The Excursion" is a series
of impressions, while " The Ancient Mariner " is creative fancy, a something
made of nothing. Schubert was an impressionist in music; Rossini's overture
to " William Tell " is an impression of the Alps. Most landscape-painters
and many orators and preachers are impressionists.

The highest power to receive impressions in any art or calling comes from
clear seeing, the open vision of a pure heart and life. Any evil is a speck in
the mental eye; any disturbance of the conscience means a loss of clear per-
ception and mental power. Out of all human efforts it is only the spiritual
that lives ; and when a man loses his spiritual force, he loses his crown, the
immortality of his influence.

The Hebrew societies of the Nazarites, the Rechabites, and the Essenes,
understood this principle. These people wholly or in part abstained from
flesh and wine, lived in tents, and wore long hair, and practised self-denial for
the sake of spiritual power. The prophet promised immortality to the house
of Rechab for this pure seeking for spiritual light.

Noble minds in all ages have perceived the principle, and overcome evil
for the sake of their mission in life. " Every man is a debtor to his profession,"
says Bacon. Longfellow guarded his inspiration like a vestal fire. Whittier
has ever sought seclusion for the best thought. Emerson left the most con-
spicuous pulpit in Boston and fled to the Concord woods. " All that I have
I give to this cause," said Charles Sumner in his speech on universal liberty.
The prophets of old came down from the mountain-tops. Paul schooled him-
self in the Desert of Arabia. The overcoming of self and sin is the first
principle of all free, true, and inspirational living.

Young William Penn dreamed of liberty and equality, and the dream was
fulfilled in Pennsylvania. He began life in an age of license, wit, and insincere
politeness, the days of the gay court of the Merry Monarch and the Cavaliers.
Shocked at the immorality of Christ College, he cloistered his serene intellect
amid the unstudious gayeties around him, clarified the eye of his conscience,
and began to see that the only principles worth living for were righteousness
and charity as taught in the Gospels. He heard the old Quakers preach, and
inclined to their doctrines. His father, the admiral, a favorite of the Duke
of York, kept a jovial table, and resolved to bring his son to London and

128 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

destroy his seriousness. He was sent to the theatres, given dog and gun, and
tempted with " hard dancing and late dining." Young Penn yielded to the
influence of the dissipation for a time. One day he went to hear Thomas Loe,
the Quaker apostle, preach. The subject of the discourse was " Overcoming."
Penn heard him say, " There is a faith that overcomes the world, and a faith that
is overcome by the world." It seemed a message to him. He resolved to fol-
low the faith that overcomes the world, and from that hour he became a solitary
wanderer in the world. He had corrected life, and desired no second taste of
the vanishing dissipations of camp, college, or court. He overcame the world,
and left to it an empire founded on the principles of righteousness and peace.

The world is full of disappointed men. They made second mistakes, and
formed habits that drew down tlieir wings to the earth.

OVERCOMING ADVERSE HEREDITY.

The young student of adverse heredity who should study Galton would
close the book with a feeling of regret and sorrow. All men may not have
pious ancestors, but all may be the founders of worthy families, or at least
leave to posterity an honorable example and name. Bridges, the missionary
to the Land of Fire, was of unknown parentage, but the world honors him.
Henry M. Stanley is perhaps the most useful man of his generation, but his
childhood's home was a house of charity. Thomas Todd made the name of
his poor insane mother precious ; it was in a lucid interval of madness that
she told him that he must become a minister of God. Africanus, under his
roof of human skulls, prayed and received a changed nature. Thomas Walsh,
who wrote the sublime hymn, "The God of Abram praise," overcame the most
terrible propensities to evil and prayed so long in the struggle that his knees
became stiff. " He was the worst boy in all that country round," one said
of him; but his sainthood became the example of his times.

Dr. Samuel Johnson was scrofulous, and his life was a constant struggle
with inherited tendencies to idleness and sloth. You would hardly expect
such an heredity and such a temptation from one of the most useful men of his
age. He understood the power of habit, and strove to resist every wrong ten-
dency in his life that might become a habit. " I cannot drink a little wine,"
he said, as a reason why he should drink none at all. He dreaded the in-
fluence of sloth, which was always besetting him. Regretting that he had not
done more during one of the years of his life, he wrote in his journal: "This is
not the life to which heaven is promised." Yet he rose superior to the weak-
ness of his animal nature, did the most exact and painstaking work, became a
benefactor, and left an imperishable name.

WHAT AUSTRALIA TEACHES. I 29

AUSTRALIA'S ANSWER.

But if there were needed an overwhelming proof that man can reform if he
has a sufficient motive, and will reform if he has an opportunity, it is furnished in
the convict laborers who made Australia and Tasmania habitable and their
masters rich. Had these convicts been turned loose in London on the ticket-
of-leave system or as expirees, they would as a rule have returned to their own
kind, and been dragged down by the depressing influence of their own bad rep-
utation and evil association. Let loose in a new land, what followed? I will
let a famous traveller answer.

" What do you see," says he, " in our colonies founded on convict labor?

" You see tens of thousands who were convicts, as their fathers and mothers
were.

" And what are they now?

" As orderly, moral, respectable, and prosperous people as you shall any-
where meet.

" What are these wealthy, educated, and prosperous people?

" Why, they are your reformed convicts.

" Show me one such reformation in London, and I will show you ten thou-
sand there."

To this view I can add my testimony. I have travelled over the parts of
Australia that came to be settled by such penal laborers, and was safe. I
never saw any class of people who were so ambitious for the education of their
own children. I believe in man ; I believe in human nature ; I believe in giv-
ing a man an opportunity where society will not hound him down, and that
such a man in a new land will seek to recover the image of God.

Captain Tamany liked to give this lecture.' He was an enthusiast
in his own theories, and it was curious to find a man preaching to
New England audiences the lessons of social progress that he had
learned in Australia.

^ A part of this lecture was published in the " Chautauquan " for September, 1890.

CHAPTER VII.

THE OCEAN CURE.

APTAIN TAMANY had great faith in a sea voyage
in a sailing vessel as a cure for diseases of a rheu-
matic character and of the respiratory organs.

" The sea," he used to say, " is the great health
restorer. It is the old English remedy, and one
whose good results have been proven for generations ; and of all sea
voyages for invalids, whether from England or America, the best is
that to Australia. For a century a great majority of the consump-
tives who have made a sea voyage from England to Australia have
found returning health on the sea.

" It is reasonable that this should be so," he would add. " A sea
voyage compels one to live in the open air. The air is the food for
the lungs. Feed the lungs, and the disease is arrested.

" Again, the system in the case of wasting diseases needs new
blood. A sea voyage creates appetite, and a desire for oily foods.
The appetite renews the blood, and the sluggish pulses bound again.

" Again, in rheumatic troubles there is no bath like the sun bath.
The sun is a great physician in all diseases, but especially in those of
vitiated blood. Were I an invalid, I would try the sea, the sun, and
the Indian Ocean islands."

Captain Tamany often repeated such statements as these after the
arrival of Captain Bridewell. He had several motives for doing so.

THE OCEAN CURE.

131

One was the invalidism of his wife, whom he wished to try a sea voy-
age. Mrs. Tamany had been subject to muscular rheumatism for
some years, and the disease grew, despite the best medical treatment.
He had another motive of which he hardly dared to speak. Little
Mary Hartwell was very delicate in health, and her mother had died
of consumption. The captain thought that he saw an unmistakable
tendency toward the hereditary disease in the paleness and weakness
of his little grandchild, and he desired to see her change into a
woman of strong lungs and nervous force and ample resources of

ITS BROAD EXPANSE OF WATER."

-» — . 4,-' :^ , "V05r£'**'?*"i<w.»^ '

good health. He wished to take her with him on a voyage around
the Horn, and he often talked in her hearing of the beautiful climate
of Australia and the charm of the South Pacific Seas.

Captain Bridewell had come to New Bedford to arrange with Cap-
tain Tamany for the return of the ship " Tammany " to Adelaide.
Here was an opportunity for Captain Tamany to take his own family
on a sea voyage, and to continue the trip, if he desired, to an educa-
tional journey for the children around the world. Like most sea-
captains and men of large observation, Captain Tamany thought the
ship to be an excellent college or school as well as a sanatorium. He
said over and over again that the time would come when travel would
be regarded as an essential part of all thorough education.

132 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

His heart was set on making one more voyage. He was discon-
tented in his coast home. He had been used to a wider h'fe. He
would look out of his windows in winter upon the cold blue sea, and
long for those sunny climes to which the dreary Atlantic led in its
broad expanse of water.

" I want to go around the Horn once more," he would say, " and I
will if Wife and little Mary will go with me. Such a voyage is just
what we three need, and Eric needs it to make him a man."

Mrs. Tamany would not consider such a plan at first. She had
been to sea once in her younger days, but she felt that she was too
old for such an undertaking now.

But she too saw Mary's tendencies toward the disease that had
taken away her mother. The coming of Captain Bridewell and the
definite plan of a sea voyage for the whole family led her to change
her mind ; and one day she said to the captain, —

" I have been thinking of the sea voyage. I feel that I am too
old for such a long journey ; but if it be best, I will go. The voyage
will make you happy, and Mary, poor child, needs a change ; so I
will go if you wish me to do so. It may be for the best. If Mary
can oret her health, I shall be satisfied. It matters little what becomes
of me, though I wish to see the grandchildren grow up, and become
healthy and intelh'gent. Yes, I will go."

As soon as she had made this decision, she seemed to become
impatient to go. '' I count the days now," she once said to Mary.
" The sea may restore to me the use of my limbs again."

The captain made immediate preparation for the voyage. The
ship " Tammany " was made ready for the accommodation of his
family; and as the days began to lengthen, and the woodpeckers to
tap the trees, and blue rifts of sunny sky to announce the coming of
spring, he sailed one day out of Buzzard's Bay, and sank his home once
more in the sea. People expressed surprise that he should venture to
take such a frail girl as Mary out upon the stormy Atlantic -; but

THE OCEAN CURE.

133

sailors are not like other men, and his only answer to his critics was,
" Wait until you see us return."

The spring found the family on the sea, bound for Adelaide, Aus-
tralia, tossed about by storms, an^ making the slow progress of sails

blown onward by varying winds. Mary and Eric were sick for some
days, and Mary cried to return to the land ; but this experience soon
passed by, and the one purpose of the family now became to amuse

134 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

and divert themselves amid the monotony of the long, long voyage.
The captain at first undertook to amuse his grandchildren with
Sloyd, or Swedish carpentry. The purpose of Sloyd in Swedish
schools is not to teach young people to whittle out useless wooden
ornaments, but to gain accuracy as a habit, the theory being that
Sloyd educates the eye, the mind, and the conscience, and that one
who learns the art well in youth will put like accuracy into any trade
he may learn. So the captain started a whittling school on board,
and acted as examiner himself, and saw that the pocket-knife made
the angles in the prepared wood exact and true.

Story-telling varied the Sloyd. Grandmother Tamany once de-
clared that she had told every story that she ever heard. There were
a few stories that the children asked to have told them many times.
Among these was a queer tale of Captain Kidd's treasure, which had
been a subject for tales on the New England coast for a generation.
Grandmother Tamany made this story weird and curiously sugges-
tive by the repetition of an old sea-faring exclamation, — " Ar-a-me ! "

CAPTAIN KIDD'S TREASURE; OR, THE MAN WHO SAID

" SCAT ! "

" I would have been a fine lady to-day, riding in a chariot about Ipswich
town, I would, if only Husband had been level-headed like me, an' had never
said ' Scat ! ' for it was just that drove away all our good fortune. Yes, ar-a-me !
Husband he just said ' Scat ! ' he did, and he drove away all our good fortune,
an' I never forgave him, an' I did n't give him any peace of his life after that, I
did n't; an' now, ar-a-me ! I 'm a poor lone widder livin' alone, an' too poor to
hire a carriage to go to the funeral of my own kin. Oh, it makes my heart
turn sick to think of what I might 'a' been if Husband hadn't just said that one
word ' Scat ! ' it does. Ar-a-me ! ar-a-me ! "

In such words as these Goody Alder used to repeat some portion of the
history of her life almost daily. Her husband, Goodwin Alder, had been a
cordwainer and digger of shell-fish ; and the two had lived happily together on
a sandy road that wound around the Ipswich coast and overlooked Cape Ann,

THE OCEAN CURE.

135

until a dream of riches came into their small cottage, and, despite its morning-
glories, the house never witnessed a day of peace after that. **

It was near the close of the last century when this happened, while yet super-
stition shadowed the coast towns of New England, and especially those around
blue Cape Ann. The won-
der tale of this period was
of Captain Kidd, who was
believed to have buried
treasures along the coast.

A whole fleet could
hardly have carried the
treasures that this degener-
ate son of the old Scottish
minister, who " sunk his
Bible in the sand as he
sailed, as he sailed," was
supposed in the popular
imagination to have buried.
The shores of Mount Hope
Bay and Cape Ann were
thought to abound with his
covered booty, — the spoils
of the Spanish main and
the English seas ; and the
problem of how to find
these treasures was often
discussed by young and
speculative minds by the
great winter fires.

While these stories of
Kidd and his buried treas-
ures were glowing in the
vivid imagination of the

coast people, young Goodwin Alder dreamed a remarkable dream three times.
Had he dreamed it once only, it would not have disturbed his peace, but he
dreamed it three nights ; and in the unwritten opinion of the times, to dream
the same dream three times was a certain sign that what it revealed was true,
and should be heeded.

He did not speak of his dream to his busy wife on the first day after it had

THE PROVINCE HOUSE.

136 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

disturbed his sleep, but after the same vision had come to him the second time,
he said to her at the breakfast table, —

"Goody, I dreamed a strange dream last night, and it's the second time
I 've dreamed it. I think it is going to be a sign."

" The second time ? Why, what was it ? "

*' I dreamed that I had found some of the Kidd treasure on Cape Ann."

" Oh, Goodwin, an' if you should dream it again to-night, I 'm sure it'll be a
sign. What was it ? If it comes true, maybe I '11 be like Lady Phipps, Sir
.William's wife, you know ; he was one of the twenty or more poor children of
one family up north in the woods, an' when he was grown up, he courted a
widow, an' he told her that she should live in a ' fine house in Boston town.'
An' he discovered a sunken treasure-ship in the Spanish main, an' they made
him governor, they did ; an' she lived in the Province House, she did, all just as
grand as the grandest of 'em. Tell me what it was ; I can't wait a moment, I
can't. It seems as if I should fly."

" Well, Goody, I dreamed it was night, an' the moon was full an' the tide
was out, an' a dark-looking man rose out of the sand an' came to me an' turned
around an' beckoned me to follow him. I dreamed I went after him, an' we came
to a place on the shingle covered with thatch. An' he said to me, * Dig here,
an' you mind you don't speak ; don't you speak a word.' An' then I woke up.
An' last night I dreamed that same dream agin."

Goodwin that day was a very absent-minded man. He went to bed early
in the evening, but the dream did not recur. In fact, he was so excited that he
hardly went to sleep at all ; but the following night he slept soundly, and the
same dream came to him, as it could hardly fail to do under the exciting cir-
cumstances, and as you may infer, the next morning there could have been
few more excited people in the world than Goodwin and Goody Alder.

"Husband," said Goody, "now you remember and not speak; you re-
member ! "

"Of course I shall. I won't speak to General Washington himself; if he
come a-riding upon a white horse where I was a-digging, I wouldn't. Men
can keep their tongues still ; they ain't like women."

" Now, don't you be over-sure. If you speak, I'm sure the spell will be
broken, it will, an' you '11 lose the treasure. I '11 go with you when you go to
dig. I don't dare to trust you. Ar-a-me ! "

"You go with me? No, you won't. You 'd spoil it all. Don't you know
a woman can never hold her tongue? If you were to see a sail, you would say
' Oh ! ' or • Look ! ' an' if you were to stub your toe, you 'd cry, ' Ar-a-me ! ' or
something. No, I '11 go alone."

THE OCEAN CURE. I 37

" When are you goin' ? "

'* On the full of the moon at low tide. I know the place. It 's the thatch
patch. Don't you know, you can see it from the door?"

They went to the door. It was a summer day. The morning-glories were
in bloom, and hung drying their dew and slowly closing in the sun. Before
them stretched the sea ; upon it here and there was a sail. The white sea-gulls
were wheeling high in the air, or flapping their wings just above the waves.

The surf, in a long curved Hne, was breaking in a sort of rhythmic music
like a pendulum-beat of the sea. It was a wide desolation all, but the sun
was so bright that it was very beautiful. The two looked across the sea
meadows. The thatch patch was there, partly covered by the high tide of
the full sea. Beyond was a reef of brownish-black rocks on which the waves
were dashing.

" You see it? "

" Yes, yes ! I see it. Now you mind, don't you speak a word, whatever
happens. See if you can keep your head shut just once in your life. What a
blessin' it would be, it would, if — you were only dumb! "

The long-wished-for night came. The two saw the red moon rise above
the far oaks of the porphyry cliffs as they looked from the open door. The
fireflies flitted around the hillsides and their spikes of firs, and the lights glim-
mered in the fishers' cottages along the gray ledges.

The tide went out. Goody moved about restlessly on her hobnailed shoes,
her kerchief pinned tightly across her breast, saying, " Ar-a-me ! " — a byword
she had made from the sound of the sea.

The big house cat lay on the braided mat before the door. She was fat
and sleek, and well she might be, for the coast was full of shell-fish, and she
ran after the shell-fishers like a dog, and was generally a welcome companion.
The old clam-diggers fed her with broken clams while they were digging. The
skippers all knew her, — lazy, fat, purring and mewing old Tabby Alder.

Half-past eleven ! Goodwin arose. He took his lantern, and put a Bible
in his pocket, the latter a protection, as he expressed it, " 'gainst the sperits
of the. air who bode no good to men." At the door he took his spade, and
turning to Goody, said, —

" It 's dreadful solemn business. Goody, but I shall do it. Here, here 's the
cat. Call her back ; don't let her follow me. She might mew and spoil
it all."

"Now, Goodwin, for the life of you, don't you speak a word. Shut your
mouth ; there, keep it shut. Now, you mind ; if you don't, I '11 never give you
any peace of your life, I won't."

138 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

She watched him from the door as his dark figure went away toward the
great gUmmering waste of sand and sea. She heard the waves breaking on the
long coast. It seemed the very night to her when evil spirits might be abroad
on mischief Then she stood, nervous, and staring across the waste for a time.
She turned at last, and said: "Pussy! pussy! here, pussy!" but pussy had
disappeared. She closed the door, for the salt air was cool, and sat down to
wonder at what the event of all these mysterious things was to be. I used to
know her, for I once lived in Ipswich.

I can almost hear her tell the rest of the story now, as the old folks used
to repeat it to me when a boy, and act it, with her peculiar dialect, which was
curious from the emphatic repetition of the subject and predicate at the close of
some of her sentences, and the sea-sound, " Ar-a-me."

" Well, I waited an hour, I did," she used to say ; " and it was the longest
hour I ever knew, when I heard Goodwin cry. It pierced my heart, for I knew
he had n't got the treasure, he had n't, but that something had got him. It
made me think of the old Boston story of the Devil and Tom Walker, it did ;
and my hair began to creep around on my head. Ar-a-me !

" I went to the door and listened. It was calm and still, it all was. In a
minute or two, I heard the cry again ; I can hear it now: * Help ! Help ! Help !
Help ! '

" I threw my apron over my head and ran over the salt meadows toward
the sea. The tide was coming in, it was. I could see that, I could ; and way
down in the thatch fields, I could just see Husband's head above the thatch.

" Well, I flew, I just did. And when I got to the thatch patch, I found
Goodwin almost buried in sand and water, and the tide was coming onto the
thatch at every breaking of the surf Yes, it did. Ar-a-me I

" ' Help ! help me out,' he said, gasping; * I 'm sinking, I shall drown ! '

" Well, you see, I 'm a strong woman, I am, if I am small. An' I just took
his hand, and I gave a strong pull, and then another ; and then another, and
then a wash from the sea loosened the sand, and pretty soon I pulled him out,
I did, an' he was the most scared and discouraged-lookin' man you ever did
see. Yes, he was. Ar-a-me !

"' Where 's the treasure? ' says I. 'Where is it?'

" He looked kinder bewildered, he did; and then he said, ' Did n't I tell yer
to keep that cat at home? Why did n't yer do it? It is all your own fault.'

" 'What, for massy sake, has the cat to do with it?' says I.

*' 'She made me lose the treasure after I 'd found it'

" * She did? She did ? I don't believe it ! '

"'Yes, she did! I came to something hard as I was a-diggin', just as I

THE INDIAN OCEAN.

THE OCEAN Ci'RE. I41

dreamed it in my dream ; an' I was diggin' away as fast as I could to find out
what it was, when down came tumbling that cat into the hole, mewin' as loud
as she could mew, an' I — I — 't was all your fault — I jest said " Scat ! " and
that broke the spell; and then the sand began to give way at the side an'
under my feet, an' the water to rush inter the hole, an' I thought I was bein'
buried alive, an' I begun to holler; an' the old cat is down there now. 'Twas
all your own fault. Goody.'

" Well, we went home. He looked sheepish enough, he did; an' I begun
to lose my temper an' scold, I did, an' somehow, I never stopped scoldin' for
the ten years that he lived, an' then he died. Ar-a-me !

" I never was satisfied with anything after that, I ne\'er was ! I had had
my expectations raised so high. I had set my heart on a tall house in Boston
town, I had, and there my husband was only a cordwainer an' clam-digger.
He might 'a' been a governor, like William Phipps, if he had n't 'a' just said
'Scat! ' he might. There, now! it ought to be a warnin' to everybody just
to keep their wits about 'em — just think of that. A-ra-me ! "

" But did you never search for the treasure again? " people used to ask.

" Yes, that we did, of course we did. But it was quicksandy there in that
there spot, an' — we never found the treasure, but we found the cat; she was
dead. Yes, she was. Ar-a-me I

" I was so dissatisfied that after Husband died, seein' I was n't Lady Phipps,
nor nobody at all, that I went over to Lynn to see Moll Pitcher, the fortune-
teller, I did, an' I told her my story; and I said, ' You are a seer, you are; and
I want you to tell met just how I can find the riches of Cape Ann, for I shall
never rest happy till I do.'

" Oh, you should have seen her ! She just rose up so, she did ; and
'Goody,' said she, — 'Goody, do you think I am a fool? If I knew where
the treasures of Cape Ann are hid, I 'd go and dig 'em up myself; any-
body would.' "

Poor Goody Alder ! I always think of her whenever I see the little cottage
of Moll Pitcher in the suburbs of Lynn, or gaze upon the long, low reaches of
Ipswich town. The old dwellers on Plum Island recall the story, and tell it
with that of Henry Main, the pirate, who is supposed to be forever trying to
coil a rope of sand off Ipswich bar.

Henry Main's story is not true, but this in its principal facts is, though
poor, scolded Goodwin Alder was never any nearer Captain Kidd's treasures
than any of you, except in the creations of his own brain, excited by the super-
stitions of the times.

142 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" I love to think of old Ipswich town ;

There 's a graveyard up on the old high street,
Where ten generations are looking down
On the one that is toiling at their feet.

*' I love to think on old Ipswich town, —

Old Ipswich town in the East Countrie, —
Whence on the tide you can float adown

Through the long salt grass to the wailing sea,

" And lie all day on the grassy beach,

And learn the lessons the green leaves teach.
Till at sunset, from surf and sea-weed brown,
^ You are pulling back to old Ipswich town."

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SEA-BIRDS.

Y^^^R^^.^'^

®3ter^5^

RIC HARTWELL had taken to sea a sketching: cam-
era, or a photographic outfit. He had become an
expert in instantaneous photography. He loved birds
on land, and it was his delight to catch the sea-bird on
the wing with his camera.
The gulls followed the ship for many miles out to sea. Later
there came to keep the ship company a wonderful rover of the ocean,
which Michelet has beautifully described, and whose description Eric
had read. The boy recognized the wonderful sailor of the air from
the description, and loved it at once, and took his picture again and
again.

But his picture can hardly equal that of the pen of Michelet; and we
reproduce the latter from a free English translation which we have
revised.

THE FRIGATE-BIRD.

• The sea-storm has spent its fury; day reappears; and I see a small blue
space in the heaven, — a serene region that has rested in peace far above the hur-
ricane. In that blue point, and at an elevation of ten thousand feet, royally
floats a little bird with enormous pens.

It is the little ocean eagle, first and chief of the winged race, the daring
navigator who never furls his sails, the scorner of all peril, — the frigate-bird.

Here we have a bird which is but little more than wings. It has a body
not larger than that of the domestic cock, while its prodigious pinions span

144 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

fifteen feet. The storm bursts ; he mounts to lofty heights beyond the clouds
and finds tranquillity. The poetic metaphor in his case is true, — he sleeps
upon the storm.

When he chooses to soar his way to distant regions, all distance vanishes;
he breakfasts at the Senegal, he dines in America.

Or if he thinks fit to take more time, and amuse himself on his journey, he
can do so. He may continue his progress through the night, certain of finding
repose. Upon what? On his large, motionless wing, which takes upon itself
all the weariness of the voyage.

He fears nothing. Little, but strong and intrepid, he braves all the winged
tyrants of the air. He can despise, if need be, the pygargus and the condor ;
those huge creatures can scarcely have put themselves in motion before he has
moved swiftly to the far distance.

Amid the glowing azure of the tropics he sweeps along at incredible
heights. But though the first of the winged kingdom, there is nothing of
serenity or dignity about him, when contemplated near at hand. His eye is
cruelly hard, severe, mobile, unquiet. His vexed attitude is that of some
unhappy sentinel doomed to watch over the infinity of the ocean.

On looking at him closely, you notice that he has no feet; or if there are
members that serve him for feet, they are exceedingly short, and by them he
can neither walk nor perch. With a formidable beak, he has not the talons of a
true eagle of the sea. He strikes and slays, but he cannot seize.

Thence arises his life of uncertainty and hazard, — the life of a corsair and
pirate rather than that of a mariner; and the fixed anxious inquiry is ever
found in the expression of his restless eyes, " How shall I feed? Shall I have
wherewithal to nourish my little ones this evening?"

The immense and superb apparatus of his wings becomes on land a danger
and an embarrassment. To raise himself he needs a strong wind and a lofty
station, a promontory or rock. Surprised on a sandy level, on the banks or
the low reefs where he sometimes halts, the frigate-bird is defenceless ; in vain
he threatens, he strikes, for a blow from a stick will overcome him.

At sea, those vast wings, of such admirable use in ascent, are ill fitted for
skimming the surface of the water. When wet they may overweigh and
sink him ; and thereupon, woe to the bird. He belongs to the fishes ; but the
game may eat its hunter, the ensnarer may be ensnared.

And yet his food lies in the waters. He is compelled to draw near them, to
skim incessantly the sea that threatens to engulf him.

Thus, then, this being so well armed, winged, superior to all others in
power of flight and in vision and daring, leads but a trembling and precarious

THE SEA-BIRDS.

145

life. He would die of hunger if he were not a robber. His manner of stealing
is to attack a dull, timorous bird, the noddy, famous as a fisher. The frigate-
bird, which is of no larger dimensions, pursues him, strikes him on his back
with his beak, and compels the poor noddy to give up his prey. All this tran-
spires in the air; the robber catches the fish in falling, before it reaches the
sea.

If other resources fail, the bird does not hesitate to attack man. " On land-
ing at Ascension Island," says a traveller, "we were assailed by some frigate-
'birds. One tried to snatch a fish out of my very hand. Others alighted on the
copper where the meat was cooking, to carry it off, without taking any notice
of the sailors who were around it."

Dampier saw some of these birds, sick, aged, or crippled, perched upon the
rocks, which seemed their sanctorium, levying contributions upon the young
noddies, their vassals, and nourishing themselves on the results of their fishing.
But in the vigor of their prime they do not rest on earth. Living like the
clouds, they constantly float on their vast wings from one world to the other,
patiently awaiting their opportunities for plunder and piercing the infinite
heavens with marvellous grace.

The lord of the winged race is he who does not rest. Earth and sea are
almost equally prohibited to him. He is forever banished.

THE ALBATROSS.

" The wrecked sailor, when his strength Is spent baffling with the
waves, has one hope left," said Captain Tamany one day to Eric, " and
yonder it is."

Far over the sea floated a white bird like a cloud, now high, now
low. Its wings seemed to move without exertion ; the bird appeared
to drift on the currents of the air, to be blown about by the will of
the wind. Its wings were of enormous length. The bird approached
the ship.

" What is it 1 " asked Eric.

" The albatross," said Captain Tamany.

" The albatross of ' The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'? " asked
Marv.

146 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" Yes. Coleridge's poem has told the old sailors' superstition and
made the bird immortal," said Captain Tamany.

" I will read the poem on deck some evening for our amusement,"
said Mary. " The poem is strange ; it used to follow me. I never
thous:ht that I should see an albatross."

The bird drifted near on the air.

" What wings ! " said Eric. " Let me get my camera."

" You need not hurry," said the captain. " He is likely to follow
us for days, perhaps weeks."

THE ALBATROSS.

The distant view of the bird had brought to Eric's mind but a
slight conception of the wonderful bird, which soon came drifting close
to the ship.

" Its wings are like sails," said Mary. " How long are they t "

" Perhaps twelve or fourteen feet," said Captain Tamany.

" Why is it the bird of good fortune, and the wrecked sailor's last
hope.?" asked Mary.

" The albatross drifts down to examine everything floating on the
sea. It may see a drowning sailor, and if so, it will hover over him,
and if the sailor can grasp it, he will be buoyed and kept above water
for a long time, for, as you say, its wings are sails."

" It ought to be an unlucky thing to kill such a noble bird as that,"
said Mary. " But — "

THE SEA-BIRDS, 1 47

•' What? " asked the captain. '

" Its wings would be a fine ornament for our New Bedford home^
— that one's wings would ; let 's shoot it. No, that would not be
right. We want a lucky voyage. I wish we had it."

" We can capture it alive," said the captain. " Here, throw over
some provision and gorge it ; then lower the boat, and we can pick it
up as it drifts half asleep along the water."

" Can we feed it ? " asked Mary.

" Yes," said the captain, " I will show you."

The captain threw overboard some provisions, which the bird
quickly devoured.

" He will follow us now ; feed a strange cat, and the animal will
make your house her home. Feed the albatross, and he will follow
you."

" And if I should fall overboard, or you, or any one — "

" Then according to the old tradition the bird will hover over you,
and you may pick him down, and he will pick you up."

THE BIRDS WITH WHITE APRONS.

The " Tammany " was first bound for the Falkland Islands, for
Captain Bridewell had a matter of trade with some of the inhabitants
there. These islands, which comprise an area of some six thousand
acres, are near the Straits of Magellan, off Cape Horn. The inhabi-
tants number only about a thousand, chiefly English families, who live
by fishing, sheep-raising, and securing the oils of seals and penguins.
Wonderful are the penguins.

" What are they ? " asked Mary, as the ship rode among them and
she saw them standing in rows like regiments on the coast. " They
look like folks."

"They have been called 'children with white aprons,'" said the

148

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

captain. " How would you like to live where all the people are

children ? "

" Where the birds wear
white aprons ? " asked Mary.
" Who washes them ? '

" The sea is a large wash-
tub," said the captain. " The
penguins are as curious as the
kangaroos of Australia. They
stand up like men. They
march like great armies of
soldiers; and you should see
one of these penguin armies
on the waddle. They live
mostly in the water, but form
great bird cities during the
breeding season. They are
easily tamed, and a tamed pen-
guin knows its name like a
dog."

e» "^ ■i*'

A KING PENGUIN.

" Would they pick me } "
asked Mary.

" No ; they have never learned that man is their enemy ; they
think all the world is friendly. They let a man go right up to them
and knock them over, without a struggle."

CHAPTER IX.

CATCHING A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT.

HE weeks of the long voyage from New Bedford to
Adelaide around Cape Horn will perhaps seem to the
reader to suggest a monotonous picture. The ship
moves on and on, and the days come and go ; and the
ocean is still the same, in every long voyage. Now
and then a whale is seen ; now and then is seen the albatross or frigate-
bird ; and occasionally the heavens darken, and high seas roll, and
lightnings flash athwart the limitless sky, and a deluge of rain comes
pouring upon the waters. Then the sun comes out again through
the blue windows in the parted curtains of the clouds, and all is
peace.

The voyage was not a weary one to our travellers. Mary's cheeks
had begun to bloom again, and the new sense of health filled her with
delight. She one day said to her grandmother, —

" I never read of a grandmother who went to sea, did you ? "
" No, Mary ; I think I must be the first."
" I wish I could go to sea forever."
" Why, what makes you say that ? "

" I feel so. It seems to me I never lived before. I am hungry ;
I sleep ; the folks I love are all on the ship ; and we are all happy.
Are you not happy ? "

" Yes ; more so than I thought we should be. We are having a
good voyage."

I50

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" And you don't ache as you used to do on the coast?"

" No."

" And you can walk ? "

'" Yes, better than I used to do. My rheumatism is almost gone.
Beino- on deck in the sun so much seems to help me. As the captain
says, the sea air and sun are good doctors. I think that they are the
very best that we could have."

A VICTORIAN LAKE.

One evening a strange event happened on the deck of the " Tam-
many." The captain was fond of telling ghost stories, both of the
sea and land, that had comical endings, and the " Tammany " had
once been reported to be a haunted ship. This was in a former
voyage. The captain had chanced to speak of the old superstition
one evening, when suddenly above the hatchway there appeared a
luminous hand ; it vanished. The captain saw it, and Eric, who was

CATCHING A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT.

151

made very curious by it, and a sailor, who told the crew that tfae
spirit of some dark crime was following the ship with a hand of fire.

The incident caused much talk among the sailors, so much as
to alarm Mary.

"Don't you worry, child," said the captain; "there never was
a haunted ship. Do you think that spirits appear to people with

hats and boots and clothes

on, except to the imagi-
nation } "

The evening on which

the strange event hap-
pened to which we first
alluded was unusually
dark. The sk}'' was over-
cast ; the lights were burn-
ing low ; and there was a
rolling sea and a misty
air that made the lights
seem spectral.

The two captains were
sitting on deck with Mary
and Eric. Suddenly Mary seized her
grandfather's arm, and said, " Look there ! "
Just above the hatchway there was seen
a luminous face. It appeared but a mo-
ment, and then vanished. Several mem-
bers of the crew saw it, and were filled
with superstitious fear. Mary began to
cry, and was taken to her berth where her grandmother was.

The crew had a fearful tale to tell on the next day. One of the
sailors said in Mary's hearing that no amount of money would ever
tempt him to sail on the " Tammany" again ; and that a man had once
been foull}' killed on the ship.

COACHING IN VICTORIA. — A SHARP
CORNER.

152 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Mary carried this news to the captain, who called the sailor
to him.

" Why did you tell my little girl that some one was once killed on
the ship? No such thing ever happened."

" Yes, there did."

" How do you know 1 "

"Know! didn't I see his ghost.? Didn't you .^^ Where ghosts
appear there have been bodies. Saw it with my own eyes. It had
a face of fire. There are always dark deeds behind such scenes as
that."

" It is all pure superstition," said the captain. " Don't you ever
speak of ghosts being associated with dark deeds before Mary again."

" I will never do so again, your honor. I would n't frighten the
girl, but — 't is so."

The next evening the luminous face appeared again in the same
place.

The two captains resolved to watch on the next evening, and to
detect, if possible, the cause of the fiery visage.

" I will watch with you," said Eric. "If it be a living being, I can
detect him, and show you his very face."

" How .? " "^

" By the camera and flash-light."

" So you can," said the captain. " It is my opinion that a flash-
light might have destroyed all the fearful ghost stories of the past."

The next evening the two captains and Eric with his camera took
their places forward on deck. Tbey were joined by Mrs. Tamany
and Mary, who did not like to remain below. It was a beautiful star-
light night. The hours passed on, and nothing appeared.

" There is always a natural cause behind a mystery," said the
captain, at last. " We have sat up long enough. Let us go to
our berths/'

" Not yet, I hope," said Eric. " Let us wait an hour longer. Tell
us a story."

CATCHING A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT. I 53

" One of your old New England stories," said Captain Bridewell.
" They make you feel creepy."

" No," said Mrs. Tamany, " not one of those. Remember the little
girl."

" I will tell you a story that I have no doubt will interest you, and
it is of the kind that you most need to hear."

The crew drew near, and Mary clung close to the captain's arm.
The old sailor began in his usual way, " The top of the world to ye
all ! " and announced his story as —

AUNT HEART DELIGHT'S BEAU.

One late autumn evening, during the exciting scenes of the witchcraft
delusion in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, there came running into the
primitive church of Weymouth, Mass., during a special evening service, a
boy by the name of Ichabod Cole. His hat was gone, his breath spent. He
threw his arms aloft in nervous excitement, and his entrance stopped the
meeting, as he had evidently something thrilling to tell. "*

As soon as he could speak, he made a declaration that a terrible creature
had appeared to him as he was hurrying along over the wooded Weymouth
road by the sea toward his home. He believed that the creature was the
" Black Man," as the Evil Spirit was at that time calkd, and he had fled to
the church for refuge.

Were such an incident to happen to-day, the boy's story would be met
only with ridicule ; but then nearly every one believed in witchcraft, and many
persons had been sent to prison and several put to death in the colony on the
charge that they had signed their names to a book brought to them by the
" Black Man," and had met in witch circles in the forests, to which it was
asserted they travelled through the air. Giles. Corey, of Salem Farms, had
been recently put to death in a most cruel manner for refusing to plead in
court to an amazing charge of this kind. Several enfeebled old women had
suffered death under the charge of witchcraft in Salem and Boston.

The delusion had begun with children, who seemed to have been seized
with a sudden mania for accusing queer and unfortunate people of dealing in
wicked arts. The mania spread, and became a mental epidemic. It was like
the convulsions of the Barkers and the Jerkers, an epidemic nervous disease,

154 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

which appeared at another time in the colony. Any one who will read Cotton
Mather's " Wonders of the Invisible World " will be amazed at the delusion
that filled the whole colony at the time, and that overcame the judgment even
of the magistrates. Such was the state of the public feeling when the incident
we have given happened.

There was a break in the meeting, and the boy was questioned by excited
voices in regard to the creature that had frightened him. He could only say
that it was black or gray, and had eyes like fire. The good old minister, a
man much loved for his great heart and simple, blameless hfe, said, " Evil times
have fallen upon us also." All saw that he literally believed Ichabod Cole's
story, and a sense of helpless horror and apprehension darkened every mind
and sank into every heart in that congregation.

Strange as it may seem, it is probable that in that little assembly, holding
its simple service by candle-light, there was only one person who did not
believe that the boy, Ichabod Cole, had not seen the famous " Black Man,"
the Evil Ghost of the troubled times.

That one person was Aunt Heart Delight. A queer name, you will say.
Yes, now, but it was not queer at that time. Prudence, Piety, and Charity
were common names then, as were Experience, Love, Hope, and Grace. Aunt
Heart Delight was so called by her venerable father on account of her cheerful
disposition when a little child.

Aunt Heart Delight Holden had grown up to womanhood a tall, stately
woman, with a broad, high forehead and a heart given to benevolence. She
was very devout, but was without superstition ; and she clearly saw that the
so-called witchcraft in the colony was a mental delusion.

The meeting closed. Aunt Heart Delight went to the boy at once, laid
her hand upon his shoulder, and bent upon him her serene face and quiet-
ing eye.

" Oh, Ichabod, Ichabod," she said, " you too have lost your head. You
have seen nothing but what is perfectly natural and can be accounted for. But
you did not lose your heels, did you, boy? "

*' My heels ! Wot would I hev done had I lost my heels? "

" You have seen a wildcat, or an owl in a hawk's nest, or some such thing ;
and the stories that are abroad have so excited your head that you think you
have seen something else. I v/ould be willing to face it with a good dog and
gun. But I do not blame you for running as you were unarmed."

The people went out of the church reluctantly, as if afraid to venture into
the open air. The hunter's moon was rising yellow over the sea, glimmering
on the middle waters of the bay, and hiding in her own light the blue fields

THE BOTTLE-TRlit;.

CATCH IXG A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT.

157

of the stars. The great oaks were dropping their leathery leaves, and the
walnuts and chestnuts were breaking their shells and burrs. There was silence
in Nature everywhere, and a forest odor was in the air. In the far woods was
heard the hoot of the owl, and in the distance the bark of a farm dog; except
for these sounds the air was painfully still.

The excited people thought it prudent not to return to their homes by the
road where the mysterious object had been seen, so they took a circuitous path
through the woodlands. The way led to the homes of most of the people, but
in an opposite direction from those of serene Aunt Heart Delight and the
terrified boy, Ichabod Cole.

Aunt Heart Delight lived in a part of Weymouth which became known as
New Spain, on account of the wealth which had been gathered there by the
old sea-traders, and Ichabod Cole dwelt on a branch road within a mile of the
same place.

For a short distance the same road was followed by all the congregation,
and as the colonists passed along through the woodland, they continued to
ply Ichabod with questions about the mysterious creature that he had seen.
Ichabod's imagination worked more vigorously as he saw that his answers were
awaited with thrilling interest.

"How large was the creature?" asked credulous Deacon Alden. "As
large as a dog, Ichabod?"

" As large as a dog } " said Ichabod. " He was large as an — elephant ! "
^ This was before the days of the itinerant menagerie, and Ichabod had never
seen an elephant ; but he knew that the elephant was a very large animal.

" What kind of a tree was he in? " asked Aunt Delight.

" A tall pine-tree. I guess that he had just lighted. His eyes were like
coals of fire. Oh, it was awful ! "

A creature as big as an elephant, with eyes like fire, that had alighted on
a tali pine-tree, was a picture indeed to which the adjective " awful " might not
inaptly apply. And the awe-struck company that heard this grotesque narra-
tive presented a quaint appearance in the old Weymouth woods. The men
had lanterns of perforated tin in their hands, and the women foot-stoves. The
men wore pointed hats and thick capes, and the women broad bonnets and
plain cloaks. The lanterns were not lighted, for the bright moon, like a night
sun, made the woods almost as clear as in daylight.

They came to a clearing, and here Aunt Heart Delight and Ichabod, part-
ing from the rest of the mentally afflicted company, took the direct road to
" New Spain."

" I am afraid," said Aunt Heart Delight, " that there may be some wild ani-
mal lurking about in the woods, and that that is what you saw."

1^8 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRAIIA.

"I am not afraid of no animal," said Ichabod, "I am afraid of. something
worse than that." He looked up to Aunt Heart Delight, furtively. " Ain't
you?"

'* No. A person with a clear conscience has nothing to fear from any other
world than this."

Ichabod was silenced, but his imagination was glowing and growing. The
falling of a chestnut made him start. A rabbit that ran across the road filled
him with renewed terror. They came near to the old farmhouses, and the
barns with the stacks of corn-husks. Here their ways parted.
" Good-night, Ichabod," said Aunt Heart Delight.
The two stood in the open road under the full moon.

"Aunt Heart Delight," said Ichabod, " may I ask you a question ?" His
voice was grave, like that of a judge, very grave and measured.
" Yes, Ichabod. What ? "

"Aunt Heart Delight, oh, this is an awful night! the moon and stars and
everything all so scarey ! Aunt Heart Delight, may I ask you a question ? "
he repeated.

"Yes, yes, do not keep me here freezing to death. What is it, Ichabod?"
" Aunt Heart Delight," said the boy at length, timidly, " did you ever have
a beau ? "

" Oh, Ichabod ! "

" May I see you home, and won't you give me lodging in the barn? "
" Oh, I see, — you are afraid to go home alone. W'ell, I pity you, and I'll
go home wi-th you."

" I '11 be your beau," said Ichabod, with spirit, an awful burden rolling off
his heart.

Aunt Heart Delight went home with him, and left him at the door with a
" Good-night, Ichabod. W^hen I want a beau, I will send for you."

" Thank ye. Aunt Heart Delight, and I '11 always stick by you and protect
you whatever may happen."

Aunt Delight smiled, and then Ichabod shut the door, and she turned
homeward alone.

Her way lay through some woodland oaks, the strong, knotted arms of
which had long buffeted the winds of the sea. They arched the way between
two hills, and through the hollow flowed a running brook, now partly ice-
bound. A loose wall ran beside the road. As Aunt Heart Delight came to
the place, which was pleasant in summer, but very lonely in winter, she heard
a stone rattle on the wall. A heavy, dark object appeared on the wall, and
mounted the great trunk of one of the oaks. She was alarmed, as she had
reason to be, but hurried by, and came safely to her home.

CATCH I XG A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT.

159

These events greatly excited the community.

But the public mind became gradually more quiet. There was a high-
minded, clear-sighted man in Boston, named Robert Calef, who was an intimate
friend of Aunt Heart Delight, and had met her often during the prevalence of
the witchcraft delusion. He was honest and fearless, and his iron words be-
came a terror to those who had been engaged in persecuting infirm people on
the superstitious charge of " Signing the book of the Black Man."

In the terrible clouds of the witchcraft delusion this man had walked with
undimmed vision. He at last published a book in London, which caused
those who had been engaged in the recent persecutions to ponder upon what
they had done, and in some cases to try to excuse their conduct. The book
was publicly burned on the green of Harvard College.

Hearing that Weymouth was in danger from the excitement of a delusion,
this man went to visit Aunt Heart Delight in her lovely Weymouth house.
" When will this calamity end? " he asked of her one day.
"When some one shall accuse one of the magistrates of witchcraft," said
Aunt. "They will all see the matter clearly enough then."

She was right. The accusing of the wife of one of the colonial officers of
the crime pierced the darkness. It came like a lightning-flash.
" But what would you do if you were accused? " said Calef.
" I would compel my accusers to face the facts."

Calef became persecuted in Boston for his bold words against the prevailing
superstition ; and Aunt Heart Delight, after years of benevolence and good-will,
began to feel the chill of public disapproval on account of her own views.

One day she was startled with a report that the boy, Ichabod Cole, had
accused her of dealing in the black arts. His cunning story was that she was
in secret communication with the Black Man that he had seen in the tree, and
that was why she did not share the common fear. Soon after she was asked
to be present at a special meeting of the church, to be questioned in regard to
the matter. Beautiful and amiable as was her character, her spirit was now
aroused. She went to the meeting. It was a winter's night, and she returned
home alone. No one ofifered to accompany her.

There was a light snow on the ground. Near the brook, under the great
oaks, she saw the same dark object that she had met before. A woman of
less strength of mind would under these circumstances have believed it to be
the famous Black Man. It followed her. The night was dark, with only a
dim starlight. Suddenly she turned and faced the creature. He stopped and
retreated. The form was dark and sinewy, and the eyes shone like fire. She
went on again. The creature followed her.

l6o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AL'STKALIA.

She faced him again, and afterward recollected that she said, " Whoever or
whatever you may be, you are no gentleman."

But the rebuke did not deter the creature from following her. She reached
home safely, however, and passed the night in prayer and tears.

Morning came, — a beautiful winter morning with sunbeams in every crys-
tal of snow. The margin of the great bay glittered with ice. The stacks rose
like white cones around the glistening roofs of the barns. Aunt Heart Delight
went out at the first red rising of the sun to examine the tracks of the creature
that had followed her the night before.

They were plain in the snow. She follow^ed them back until she came in
sight of the house where lived her " beau," Ichabod Cole. She went directly
to the house, and gave the door such a rap as startled the household.

Ichabod Cole's father came to the door. He seemed startled to see his
caller.

" I want to see the boy," said Aunt Heart Delight, in a hard, decisive tone.
The man had never before heard her utter an unpleasant word.

Ichabod was sent to the door. He came, trembling. He knew that he had
started evil reports about the grand woman, and he also knew that she was a
person who, though amiable, was not to be trifled with.

She stood there tall and stately in the morning sun. Her hair was un-
combed, and fell over her shoulders from a quilted hood. There was a set
look in her usually pacific face that would have made any one quail to confront.

" Ichabod, you promised to be my protector whatever might happen.
There are some tracks out here in the snow that I want you to follow. Get
your gun and come."

Ichabod's face was filled with terror.

" Get your gun and come. You are going to be my beau now."

There was something irresistible in the sarcastic command. Ichabod
obeyed. They came to the tracks.

*' What tracks are those, Ichabod? "

" I should think that they were — the Black Man's."

" Then you shall follow them until you find him. Go right along."

"Oh, Aunt Heart Delight! Suppose they should lead to the witches'
circle."

" I am not afraid of any witches' circle. You hiive been circulating bad
reports about me, Ichabod, and now you shall follow those tracks until you
come to the creature that made them. Go ! "

She pointed her arm out of her cloak. Ichabod dared not disobey. The
tracks led toward the woods.

CATCHING A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT. 1 63

Just at this point of the story Mary started. Grandmother
Tamany said in a low voice, " What is that ? "

Just above the hatchway a bright face seemed forming, glowing,
burning, — a face of fire. The sailors saw it; and one of them said
reverently, '' Great Heavens ! " The face lingered. It had eyes and
distinct features. Every one for the moment seemed filled with
terror. There was a motionless silence.

Suddenly there was a sound as of a click, and there followed a
flash of light. The camera had done its work. The next day the
result would appear.

It did. The face of one of the sailors was distinctly developed.

Captain Tamany called the sailor to him, and showed him the
picture.

" What does that mean ? " said the sailor.

" Took it last night when you appeared above the hatchway."

" .You will not harm me 1 "

" No ; if you will confess all."

" I will, Captain. You remember that night when the hand ap-
peared, — the hand of fire ? "

" Yes." ■

" I did not mean to frighten any one. I had been handling
phosphorus."

" I see."

" And I lifted my hand."

" Yes."

" And the sailors made a ghost story of it."

" Yes."

" Then it occurred to me that I would rub some of the same stuff
on my face and frighten them. It is mighty kind of lonesome at sea,
Captain."

" Yes, yes. If it were not for superstition, this would be a lone-
some world while ignorance lasted."

164 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" Pardon, Captain ? "

*' Yes, — pardon, yes. I am not a fool. The top of the world
to ye ! "

That evening Captain Tamany called up the sailor to tell the
story to his family, Captain Bridewell, and the crew.

It was an amusing scene, and round after round of laughter
followed ; and the captain said, " You who were so silly as to think
that a ghost had appeared ought to pardon him, if I am willing to
overlook your folly. Jack, you may go."

There was a long silence after Jack disappeared. Then little Mary
said, —

" But Grandpa, how did that other story end } "

" Oh, yes, child. We have all forgotten that. Well, it ended in
this way: —

Ichabod and Aunt Heart Delight, when we left them, were going toward
the wood.

When the two came to the margin of the wood, Ichabod looked up to
Aunt Heart Delight imploringly.

" Go right on," she commanded. " Enough innocent people have already
been thrown into prison on false accusations. You would like to go back and
tell the people that I have been in conference with the * Black Man,' and that
you have seen his tracks. You must go with rne now. My character and
maybe my life are at stake. Go on ! Into the woods. Go ! "

They followed the tracks. The boy was less afraid of meeting the ani-
mal than of incurring the further displeasure of Heart Delight. They came
at last to a frozen cranberry bog, in the middle of which was a thicket of
alder-bushes, and some great trunks of decayed trees. The tracks led into the
thicket.

They paused. There was a movement in the bushes.

" What do you see, Ichabod? "

" A beast ; oh, it is awful ! I think it is the very one I saw in the tree."

" Use your musket and kill him."

" But if I should miss? "

" Fire ! You must kill the beast. Fire, I say ! "

Ichabod, though trembling, took deliberate aim and fired. A large, lean

CATCHING A GHOST BY FLASH-LIGHT.

165

creature leaped into the air and fell struggling to the ground, and was soon
dead.

" Is that the beast that you saw on the tree? Is that your 'Black Man'?
It 's a catamount, as you see. I will send a cart and have it. brought to the
town. Go ! " She held her hand aloft and pointed toward his home.

Calef had been tried in Boston for accusing the magistrates of false charges,
and the case had been dismissed. People began to see the awful mistake that
had been made in the colony. The people of Weymouth were filled with
humiliation at the charge that they had made against Aunt Heart Delight.
They shunned her for a time, from the very rebuke that the dignity of her
presence gave them.

But her beautiful spirit came back. She forgave them all, even poor
Ichabod Cole, who to the day of his death she was accustomed to call her
" beau," and from the ridicule of which appellation he never escaped in the
happier days of the colony. The top of the world to ye all !

CHAPTER X.

more; queer stories at sea.

ND now we have rounded the Horn, and are adrift on
the South Pacific in the seas of sun and calm. It is
a long way to Adelaide yet, — farther than from New
York to England, almost twice as far. But the air
is bright and glorious, and the sea is lazulite, and
the winds pass over it deliciously, like messengers with viewless feet
The sun rises out of a sea of splendor and descends into a sea of fire ;
the noontide hours are a living serenity of pure light. The ship goes
on and on toward the antipodean world as though it had found the
waters of eternal beauty.

Once a derelict or wreck drifted past the " Tammany." How
lonely it seemed ! What was its history ? What an ocean tragedy
it may have represented ! What disappointed hopes !

The family gazed at it and gave wings to their fancies. Each one
said something sad. The captain only had a cheerful remark : —
" Out of a wreck a life-boat may be made," said he.
This was near the Cape. Farther on, not even a drifting wreck
appeared. Captain Bridewell told stories of the sea , — tales of the
Sandwich Islands and the taboo, or the superstitious restrictions that
once made life among the natives almost intolerable. " Here," said
he, " on the South Pacific, we are free, — nothing is tabooed^

Captain Tamany told many stories in these bright days. They
chiefly related to the reformation that a new country and new oppor-

MORE QUEER STORIES AT SEA. I 79

of oranges, — and when we finally arrived at the foot of the mountain, we had
two large boat-loads of fruit, fowl, and vegetables.

After a hand-shaking all round, we once more plunged through the surf, this
time without a wetting ; and accompanied by some of the islanders, quite a num-
ber of them young ladies, we returned to the ship, and soon after bade them
farewell.

The only landing-place on this island is at the northeast point, and the surf
is sometimes so high that boats cannot land at all. The weather at such times,
however, is fine, and the wind light, and there is no apparent cause for such an
extraordinary phenomenon.

Ships going to stop at Pitcairn's for refreshments can heave to about a mile
off the northern part of the island, in perfect safety. Flour, beef, ship-bread,
tea, butter, hams, men's clothing, calico, knives, fish-hooks, etc., can be readily
exchanged for a good supply of potatoes, yams, pumpkins, and all kinds of
fruit.

We left all the books we could spare, and late files of papers and maga-
zines. They are very glad to have ships stop, and are the most hospitable
people I ever met.

CHAPTER XL

THE CONQUEST OF THE WHALE. — NEW ZEALAND.

F Mary Hartwell had played with imaginary whales in
her New Bedford home, she had no need of imagina-
tion here. The " Tammany " was in the sea of the
whale. The great whale is an inhabitant of the North ;
but when the monsters of the sea had begun to disap-
pear from the Northern Atlantic, the New England whalers used to
go to the Northern Pacific, and they often found a profitable field in
the Southern Pacific, and about the Horn.

Mary used to exclaim at home, " There she blows," in imitation of
the call she had heard in the old sailor yarns; but she could cry,
" There she blows," now in sober reality.

One day when the serenity of the deep was broken by the spout-
ing fountains that indicated the course of a school of whales, she said,
" Grandpa, how much whalebone does a whale have in his mouth } "
" Oh, pet, two tons, sometimes."

The eirl was thousfhtful. " Do whales ever have the toothache ? "
" I don't know ; quite likely. Why ? "

" I should think it would hurt them, awful, — two tons of toothache !
But they don't have their teeth pulled ; they have to ' grin and bear it.'
How much would it cost to fill a whale's tooth with gold .? "

" Yes, it would rather bankrupt a dentist to have a whale come to
have a tooth filled," said the captain. " I never heard of such a case."

THE CONQUEST OF THE WHALE.— NEW ZEALAND. i8l

" Do whales ever feel cold ? " asked Mary.

" No, no, pet ; their blubber keeps them warm. Their blubber is
a sea jacket. It is sometimes two feet thick, and weighs thirty tons."

" Thirty tons ! " said Mary, in wonder. " How old does a whale live
to be .? "

" Oh, about as old as the ages of the patriarchs, — from five hun-
dred to a thousand years."

" How large are the largest whales .'* " continued Mary.

" The great whale of Greenland is some seventy feet long."

" And how big is his mouth 1 "

" Oh, some fifteen feet long or more."

" Could a whale swallow me } Why, seventy feet is as long as a
meeting-house ! "

" You might live in a whale's mouth perhaps, for the whale keeps
his mouth wide open when he goes a-fishing. But his throat is very
small ; so you would not find him a very convenient meeting-
house."

" How was it with Jonah } "

" The Bible does not say anything about a whale in the original
story, but a great fish. The word used in the New Testament does
not necessarily mean a whale in our meaning of the word, but a sea-
monster."

" Tell me about the baby whales," said Mary.

" They are some fifteen feet long when young ; and the mother
nurses them at the surface of the water, rolling from side to side, she
being very fond of her baby. The old sailors used to find it easy to
capture the mother if they could first secure the baby."

" I think they were very mean," said Mary, sympathetically. " Do
whales love ? "

" They love their young."

" Just like elephants ! "

" Yes, they are the elephants of the waters."

1 82 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" When they harpoon whales, do they bleed ? "

" Yes, they spout blood."

" I should be sorry to see them do that ; when I go whaling, I
shall let the whales go. I am whaling now, but I let them all go ;
see !

Captain Tamany laughed, and said, " What do you suppose a
whale is worth ? "

" I don't know ; how much ? "

" A single whale used to yield some four thousand dollars' worth
of oil ! Would you let that go ? "

" That is a great deal of money," said Mary. " What is the
greatest whaling city in the world ? "

" New Bedford," said the captain, proudly.

"And we are from New Bedford," answered Mary; "and tlie
whales don't know it. I am glad that they found oil in the earth,
and so let the whales enjoy the sea. I like to see folks enjoy
themselves."

Day after day passed under the blue sky. It was the delight of
the family to watch the spouting of the whales, and to study the
sunrises and sunsets, the cloud-shadows, the changing of the open
sea, and the lighting up and shading of the atmosphere.

Among many stories, Captain Tamany related some adventures of
the early missionaries among the islands of the great ocean world
which they were now approaching. One of these, which we give in
the vivid way it was treated in a young people's paper,^ and which
we have permission to copy, was as follows, —

^ Youth's Companion.

THE CONQUEST OF THE WHALE.— NEW ZEALAND. 185

THE FIRE-GOD.

One of the forms of nature-worship in the Hawaiian Islands was the rever-
ence paid to the fire-gods who were supposed to inhabit the volcanoes. Chief
among these objects of adoration was Pele, the dread goddess, whose throne
was in the lofty volcano of Hilo.

Among the most earnest of the converts who embraced Christianity was
Kapiolani, a princess of Kaavaroa, in Southern Hawaii.

She resolved to destroy the superstition which induced the natives to wor-
ship the fire-gods, by a personal act. Her friends and her husband begged
her to desist from her rashness. When they found that she was resolute,
eighty of them went with her. We have a thrilling account of the scene that
followed.

She journeyed on foot one hundred miles across the mountain-track, cross-
ing rugged lava-beds. The people assembled in crowds to implore their
beloved princess to turn back and not to defy Pele.

" If I am destroyed," she said, " you may all believe in Pele. But if I am
not, then you must all turn to the true God."

As Kapiolani drew near to the crater, a prophetess of Pele came to warn
her that she was going on to certain destruction. The woman held in her
hand a piece of white bark-cloth, which she said was a letter from Pele. When
desired-to read it, she held up the cloth and poured forth a torrent of unintel-
ligible sounds, which she declared to be the ancient sacred dialect.

" You have pretended to deliver a message from your god, which none of
us can understand," said Kapiolani. " I too have a message which is from
the true God, and you can understand it."

She then read passages from the Scriptures, telling of the works of God
and the mission of the Saviour. The prophetess hung her head, saying that
her god had forsaken her, and she could answer nothing.

On reaching the edge of the crater, Kapiolani led the way to the steep
path leading down the side of the precipice to the black lava-bed.

All around the crater and along the path the refreshing ohelo-berries grow
thickly. But no Hawaiian dared taste one till, having gathered a laden branch,
he broke it in two, and threw half toward the fiery lake, uttering the accus-
tomed formula: "Pele, here are )'Our ohelos. I offer some to you; some I
also eat."

1 86 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Kapiolani halted, and deliberately ate the berries without the acknowledg-
ment; but her followers dared not do so.

After this act of defiance she descended into the crater, and boldly walked
across the great expanse of cooled lava till she reached the brink of " the house
of everlasting burning." As the fiery waves tossed and writhed, she threw
fragments of lava into the seething mass. A more complete act of desecration
could not have been devised.

Then turning to her followers, who watched her with fear and trembling,
half believing that the insulted fire-spirits would avenge the insult, she said, —

" My God is Jehovah. He it was who kindled these fires. I do not fear
Pele. Should I perish by her anger, then you may fear her power. But if
Jehovah save me while breaking Pele's talus, then you must fear and love Him.
The gods of Hawaii are vain."

Then she had her followers kneel and join with her m a solemn act of
adoration of the Creator. After that they sang a hymn of praise, that so this
the very house of the fire-gods might be consecrated as a temple of the Most
High.

It was a grand, brave deed. It bore much fruit in destroying the reverence
of the people for Pele.

Captain Bridewell often amused the family with stories of the
boomerang ; and Eric and Mary made miniature boomerangs of wood
and paper, and so imitated the Australians in games of skill. The
captain also gave the young people a view of the work of the English
missionaries in Australia, and of the " John Williams," a once famous
missionary ship.

The weeks passed on with only one storm. One morning a dark
line appeared over the sea. Was it a cloud .^ It deepened ; it grew.
The sailors watched it.

" Where are we ? " said Mary to the captain. " As your look
is so intense, you must see something strange. Where are we,
Grandpa ? "

" We are right under the earth ; we are under England. Don't
be alarmed, it won't fall through; and there, right ahead, is the
coast of

THE CONQUEST OF THE WHALE.— NEW ZEALAND.

187

NEW ZEALAND.

From Wellington, New Zealand, to Cape Horn is a distance of
some forty-three hundred miles, and it is twelve hundred miles from
Wellington to Australia. These are distances that made our voy-
agers feel that they were far from home.

THE "JOHN WILLIAMS," MISSIONARY SHIP

New Zealand consists of three islands, and the two larger are
divided by Cook's Strait, through which most vessels pass. The

i88

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

two principal islands are each about five hundred miles long. The
area of New Zealand is nearly one hundred thousand squai^ miles,
with a coast line of some four thousand miles.

New Zealand is a broken volcano, with one chimney yet active, re-
calling the awful scenes of bygone ages. Mount Cook is a stupendous
elevation, rising some fourteen thousand feet. New Zealand is a land
of streams, plains, forests, and mountain domes, about as large as
the whole of Great Britain; and its climate is called the finest in the

NATIVES OF NEW ZEALAND AND THEIR HOMES.

world. The seasons confuse the stranger; it is hot in January and
cold m June. Summer is winter and winter summer; but it is beau-
tiful here all the year.

It was discovered by the romantic Tasman in 1642. It was
brought under civilization and the British crown by the missionaries
who first went there in 18 14.

At Wellington, the capital, our young voyagers were led to recall

THE CONQUEST OF THE WHALE. — .\EW ZEALAND.

191

the Wakefield Theory, of which they had heard so much of late in
their New Bedford home.

A NEW ZEALAND MERRY-GO-ROUND.

The " Tammany " stopped and anchored in the beautiful harbor
of Wellington, and the family visited the city. It is a place of more
than ten thousand inhabitants, who live industriously and prosper-
ously far, far away from the great \vorld of the associated continents.

ig:

ZIGZAG JOUR.XEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

NEW ZEALANDERS IN THE CANOES.

Again upon the sea, the " Tammany " curved away from Cook's
Strait and the city of the Wakefield Theory, and sunk behind the
mountain-domed land, and was on her way toward the conti-
nent island of Oceanica. A thousand miles of sunny water lay
before her.

CHAPTER XII.

A SABBATH AT SEA.

HE sea! the sea!" exclaimed the army of Xenophon,
as after their long retreat the wanderers came in
sight of the calm, wide waters.

"The sea! the sea!" said the Australian heroes,
whose explorations ended with a view of the pla-
cidity of the Indian Ocean.

Land is home, and the sea a journey ; but the seaman who has
been long on the land becomes restless for the sea again, and the
seaman who has been long on the sea looks eagerly for the land.

Captain Tamany respected the Sabbath, as many of the hardy sea-
captains of New Bedford did ; and he used to call his family and the
crew about him on the pleasant Sabbath afternoons, and read the
Scriptures to them, and sing the hymns of home with them, and tell
them stories that turned their thoughts to a better world than this.
There were a few old sea-captains of New Bedford who were well
known for their spiritual faith and benevolence, in contrast with many
who were profane ; and Captain Tamany on sea or land was never
unmindful of his duties to the Source of all life and being.

He was a well-schooled and very intelligent man. He never
used the sea dialect except among his crew. He had a theory — he
was full of theories — that a man's spiritual instincts were superior
to reason, and that faith was the light of the soul.

194 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

He used to repeat over and over again the story of Columbus's
inspirations. He once said to Eric, —

" My life has been all overruled. Every one s is, who has faith ;
and life without faith is purposeless.

" Be true to the dream of thy youth. Early inspirations, like
morning thoughts, are often the true pilots of life.

" Columbus once sat upon the quays of Genoa, and saw a star
hansfins as if it were in the air. He saw in the star our earth ; and
the vision haunted him, and gave his feet no rest until he unfurled
the banner of Spain amid the palms of the Bahama Sea.

" He was a student of maps, charts, and mathematics. He wan-
dered from land to land, seeking geographical knowledge. Hunger
was nothing, neglect nothing, ridicule and loss of friends nothing,
so that he might gain any knowledge of the unknown lands of the
West. He went to the North to consult libraries, to Lisbon, and the
islands of Greece. The world has had few students who have sacri-
ficed so much for the little information that the world had to give.

" He made his great discovery, grew old, and reviewed the past of
life. He asked himself what power had impelled his feet and made
his name and work great. Maps.? No. Charts? No. Mathematical
knowledge .? No. They were many agents of a Higher Direction.

" He summed up his life and wrote : —

" ' God made me the messenger of the new heavens and new
earth, and told me where to find them. Maps, charts, and mathe-
matical knowledge had nothing to do with the case.'

" He put his early inspiration over all. Success, as a rule, comes
to those who are true to the ideals of youth, and walk the world by
faith."

In the beautiful Sabbaths on the South Pacific, Mrs. Tamany
often related stories to the company on board. These tales were
such as would prepare the men for worthy conduct on land ; and
althouo^h a few of the sailors were rough men, the whole ship's com-

"ilh' 'Y'U I

'^^" ■ \ Vi ' "' , 4), "5)1! i^f i

A SABBATH AT SEA. 1 97

pany listened to this kindly, sympathetic woman with interest and
respect.

The Sabbaths spent between New Zealand and Australia were
days ever to be recalled. The sea was beautiful, the sky cloudless,
and the atmosphere a delight. One Sunday Mrs. Tamany selected,
" Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will reward him
in time of trouble," for a lesson for her family and the ship's company.

" Yes, that is my motto," said the captain. " Now let us all sit
down and talk about it."

Many stories were told of how an unexpected hand had been
extended to those in distress who themselves had been charitable.
Captain Bridewell related a tale of a seaman who taught his family,
who lived on the coast, always to set a light in the window on stormy
nights, to warn the sailors, and who himself was saved by it. For the
light in the window showed a true heart ; the Government were in-
fluenced by it to put a life-saving station on the coast ; and when the
seaman became a captain, and was himself wrecked on the same coast,
his life and the lives of the crew were rescued by the rockets and the
lines sent up and shot out from this very station.

Mrs. Tamany's story, in illustration of how by helping others
we save ourselves, was pleasing, and Mary at least remembered it
long. The good woman called her story —

OVER THE BRIDGE AT NIGHT.

There once dwelt in London a young lady who belonged to a family illus-
trious for genius, and who herself possessed no ordinary qualities of mind and
heart.

She was good to the poor. She became poor herself at last. Those upon
whom she had depended passed away, leaving her, after an early life of luxury,
to her own resources. She was a poetess and a lover of artistic culture. She
made every effort to profit by these gifts, but none seemed willing to recognize
her ability.

198 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

She owned costly jewels. She parted with them one by one for bread.
One day she went to the pawnbroker's with her last jewel. She received a
small sum of money, and she knew that when it was gone she would be a
beggar.

The world looked to her cold and unfriendly. A deep melancholy settled
upon her mind, weakening her reason. The good angel in her heart seemed
to fly away, leaving her to solitude, darkness, and despair.

The sense of her misfortunes so touched her mind at last that her reason
began to forsake her. She cared for nothing more, and resolved to drown
herself in the Thames.

She went to the river at the foot of London Bridge. It was the close of a
lovely day. The golden crown of sunset rested on the far-off hills and waters.
She thought, " Shall I be forever cast out of that bright world of which the
sunset is an emblem?"

She felt like a poor, guilty thing, for the sorrows that had turned her brain
had not wholly darkened her conscience. Still she walked down to the river,
not doubting that it would speedily prove to her the river of death.

Only one thought comforted her now. She had never passed by a scene
of human suffering without offering relief.

Night fell; the tide was low. She went to the water's edge, hid herself
from view, and bitterly weeping, waited for the tide to rise and cover her.

The tide rose. The waters moaned and sobbed upon the stones. The
darkness deepened. The great city became still.

The tide rose higher. The poor creature sat, statue-like, feeling that the
moment of her extremity was indeed at hand.

She heard a moan above, in the silence, on the bridge. It was a child's
moan, — a moan that of all others would most quickly awaken the sweet sym-
pathies of her heart.

"Mother, oh. Mother, won't you give me some bread? Oh, Mother, do!
I am so hungry ! "

The voice was innocent, pleading, tender.

"How can I, my child, when your sick, father is at home with nothing
to eat? "

The voice was full of misery. The tone well told how it hurt that mother's
heart to say those helpless words.

The poor drowning woman at the foot of the bridge heard all. Her better
nature awoke. She felt in her pocket; there were a few pennies left. She
arose, ascended the bridge, led on by the invisible angel of sympathy, and
followed the poor woman with the little child.

A SABBATH AT SEA. 1 99

She gave her the last penny.

" God bless you ! " was the sweet return. There was a sympathetic tender-
ness in the words. They went to her despairing heart, and opened again the
fountains of feeling.

Her thoughts of suicide vanished. A strong inspiration to live for the
good of others filled her soul. She felt that God pitied her, and would be her
friend ; and that He had sent the child like a good angel to save her. This
woman became one of the most famous persons of her time, a companion of
titled and eminent people, and admired and beloved by the nation. So sym-
pathy saves.

" Blessed is he that considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver him in
time of trouble."

Captain Tamany's stories were usually queer; and he followed
Captain Bridewell's and his wife's narratives with a story that was
odd indeed.

DICK'S GIRL; OR, THE POKE SUNBONNET.

Yes, sympathy saves, and very curious are its ways. It is law ; a
law of rescue is sympathy. A crowd once heard a cry, " A boy is
drowning ! " It was a fete-day. Only one man ran to save the boy.
That boy was found to be his own son. We save ourselves by saving
others, and he who gives his soul to mankind shall find it at last with
God. The top of the world to ye all ! I tell you it is law.

You remember Dick the sailor, and Mabel, his girl, who disap-
peared. They both disappeared in fact, — Dick and Mabel. Poor
family ! I always pitied them. Dick learned to drink in his early
voyages, and he became a perfect slave to the thirst. He had a good
heart, and he married one of the best women that I ever knew. She
was always doing something to make people better and happier. But
Dick seemed to lose all self-control, and she had a hard time, and
died abused and neglected.
. She left one child, Mabel, — Dick's girl. Dick loved his baby, and

200 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

it made him moderate for a time to think of the Httle one. Then he
lost control again, stole money for bread, and ran away to sea to
avoid arrest. He went to Australia, and never returned.

And little Mabel — Dick's girl — went to the poorhouse. It
seemed hard that the child of such a charitable mother should go
there ; but Dick left behind him such a bad name that no one wanted
the child, and even the deacon's wife said that it would be a mercy if
that child were to die.

Mabel grew up. At the Christmas tree, one year, old Mother
Home remembered her. She made for her a poke sunbonnet —
Mother Home had no money for presents — and hung it on the tree.
She meant well ; the poor old woman remembered the girl's mother.

You have heard what a queer-looking thing that bonnet was, and
how the children laughed when Mabel took it down from the tree, and
how the poor girl carried it away crying.

Mabel grew up, and I used to hire her at times to work for me. I
really did it because I pitied her, and wanted to help her.

One day she came to me and said, " I have been raising blood. I
think that I am going to have consumption; Mother did. But I have
faith. Your talk makes me have faith. A friend of Mother's and
poor Father's in Montana has written to me to come there. Will you
lend me fifty dollars.''" I did it, and she disappeared.

I was laughed at for lending Mabel the fifty dollars after she
disappeared.

A more forlorn girl never vanished from the place. Haunted
by the bad reputation of her father, wasted by her cough, with no
friends, and only borrowed money — and that ridiculous poke sun-
bonnet.

A few months ago I was induced to go to Great Falls, Montana,
to see the wonderful country, the mines, and to make possibly some
investments in the great smelters on the Missouri.

I had one day returned from a ride to the Rainbow Falls, and had

A SABBATH AT SEA. 20I

stopped at the Bluce Eagle Falls, — the place described by Lewis
and Clarke, — the scene of the old Black Eagles' Nest. I had
visited the Giant Spring, and had dipped my nose into its mys-
terious waters in order to see the fairyland below. From such
a point of observation this spring rivals Waukulla in Florida :
crystal chambers, fit for an Undine, open their doors of living
splendor, garlanded with gem-bearing ferns, and paved with emerald
and gold, I have been told that the peace festivals of the Black-
feet Indians used to be held here, when offerings were to be made
to the sun. On my return to Great Falls, I was given an account
of the sun dance, — a revelry which the Blackfeet used to have
on the Sun River, when they were accustomed to twirl quartz,
mica, and crystals in their hands, and to shoot gleaming arrows
into the sunbeams. This part of Montana was a field of romance
in the old tribal days, and its legends are worthy of the artist and
poet, and will one day find expressions in art.

With the thunder of the falls still in my ears, with the rainbows
of mist still in my eyes, and with picturesque Indian legends in
outline in my notebook, I began to express my delight in Montana
scenery so warmly that a railroad officer said to me, just as the
carriage arrived at the hotel for a late breakfast, —

" Come, go with us to Monarch on the freight to-day. We shall
put on a passenger car. We will show you there some of the most
magnificent scenery on the continent. The new mining city of
the mid-continent will be, or may be, there. Five thousand silver
mining claims have already been taken in the mountains about the
place."

*' But I am a sea-captain, and have no pockets for mining
stocks."

" Then I will offer you another inducement : I will take you to
ride on our arrival, from Monarch to Kibbey's, and will show you a
region almost as wonderful as the Garden of the Gods in Colorado.

202 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

It ought to be made a State park. And I will show you another
curious thing : —

"There's a young woman out there that has taken up a claim
of land ; and she has covered her cabin with sods, and planted seeds
on them, and so has made a flower-garden on the top of the house.
She wears a bunnit like a funnel ; and she looks odd enough when
she goes up to the top of the house with a pitcher of water to tend
to the plants. Where she came from no one knows. She won't
talk — only to the Government officers. Come, I have invited a
Boston man to go."

With the prospect of seeing a region almost as wonderful and
beautiful as the Garden of the Gods, and a young woman with a
land claim, and a flower-garden on the top of her house, and having
the enchanting society and decisive opinions of a Boston man, I
could but stop over a day, to go to Monarch, which, it is claimed, is
destined to become a new Leadville or Anaconda.

I breakfasted, was introduced to the man from Boston, without
telling him that I was from the same region, and our party was soon
curving away from the glorious Sun River valley toward the Belt
Mountains, made famous by Lewis and Clarke. The day was en-
chantment. The Montana skies are ever blue, the air clear, and the
plains green. Golden eagles wheeled in the sky ; armies of flocks
grazed on the plains ; and the gulches beside the railroad and even
the banks of the railroad were one continuous flower-garden. The
gentleman from Boston put on his spectacles and gazed quietly from
the car window ; but one could see from a certain restful and benevolent
expression on his face that he thought that the landscape would do.

The Belt Mountains of Montana are so called from a very curious
butte that halfway up its sides seems to be encircled by a belt, like the
fiQrure of a woman. The butte is more curious than beautiful ; but the
general scenery of the region is not grotesque like the Garden of the
Gods or like the Voudoo lands and groblin lands of the National Park.

MOUNT KOSCIUSKO, NEW SOUTH WALES.

A SABBATH AT SEA. 205

The Belt River is a stream of emerald water, clear as crystal, and
shaded by trees that grow tinder its banks. It runs through sluices
and gorges, now shadowy and cold, now iridescent, now leaping over
some shelving rock of the Devonian Period or Carboniferous Age, and
breaking into foam. It has won its way by the perseverance of ages,
and has left the record of its long labors clearly in view. One has
only to look up to the walls of the chasms it has worn away, to believe
that all things are possible to patient effort and industry.

The valley of the Belt is ideal. Its farms are pictures. Could the
Vale of Tempe have been more pastoral and lovely .f* Above it rise
the Palisades ; not like the palisades on the Hudson, but a system of
broken arches, tessellated columns, caves of stalactites, and cool pine
shadows.

Afar shone the Highwood Mountains, glistening with seas of
snows. Here and there the wide plains were darkened by green
coulees ; the horizon was in places broken by buttes and benches,
as the hills and high meadows are called; the air was wonderfully
luminous, but cool and clear.

The Boston gentleman coughed (catarrh). " What effect has this
climate on weak lungs ? " he asked slowly, his eye sweeping the broad
sea of splendor like the wing of a golden eagle.

" The air is light and dry ; ninety out of a hundred days are
sunny; and the man who lives in his saddle here for a few months
doesn't realize that he has any lungs. Lungs.? It is the Eastern
man that has lungs ; we don't have 'em here."

So said the brakeman, and the Boston man seemed pleased with
the anatomy of Montana.

" I have often noticed," continued the brakeman, " that people do
not talk of their lungs unless something ails 'em. We are not apt to
talk much about things that are continuous. An honest man seldom
talks much about honesty, or a pure man about purity ; and a man
who speaks of his stomach has generally got the dyspepsia. No man

2o6 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

puts cotton into key-holes unless he is in the habit of investigating pri-
vate matters himself. Is there anything the matter with your liings? "

The man from Boston coughed, and seemed pleased with the
homely views of the mountain philosopher. He coughed again.

" I see you have got 'em,*' said the brakeman. " You had better
stay out here a spell. I 've known people not to have any lungs at
all after livin' in this pure air for a few weeks or months or so."

The man from Boston looked a little surprised. He evidently
had known like cases ; he was a doctor.

The discoverer of the Rocky Mountains, according to the received
tradition, was Sieur de la Verendrye, the French governor of Quebec.
He and his sons came to the Upper Missouri in 1742, and called the
region La Montana Roches. The name is as musical as that of the
discoverer, and both might be well used in the vocabulary of the
names of new places in Montana. The brother of the provincial
governor led the expedition. The party left the Lake of the Woods
in April, 1742, and ascended the Rocky Mountains, Jan. 12, 1843.
" On the 12th of May, 1744," says a recent chronicle, " they planted on
an eminence a leaden plate of the arms of France, and raised a
monument of stones, which they called Beauharnais." We are further
informed that the monument was twenty feet in diameter, was set
up on a river bluff, was round, and ran up to a point, and that there
were* bowlders on either side of it.

This would seem to be a sufficiently explicit direction to guide the
antiquarian; but no one knows where this interesting memorial is
to be found. It is believed that it was placed somewhere in the
Belt Mountains, and some ens^ineers of Great Falls claim to have
discovered the monument ; but this curious legend demands the proof
of the true position of the monument by bringing to light the hidden
plate, and this our Great Falls antiquarians have failed to do. The
search for this hidden plate may one day become a very interesting
subject for Montana historians. Almost every State and great city

A SABBATH AT SEA.

207

has some historic mystery, but few localities anything more interestino-
than this. If ever there should be a State park in Cascade County,
as has been suggested, the place would not lack for a charming leoend,
with a true historic basis. Verendrye merits a monument, whether
the monument that his explorers erected, probably in the Belt
Mountains, is ever found or not.

There is a charm in railroad travel in Montana that is unequalled
in any other State. The grandest railroad scenery in America is in
the Selkirks on the Canadian Pacific ; but in Montana the buttes (hills
with level tops) and benches giv^e a monumental character to the wide
plains, not found elsewhere. One seems to be in some colossal grave-
yard of giants, as indeed one is, for the buttes are the monuments of
mighty formations that have slowly disappeared. The plains of Mon-
tana in mid-summer, when the day begins at three o'clock a. m. and
lasts until ten p. m., and in autumn are a living splendor. The dark
buttes that terrace the far horizons stand like dreamy castle lands
across a sea of sun. The sweep of the cowboy across the ranch is
like the eagle's in the air. Everywhere is pastoral beauty and repose
in the plains ; everywhere awe and grandeur and magnificence in the
mountains. The cars, as they leave the plains, usually follow a ribbon
of some emerald stream, along the shelves of rock that the water has
left in unknown ages. There are flowers everywhere. In June the
rock roses carpet the crumbling bowlders. They seem to bloo*n out
of the rocks close to the gravel, without foliage. It is worth a long
journey to see these beds of roses. The Prickly Pear Canyon is cov-
ered with them, as though some one had picked millions of wild roses
close to the flower, and strewn them over the rocks. The wood violet
is as wonderful and beautiful, creamy as wax, and as modest as an
orange-flower. '

The enthusiasts of Great Falls advertise the mining road to Mon-
arch as among the grandest scenery in America. This is not quite
true ; but the last ten miles of the way are indeed very unique and

2o8 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IX AUSTRALIA.

grand. The cliffs are gigantic, and are full of what seem to be natural
fortresses and castles. There are Gibraltars everywhere. Only a few
cannon are needed to make one feel that Nature has gathered here the
greatest fortresses of the world. The battlements of the as^es seem to
look down on the narrow curves over which cautiously runs the train.

The new mining town of Monarch, whose hotel is at present a one-
story structure, is situated in a green little intervale at the confluence
of Tillinghast Creek, Barker Bell Creek, and the Belt River. It is the
supply camp of one of the richest mineral sections of the great mon-
arch State of uncovered wealth. It is surrounded by extensive forests,
and by intervales in which tens of thousands of acres are covered with
grass and flowers, many of which have been homesteaded or pre-
empted and are under cultivation. Near Monarch are the famous
Tillinghast iron mines, claimed to be the greatest iron leads in the
Rocky Mountains.

The first object that attracted the eye of our gentleman from
Boston on leaving the train, was a log house on whose roof was a
bedding of soil forming a curious flower-garden.

" That does look odd," said he, — " odd enough. A hanging
garden on a log house — "

" That is a shack," said our friend the brakeman. " That ain't
no house."

" Do shacks have flower-gardens on the roof.? " asked Boston.

" Some of 'em do. The school-mistress's did."

" Who was the school-mistress ? "

" She used to go up to water 'em."

" What ! her pupils 1 "

" No, the flowers."

" Oh ! "

"She used to go up on a ladder, with a poke bonnet on, and she
did look mighty curis. She set out wild sunflowers up there on the
top of her log cabin."

A SABBATH AT SEA.

209

" But who was this extraordinary person ? "

" She came out here from way up North somewhere, — one of the
towns on the coast, I believe. She had a terrible cough when she
came, and a bunnit all up in the air, — flared up like, — and she did n't
say much to anybody. She was called the school-mistris', I don't
know why. She pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land, and
homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, and made a tree claim for
aught I know ; and she built a shack, and put a flower-garden on the
roof, — all sunflowers, — and she used to go up to the top of the roof
on a ladder, with a poke sunbonnet on, to water the flowers. And
she looked like a factory chimbly. And she found a bed of ore on her
claim, and she sold the whole and went back east to Michigan or
somewhere and bought a husband. A schoolmistress after her years
become shady has to offer considerable inducement, but she had the
spondoolix."

"The what.?"

" The wherewithal."

" Where did these extraordinary events happen ? "

" Oh, on the level, only a few miles from here. You can see her
shack now. She sold her rights and got married. She was smart."

" Very extraordinary, — very extraordinary indeed. Do you always
speak the truth ? " continued Boston.

" Always."

" Do women take up government land out here ? "

" Yes, often. Why should n't they .? "

" A very pertinent question ; I am glad to know that they do, —
very g\^.d to know that they do. It shows social improvement;" and
Boston, with great moderation and much rubbing of his spectacles
with a silk handkerchief, stepped into the carriage that was await-
ing us.

How can I describe the ride to Kibbey's ? It was like a boat
journey under the castles of the Rhine. The mountains were purple

2IO ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

and gold, — purple with larkspur and golden with wild sunflowers.
They loomed above us nearly a mile in air, covered with fortress-like
ruins that might have been the habitations of the feudal lords and the
warring knights of old.

Yonder yawned a great cavern in a peak of the sky ; on the oppo-
site side of the ravine was the arch of a natural bridge. Near the road
was a ruined arch and wall like the site of Glastonbury Abbey. * Be-
hind its arched window grew a solitary tree. The heavens were full of
terraces and battlements. The air was wine, the sun a live splendor,
and everywhere were flowers.

We came into an open plain under the mountains full of cabins,
flocks, and claims. Here is a great community about which the
outer world knows little or nothing, — a pastoral territory where a
squatter might tell his children that " there are people beyond the
mountains also',' as a matter of surprise. Such horses, such cattle,
such fields of grain, such scenery, such sunshine, such air!

In the course of our long ride among the mountain plateaus, we
came to a ranch which had a good log house. Near the house was
a cabin on which flowers were growing.

" That is the place," said my companion and host.

I made inquiry about the young woman who had first pre-empted
the claim, but could only learn that she was married and had gone
to live somewhere on the Lakes. The description given of her
answered to Mabel.

Just before sailing I received a private letter. It read like this : —

" I send you the fifty dollars you lent me. I thank you and
repeat to you out of my heart your old saying, ' The top of the
world to you ! ' I have got well. I am married and happy. Don't
mention me to any one ; only say if asked about me that I paid
the debt, and am an honest woman. Don't try to find who or
where I am ; but if you should meet Father in Australia or any-
where, tell him I love him still, and have forgiven him."

IN AN AUSTRALIAN FOREST.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

USTRALIA ! The fifth continent! The great ocean
world !

What a mystery of the past is that immense sea
that we call Australasia ! Its islands rise like monu-
ments of some great ruin of the past. When was the
great upheaval ? How ? What eyes saw it, if any ? Whence came
the dark races that peopled these islands }

Was it once Atlantis that went down into the sea ? Are these the
broken fragments of a continent such as poets picture, where cities
once lived, and armies marched and victors sung!

An hundred years ago Australasia, or Australia, as the army of
palm-plumed islands was then known, was the habitation of cannibals.
Horrid superstitions ruled the people. The war feasts were human
flesh.

An hundred years ago the white settlements were colonies of
outcasts. The islands were prisons.

Cannibals and prisons an hundred years ago I

What a transformation ! The heathen rites are vanished ! The
cannibal feast is a darkness of the past. Church spires and school-
house domes hang their bells in the air. The mysterious island of
Australia proper is a continent now. Its ports invite the commerce
of the world.

2 1 4 ZIGZA G JO URNE YS IN A USTRA LI A .

Its prisons are ruins ; the penal system has gone. The prisoners
themselves as a rule became changed men, and have left honorable
families.

The last has become first. A Greater Britain has risen on these
islands, and the new, young life here is now leading the thought of
the world.

The world's new methods of life and activity here have found a
birthplace. Here the Church stands for freedom, and politics for
character, and the school for science and truth. Here cities are
parks for the people. Here poets rise, and art finds new expressions,
and education leads the mental army of peace. Here wealth builds
for humanity. Here gold is turned into homes, and homes into
temples.

Glorious Australia !

BEAUTIFUL ADELAIDE.

" A model city of churches and schools," was the picture of
Adelaide which Captain Tamany of the " Tammany " used to paint
for the minds of his hearers in his old orchard home on Buzzard's
Bay. " Were I to select a city as a model for any immigrant people
to study and to reproduce, I would choose Adelaide. Why } Because
she put religion and learning and the rights of labor and temper-
ance as the foundation-stones of her prosperity, and a city built on
such foundations will last."

New South Wales was founded on liberty after the broad prin-
ciples of the Wakefield Theory. Her elections were made pure by
the Australian Ballot System ; and a progressive spirit has entered
into her politics, and her institutions are famous, and an example to
the world.

- New South Wales is the mother of the Australian colonies. She
comprises a vast territory ; she is nearly a thousand miles long, and

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

215

the glorious Pacific washes her eastern coast for eight hundred miles.
She is larger than the German empire. She is a land of mountains
and valleys and high -plateaus. Her history begins with the discov-
eries of Captain Cook in 1770. Her principal city is Sydney, whose

GOVERNMENT HOUSE AND GENERAL POST OFFICE, ADELAIDE.

harbor is one of the most beautiful and poetic ship-cities in the world.
We shall speak of it in another place. South Australia joins New
South Wales with an enormous territory stretching from sea to sea,
two thousand miles long and some seven hundred miles broad, with
an area of nearly a million square miles. It is as long as the United
States from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. It is the land of
the bush and the plains; of warm climates and delicious fruits; of
grapes, peaches, apricots, and oranges; of pastoral life inland and
lovely towns on the sunny coast.

Adelaide is the Queen City of this great empire, not so large as

2i6 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Sydney of New South Wales, but in many respects as interesting and
wonderful. The city was founded in 1836, and was named for Queen
Adelaide, the wife of William IV. It has nearly two hundred thou-
sand inhabitants. Its harbor has a beach of dazzling whiteness, and
"like the harbor of Sydney, is famous for the beauty of its scenery.

PUBLIC SCHOOL, ADELAIDE.

It is a city of great parks and noble public buildings, and lies
on each side of the river Torrens, which is gracefully spanned with
bridges. The streets are very broad and regular, and are shaded
by long rows of trees. It is a city of the sea, and yet it lies almost
in the^hadows of picturesque mountains. It is built of white free-
stone; and to a stranger the blue bay, the white city, and the dark
crreen mountains seem like a poet's or a painter's ideal. Its churches

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

217

are so numerous that it has been called "the city of churches;" and
the many spires recall the aspirations of its founders. The schools
are almost as numerous as the churches; and Adelaide might as* well
be called a city of schools. The public buildings are many; and the

BOTANICAL GARDENS AT ADELAIDE.

churches, the schoolhouses, and public ofifices are remarkable for the
taste, harmony, and beauty of their architecture. We present vieu^
of several of these buildings. Mark the character which they each
and all display !

Among the many charming features of the city are the Botanical
Gardens. Beyond the long suburbs, some thirty miles away, is an
agricultural college with experimental farms, which is one of the most
noteworthy institutions of its kind in the British Empire.

Strange as it may seem, South Australia has her great farms for
the breeding of camels, and the use of the six-camel team is common

2l8

ZIGZAG JOURaXEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

amons: the bushmen in the deserts of the North. The camel was intro-
duced into South Austraha from Afghanistan by Sir Thomas Elder.

The sheep and cattle ranges of this almost limitless empire are a
source of wealth whose results appear in the port city. The herders
lead a lonely life, and have
many strange adventures to
tell to one another when they
meet, and to strangers whom
they sometimes chance to
meet in the hotels of Ade-
laide.

The bright atmosphere is
alive with insects. The night
is luminous with fireflies
that seem to weave lustrous
webs in the dusky air. Metal-
lic-like beetles excite the
wonder of the traveller; and

CAMEL TEAMS, SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

there is a season when the atmosphere seems to be abloom with gor-
qjeous butterflies and moths. Lizards are kept in the cabins as pets,
and to destroy ants and disagreeable insects.

THE AUSTRAL WORLD. 219

Beautiful is the evening and night in the Botanical Gardens of
Adelaide, with the mountains, the sea, the vegetation, the odors of
flowers, and the cool winds of the ocean !

The walks are haunted by art; the white cit}/ lies between the hills
and the sea ; the air is clear ; music and happy voices are heard ; and
one feels a poetic sense of loneliness here for a time, all the world of
old history and association lies so far away !

MELBOURNE.

The pride of the sea-fanned State of Victoria is the great city of
Melbourne. It is a curious city of about the population of Boston,
but covering a great area. It has been called " Marvellous Mel-
bourne," on account of the rapid increase of population, wealth, and
architectural beauty. It is a " surveyor's city," as a writer has said. Its
streets are wide ; there is a sense of room everywhere. The public
buildings are massive ; they have been built slowly and solidly. The
Public Library here contains some one hundred and fifty thousand
volumes, and the National Picture Gallery many notable paintings.

The Melbourne University has the large and liberal spirit that
makes Australia an advanced world. It is open to male and female
students alike, and its courses of study are in harmony with the latest
advances of method and thought.

Strange things are found in all the Australian coast cities, where
everything is supposed to be rough and new. One of the great
organs of the world is to be heard in the larore Music Hall of
Melbourne. Here too is a system of Botanical Gardens that are a
paradise.

Melbourne is proud of her parks and public gardens. Her view
of a true city seems to be that it should be a place not only of asso-
ciated life, but of gardens. She is a city of gardens. The reserves be-
tween the city and the suburbs are models for the study of city builders.

220

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Albert Park, a mile in length, leads one out of the city. Faulkner Park,
or the Domain, Yarra Park, and the Fitzroy and Carlton Gardens open
vistas of beauty, and the Royal Park contains a thousand acres. The
reserves, as the public grounds are called, are a museum as well as a

MELBOURNE, I540.

pleasure-ground for cricket, flower shows, and evening concerts. These
reserves have an area of some five thousand acres.

In the shades of the graceful eucalyptus-trees here lived the black
man and the kangaroo only a half-century ago. Both seemed to
vanish before the steps of civilization, and to perish as by fate, as the
city stretched out her streets and wharves.

It is a temperance city ; and poverty does not show itself in the
streets, the squares, and the beautiful reserves. It is claimed that

• THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

Melbourne enjoys three hundred pleasant days in a year; and with
such a self-respecting people and such a climate, park life is indeed a
charm. Melbourne has been called the " Oueen of the South."

THE FITZROY GARDENS, MELBOURNE.

Behind her are the great gold-fields ; before her the ever-glorious sea.
Her docks are a city of ships ; her suburbs a long paradise of gardens.
Adelaide is beautiful, and as beautiful is her sister city. The memory

of each is a lifelonsr delight.

SYDNEY.

The tourist who enters the harbor of S3'dney at night, is delayed
by the quarantine, and first sees the city of Sydney under the rising
sun, will almost be persuaded that Atlantis has arisen again from the

224

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

sea. Lovely indeed is a midsummer morning in tlie harbor gates of
this young port city of New South Wales!

Sydney is a city of square miles of buildings. Like a young
family of the nations, they are growing, growing, ever more beautiful,

GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, MACQUARIE STREET, SYDNEY.

strong, and ready for life. Like a young family also the people here
are being educated and prepared for the great destiny that awaits
them.

When Captain Cook saw the wonderful vegetation of the earlier
port of Sydney, he called the opaline waters and dark shadowy flower-
ing emerald shores, " Botany Bay." The place of palms, with their
proud plumes, of myrtle and coral trees, figs and vines, and flower-
gardens swinging from feathery trees in the air, was first known to

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

227

the world as a convict colony. Then Sydney rose between the blue
mountains and the electric sea, like a vision. The bush vanished.
The convict served his time, and went away to honest industrial pur-
suits, in a land that offered him a new chance in life. The world
began to hear of the new city of beauty and wonderful growth by
the blazing waters of the sapphire sea. Here was summer-land,
health, and opportunity. The city now is one of the crowns of the
world, a queen of the sea; around her gather the ships and flags
of all lands. She is as famous for her high character as the beauty
of her situation and buildings. England is proud of her, as she has
cause to be.

New South Wales has been called the "paradise of the laborer."
The eight-hour laws, the opportunities offered by the resources of a
new land, the spirit of enterprise and intellectual development, placed
labor on the high level of life, and prevented the suffering of the
many in the interests of the excess of the few. It could not be said
of these new people, —

" My lord rides out at the castle gate,
My lady is grand in bower and hall,
With men and maidens to cringe and wait ;
But John o' the smithy pays for all."

Here for a time at least the equally deserving among the industrial
classes seemed to be equally rewarded.

But labor unions themselves may become tyrannical and overbear-
ing. They may become a despot of many despots ; and few things
are more heartless than the despotism of public opinion. The world
is slow to learn that the individual, as taught long ago by good Roger
Williams, has the right to be conscience-free.

The advanced ideas and plans of labor gave New South Whales
great prosperity, and an almost ideal community ; but industrial
troubles arose, and strikes followed.

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

THE AUSTRALIAN STRIKES.

The conflict between labor and capital, which has recently brought
about so many and such formidable strikes in various parts of the
world, has been going on in the great colonies of Australia with
peculiar vigor.

For more than two months a strike was maintained there against
the combined resistance of the forces of capital, which the '" London
Times " declares to have been " the widest and most important labor
dispute that the world has yet seen."

The most notable feature of this great strike was that it had a
different cause from that which has usually given rise to similar move-
ments in Europe and America. Ordinarily strikes are begun by
working-men who demand either higher pay or shorter hours of work,
9r both.

But the Australian revolt arose from the demand of the trades-
unions that employers should not hire any laborers who were not
members of the labor organizations.

The confederated trades-unions of Australia comprise, it .seems, a
very formidable body, including in their number the working-men of
nearly every industrial pursuit, and these were all combined to compel
employers to accept only union laborers.

The first movement was that of the " Sheep-shearers' Union," who
informed the squatters upon the pasture lands of New South Wales
that they must employ trades-union members, or else that none of the
wool they sheared should be put on shipboard. Then came a dispute
arising from the same cause, between the ship-owners at the various
Australian ports and the unions of sailors and ship s officers. ^

The proprietors of the steamships claimed the right to employ free
sailors, — that is, those who did not belong to the unions, — and if they
pleased, to discharge those who did. The result of this was that the

M!^^S^^Am-i rf '^M

THE TOWN HALL, SYDNEY.

(

THE AUSTRAL WORLD. 2^1

officers and sailors refused to work, and that the ships, thus deprived
of their crews, laid by in their docks.

The strike thus begun spread to the wharf-laborers, then to the
coal-miners, then to the gas-stokers, and so on through many trades,
and so the springs of industry were paralyzed at their sources. Not
only were ships kept idle, but the streets of cities were left in darkness,
and many of the shops were closed to traffic.

While the number who thus went on strike in various colonies
of Australia, and even of New .Zealand, was not so laro-e as
those engaged in the London strikes last year, the Australian move-
ment included a much wider area, in that more trades were concerned
in it.

But the employers of labor in Australia resolved also to combine,
and in unison to resist the demand of the federated trades-unions that
none but their own members should be employed. The ship-owners,
coal-owners, gas-directors, manufacturers, mine-owners, and shop-
keepers met together, to the number of two thousand, and resolved to
support each other in maintaining the right to hire whatsoever laborers
they pleased.

" Free " laborers were set to work at the docks and in the mines,
in place of those who, under the orders of the trades-unions, had gone
out on strike. Whenever these free laborers were threatened or dis-
turbed as they worked, or as they went to and from work, the military
and police were called in to protect them.

The more moderate trades-unionists, moreover, declared that their
federation had gone too far in attacking the freedom of labor, and in
denying the right of men to work where and for whom they pleased.
Even during the height of the strike, work was not entirely suspended
in any branch of industry.

This great movement, after going on for more than two months,
ended in a victory for the combined employers. The trades-union
federation failed to carry its point that none but their own members

232 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

should be given work. Gradually the ships got crews, the mines and
gas works obtained laborers, and the full tide of business was restored.
The rights of free labor were confirmed ; and thus the great Austra-
lian strike came to an end.

TASMANIA.

The island of Tasmania is the sea garden of the Australian
colonies. Over it hangs the sky of Italy, and the mountain domes
pour down their floods to the sea. It is reached in a day's run from
Melbourne.

The mountains and streams of Tasmania are worthy of poet
and painter. The Esk runs through deep gorges and under cool
shadows, and Mount Bischoff, with her mines of tin, rises like a dome
over the vast cathedral of hills.

Beautiful is Hobart, the capital, on the rolling Derwent. It is situ-
ated on seven hills under the paternal dome of Mount Wellington.
In the days of the transportation of convicts It was a place of jails
and barracks. Convicts ceased to be landed here thirty or nearly
forty years ago. In these old times, now a memory, the convict life
must have seemed like an imprisonment in paradise.

Tasmania is about the size of Greece. The native black men are
gone ; the great convict prisons of Port Arthur are a ruin ; out of a
long and hideous history civilization has marched, and Christianity has
lifted her domes in the air, and art has begun her rivalry with the
beauty of coast, mountain, and river.

The following account of a vanished race was prepared for a
popular journal some years ago,^ and is a picture at once interesting
and pathetic : —

1 Youth's Companion.

VIEWS IN' SYDNEY : GOVERNMENT HOUSE, THE CATHEDRAL, AND SYDNEY HEADS.

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

235

THE LAST TASMANIAN.

It is not often that the actual extinction of a pepple takes place
so openly that all the world is, or can be, a witness of the fact, — a
fact at once interesting and melancholy.

ox THE SOUTH ESK, TASMANIA.

Generally, a race or tribe fades away so imperceptibly that other
races or tribes are not aware of what takes place, and do not note what
must one day be their own fate. Yet such a fact has just transpired,
and has been observed. The last member of a tribe, near Australia,'
died this year. He was a Tasmanian. Tasmania is generally called
Van Diemen's Land

236

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

More than two centuries and a quarter ago, the Governor-General
Van Diemen, who ruled over the Dutch East Indian possessions, sent
Abel Janssen' Tasman to New Holland. Tasman discovered the
island to which he gave the name of Van Diemen's Land. It lies
near the southeastern extremity of Australia, and contains about

ON THE RIVER DERWENT, TASMANIA.

twenty-seven thousand square miles, and Is a valuable country.
The English, who established a penal settlement on the island, in
1803, gave it the name of Tasmania. It has long ceased to be a con-
vict settlement, and is fast rising to importance as one of the many
colonies founded by the British race in almost every part of the world,
many of which are destined to become great nations.

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

^Zl

There are about one hundred thousand persons in the colony at
this time, of European blood.

When, in 1803, the English began to colonize Tasmania, the

CORK A LYNN. TASMANIA.

'-■./■.^.

native population consisted of
about four thousand men, wo-
men, and children.

They were a harmless, kind-
ly race. In this respect they resembled the sweet-tempered island-
ers who met Columbus w^hen he first touched what was to become
American earth. The manner in which they welconied the English
was very like that displayed by the American islanders in 1492,
toward the Spaniards.

The English treated them with brutality. They fired upon them,
with bloody and deadly results, on the very first day that the two races

2 38 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

met. This was done, not only without provocation, but while the
poor barbarians were striving to show their desire to be friends with
their destined exterminators. It was but one of a thousand instances
that might be mentioned of the wicked conduct of the " superior
races" toward their weaker brethren.

The action of the English, on that first day of contact with the
Tasmanians, was a type of much of their subsequent intercourse with
them. The work of destruction then begun was carried on by the
colonists till the native race was transferred to the native soil.

Intensely savage was the treatment the. natural savages received
from the savages of civilization. Wars like those now raging in New
Zealand took place. In peace and in war alike, the Tasmanians
faded away, as our Red Men have faded, only more swiftly.

In thirty-four years after the English came to the island, all but
three hundred of the natives were dead, not to speak of those who
had been born in those years.

In 1849, their number was reduced to thirty-six; and in 1859, they
could count but fourteen.

At the beginning of this year, there was but one survivor, whose
name was William Lanne, and who was commonly and contemptu-
ously called King Billy, or King Lanney.

He died a few weeks since, and with him a distinct people, quite
as good as the average members of the human family, passed utterly
away from the earth.

As if to complete the power of this work, there was a quarrel over
the last Tasmanian's remains; and his head was cut off and stolen, to'
be sent to the London College of Surgeons ; and his feet and hands,
for the benefit of the Tasmanian Royal Society f He was treated
exactly as if he had been an executed traitor under the old law. His
was a strange fate, — to be the last of his race, and to have his head
kept in the greatest of the cities of Christendom, fifteen thousand
miles from the place of his birth.

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

239

THE LAND OF DESOLATION; OR, THE MYSTERIOUS
ANTARCTIC SEA.

In the beautiful gardens of Adelaide, Mary had many strange
questions to ask.

" What lies to the south of ail these great islands } " was one of
them .

THE "EREBUS" AND "TERROR" IN THE ICE OF THE ANTARCTIC SEA.

"The top of the world to ye, my pet!" said the captain.
Land of Desolation."

" Where is the Land of Desolation } "

" In the Antarctic Ocean."

" Who live in the Land of Desolation } "

" The

240

ZIGZAG JOURXEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" The great penguins."

" Are there no people there ? "

" None have been discovered."

" But what has been discovered there .? "

" Ice, roaring waters, and mountains of fire."

" Ice and fire ! It must look grand to the sailor."

MOUNTS EREBUS AND TERROR.

"Yes; but only a few sailors have ever seen it. There is one
thing there more grand than the ice and the blazing mountains."

"What is that?"

" The Aurora Australis, the Southern electrical lights."

" What do people know about the Antarctic Sea. Has it never
been explored ? "

THE AUSTRAL WORLD.

241

" The Antarctic Ocean has an area of some eight hundred thousand
square miles. It is a sea of mystery. It was explored on its outer
limits by Captain Cook. In 1 841, Captain Ross visited these regions
in ships called the 'Erebus' and 'Terror.' The explorer found great
walls of ice, over which was a blazing mountain some ten or twelve
thousand feet high. What lies beyond the mountains no one knows.
The land of the magnetic South Pole is as mysterious as that of the
magnetic North Pole. All that we know is that great penguins in-
habit a land of ice, volcanoes, and electric auroras. Science may one

day tell us more."

CHAPTER XIV.

THE FAMOUS ZIGZAG RAILWAY OVER THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

E must visit S3''dney," said Grandfather Tamany one
day, " and make a journey to the gold-fields and
maize-fields over the Zigzag of the Great Western
Railway."

" What is the Zigzag ? " asked his little grand-
daughter, curiously.

" Oh, it is a railroad in which you go about and again cross and
recross; that you see above you and below you, and that carries you
hither and thither away up to the sky."
" And does it stop in the sky ? "

" No, there is no city there ; but like the famous general that
marched up the hill, it brings you down to the earth again. And

" ' When you are up, you are up,

And when you are down, you are down;
But when you are only halfway up
You are neither up nor down.' "

" I would like to go. Grandfather. The views must be fine."
" That they are, — they are glorious ; and the air is like wine, and
that is the kind of wine that you most need. I have planned to sail
for Sydney next week, and from there we will go over the Zigzag."

Sydney Harbor, or Port Jackson, is one of the finest havens in the
world. It is known as Port Jackson. Into this harbor came Captain

THE FAMOUS ZIGZAG RAILWAY.

243

Tamany and his two grandchildren one summer day, and hurried from
the steamer to view the beautiful town hall of the capital of New
South Wales. ^

From the lovely city whose harbor floats steamers from all the
great ports of the world, and where the flags of many nations are seen
flying in the noonday sun, our party .were swept away by rail to Parra-

ZIGZAG RAILWAY IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS.

metta, — the second town in the history of English Australia. The
country was a vast garden under a burning sky, a lap of paradise
between the mountains and the sea. Orchards, vineyards, and
orangeries lay glimmering in the sun. The town of Parrametta has
some twelve thousand inhabitants.

The Nepean River was reached, and the train thundered over a
bridge of iron. The train stopped here at Penrith, and prepared for
its journey toward the sky.

244 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Before the road lay the Blue Mountains with their caverns and
gorges, happy valleys and despoiled mines of gold.

The train started again, girded for the contest. Up and up,
around and around, it went, through tunnel and over viaduct, like the
famous Loup on the Canadian Pacific Railway in the Rocky Moun-
tains, or the corkscrew circles on the St. Gothard. Now the road
seemed to lie on the sunny terraces below, now on the heights
above. The air was thrilling; the ravines were cool and dark; here
and there cavernous gorges unfolded their awful deeps ; now the train
threaded an airy arch over a glimmer of waters ; now it flashed
along an open terrace of sunlight, now plunged into a rocky shadow.
But it ever rose higher and higher. " When we are going down,
we are going up," said Captain Tamany. " It is sometimes so in
life."

The scenes amid the summits were glorious in the clear Austral
air. At a distance of one hundred and forty-five miles from S3^dney
the city of Bathurst was reached, twenty-three hundred feet above the
sea-level. It is situated amid mountain pastures, and is cool and
refreshing in summer. It is surrounded by mines of gold, silver, and
copper; by wheat-fields and maize-fields, and pastures whose flocks
number hundreds of thousands of sheep. It has a population ap-
proaching ten thousand. It is a city that seems almost removed from
the world. If one wished for seclusion from the great centres of
mankind, one would find it here.

Amid the long wavy mountain pastures, between the city and the
mines, lived an old friend of Captain Tamany, whose real name was
John Pepper, but who was familiarly called, " Old Allspice." He
lived in a " shack " made largely of bark ; and our party paid a visit
to the old colonist's hut, and there passed several days.

Old Allspice was delighted to see Captain Tamany; and he
raised his hands with surprise when he saw Mary, and seemed at
once to become attached to the little girl.

THE FAMOUS ZIGZAG RAILWAY.

247

" ' 'Way out here ! " he said ; " you 'way out here to see Old Allspice ?

Well, who would have believed it? bloomin' as a rose too. Come,

-little girl, and let me

show you the wonders."

The first of the " won-
ders " that Old Allspice
exhibited to Mary was a
laughing jackass.

" See here, little girl ;
there is my clock."

" Make him laugh,"
said Mary.

Old Allspice tried
to induce the bird to
laugh, but without suc-
cess. He scratched the
head of the bird, which
received the caresses with
stolid indifference.

" You scratch his
head," said Old Allspice.

" I would n't dare,"
said Mary ; " he looks
awfuC

"I tell you what I
will make him do," said
Old Allspice ; " I '11 get
out some snakes and let you see him snap their heads off."

Old Allspice brought out of a bark shed a basket of snakes which
Mary viewed with far-off curiosity. The bird immediately pounced
upon them, and taking them up one by one in his claws, bit their
heads off. Then he shook his win^s, and uttered the most dismal.

CASCADE ON THE BLACKSPUR.

248

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

idiotic laugh that Mary had ever heard, and began to bray in an
equally dismal manner.

He seemed to feel that he was on exhibition now, and continued
to spread out his rugged wings, laugh, and bray.

" Captain Allspice," said Mary, " did the Lord make him ? "

THE LAUGHING JACKASS.

" Him ? Lor, yes, child. He 's useful, he is. He don't belong to
the fancy kind of things like the bower-bird, all vanity-like, and noth-
ing but show. He tells the time of day, and keeps the hut free from
varmints. He 's lots of company for me. Who did you think made
him, little girl ? "

" I don't know ; I don't like to tell. He ain't very handsome, — not
very; do you think he is, Captain.?"

THE FAMOUS ZIGZAG RAILWAY.

249

" Well, no, not over-supplied with beauty, — none to sell. But come,
and I will show you my little kangaroos."

They went into a garden. It was a lovely afternoon. Afar the
Blue Mountains rose in the sun, under the wings of the eagles.
The great pasture-land was like a waving sea. There was an insect
hum in the air, and life and delight everywhere.

" There they go," said Old Allspice.

A LITTLE HEAD PROTRUDED FROM HER POUCH. '

" Oh, what cunning little creatures ! " said Mary.
*' And there comes their mother."

" The two little kano^aroos are runnins^ for their mother," said
Mary. " But, Captain, where — "
" Well, my little girl ? "
" I don't see them now."
" They 've hid."
"Where?"

250 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" In their mother s pouch."

The old kangaroo leaped along among the trees. Presently a
little head protruded from her pouch, and bit off a bunch of leaves.

'' Everything is very queer out here," said Mary. " Did n't these
things all seem queer to you when you first came ? "

" Yes, my little girl," said Old Allspice ; " but I tamed a lot of ani-
mals, birds, and things to be company for me. I have no little girl.
I wish I had."

" Do they have wild men out here ? " asked Mary. " I have heard
of the wild men of Borneo."

" No, child. Those people are nothing but stories. Showmen
find idiots or deformed people in these islands, and exhibit them

A BOOMERANG.

as natives. I will show you some natives to-morrow, and get them
to throw the boomerang for you."

There is a glory in an austral sunset over the great valleys. It
turns the heart of the settler toward his old English home.

The party sat down outside the hut and talked as the sun went
down. How quiet and calm it was ! The golden sky at last turned
into ashes, and the mountains into shadow; and one by one the
stars came out, and Mary spoke the words of all hearts as she said,
" The world all seems so far, far away ! " .

The next day Old Allspice took our travellers to visit some
natives, and asked the latter to give little Mary an exhibition with
the boomerang.

The boomerang: used was about half an inch thick and two feet
long, its edges being rounded. It had a bulged side and a convex
edge.

THE FAMOUS ZIGZAG RAILWAY. 25 I

The native who used it first was a finely shaped boy. He stepped
apart from his comrades, and sent the boomerang into the air with
an odd but expert motion. The weapon began to ascend the air
and whirl and circle, and at last it turned and came directly back
to the thrower, and fell at his feet.

The boomerang is the ancient instrument of hunting, and was
in use among the aborigines. The natives throw it so that it will
return to any spot they designate.

Here Mary first saw a striped wombat, as a marsupial animal with
a pouch is called, and the pouched bear that carries its little one at
times on his back. Many of the stories that she heard of Australia
in her old New Bedford home returned to her memory here.

In this new life her health returned. The whiteness went out of
her cheek, and the red blood came again. She "grew like a weed,"
the captain said ; and he often added, " I knew it would be so.
Travel is the best medicine for the body and education for the mind.
My little girl is learning more than she ever could have gained from
books alone at home. The world is life's true school-room."

CHAPTER XV.

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY.

URING the visit of the party to Old Allspice, some
odd events occurred. One of these was that Eric
undertook to run a race with the tame kangaroo.

" The emu runs very fast," said the boy one day
to Old Allspice, " but soon becomes tired, and spreads
his legs apart, and sinks down exhausted."
" Yes," said Old Allspice.
" Does the kangaroo run that way ? "
" Did you ever see a kangaroo run ? "
" No."

" Would you not like to have a race with my kangaroo } "
" Yes."

" You run very well ? "
" Yes."

" Well, the kangaroo and the dogs often run toward the sheep-
sheds. I will start them, and you may run with them."

The sheep-sheds were a mile or more from the bark shack. Old
Allspice called his dogs, and with them his old tame kangaroo, and
pointing toward the sheep-sheds said, " Stew ! " The dogs started.

" The kangaroo is stupid," said Old Allspice. " But he will start
off in a minute or two. Then you and he can run together. He will
not be apt to spread his legs apart like a tired emu in a race with a
horse."

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY.

253

He pointed toward the sheds, gave the kangaroo a little kick, and
said, " Stew ! "

The kangaroo started slowly.

" You run alongside of him," said Old Allspice, " and see which
will get there first. Now ! "

Eric began to run, his little legs flying like spindles. Presently the
kangaroo became lively. He gave a leap — such a leap ! he seemed

SILVER-STEM EUCALYPTS.

to bound through the air as on wings. Then another leap, and an-
other. More, still faster, as though his legs were springs. Poor Eric !
The boy stopped and gazed on the flying animal in amazement.
Then he trudged back to the shack.

" How goes the race t " asked Old Allspice,
begins to spread his legs apart, let me know."

"Don't you think he's — queer?" said Eric
a race with a kangaroo."

One evening as the party were sitting outside of the shack in the

" When the animal
" I never will run

2 54 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

warm air, Old Allspice related a very curious story of his life on the
New England coast and in Australia.

" I was brought up," he said, " in Nova Scotia. I was a fisherman.
In my early life I came to Gloucester in the States, and thence I went
to Marblehead to live ; it was a curious old town, in which I spent
many years.

" I heard a strange story while there, associated with an old Scotch
ditty. The first verse of the ditty has no meaning at all, so far as I
can see ; it is just a melancholy, awesome sound of words, and yet
this ditty once saved my life, after I came to live in the wilds of Aus-
tralia. An old woman used to sing it, years ago, in the odd New
England town. She was a little touched in mind. I will tell you the
story as I recall it from the old fishermen, and then I will give you an
account of a very strange event that grew out of it by mental impres-
sion. I used to hear the story of the old ditty told something in this
way : —

THREE BALLS OF YARN, AND OLD HOLE-IN-THE-GROUND.

Buz-z-z-z. '

" ' My wheel goes round ; my hopes are dead ;
And wild blows the wind over Marblehead.' "

It was the spinning-wheel of Dame Guppy, of Marblehead. Steadily it had
been going for three days.

" What can it mean? " said Mary Glover. " Oh, I get so tired of the sound
of it ! "

The girl opened the door of Dame Guppy's room. The wheel was flying
like the foam around the rocks of Marblehead, and making a noise like the
March winds against the cliffs. Dame Guppy was singing to her wheel.
Pretty Mary Glover knew the song well ! It was the old sea rune of the New
Scotland sailors : —

" ' When thou from this world art past,
Every night and a',
To Winny Muir tho' '11 come at last,

And may Christ save thy sa' [soul].

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 255

My wheel goes round ; my hopes are dead ;
And wild blows the wind over Marblehead,
As my wheel goes round.' "

Mary listened to the plaintive minor melody, although she had heard it
an hundred times.

" ' This ae night, this ae night,
Every night and a',
Fire and sleet and candle-light,

And may Christ save thy sa'.
My wheel goes round ; my hopes are dead ;
And wild blows the wind over Marblehead.
My wheel goes round.

" ' If thou hast given hosen and shoon.
Every night and a',
Sit thee down and put them on.

And may Christ save thy sa'.
My wheel goes round ; my hopes are dead ;
And wild blows the wind over Marblehead.
My wheel goes round.

" ' If hosen and shoon thou hast given nane,
Every night and a',
The winnies will prick thee to the bane,

And may Christ save thy sa'.
My wheel goes round — ' "

" Mary, are you here? " said the tall spinster.

" Yes, Aunt Roxana. What makes you spin so, and look so, and sing so? "

" Why do I spin so? Because I Ve had a letter from your father, — a war

letter. The soldiers' feet are freezing in the snow. Go away now. I can't

spend time in talking.

" ' My wheel goes round ; my hopes are dead ;
And wild blows the wind over Marblehead.
My wheel goes round.' "

Who was Mary Glover?

She was the daughter of Gen. John Glover, and lived in a house which
may be standing to-day on Glover Square, Marblehead.

John Glover was at the Falls of the Delaware, with his famous marine
regiment. He was the friend of Washington, and is known in history as the hero
of Trenton. His muffled oars twice saved the American army, — once on Long
Island, and again when they beat the frozen waters of the Delaware on that

256 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

dark Christmas night about which every school-boy knows. It was John
Glover who executed Major Andre, and wept while his stern men performed
the tragedy. One may see his bronze statue on Commonwealth Avenue,
Boston, " The Minute-man of Marblehead."

A rugged little man he was, with a brave, warm heart, but with a tongue
that spoke roughly and plainly at all times, even to Washington himself, and
often when his friends wished that it could be silenced. He used rough adjec-
tives too, when excited, this warm-hearted and fearless Gen. John Glover.
The tender heart and fearless tongue he had inherited from old Jonathan
Glover, his father, the intrepid benefacter of the wind-haunted seaport town.

John Glover, the general, or the " Minute-man of Marblehead," as he was
called, had a maiden relative called Dame Roxana, or Aunt Roxana, who was
said to be " a little touched in mind." It was this lady whose spinning-wheel
had been going three days. She was a very benevolent woman, and usually
very cheerful, but lately she had grown grave and sad, and with this change
had come the spinning.

The strange ditty to which I referred was this, —

" This ae night, this ae night,
Every night and a',
Fire and sleet and candle-light,

And may Christ save thy sa'."

or " And may Christ save thy saul," or " sau'." The ditty has a kind
of fearsome sound, but no meaning. It is one of those ghostly com-
binations of sound that haunt the memory. It used to mine. I have
often found myself repeating it when in perplexity, I cannot tell
why.

" Them are haunted words," Dame Roxana used to say ; an old
fisherwoman once told me that one could co7zjure with them.

But to my story.

There was a lull in the sound of the wheel. The rolls of wool were spent.
During the two following days, Roxana Guppy was busy in her room, and a
few days after this period of stillness an odd event happened in the domestic
history of the truth-speaking Glover family. It was this : —

Dame Roxana went into the room where the family were sitting one Sat-
urday evening, with something folded in her oldtime apron. What could it
be? Not a spring lamb, for it was winter; she had sometimes folded weak

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 259

spring lambs in her apron in this way. Not goslings, although she had some-
times mothered goslings in this way also. Not treasure; the mysterious
commodity was too large for that, although Dame Roxana w^as said to be
"well off" by the good fisher people of the town: "Well off, a little touched
in mind, but not crazy."

The family at this time consisted of six children, and Mary Rawson, — an
attractive girl whose parents were dead, and who had been appointed a home
by the selectmen in the leading family of the town. Mary Glover and Mary
Rawson had become warm friends, and both had a strong feeling of affection
for stately Dame Roxana Guppy.

" There," said Dame Roxana, " I am going to give these two girls presents
that ought to make them happy."

She stood tall and thin in the light of the dipped candle, holding up her
apron. Her cap border rose high above her forehead, and its two "strings"
fell back over her shoulders. There was a forced smile on her face, and an
unusual brightness in her black eyes. The two Marys were filled with curiosity.
They did not dare to ask what the presents were, but waited for what she had
to say.

"If you do good and make others happy," continued Dame Roxana, "you
will be happy yourself."

" Yes," answered the girls.

They had heard Aunt Roxana repeat this trite truth many times, and it did
not interest them. They were eager for what was to follow.

" That is the way to find the key to happiness," she continued. " We gain
in this world by giving, and selfishness shuts the door of life.

•• • This ae night, this ae night,
Every night and a'.' "

She looked sharply at Mary Glover and then at Mary Rawson.

"Yes, I think you realize it;" and then a kindly look came into her
troubled face. " Now, girls, see what I have in my apron ; here are three balls
of yarn."

The girls looked into the slowly opened apron and saw three great balls.

" How large they are ! " said Mary Glover.

" Such great balls ! " responded Mary Rawson.

" It would take a long time to knit that ball," said Mary Glover.

" Yes," said Aunt Roxana, " the balls are large." Her face lighted up like
her old self; then she gave her cap border an energetic bob as she continued :

" Here, Mary Glover, I am going to give you this ball to knit for the army.

26o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

When you have knit all of the yarn on it, I think you will find one of the keys
of happiness. At any rate you will have the pleasant consciousness of having
helped those who are suffering. I have had a letter from the army on the
Delaware. I cannot tell you what is in it ; but the men need stockings."

" Thank you," said Mary Glover.

" And here, Mary Rawson, is a ball for you. Knit the yarn on it in the
same way, and for the same reason, and maybe by it you will find one of the
keys of happiness too."

" Thank you," said Mary Rawson.

" Now, this third ball I have spun for you," said the Dame to Mrs. Glover.
"Knit it for John Glover, true man that he is. He will need stockings soon.
Now, good-night all."

Straight as an arrow, with her cap border bobbing like a plume. Dame
Guppy moved out of the room. The whole family looked at one another, then
the boys began to laugh, for pretty Mary Rawson's face had assumed an
expression of disappointment and chagrin.

"A generous gift," said she, tossing up the immense ball. " I am to knit
all this for nothing. The pleasure of doing good is to find me one of the keys
to happiness, is it? If anybody should undertake to knit all the yarn in such
a ball as that, and live through it, I should think she would be happy. I
should be, I know. Dame Guppy always was queer, and this is queerer than
ever."

The two girls went to their own room, taking with them the two balls
of yarn.

"What are you going to do with yours?" asked Mary Rawson, when they
were by themselves.

" Knit it, of course. It will help the soldiers, for they are suffering. I 've
no doubt that Aunt has heard more than she has told us. She has worked
hard to card the wool and spin the yarn; besides, she has always been good
and kind to me. I would n't hurt her feelings for the world, and I know there
is much need of the stockings in the army. Shall you knit yours?"

" Yes, I '11 knit one pair of stockings, and then, — do you know what I '11
do? I'll heave it. So you see I '11 get rid of the work, get a beau, and get
my ball of yarn back besides."

There was an odd custom in Marblehead at this time. It was the
"heaving" of a ball of yarn by fishermen's daughters. Any such custom
could not find a place in the social life of to-day, but it was not considered
improper then. When a fisherman's daughter was pleased with one of the
young men of the town whom she would wed, she tossed a ball to him,

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 26 1

sometimes on the street and sometimes out of the window as he was passing
the house. This was commonly done on early evenings, on holidays, and
especially on training days.

If he picked up the ball and returned to her with it, the two were likely
to become engaged to be married, and the wedding that followed often lasted
a week. If he did not return the ball of yarn, no discredit was attached to
either party ; but the girl was sometimes laughed at and often carried a heavy
heart.

The custom was much like that of Saint Valentine's day, only more
serious, — a rude thing, indeed, according to the ideas of propriety to-day, —
but not held to be so then in the little provincial town. To heave a ball of
yarn was to invite a young man's attention with an honorable intent, and no
more evil came of this odd custom than any more modern and discreet way
of expressing sentiment. Throwing a ball became at last a kind of provincial
play.

Mary Glover's needles flew, and a bundle of stockings for her brave
husband were soon knit. Her daughter's needles also plied as rapidly.
Mary Rawson knit one pair of stockings, and then she said to her young
friend, —

" That 's all the knitting I shall do ; as to the rest, I '11 toss it to Prince
Fortunate, when he comes galloping along, and time will unriddle all the
rest."

One bleak December day, when the sky was steel, and the keen winds
blew the sea-gulls hither and thither, and churned the tides around the wave-
eaten rocks, there rode into Marblehead a handsome courier, with a military
cap and sash. No one in the village knew why he came, but those who saw
him supposed that he had been sent from the American army. He sought
the selectmen, and at evening mounted his horse again, to ride away. The
red sunset was glimmering over the dark sea amid billowy clouds. The long
moan of the beaches was heard on every hand. There were faces at the
windows in the zigzag lanes.

As the officer passed the house of General Glover, he looked toward the
window as if he would like to stop, but instead rode slowly on. Before he
had fully passed the house, a window was thrown open; a beautiful young
face appeared, and a large ball of yarn was thrown after the rider. Then
the window was closed, the bright face disappeared, and a green curtain
was dropped. The officer stopped, dismounted, picked up the ball, and
rode away.

Several eyes in the gabled houses that stood at irregular angles about the

262

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

roads had seen this incident, and knew what hand had thrown the ball. The
throwing of a ball to a stranger did not belong properly to the allowed pro-
vincialisms, and it was criticised as bold and unmaidenly even then. The news

«.v' - <;

RAILROAD THROUGH THE GIPPSLANU FOREST, VICTORIA.

of it flew through the town, and excited curiosity as to what would be the

result.

" I have thrown my ball of yarn," said Mary Rawson to Mary Glover that

night.

" To whom? "

" To the young officer who came to town to-day."

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 263

" But I 'm sure you do not know what you have thrown away."

" What do you mean? Not my good name? "

" I hope not; but" I found something in the middle of my ball of yarn,
and so did Mother in hers. I am sure there was something in yours."

" Why did n't you tell me? " asked Mary Rawson, excitedly.

" We have but just found the articles inside the balls, after the yarn had
been all used in knitting stockings."

" Articles ! What were they? "

" A gold chain and a key was in mine. There was a purse in Mother's and
some poetry."

Mary heard with large eyes.

" And — "

"What?"

" Dame Roxana said that the key would fit a certain box in her room,
and that I might open the box on my wedding day, and have all I found in it."

" Oh, I wonder what was in mine ! " exclaimed Mary, in a tone that showed
she was disappointed and angry with herself.

That evening the tall form of Dame Guppy confronted Mary Rawson.

"You threw away the ball I gave you? " said she.

" Yes, but I did n't know what was in it."

" Your character was in it, and I fear }-ou have thrown that away. The
act shows how little heart and conscience you have."

" But, Aunt, what was in the ball? "

" I shall never tell you ; only this, — yourself was in the ball."

" But the young officer will return it."

" To me, if to any one," said the eccentric woman. " The ball was given
you for the soldiers, and you were not to ha\e the contents unless the yarn
was knit by you. See?

" ' If thou hast given hosen and shoon,
Every night and a',
Sit thee down and put them on,
And may Christ save thy sa'.

" ' If hosen and shoon thou hast given nane,
Every night and a",
The Winnies will prick thee to the bane,
And may Christ save thy sa'.'

" T tell you, Mary, you will be given eyes to see one day that men
and women gain by giving, and that selfishness closes the doors of life.
Remember, —

264 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" ' This ae night, this ae night,
Every night and a',
Fire and sleet and candle-light,

And may Christ save thy sa'.' "

What was in Mary Rawson's ball of yarn. Would the young officer ever
return it to her? The two questions haunted the girl.

Months passed. General Glover and the Marbleheaders piloted Wash-
ington across the Delaware and became the heroes of Trenton. The brave
Marblehead regiment became known throughout the colonies. But General
Glover's family gave him anxiety, for they were very poor.

" A few days ago," he wrote to General Washington, from West Point, in
January, 1781, "I received a letter from my daughter, the purport of which
has caused me much anxiety. My affection for my helpless children urges the
necessity of making them a visit before the campaign opens, for they are suf-
fering. My daughter of eighteen has the care of the other children. They
live in Marblehead, where food is dear, and I have not received any pay for
twenty months."

That was a grand celebration of Independence Day, when, in 1784, the old
bell of Marblehead rang out over the summer sea for the return of the survi-
vors of Valley Forge and Trenton. The vessels in the harbor blossomed with
flags ; the men who had marched over frozen clods with broken shoes and
stockingless feet to the shores of the Delaware were there. Over the house
of General Glover floated the grand old battle-flag. Cannon boomed from the
rocks; the people filled the streets, dressed in holiday attire.

There came riding into the town, early in the morning of that day, the
same courier who had visited the place on a secret mission just before the battle
of Trenton. It was Lieutenant Blythe, a trusted courier under General Glover.
He marched that day by the side of the general. The people had heard his
history, and remembered what had occurred as he rode past General Glover's
house on his last visit to Marblehead. He had a fine, manly face, and was
cheered wherever he appeared.

His coming filled Mary Rawson with hope, pleasure, and yet with a kind
of apprehension and terror.

After the long silence, in which she had felt the chill of public opinion, had
her day of triumph come at last?

" Hurrah for the stocking-knitters ! " shouted some of the men of the regi-
ment as they marched past the house of General Glover, and saluted the woinen
in the door.

Mary Rawson answered the shout with a wave of a handkerchief, and at

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 265

the same moment felt a hand upon her shoulder, and a voice in a tone of re-
proof said, —

" ' If thou hast given hosen and shoon,

Every night and a',

Sit thee down and put them on.' "

It was Aunt Guppy, tall and scornful, with a red handkerchief plaited over her
breast, and a cap border starched higher than ever.

That afternoon, just before the officer was to leave town, he asked General
Glover, " Can I see Mary Rawson? "

" Certainly."

The two were introduced in the parlor and were soon left there by them-
selves.

" Miss Rawson," said the officer, " will you allow me to say that I found a
chain and key in the ball of yarn which I have been told you threw after me
when I was last in Marblehead? I was told by the general what the throwing
of a ball of yarn implied, and let me assure you, I was not insensible to the
compliment; but I have not hesitated as to what I ought to do. You will
pardon me, I hope, but I have to return to you the chain and key, as in honor
1 am bound to do, and there I must leave the matter ; I cannot do more. I
should have been better pleased had you knit the ball for our soldiers, who
were at that time suffering greatly."

The girl started back with a resentful look, her cheek turning pale and her
lips colorless.

" You may see to-day what the sufferings of the American soldier have
done for this nation," he added. He drew back the curtain. The sea-breeze
was moving the cool boughs of the trees, and the flag was floating above the
green, full of sunshine, beauty, and peace.

The eyes of the two fell silently upon the flag. There it unfolded its stars
and threw out its triumphant folds on the free air.

" This is the only response I can make," he said. " Here is the key."

Mary turned away with a white face, saying, ■ —

'" This ae night, this ae night,
Every night and a',
If hosen and shoon thou hast given nane,

Every night and a',
The Winnies will prick thee to the bane.
And may Christ save thy sa'.'

" I am justly punished. Aunt was not responsible for all her eccentricities ;
but if she was, I am sure of the truth of what she so often said, that wc gain in
this world by giving, and selfishness shuts the door of life."

266

ZIGZAG JOURiXEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

So much for the legendary fisher tale. Now for the sequence.

I was a lonely man when I came to Australia as a miner. 1 lived
all alone in a shack. Near it were some wattles and a shea-oak tree,
in whose boughs the wind often
made a lonesome sound, as
though it were indeed the voice
of Tane, the tree god.

The house, or shack, had but
one room, with a fireplace, and
a bunk for a bed, which was
raised on posts and built into
the side of the slab wall. It
had one window, with a heavy
shutter, which opened to the
west. It was furnished with a
cupboard, a table, and two camp-
stools.

Near it was a sheep-pen by
a running stream, shaded with
sum-trees and wattles. Afar in
the east rose the Blue Moun-
tains, and to the west were long
flats.

Some miles away lived a si-
lent and solitary miner, whose
real name I never knew, but
who was called, " Old Hole-in- ^ ^"^^''•"

the-Ground." His hut was a kind of cave, half un-
der oround. It was thus warm in the winter, for
at that season there is snow on the flats, and a
warm shelter is needed.

The winds in the she-oak, or shea-oak, and the watdes used often
to recall to me the old Scotch ditty of the fishermen, —

LIVED ALL ALONE

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 267

"This ae night, this ae night,
Every night and a' ; "

and I used to find myself singing it, when cooking my supper after
work in the mines.

I used to meet Old Hole-in-the-Ground often, on my way to the
shack. He would nod his head indifferently, in such a way as to in-
vite no social or friendly advances. I believed that he had a store of
treasure concealed in his hut or cave, and he must have had a like
view of me and my shack. He seemed suspicious of me, but I enter-
tained no suspicions of him, until one autumn evening after my meal,
when as I was closing my shutter I saw him approaching my door.
There was something stealthy and uncertain in his gait that awakened
in me suspicion and apprehension. It was not an honest walk. He
pushed open the door and entered.

" Strano-er, it are a orood nis^ht."

" Yes ; fine," said I. " What can I do for you } "

" Stranger, you and I have been neighbors for a long time. We
ought to know each other better."

" I have always shown myself friendly," said I.

"You're right, stranger, — you are right. The fault has been all
on my part. I have come over, stranger, to ask you to go to my
hut and spend the evening with me. I am lonesome-like."
. " Why not stay here } "

" Stranger, I have something over there that I want to show you.
Can't you trust me } "

I felt nervous. I arose, put my pistol in my belt, and said, " \\q\\.
the night is so pleasant, I will go."

The moon hung over the mountains. The air was crisp and cool
and the long flat was covered with a sheeny, mystic light. Old Hole-
in-the-Ground led the way to his cavernous hut, and I followed.

We entered the cave. The room was large, and had an earthy
smell. In it a solitarv lisfht made visible the rude furniture.

268

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" Make yourself to home," said he.

I sat down on a stool, and leaned over on a split log table, or
bench, before me. He kindled a fire, which revealed a rifle over the
sod fireplace. I put my hand to my side, and felt for my pistol. //
was gone. I felt a chill run over me. I was sure that the man had

VINEYARD OF ST. HUBERT ON THE YARRA YARRA RIVER.

stolen the pistol to disarm me. My first impulse was to rise, and try to
escape. My next was to make my conduct such as would disarm him.

The strange situation brought to my mind the Scotch rune. I
began to hum the tune.

The fire flared up. I said, as though speaking to myself, —

"'This ae night, tliis ae night,
Every night and a',
Fire and sleet and candle-light,

And may Christ save thy sa'.' "

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 269

He turned from the fire and stood and looked at me. I can see
him now, with his gray hair and long beard and stooping shoulders.

'• What was that you said, stranger 'i "

" Only an old ditty."

" Say it again."

I repeated the words.

" What does it mean, stranger.? "

" I do not know."

" What made you say it, then } "

" I do not know."

" Stranger, you don't believe in Gord, do you t "

" Yes."

" In Gord, — you do ? What is your proof, stranger } "

" I have lived by you two years, and I have always done just right,
haven't I.?"

" So you have, stranger. So you have ; say it over again."

'"This ae night — '"

" What is that .? "
" I do not know.

" ' — this ae night,
Every night and a',
Fire and sleet and candle-light,

And may Christ save thy souV

" Soul ! you don't believe in a hereafter, do you, stranger.? "
"Yes."

"And that we shall live?''
" Yes."

" 'T would be strange."

" No stranger than that we should be here now."
" You don't believe in future punishment .? "

"Sin is punishment wherever it may be; it is its nature, — just as
the nature of goodness is to make one happy."
"Then you believe in those things.? "

2 70

ZIGZAG yOURA'EVS IN AUSTRALIA.

" If I believe in the present, I must believe in the future, and the
same things of the future as of the present. If you believe in the

nature of things now,
you must believe that the
same nature of things will
follow."

" I see, stranger. Is
there any more of that
poetry ? "
*' Yes."

I repeated the whole
of the old ballad. His
eyes seemed to gleam at
the terrible suggestions.
He stood in silence in the
firelight.

The old story came
back to mind, — Dame
Roxana of the New Eng-
land fisher town and her
odd gifts.

There seemed a strug-
gle going on in his mind.
He looked awe-struck and
perplexed. I saw the con-
flict; I felt it.

I bent my eye on him
steadily, and asked, " Where was your mother buried } "

He reeled. " My mother — buried } What made you say that?"
He stood by a rude shelf by the fire, and his mind seemed to go
back to the past. My own mind recalled vividly the quaint legendary
story of the old fishermen.

YARRA YARRA RIVER, AT ST. HUBERT.

OLD ALLSPICE'S STRANGE STORY. 2"- \

Suddenly, the man bent forward. " Stranger," he whispered.

" Well .? "

" I have a leather case that I want to give you. Promise me that
you will not open it until I am gone."

" I will promise."

"Truly ? you believe in Gord."

"And I keep my word."

He brought out from a covering a rude leather case, which was
tightly bound with leather bands, and handed it to me.

" You will never open it until I am gone .'' I don't know why I
do this. I have been looking for some way out of this, and this way
comes to me. Maybe 'tis my mother's spirit; I can't tell. Go; I
have wicked spells. Go ! "

I carried home the leather case. In a few weeks the man dis-
appeared from the place. I opened the leather case and found in it
nothing.

I went to the cave, — the hole in the ground. The old man had
taken away his movable effects, all except one article. On a shelf in
the rude cupboard lay my pistol.

I have thought of those strange events hundreds of times. What
do I make of them ?

That man intended to kill me and rob the shack. It was for that
purpose that he stole the pistol. The ditty terrified him. The allu-
sion to his mother's grave touched a soft place in his heart. He
altered his purpose and looked for an excuse for bringing me there
and sending me away. My vivid impression of the old story sug-
gested to his mind the strange gift. I believe in mental impressions ;
don't you }

He was an old convict. His life was a strusfcfle between two
natures. Had I fallen into a passion, the evil nature would have got
the mastery of him, and I should not be here now to tell this strange
story.

CHAPTER XVL

ANOTHER EXCURSION OVER THE ZIGZAG.

UR party returned by the Zigzag to Sydney. Here they
were joined by Mrs. Tamany from Adelaide, who pro-
posed making an excursion to New Zealand to try the
curative properties of the water of Rotorua for her
rheumatism. Rotorua is the Saratoga of the wonder-
lands of the South Pacific.

Before leaving Sydney, Mary wished her grandmother to make a
trip over the Zigzag. The little girl never ceased to express her
delight at the Zigzag through the sky.

Over the Blue Mountains are some wonderful caves in the lime-
stone rocks, and Captain Tamany proposed that the whole party
should go over the Zigzag to Tarana, and thence by coach to Oberon,
to the Genolan Caves, and to Mount Victoria. So Mary was able to
make again the fascinating ride through the great rock caverns, up
the Blue Mountains ; and she used her whole vocabularv of enthusi-
astic words in describing to her grandmother the wonderful Zigzag.

During the visit to the caves, which were stupendous recesses in
the limestone rocks, a curious event occurred. The party stopped
for the night at a provincial inn. The day had been hot, and a cloud
had been gathering blackness and speaking out like a terrible dragon,
and seemed to swallow up the sun. The airwas still, and as the cloud
grew, an immense black eagle circled overhead, screaming like a
prophet of the storm.

ANOTHER EXCURSION OVER THE ZIGZAG. 273

There was a muttering of thunder. Lightning zigzagged across
the cloud. The twihght grew darker, and amid the awful shadow the
black eagle wheeled and screamed.

EMU PLAINS, NEW SOUTH WALES.

The thunder grew louder, and seemed to roll through the hollow
mountain caves. The sky and the mountains seemed alike to thun-
der. The earth trembled after each licjhtninor-flash.

2 74

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

In the deepening darkness the form of the black eagle became
lost to view, but its scream could still be heard.

The party stood outside of the inn waiting for dashes of rain to

/■*1?l:^S.,-

^ . '? W^ V \ ,. ,

cool the heated air. The
thunder became terrific, but
without wind or rain.

The eagle was heard
screaming in the descending
cloud.

" Why does n't he go to
his nest } " asked Mary.

" I do not know," said the
innkeeper ; " I never knew a
bird to do so before. Per-
haps his nest has been dis-
turbed. The dry weather has caused a long mountain crag to fall."

" He may be crying for his eaglets," said Mary.

" The eagle may be a mother bird," said Captain Tamany. " I
pity any creature that has lost its young."

THE VALLEY OF THE GROSE.

ANOTHER EXCURSION OVER THE ZIGZAG. 277

A sheet of livid lightning filled the heavens. An awful thunder-
crash followed. The party stepped within the door. Something fell
to the earth with a thud.

" What was that '^. " asked Mary.

No one knew. An impenetrable darkness followed. The rain
came pouring down as though the Deluge had begun again. The
wind arose, and caused the very trees to lash one another. There
followed an hour of terror. Then the cloud broke, and the calm
moon filled the drenched land with a mystic lustre.

" It has stopped raining," said Mary; " let us go out and see w^hat
it was that fell."

The party went out of the door into the cool, fragrant air. Near
the doorstep in front of the inn lay a great black object with spread
wins^s. It was the black eao^le — dead.

On the return over the Zigzag, Mary read a poem by Douglas
Sladen, the descriptive Australian poet. She took the book to her
friends and re-read it to them. They enjoyed the description and the
lesson, and Captain Tamany remarked, quoting Emerson, " He is a
genius who gives me back my own thoughts." We give the poem
here : —

THE FIRST ZIGZAG.

ON THE RAILWAY UP THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.

O masterpiece of genius, as fit

As any piled by Rameses's command,

To lead up to the triumphs of God's hand.

Where they upon the heights of glory sit,

Great Nature might have piled thee to admit

To these arch wonders of this wondrous land.

These sealess bays with forest waves and strand

Of ranges, to their heart's core, earthquake split.

He was a pioneer whose bold design

Framed such a stairway to the sky as thee,

Tall rival of the memorable three

Whose names as heroes of the pass we shrine ;

For mill ions mount with ease the Zigzag line

Where they could only crawl so painfully.

278 • ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" The poem is true in more senses than one," said Captain
Tamany. " Heroes crawl that the multitude may one day have an
easy way, and there are many Zigzag ways that lead upward, over
which circumstance compels true and loyal hearts to go."

From Sydney Mrs. Tamany, Mary, and some friends went to the
Sanatorium of New Zealand, while Captain Tamany and his grandson
returned to Adelaide.

In the early days of Sydney and of Melbourne, and during the
mining excitements, gambling was common in the city and near
settlements. It passed away as it does from cities in the mining
portions of the United States, with the growth of public institutions.
A touching story of these days will give a view of the conflict of the
two influences which enter into the history of all places of populous
growth.

JUST ONCE MORE.i

It was a cold night in January. Late in the afternoon the snow had begun

to fall, and now a sharp, cutting wind was rapidly rising. The streets of M

were all deserted, save by those whom necessity forced to brave the blinding
storm ; and quiet would have reigned supreme throughout the town but for the
ceaseless roar of the ocean as it came rushing up the beach, tossing sprays of
white foam far up into the dark sky, and then slowly retracing its way with a
sullen moan.

The soft, ruddy light that shone through the large French plate windows
of Gilbert's saloon suggested the warmth and comfort within. Before the door
of this saloon a young man was standing, battling with his conscience. He
remembered his old promise to his mother never again to enter a gambling-hall,
but to-night the desire to try his luck just once more was greater than he could
resist. Just then a man opened the door, and a merry peal of laughter was
borne out into the storm. That peal of laughter decided the contest for Fred
Ashton ; and stifling the small voice that was still pleading with his better self,
he pushed by the man in the door, hurried throiigh the outer saloon, and
entered the room at the back.

"Halloo, Ashton," cried one of the men, "did you snow down?" " I'd

^ By Miss Bertha Snow.

ANOTHER EXCURSION OVER THE ZIGZAG.

2 79\

begun to think you 'd deserted your old friends altogether," said another, look-
ing up from his cards. " Sit down and make your miserable life more so," said
a third. " Better have a glass of something to warm you up," said a fourth.
Fred drew a plush easy-chair
up to the table, sat down, and
taking the wine, held it up
to the light. How it foamed
and sparkled ! He threw his
head back against the soft
cushion of his chair and lei-
surely drained the glass. As
he placed it on the table, a
voice from the other side
cried out, " Well, I '11 be bound
if you haven't beat me again,
stranger."

The speaker rose, and no-
ticing Fred for the first time,
came round and gave his hand
a hearty shake, saying, as he
did so, " Why, Ashton, you 're
just the fellow I wanted to see.
Come, have a game with this
man ; he 's beat me twice, but
you 're pretty good at cards,
I believe."

Mr. Leighton, the man in
question, was about fifty years
old. He had sharp, irregular
features and large gray eyes
that seemed keen enough to
read one's very thoughts.
Fred put up a hundred dol-
lar? against two, and soon
both men were deep in the
game. Fortune seemed to be on the side of Leighton, however, and he won.
In the second game Fred put up two hundred dollars against three ; but Leigh-
ton's good fortune still continued, and Fred lost that also.

Fred began to grow excited, but his companion was quite calm. " Better

TRACES OF CIVILIZATION.

28o ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

try once more,"' he said encouragingly. " Suppose you win, as you have a fair
chance of doing, then we'd be square, you know." " Go ahead, Ashton ; put
up three hundred dollars, — that'll just cover the debt," said some of the men.
" All right, then, here goes," Fred replied, as he finished another glass of wine.
Mr. Lcighton was a professional gambler. He understood cards perfectly,
knew when and where to cheat, and just how to do it. During the first part
of the game he laughed and jested a good deal, and played rather indiffer-
ently. Fred was fast getting the upper hands of the game. His spirits rose,
and he called for more wine. He was almost sure of winning, when suddenly
Mr. Leighton held up a card, exclaiming, " Well, well, well ! "

Fred Ashton sank back in his chair and closed his eyes as if trying to shut
out the terrible truth. " I am ruined, ruined," he said with a groan. *' And I,
replied Leighton, looking at his watch, and mimicking the young man's despair-
ing tone, " am too late for the eleven o'clock train." Fred rose from his chair,
mechanically put on his coat and hat, and was about to leave the room, when
Leighton came up to him. " I 'm very sorry to trouble you, young man,"
he said; " but I 'm in a great hurry for that money. I have some bills to meet
next week, and must have it by that time without fail." So saying, he put a
small card into his hand, and walked away.

Once more in the open air, the intense cold revived his heavy brain, and
Fred was able to think clearly. There was only one thing left. He could
not pay the debt, and he would never go to prison. With a mighty effort he
crushed the voice that reminded him of the money his employer had put in
his safe the day before. " He trusts me, and I will never betray that trust," he
said to himself . He walked rapidly^ to the beach, and going to the farther
end of a covered pier that extended from the back of one of the summer
hotels, stood gazing into the water. " My life is all I have, and that 's not
worth living," he said, speaking aloud, and with a strange ring in his voice.
For a moment the sea was still, as if it were aghast at the awful deed it was
about to witness.

The night was very dark, and in his excitement Fred did not notice a
tall man, who stood near him. He seized the railing, and was preparing to
make the fatal plunge when a firm hand grasped his arm, and a deep voice
close to his ear said, " Your life is not your own to keep or throw away* as
may suit your convenience. It is given to you for a divine purpose, and some
day you will be called upon to render up an account of it to the Giver." It
would take too long to relate all that passed between Fred Ashton and his
rescuer. They went back to the hotel and occupied the same room for the
rest of the night.

'^\ ANOTHER EXCURSION OVER THE ZIGZAG. 28 1

Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore were sitting before a bright wood fire in the hand-
somely furnished parlor of their residence on Chestnut Street. " I do not know
why," Mr. Dinsmore was saying, " but somehow my heart went out to the boy,
he seemed to be so utterly alone in the world."

"You did just right, my dear," said Mrs. Dinsmore. "I have a noble hus-
band, and I am proud of him. If our Harry had lived," she added
gently, " he might have been led astray too."

" I can hardly see how a boy with such a mother to care for and advise
him could be led astray," said her husband. " I tell you what," he exclaimed
after a pause, during which he had been gazing thoughtfully into the fire, " this
is a hard world for a boy without a mother. The home influence is every-
thing. I have had a long talk with young Ashton," he continued, " and I
hope with some assistance and a good deal of encouragement to make a man
of him after all."

Mr. Dinsmore has long since given up the management of his business,
but it is faithfully carried on by Fred Ashton, who has become one of the
most upright and honorable of men. The saloon and gambling-hall no longer
hold out any inducements for him ; but after the day is over, he lays aside
the cares of business for the rest and quiet of a happy home, where a loving
wife and three merry children wait to welcome him.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE DELIGHTFUL SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA. — THE TEMPERANCE
TEACHING.— THE BOWER-BIRD.

E are in a new atmosphere," said Captain Tamany,
" in Adelaide. The old gray goose that keeps a
flying school has not arrived as yet, but she is com-
ing:. Such thinsfs come when cities g-row old. Here
thoughts and methods are new, and all the more
original and applicable to life because the ocean continent is so far
away from the Old World."

Captain Tamany's remarks are certainly true in regard to the
schools of Australia. The living thought and the active discoveries
of the age are taught in them, and the buildings themselves are
beautiful. Education in Australia, as in New England, in early
times became the first thought of the people.

Here the schools are on the march with the age. Captain
Tamany liked to visit these schools wherever he went, and he never
ceased to talk of them.

One of the first adventures of the family in Australia was the
meeting of Dick, the father of poor Mabel. The captain came upon
him in the street.

" The top of the world to you, Dick! " said the captain. " What
left you away out here ? "

THE DELIGHTFUL SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC.

283

m of
ould
was, out here, with the
England over us, tramp-
r our heads. What
e, Captain ? "
came out with the old ship
store of health for my
don't you go home ? "
" Oh, Captain, I got all out of the
way there, and the world was hard on
me, thoua^h I deserved it all. I am
doing better out here. Say, Captain,
that gal of mine is married."

ON LAKE WELLINGTON, VICTORIA.

" Done well ! "

" How did you know ? "

" Had a letter only a week ago.

Yes."

284 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

" I am glad for her."

" So am I.^ I did n't use her quite right ; but she is like her
mother, — she has forgiven it all. Say, Captain, I reformed on her
account, and I was going to bring her out here where the world
would help us ; but my plans are all upset. This is an uncertain
world. Now she is married, I am going to marry and settle down ;
and may the Lord prosper her and forgive the past ! The past }
That was awful."

The family all were soon enamoured of Adelaide. Mary's health
became perfect in these bright atmospheres over the sun-paved seas.
Mrs. Tamany's infirmities seemed to disappear. The whole family
wished to remain for a considerable time in the city of the schools,
churches, and parks. It was decided that Mary and Eric should enter
school here.

One of the strange things that Mary found in her school was
a compulsory system of temperance training which had come from
America. The children were taught by the use of pictorial charts
the physiological effects of alcohol on the brain, liver, and every part
of the human body.

When she gave the captain a sketch of this advanced system, he
talked for a long time on the advantage which a new land had in
adopting new ideas. We here reproduce from an American paper
the history of this temperance teaching in schools, as it is a story
that every pupil should know who reads these books : —

PERSONAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR OF THE TEMPERANCE

TEACHING.!

Born on the 4th of July, her mother a direct descendant of the
celebrated Thatcher preachers, one of whom was the first pastor of
the Old South Church in Boston, her father a vice-president of the
first temperance society started in America, a man of fervent religious

1 From the " Atlanta Constitution."

AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION.

THE DELIGHTFUL SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC. 287

conviction and intense ' patriotism, Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, — patriotic
as the day on which she was born, — was well started at birth for the
platform orator, temperance-worker, and reformer that she has since
become.

A childhood spent largely in the open air of a Connecticut town
supplemented a naturally strong constitution in providing the physical
stamina needed for the exhaustive campaigns and the pressure of the
continuous demands and multiplied emergencies of the movement
she has inaugurated and led, until, with the aid of the brave " White
Ribboners " who have worked and prayed and sacrificed by her side,
twenty-nine legislatures in this country and the National Congress
have passed laws requiring the study of Scientific Temperance to be
taught in the public schools under their respective control. And not
only this, but the movement has spread to foreign lands. Textbooks
on this topic have been prepared under Mrs. Hunt's direction, trans-
lated into the languages, and introduced into the schools of Japan
and the Sandwich Islands. The same has been recommended for
Siam by its minister of education, and is under way in India, —
the land of more inhabitants than Caesar ever ruled. The study has
been made compulsory in the Dominion of Canada and in parts of
Australia; it is being introduced into mission schools in Turkey,
China, Bulgaria, South Africa, and the Danish West Indies, and is
being taken up by teachers and advocated by philanthropists in
England, France, and other countries of Europe. *

The phenomenal success of this movement has been very largely
due to Mrs. Hunt's peculiar qualifications for its leadership. In addi-
tion to the careful training in a Christian home of refinement and
New England schools, she was sent to one of the leading educational
institutions of the East, where she received a thorough course in
the mental and physical sciences, and after graduation remained as
professor of the latter until her marriage. During the following years
devoted to family duties, Mrs. Hunt still found time to keep up her

288 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

scientific reading, and was thus able to assist her son during his college
course, — an assistance that contributed largely to his subsequent suc-
cessful career as a scientific man.

It was while thus aiding her son in some chemical experiments
that Mrs. Hunt's attention was first called to the nature of alcohol ;
and as she investigated further she became convinced that the tem-
perance reform could not succeed until the prevailing popular fallacies
concerning the supposed virtues of alcohol were corrected, and a
knowledge of its real nature implanted before appetite was formed.
The medium for the rapid promulgation of this knowledge she saw
was the public school ; the motive must be the power of the law.
She carried her plan to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
which put it into action ; and in 1888 she was made International Super-
intendent for the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union.

With the soubd judgment that has characterized all her work,
Mrs. Hunt saw from the first that no flights of oratory, no general
and aimless agitation, could accomplish the giant task of engrafting a
new study upon the school system of a nation. She began, therefore,
a thorough study of the government of the country, and of how to
change or add to its laws, with such aids as Cooper's " American
Politics," Webster's great speeches, Lieber's " Political Ethics," and
" Civil Liberty and Self-Government," " Triumphant Democracy,"
" The Republic of Plato," De Tocqueville's " Democracy in America,"
and other exhaustive works on Civil Government and its history.

This study, together with her early metaphysical training and an
unquestionable ability for meeting and answering objections, made her
a master of legislative campaigns and brought victory out of every one
she undertook to conduct. Beginning with Vermont, State after State
and the National Congress fell into line, until now only eleven States
remain that have not enacted some form of temperance education laws.

Following immediately the beginning of the legislative stage of
the work was that of the preparation of manuals of instruction for

THE DELIGHTFUL SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC. 289

teaching the subject, none of which were in existence when the first
laws were enacted. For the superintendence of this work, the details
of which would read like a romance, Mrs. Hunt derived qualification
from her scientific training, which taught her the insecurity of seek-
ing to establish a point on the results of imperfect investigation.
Hence, where some would have read superficially, concluded hastily,
and dogmatized on disputed points, she left no point uninvestigated,
ventured no unsustained statement, and hence provided no occasion
for retraction. By her and under her direction the school literature
on this subject for the world has been prepared ; and every effort to
prove it inaccurate has been futile.

Mrs. fiunt is now entering upon her third epoch of the work she
has so wisely planned and so successfully led up to its present magni-
tude ; namely, the training of teachers in this new study, in which they
have not had the advantage of preparatory drill, There is certainly
no reason for supposing that the energy, skill, thoroughness, and wis-
dom that have characterized her leadership through the legislative
and book-making periods of the work will desert her in this.

Eric heard wonderful stories of the boomerang from the old set-
tlers, but he met with no such displays of Austral skill. He once saw
a horse run down an emu, and the exploit was so revolting and cruel
in his view that he lost all interest in the customs of the early times.

The emu, or cassowary, is a bird with only rudimentary wings
and very powerful feet. A kick from the bird is sometimes fatal to
animals, and is powerful enough to break human bones. The dogs
attack it by leaping upon its neck. It runs very swifdy, and its power
of flight is its chief defence against its many enemies. When pur-
sued, it for a time easily outruns the swiftest horses, but it becomes
exhausted, when its legs spread out, and move wider and wider apart
until it sinks down.

290 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

STRANGE PETS.i

Reader, was it ever your lot to live in a spot so lonely that the advent of
a visitor was matter of intense excitement, and his departure threw a gloom
over the little home circle for many a long evening, — a place so solitary that
the chance passer-by's every sentence or word was carefully treasured up, and
frequently recalled to beguile the tedium of the weary hours?

In the remote wilds of Northern Australia such a condition is normal. The
solitary settler is thrown entirely on the companionship of the few hands in-
habiting the slab huts that constitute a sheep-station. These rough bushmen —
and in rare cases their wives — must take the place of " society." Their per-
sonal adventures become tedious after they have been told several times. It
is therefore little wonder that the sheep-farmer, or cattle-owner, endeavors to
draw some amusement from the animal world, and — more particularly if he
is blessed with children — : surrounds himself with such pets as the country
produces.

The latter condition being mine, I soon found that the little ones had col-
lected a small menagerie around and within our house. The various habits,
and in some instances mischievous propensities, of these pets afforded an
agreeable subject for study, and greatly assisted to while away the hours of
relaxation from daily toil.

Foremost among our bush pets, both as regarded size and stupidity, stood
Tommy, the kangaroo, a great blundering, yet affectionate brute, who hopped
heavily in and out of the house.

He would squat, watching my wife at her knitting for hours, seemingly
intensely interested in an occupation which my masculine mind has in vain
endeavored to master.

Yet withal he was a foolish fellow, with no more brains than a beetle; and
this stupidity made him often a great nuisance.

If a dish or saucer were placed on the floor for a moment, ill-luck at once
led Tom in that direction, and with one ungainly bound he would flop down
on the devoted article, and sit contentedly staring at the fragments.

Another source of constant anxiety to us was Tommy's habit of blundering
into the large flat chimney, and depositing himself in the midst of the glowing
embers. Having attained these warm quarters, it never appeared to enter his
silly head that one bound would take him clear of mischief.

1 By C. H. Eden, author of "Australian Heroes," from "Youth's Companion."

THE DELIGHTFUL SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC.

291

Unless some of us happened to be standing by, he would enter into a
" battle royal " instead of making his escape, kicking the ashes in every direc-
tion with his powerful hind-feet, as though they had been sentient beings,
and never thinking of jumping off until forcibly removed by the skin of the
neck.

With most animals one experience of the fire would have been sufficient,
but Tommy gained no wisdom from the memories of the past. He would

VIEWS IN TASMANIA.

repeat his blunder on the following day. Indeed, this amazing stupidity was
ultimately the cause of his death, for he at last burned himself so severely that I
was obliged to have him shot.

An opossum was another of our pets, a most amusing little beast, who, by
the pranks he played at night, sorely disturbed our slumbers.

Then, besides numerous cockatoos, parrots, and quails, we had an emu, — a

292 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

great ungainly fowl standing some five feet in height. This bird, — by nanie
Billy, — although of much sedateness in appearance, was in reality one living
mass of mischief, from his splay foot to his powerful beak.

He would amuse himself by chasing the horses round and round the pad-
dock ; and sometimes, when with great trouble we had collected a mob of cattle
and were driving them into the stock-yard, he would rush up to the slip-rail
with outstretched wings, whereupon the terrified herd would break in every
direction, and our day's work be lost.

Billy was a confirmed thief to boot. Anything smaller in size than a horse-
shoe he could swallow without fear of indigestion. Standing near the kitchen
window, he would watch imtil the cook's back was turned, and then, inserting
his long neck, would devour whatever stood within reach.

But this pilfering was not to pass unpunished. One day Billy caught a
Tartar, in the shape of a scalding potato. He left the cook in peace for many
a long day after that, being endowed with better sense than poor Tommy.

I could fill pages with the vagaries of our pets, but confine myself to one
more, — Old Jock. We had imported some donkeys, thinking that they would
answer well in that climate ; but finding that horses fulfilled every purpose
much better, we kept the donkeys in the paddock, where they led a life of
perfect idleness, performing no harder work than kicking off the children when
the latter attempted to scramble on their backs. The chief of these asses was
Old Jock.

Although Old Jock was naturally of a morose disposition, my eldest son,
a boy nine years of age, had contrived to gain his affections by daily offerings of
salt, a relish of which many animals are passionately fond.

By carrying a lump of salt about in his pocket, George could make Old
Jock follow him all about the place ; and in the end a most tender friendship
was established between the two, — the animal permitting the lad to mount him
and pull him about to his heart's content, although if any of George's brothers
attempted the same familiarity. Old Jock instantly resented it by throwing his
heels up into the air, and landing the ofTender at full length on the ground.

During the height of summer there came upon us a season of great
drought, when the herbage became withered and parched, the creeks ceased to
run, and the water-springs of heaven were dried up, — a time of terrible
anxiety and serious loss to the sheep-farmer. Every blade of grass was
now valuable, and I was obliged to turn the donkeys out into the bush to shift
for themselves.

Still the friendship between George and Old Jock remained unbroken.
Each morning the boy repaired to the paddock fence, his pockets stuffed with

THE DELIGHTFUL SCHOOLS OF AUSTRALIA, ETC. 293

biscuits or damper, and there his four-footed companion would be awaiting
him, and would eagerly eat the morsels as the lad broke them up.

After his meal Old Jock rejoined the other less favored donkeys, who had
doubtless a long way to travel in search of feed. One morning George re-
turned bitterly disappointed. His friend had failed to appear. I consoled the
boy by saying that with the rains — how devoutly we prayed for them! — his
favorite would return, and then Jorgot the matter, my mind being oppressed with
other cares.

Still the sun poured down hot and fiery; not even a cloud as large as a
man's hand was visible in the copper-colored sky. It became necessary to
drive the stock elsewhere, or every hoof would perish.

I started off with the sheep, and the shepherds' huts remained deserted.
When at length the drought broke up, we returned, and I rode ahead to visit
the cottages and see that none had been destroyed by bush-fires.

All were standing. . The door of one, however, was closed. I dismounted
and flung it open to let in the fresh air, but a horrible smell from within almost
drove me back.

Conquering my repugnance, I entered, and there beheld the carcass of poor
Old Jock. The unfortunate animal, finding the hut deserted, most probably
entered it for shelter from the fierce sun, when some sudden puff of wind must
have blown the door to, and the latch catching, George's friend was a prisoner,
and in the end died of starvation.

I set fire to the now useless little dwelling, and in the flames perished all
that remained of my son's pet.

A BIRD ARTIST.

Among the wonders of Australia which most interested Mary was
the satin or bower bird. This bird has a true sense of beauty and
arrangement of color for poetic effect. Besides its nest, it builds a
bower for the entertainment of its friends. This bower is highly
artistic and beautiful. It is decorated with the finest feathers, espe-
cially the feathers of the parrot, and the beautiful lyre-bird. Beautiful
shells, often brought from a^reat distance, line the entrance, and every
bright object that the bird can find is brougrht to decorate the bower.

294

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

If the settler loses his pipe, his jewelry, or any bright article, he seeks
for it among the bowers of the satin-bird.

In these bowers the birds, like true artists, have their "parlors,"
"drawing-rooms," or "receptions." The birds seem to vie with one
another in building beautiful bowers, and often go to far-distant places,
as did Solomon of old, in search of ornaments.

THE BOWER-BIRD.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE AUSTRALIAN POETS.

R. DOUGLAS B. W. SLADEN, B. A., an Oxford
graduate, who went from England to Australia in
1789, published a volume in London, 1888, entitled,
a " Century of Australian Song," which adds a new
chapter to the poetry of the world. In this volume
the thought, scenes, and subjects are new. Mr. Sladen himself is
a well-known English poet of great originality, genius, and artistic
worth. He has published much in prose and poetry in regard to
Australia, is the author of an historical epic entitled, " The Black
Prince," and other elaborate works ; but his poems on the new land
of the Southern Seas are likely to outlast his more scholarly work.
Poetry is the voice of what is new, as well as the echo of what is old.
In a noble poetic tribute to Australia he says, —

" But you are heir and scholar

To all the lore of time,
Born of the earth in flower,

Born in a golden clime.
You must profit by the errors

Of all your sisterhood ;
You must purge away the evil,

And cleave unto the good."

One of the most vigorous things that Mr. Sladen has written is
entitled, " Advance, AustraUa ! "

296

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

His " Century of Australian Song," from which we have already
quoted, contains an historical introduction, and poems from Francis

THE LYRE-BIRD.

W. L. Adams, Queensland, Emma Frances Anderson, Mrs. J. G.
Wilson, Mrs. Hubert Heron, A. W. Bathgate, Thomas Bracken.
A. T. Chandler, Alfred Domett, F. T. Gill, Charles Harpin, P. J.

COURTSHIP IN WESTERN QUEENSLAND.

THE AUSTRALIAN POETS. 299

Holdsworth, Henry Kendall, Arthur P. Martin, Henry Parks, William
Sharp, and others.

We select a few of these Australian pictures in verse, the first
from Henry Kendall : —

THE MUSE OF AUSTRALIA.

Where the pines with the eagles are nestled in rifts,

And the torrent leaps down to the surges,
I have followed her, clambering over the cliffs,

By the chasms and moon-haunted verges.
I know she is fair as the angels are fair ;

For have I not caught a faint glimpse of her there,
A glimpse of her face and her glittering hair

And a hand with the harp of Australia ?
■I never can reach you to hear the sweet voice

So full with the music of fountains !
Oh, when will you meet with that soul of your choice

Who will lead you down here from the mountains .''
A lyre-bird lit on a shimmering space,

It dazzled mine eyes, and I turned from the place
And wept in the dark for a glorious face

And a hand with the harp of Australia.

Our next poet-picture is from Percy Russell : —

THE BIRTH OF AUSTRALIA

Not 'mid the thunder of the battle guns.

Not on the red field of an empire's wrath,

Rose to a nation Australia's sons,

Who tread to greatness Industry's pure path.

Behold a people, through whose annals runs

No damning stain of falsehood, force, or fraud ;

Whose sceptre is the ploughshare, not the sword ;

Whose glory lives in harvest-ripening suns !

Where, 'mid the records of old Rome or Greece

Glows such a tale ? Thou canst not answer. Time.

With shield unsullied by a single crime.

With wealth of gold, and still more golden fleece.

Forth stands Australia, in her birth sublime.

The only nation from the womb of Peace !

JOO ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Our next is a morning picture from F. W. L. Adams : —

SPRING MORNING.

What clearer than this earth and air ?
The birds go flying everywhere

As I ride.
See the black swans, while-vanned pair,
Soaring from the pale swamp there

Up the wide
Lower heaven, so sweet and fair.

Hark, the pulsing magpie calls
His melodious intervals

As I ride !
So my soul beyond the walls,
Where her last low fetter falls,

Glorified,
Sings to God gflad madrigals.

The following beautiful sonnet is like a view of the city from the
sea: —

MELBOURNE.

sweet Oueen-city of the golden South,
Piercing the evening with thy star-lit spires,

Thou wert a witness when I kissed the mouth
Of her whose eyes outblazed the skyey fires.

1 saw the parallels of thy long streets.
With lamps hke angels shining all a-row;

While overhead, the empyrean seats

Of gods were steeped in paradisic glow.
The Pleiades with rarer fires were tipped ;

Hesper sat throned upon his jewelled chair;
The belted giant's triple stars were dipped

In all the splendor of Olympian air ;
On high to bless, the Southern Cross did shine.
Like that which blazed o'er conquering Constantine.

This picture which our artist also has given to the world, stands
for the past: —

THE AUSTRALIAN POETS. 3OI

SONNET.
(On visiting the spot where Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks first landed in Botany Bay.)

Here fix the tablet. This must be the place

Where our Columbus of the South did land.

He saw the Indian village on that sand,
And on this rock first met the simple race
Of Austral Indians, who presumed to face

With lance and spear his musket Close at hand

Is the clear stream from which his vent'rous band
Refreshed their ship; and thence a little space
Lies Sutherland, their shipmate ; for the sound

Of Christian burial better did proclaim

Possession than the flag, in England's name.
These were the commelinae Banks first found ;

But w^here 's the tree, with the ship's wood-carved fame?
Fix then the Ephesiau brass ; 'tis classic ground.

We close our selections with a very interesting story in verse by
G. Brunton Stephens, and with an emigrant song by George
McHenry.

A LOST CHANCE.

(It is stated that a shepherd who had many years grazed his flocks in a district in which a rich tin-mining town of
Queensland now stands, went mad on learning of the great discoveries made there. )

Just to miss it by a hair's breadth ! Nay, not to miss it ! To have held it

In my hand, and oi'ttimes through my fingers run the swarthy ore.

Minus only the poor trick of Art or Science that compelled it

To unveil for others' good the hidden value, and to pour

On a thousand hearts the light of Hope, that shines for me no more !

To have held it in my hand in vacant listlessness of wonder.
Taken with its dusky lustre, all incurious of its worth ;
To have trod for years upon it, I above, and Fortune under ;
To have scattered it a thousand times like seed upon the earth !
Who shall say I am not justified who curse my day of birth ?

To have built my hovel o'er it, to have dreamed above it nightly,
Pillowed on the weal of thousand lives, and dead unto my own ;
Planning paltry profits wrung from year-long toil, and holding lightly
What lay acres-wide around me. naked, bright, or grass-o'ergrown ;
Holding lightly — and for that I curse — no, not myself alone !

302 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

For a youth made vain with riot, for the golden graces squandered,

Home forsaken, dear ones alienated, Love itself aggrieved,

I had sworn a full atonement, to the ends of earth had wandered,

Drunk the dregs of expiation, unbelauded, unperceived ;

Heaven alone behold, and mocks me with what " might have been " achieved !

All the cold suspicion of the world I took for my demerit,

Its deceit my retribution, its malignity my meed ;

When Misfortune smote, unmurmuring, I bowed my head to bear it,

Driven to minister to brutes in my extremity of need ;

Who shall say now it dehghts not Heaven to break the bruised reed ?

In the round of conscious being, from the rising to the setting

Of Thine imaged self, Thy merciless, unsympathizing sun.

Was there one from hard Disaster's hand so piteously shrinking

Whom this boon had more advantaged ? God, I ask Thee, was there one ?

In Thy passionless immunity, Thou knowest there was none !

To the wrongs the world had wrought me, to its coldness and disfavor.

To the wreck of every venture, to enduring unsuccess,

To the sweat of cheerless toil, the bread made bitter with the savor

Of the leaven of regret, and tears of unforgetfulness,

Hadst Thou need to add Thy mockery, to perfect my distress ?

For I hold it cruel mockery in man or God or devil

To assign the poor his blindfold lot from weary day to day,

In the very lap of affluence, on Fortune's highest level.

There upon the brink of revelation, trick his steps away,

And flash the truth upon him when the chance is gone for aye !

I had soothed repulse with hope, matched disappointment with defiance,
Or opposed a pliant meekness to the driving storms of Fate ;
But the merely "coming short ! " — oh, what remedial appliance,
What demeanor of resistance shall have virtue to abate
The nameless woe that trembles in the echo of Too Late !

Oh, the might have been ! the might have been ! the story of it ! the madness !

What a wave of the Inexorable chokes my fitful breath !

What a rush of olden echoes voiced with many-sounding sadness !

What a throng of new despairs that drive me down the path of Death !

Who is there in heaven who careth ? Who on earth who comforteth ?

They on earth but seek their own. In eager crowds they hasten thither
Where I trod so late unconscious on futurities untold.
And I. — I, whose all is gone ! The curse of desolation whither,
Whom ? Myself, who, year-worn, turned again unto the sin of old ?
Or the fiends who sold me poison for my little all of gold ?

>.dfc

THE MAD SHEPHERD

THE AUSTRALIAN POETS. .^r

Both ! all men ! yea, Heaven ! but chiefly those who prosper where I languished !
Those who reap the ripe occasion, where in many a wandering line
The old traces of my footsteps, worn m fevered moods and anguished.
Now the paths of rich expectancy for other feet than mine !
Can I breathe without upbraiding' ? Shall I die without a sio-n ?

It was mine ! Is mine, by Heaven ! Consecrated to me only,

By the sacred right of service, by the pledge of weary years !

By the bond of silent witness, by communion dumb and lonely,

By the seal of many sorrows, by the sacrament of tears !

Mine ! the echoes laugh, and the fiends of hell are answering with jeers.

Where am I ? and who are these ? Nay, nay ! unhand me ! Let me go. sirs !

I am very rich! I 've miles on miles of priceless ore !

I will make you fortunes, — all of you ! and I would have you know, sirs,

There is not a single sheep a-missing. Loose me, I implore !

It is only sleep that ails me ; let me sleep — forevermore !

THE AUSTRALIAN EMIGRANT'S SONG.

Let us haste in the prime of our youth.
To the land that is fairest on earth ;
There establish our altar and hearth.

And an empire build in the South.

But it is not that Albion we fly ;

For our country, wherever we rove.
In our hearts we will carry, as Love

Bore his Psyche aloft to the sky.

Like the Trojan, to found a new home.
When called by command of his god,
Deserted his native abode.

And raised in the wilderness Rome,

So, impelled by the fiat of fate.

And led by a sure guiding hand.
We abandon, like him, our own land,

To establish a nation as great.

But more happy than he was, a State
We '11 erect, where never the free,
If wealthy, oppressors can be.

Or if poor, can be slaves to the great;
20

;o6

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

Where Liberty monarch shall reign,

But her minister, Justice, shall rule;
Where no tyrants can lord o'er the fool,

Nor ever inflict wrongs upon men.

It is not misfortune compels,

Nor oppression, nor insult incites,
But a voice in the breeze that invites

Our departure, and destiny tells ;

And it whispers while filling the sails

Of our joy-bounding ship on its way,
As it ploughs without furrow the spray,

To our fancy delighted strange tales.

It whispers 'twill lead us to shores,

Where the vine and the pomegranate bloom.

And censers of frankincense fume
From the sandal-wood trees in the moors ;
Where the wattle the precipice crowns,

And her fountain the fat olive yields ;

Where sleek herds crop the flesh of the fields,
And silken-woolled flocks graze the downs.

Where the emu stalks over the lea,

And the kangaroo bounds through the dale ;
Where rich harvests o'er mountain and vale

Extend, like a topaz-gemmed sea ;

And where Nature has sown all the soil,

Like a husbandman, broadcast with i old.
Still teeming with treasures untold.

To reward our adventurous toil.

Though the springs of the clouds be all dry,
And the earth be baked to a clod,
We will trust in a merciful God,

Who will open the flood-gates on high.

And answer our fever-struck cry :

" O ye of faint heart and weak faith,
Walk safe through the shadows of death !

Hark the rush of the rain of the sky ! ''

iM-

■^.

-/C^

K^ ' ^«/^- /7

-^i^;**^^'

fWA A»

A PIONEER OF AUSTRALIA.

CHAPTER XIX.

A VISIT TO QUEENSLAND, THE LAND OF THE EUCALYPTUS.

RS. TAMANY returned to Adelaide from the Sanato-
rium of New Zealand greatly improved in health. The
united family took rooms in Adelaide, and remained
there for a number of months.

Mrs. Tamany had been so much delighted with the
scenery which she had seen in New Zealand that she never tired of
talking of its wonders. The New Zealand scenery is among the most
picturesque and poetic in the world, says Froude, in his " Oceana " of
this beautiful Switzerland of the sea.

In New Zealand there are mountain ranores ofrander than the mant
bergs of Norway ; there are glaciers and waterfalls for the hardy hill-
men ; there are sheep-walks for the future shepherd of Salisbury
Plain ; and there are rich farm-lands for the peasant yeoman ; and the
coasts with their inlets and infinite varieties are a nursery for seamen,
who will carry forward the traditions of the old land. No Arden ever
saw such forests, and no lover ever carved his mistress's name on
such trees as are scattered over the Northern Island ; while the dullest
intellect quickens into awe and reverence amid volcanoes and boil-
ing springs and the mighty forces of Nature, which seem as if any
day they may break their chains. If it lies written in the book of
destiny that the English nation has still within it great men who will
take a place among demigods, I can well believe that it will be in
the exhaustless soil and spiritual capabilities of New Zealand that the

,io

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

great English poets, artists, philosophers, statesmen, and soldiers of
the future, will be born and nurtured.

Eric made a long excursion with a government naturalist into the
interior of Australia, passing over bridges of fallen trees, and living at

A N\11\E ENCAMPMENT, QUEENSLAND

one time in a rough mining

~~--:^'~ cabin on poles. One of the ob-

jects of the naturalist's search
was specimens of the purple-throated bell-bird, — a beautiful creature
of the forests and ferns, whose throat rings like a bell. It was com-
mon once, but is disappearing.

Captain Tamany read his morning paper regularly, went in the
afternoon to the gardens, and thoroughly enjoyed Adelaide. He was
a theorist, and here he delighted to give vent to his theories among
the much-travelled society of the far ocean city.

" The true object of education," he used to say, "is not to cram the
mind with useless facts about uneventful things, or teach the young
how to make money; it is character. This was the plan of Pestalozzi,

A VISIT TO QUEENSLAND.

31,

and the Froebel method is the true one. Education should not be so
much involution as evolution.

" Froude well says : ' A sound
nation is composed of sound hu-
man beings, healthy in body, '^-
strong in limb, true in word and

ROADWAY THROUGH THE SILVER-STEM EUCALYPTS

deed, brave, sober, tem-
perate, chaste, to whom
morals are more impor-
tant than wealth or
knowledge. It is to
form character of this kind that human beings are sent into the world,
and those nations who succeed in doing it are those who have made
their mark in history. Therefore all wise statesmen look first in the
ordering of their national affairs to the effect that is being produced
on character; and institutions, callings, occupations, habits, and
methods of life are measured and estimated first and beyond every
other consideration by this test.'

314

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

own

" FroLide is right; and Australia sees these things. Our
country is full of old gray geese who keep flying schools.

" The time will come, as I have said over and over again, when
travel will become an important part of education. The Crusades
failed, but they were the greatest blessings that humanity received in

TURNSVILLE, NORTH QUEENSLAND.

the Middle Ages. Why? They set the nations to travelling; they
made the human family acquainted with each other."

"Where shall we go next.^ " asked Eric, after one of these theoretical
lectures.

" My boy, that is what I am considering. We will go to the
places that will best advance your know^ledge of the world, which is
true education. The best study of mankind is man.

" We might return home by the way of the Sandwich Islands,
California, and Washington. That trip would furnish much educa-
tional material.

"Or we might go to Zag-a-zig."

" To Zag-a-zig ? "

"Yes, take the stea.mer at Sydney, and so make a Zigzag journey

A VISIT TO QUEENSLAND.

315

from Zigzag to Zag-a-zig. In that case, we should run along the
story lands of the Aralpian Seas."

" The names of the places sound strange," said Eric.

" But I am inclined to go to Genoa, and thence to Holland.
There are few story lands that can ' beat the Dutch ; ' and the fleets

of Holland once swept the

seas, and Holland, like ■ ^^^ .,.^,«^,- ^.-v. ^ -

ngland, strove to own •--^<Nr-wi//vv;^ --^^^ -'•'^

the world. The Pilgrim sugar plantation, Queensland.

Fathers found refuge in

Holland, and Holland or Amsterdam founded New York. The Old
Cape families of New England came from Holland, and from England,
and I know many curious old stories of the Dutch. From Holland we
might go to Spain, and so around the world. I am thinking of
what journey would be of the most value to you and Marv. Old
folks live for young folks. I am happy in my family. I will decide
soon, and we will be upon the sea again. But we first must make a
visit to Queensland."

The last excursion that our party made was to Queensland, the
Australian Florida, — the land of eternal summer, of the orange and
luscious tropical fruits.

3i6 ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN AUSTRALIA.

It was interesting to Eric and Mary, because, as they said, they
wished to see the place where "great trees grow in a few years."

Wonderful is the eucalyptus of Queensland. It has been adopted
in warm desert places in the United States and in reclaimed lands,
because it grows so rapidly that the settler can soon find a cool
retreat in its shade. It has leathery leaves, and is full of a volatile oil.
It is often called the gum-tree in Australia.

Think of a tree sixteen feet in diameter, or one from which a
plank one hundred and forty-eight feet in length could be cut ! The
eucalyptus is easily cut down when green, for the wood is soft and
pulpy, but it is not easily cut up when dry, for its wood then becomes
almost as hard as ivory. Its bark abounds in tannin. The red gum-
tree, a species of the eucalyptus, grows to a height of some two
hundred feet, and when wounded, seems to bleed. These lofty trees
wave in the warm ocean winds over the tangled forests of beautiful
Queensland.

Queensland has a breadth of territory of nearly one thousand miles,
and comprises nearly six hundred and seventy thousand square miles.
Its climate is like that of Florida. It is a land of mountains and
very numerous streams, of immense plains of grass and flowers, of
giant forests and beautiful birds. Its alluvial soil is very deep ; and
its forests tower aloft and hold from their branches flowering vines
and parasites and orchids like gardens of the air. Here the tall fig-
trees, the tamarind-trees and mangroves delight the eye and fill the
mind of the visitor with wonder. The plains are in many places
from ten to twenty miles in extent, and are covered with herbage.
Flocks roam over them and find on them the richest pasturage.
Grain o-rows here to almost fabulous harvests.

The capital is Brisbane, of some twenty thousand mhabitants.
The city has a climate like Madeira. The air is dry and healthy.
The days are hot, but the nights are cool. Invalids recover here, or
find their vital powers wonderfully sustained and prolonged.

A VISIT TO QC/E ENS LAND. 319

The situation of the city is extremely beautiful. It is one of the
gardens of the world, where the songs of birds and the odors of flowers
never cease. It seems destined to become one of the romantic places
of the future; Nature has done for it her best, and waits the coming
of art.

Here, like Florida, Cuba, and Madeira, oranges, pineapples, figs,
bananas, guavas, nectarines, grapes, and all the tropical fruits flour-
ish ; here cotton grows luxuriously, and sugar-cane has a like history
and reputation.

It is a land of gold as well as of figs and oranges. In the single
year of 1874 ^5,444,273 worth of gold was exported. Here the pearl
fishery finds ample reward.

Queensland became a colony in December, 1859. Its growth in
population has been wonderful, but it is yet an uncultivated province.
Like Florida, it will one day find appreciative lovers, and build cities
in harmony with its glorious climate and park-like scenery. The
memories of Queensland never fade.

And here, my readers, in the hope that you may have learned
something from this Australian trip, I will say with the good captain,
" The top of the w-orld to ye all," till we sail again.

THE END.

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MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD.

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FOLLOWING THE FLAG.

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^3-75

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I vol., small quarto, illuminated board covers $1.50

THE RED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA .

By Willis Boyd Allen. A.t exciting narrative of a trip through this most interesting but little known country, with
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I vol.,8vo, cloth, gilt $2.50

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HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE

With Gun and Guide. From Les Animaux Sauvages, by Warren F. Kellogg. An exciting and amusing series
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OUR NEW WAY 'ROUND THE WORLD.

Ky Charles Carleton Coffin, author of "The Story of Liberty," "The Boys of '61, " " Fou0\ving the Flag,"
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By F. A Ober. A brilliant record of a remarkable journey from Yucatan to the Rio Grande Historic ruins, tropic
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I vol., Svo chromo-lithographed board covers ............ ?i-7S

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THE YOUNG MOOSE HUNTERS.

By C. A. Stephens, author of the '' Knockabout Club in the Tropics, " etc., etc. With numerous full-page original

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I vol., small quarto, illuminated board covers $i-5o

SIX GIRLS.

By Fanny Belle Irving. A charming story of every-day home life, pure in sentiment and healthy iu tone. A beau-
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I vol., small quarto, illuminated board covers and linines $1.50

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The standard auth' rized edition. A new tran.slation from the oriainal Dani.'sh edition, complete and unabridged, fully
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I vol., quarto, cloth, S2 25

FEATHERS, FURS AND FINS;

Or . "stories OF Animal Life FOR Children. A collection of the most fasci.:ating stories about birds, fishes and
animals, both wild and domestic, with illustrations drawn by the best artists, and engraved in the finest possible style
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I vol , quarto, chromo-lithographed board covers, ............ ■?i-7S

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THE FAIVTOUS ZIGZAG SEI^IES.

The Most Entertaining and Instructive, the Most Successful and Universally Popular Series
of Bi>oks for the Young Ever Issued in America.

Over Three Hundred Thousand Volumes of the Series have already been sold in this Country alone.

it Is.

'acaUon

Zigzag Journeys In Australia ;

Or, a Visit to the Ocean World. Describing the wonderful
resources and natural advantages of the fifth continent,
giving an insight into the social relations of the people and
containing stories of gold discoveries and of the animals
peculiar to this fascinating country.

I vol., small quarto, illuminated board covers and

linings, --..-... $1.75

I vol., small quarto, cloth, bevelled and gilt, - 2.25

Uniform in style and price witli the abOTe, the other
Tolnmes of the series can be had as follows:

Zigzag Journeys in the Great North-West ;

Or, a Trip to the American Switzerland. Giving an
account of the marvelous growth of our Western Em-
pire, with legendary tales of the early explorers. Full of
interesting, instructive and entertaining stories of the New
Northwest, the country of the future.

Zigzag Journeys in the British Isles.

With excursions among the lakes of Ireland and the hills
of Scotland. Replete with legend and romance. Over
100 illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in the Antipodes.

1 his volume takes the reader to Siani, and with delightful
illustration and anecdote, tells him of the interesting ani-,
mal worship of the country. Ninety-six illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in India;

Or, the Antipodes of the Far East. A collection of Zenana
Tales. With nearly 100 fine original illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in the Sunny South.

In which the Zigzag Club visits the Southern States and
the Isthmus of Panama. With romantic stories of early
voyagers and discoverers of the American continent.
Seventy-two illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in the Levant.

An account of a tour of the Zigzag Club through Egypt
and the Holy land, including a trip up the Nile, and visit
to the ruins of Thebes, Memphis, etc. 114 illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in Acadia & New France.

1 1 which the Ziezag Club visits Nova Scotia and Acadia —
"the Land of Evangeline," — New Brunswick, Canada,
the St. Lawrence, Montreal, Quebec, etc., with romantic
stories and traditions connected with the early history of
the country. 102 illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in Northern Lands.

From the Rliine to the Arctic Circle. Zigzag Club in
Holland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway, and
Sweden, with picturesque views, entertaining stories, etc.
119 illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in the Occident.

A trip of the Zigzag Club from Boston to the Golden
Gate; including visits to the wheat-fields of Dakota, the
■wonders of the Yellowstone and Yosemite. 148 illustra-
tions.

Zigzag Journeys in the Orient.

A journey of the Zigzag Club from Vienna to the Golden
Horn, the Euxine, Moscow, and St. Petersburg; contain-
ing a description of the Great Fair at Nijni-Novgorod, etc.
147 illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in Classic Lands;

Or, Tommy Toby's Trip to Parnassus. An account of a
tour of the Zigzag Club in France, Italy, Greece, Spain,
and Portugal. 124 illustrations.

Zigzag Journeys in Europe;

Or, Vacation Rambles in Historic Lands. In which the
Zigzag Club travels through England, Scotland, Belgium,
and France ; with interesting stories and legends. 126
illustrations.

ESTES & LAURIAT, Publishers, Boston, Mass.

THH FAmoUS VflSSflt? Glt^li SEl^IES.

^^ " Mrs. Champney's fame as the authoress of the delightful series of travels by the * Three Vassar Girls,*
has extended throughout the English-speaking world."

Xa^\. '->;s»i-

Three Vassar Girls in the Tyrol.

An entertaining description of the travels of our Vassar
friends through this well-known country, giving an inter-
esting account of the Passion Play at Olaer Ammergau.
Illustrated by " Champ" and others.

I vol. , small quarto, illuminated board covers and

linings, -...---- $1.50

I vol., small quarto, cloth, bevelled and gilt, - 2.00

Uniform in style and price ■with the abore, the other
volumes of the series can be had as follows :

Three Vassar Girls in Switzerland.

By Elizabeth W. Champney. An exceedingly inter-
esting story interwoven with bits of Swiss life, historic
incidents, and accounts of happenings at Geneva, Lu-
cerne, and the Great St. Bernard. Illustrated by
" Champ " and others.

Three Vassar Girls in Russia and Turkey.

During the exciting scenes and events of the late Turko-
Russian war, with many adventures, both serious and
comic. Profusely illustrated from original designs, by
"Champ" and others.

Three Vassar Girls in France.

A story of the siege of Paris. .\ thrilling account of ad-
ventures when Germany and France were engaged in
their terrible struggle. Ninety-seven illustrations by
" Champ," Dktaille, and De Neuville.

Three Vassar Girls at Home.

Travels through some of our own States and Territories,
with many interesting adventures. Ninety-seven illus-
trations by " Champ."

Three Vassar Girls on the Rhine.

Full of amusing incidents of the voyage and historic
stories of the castles and towns along the route. 128 illus-
trations by " Champ " and others.

Three Vassar Girls in Italy.

Travels through the vineyards of Italy, visiting all the
large cities, and passing some time in Rome, in the Vati-
can, the Catacombs, etc. 107 illustrations. ,

Three Vassar Girls in South America.

A trip through the heart of South America, up the Ama-
zon, across the Andes, and along the Pacific coast to
Panama. 112 illustrations.

Three Vassar Girls in England.

Sunny memories of a holiday excursion of three college
girls in the mother country, with visits to historic scenes
and notable places. Ninety-eight illustrations.

Three Vassar Girls Abroad.

The vacation rambles (^f three college girls on a European
trip for amusement and instruction, with their haps and
mishaps. Ninety-two illustrations.

THE NETV SERIES.

Great Grandmother' s Girls in New Mexico.

By Elizabeth W. Champn'ey. This is the second vol-
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life of a quaint little maiden who lived in the time of the
Spanish adventurers. Illustrated by " Champ."
I vol. , 8vo, chromo-lithographed board covers - Si. 75
I vol., 8vo, cloth, gilt 2.50

Great Grandmother's Girls in France.

By Elizabeth W. Champnev. A charming volume for
girls, consisting of romantic stories of the heroines in the
early colonial days — their privations and courage.
I vol., 8vo, chromo-lithographed board covers - $i-75
I vol., Svo, cloth, gilt, ..---- 250

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" An excellent present for a boy or gir]."— Boston Tran-
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THE FAMOUS 'INOCKABODT CLUB" SERIES.

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THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB ON THE SPANISH MAIN.

By Fred A. Ober. In which the Knockabout Club visits Caracas, La Guayra, Lake Maracaibo,
etc. Containing stories of the exploits of the pirates of the Spanish Main. Fully illustrated.
I vol., small quarto, illuminated board covers and linings, - - - - $1.50

I vol., small quarto, cloth, bevelled and gilt, ....-- $2.00

Uniform in style and price with the above, the other Tolunies of the series can be had as follows :

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN NORTH AFRICA.

By Fred A. Ober. An account of a trip along the coast of the Dark Continent, caravan
journeys, and a visit to a pirate city, with stories of lion hunting and life among the Moors.
Fully illustrated.

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN SPAIN.

By Fred A. Ober. A panorama of Seville, the Guadalquivir, the Palaces of the Moors, the
Alhambra, Madrid, Bull-fights, etc. Full of original illustrations, many full-page.

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE ANTILLES.

By Fred A. Ober. A visit to the delightful islands that extend in a graceful line from Florida
to South America, accompanied by a " Special Artist." 7S illustrations.

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE EVERGLADES.

By Fred A. Ober.. A visit to Florida for the purpose ef exploring Lake Okechobee, on which
trip the boys encounter various obstacles and adventures with alligators, etc. 55 illustrations.

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE TROPICS.

By C. A. Stephens. P>om the ice-fields of the North to the plains of New Mexico, thence
through the " Land of the Aztecs," and the wonderful ruins of Central America, to the "Queen
of the Antilles." 105 illustrations.

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB ALONGSHORE.

By C. A. Stephens. A journey alongshore from Boston to Greenland, with descriptions of
seal-fishing, Arctic Scenery, and stories of the ancient Northmen. 137 illustrations.

THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE WOODS.

By C. A. Stephens. A boy's book of anecdotes and adventures in the wilds of Maine and
Canada. An account of a vacation spent in healthy amusement, fascinating adventure, and
instructive entertainment. 117 illustrations.

ESTES & LAURIAT, Publishers, Boston, Mass.

vouNG, f=ol.k:s' histories

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS.

A concise history of Holland and Belgium, from the earliest times, in which the author goes over the ground
covered by Motley in his standard histories of these most interesting countries, and brings the narrative down to
the present time. By Alexander YouxG. 150 illustrations.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF AMERICA.

From the earliest times to the present. A new edition. With a chapter and additional illustrations on the Life and
Death of President Garfield. Edited by H. Butterworth, author of "Zigzag Journeys." With 157 illustra-
tions. Over 10,000 copies sold in one year.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF MEXICO.

Comprising the principle events from the sixth century to the present tinie By Fred. A. Ober, author of "Camps

in the Caribbees." With 100 illustrations.
The intimate relations of our country with Mexico, which the railroads and mines are developing, make this volume

one of the most important in the entire series.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF RUSSIA,

By Nathan Haskell Dole. With no illustrations.

THE GREAT CITIES OF THE WORLD.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF LONDON.

With graphic stories of its historic landmarks. By W. H. Rideing. With 100 illustrations.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF BOSTON.

By H. Butterworth, author of "Zigzag Journeys," etc. With 140 illustrations.

CHARLOTTE M. YONGE. YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORIES.

YOUNG rOI.KS' BIBLE HISTORY. With 132 illustrations.

TOUNG FOLKS' HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. With 60 illustrations by De Neuville, E. Bayard and others,

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTOKY OF FRANCE, With 84 illustrations by A. De Neuville, E. Bayard and others,

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTOKY OF KOME. With 114 illustrations.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF GREECE. With 51 Ulustrations.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF GERMANY. With 82 illustrations.

YOUNG FOLKS' EPOCHS OF HISTORY.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR.

A concise and impartial account of the late war, for young people, from the best authorities both North and South.
By Mrs. C. Em.ma Cheney. Illustrated with 100 engravings, maps and plans.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.

In Germany, France, England and other Countries By Fred H. Allen. A graphic account of the men
and the movements by which the great religious revolution which resulted in the establishment of Protestantism
was carried on, from the early centuries of Christianity to the end of the Reformation. Fully illustrated.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE QUEENS OF SCOTLAND.

These valuable books are condensed from Strickland's Queens of Scotland by Rosalie Kauf.man, and are at once
reliable and entertaining to both old and young folks. Fully illustrated. 2 vols. , i6nio, cloth. . . £3.00.

YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND.

From the Norman Conquest. Founded on Strickland's Queens of England. Abridged, adapted and continued to
the present time. By Rosalie Kaufman. With nearly 300 illustrations. 3 vols., i6mo, cloth . 54.30.

LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING HISTORY.

Edited by Arthur Gilman, M. A.
INDIA. By Fannie Roper Feudge. With 100 illustrations, . .

EGYPT. By Mrs. Clara Erskinb Clement. With loS illustrations,
SPAIN. By Prof. James Herbert Harrison. With i i i illustrations,
SWITZERLAND. By Miss Harriet D. S. Mackenzie. With 100 illustrations,
HISTORYOF AMERICAN PEOPLE. With 175 illustrations. .

All the above volumes are published as 16nios, in cloth, at $1.50,

ESTES Sd L-MURIT^T, Rublishbrs.
BOSTON, MASS.

$i-50
1.50
1.50
1.50

1.50

HOaSEHOLD NEGESSITIES.

SOCIflli CUSTOIWS.

New edition, REDUCED IN PRICE. Complete Manual of American Etiquette. By Florence
Howe Hall, daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe. Handsomely printed, and neatly bound in
extra cloth, gilt top, uncut. Small 8vo. )5i-75

Do YOU ALWAYS KNOW JUST WHAT TO DO } Do you know how to encourage Mrs. D. Light"
ful, accept and return her courtesies, as they deserve ; and politely but firmly avoid and defeat
Mrs. Bore in her inroads on your privacy and more agreeable engagements .'' If you do not, let us
recommend for every social question the above entertaining and instructive book, or its new
baby relative, "The Correct Thing," mentioned below, for with these two books, one can
make no mistake in life, as every possible question may be answered from their combined
wisdom. They are comprehensive, practical, reliable and authoritative.

By Florence Howe Hall, author of " Social Customs." i8mo. Very neatly bound in

extra cloth, gilt top, - - - $0.75

Same, Bound in full flexible morocco, gilt edges (in a box). $1.25

This new manual is neatly printed in a size not too large to be slipped into the pocket, and
is arranged so that one page reminds the reader that " It is the correct thing " to do this,
while /^r co?itra the opposite page tells him that "It IS NOT the correct thing " to do that.
Its conciseness recommends it to many who would not take the time to master any more compre-
hensive manual.

" It is, indeed, a treasure of good counsel, and, like most advice, it has the merit of not
being expensive." — Montreal Gazette.

Pfll^IiOfl'S I^ITOJlEfl COJVlPflrllOH.

A Guide for All who would be Good Housekeepers.

Handsomely printed, and very fully illustrated. Large 8vo. (nearly 1000 pages). Neatly
bound in extra cloth or in waterproof binding. - $2.50

2l^= It is thoroughly practical ; it is perfectly reliable ; it is marvellously comprehensive ;
it is copiously illustrated. It is, in short, overflowing with good qualities, and is just the book
that all housekeepers need to guide them.

Miss Parloa's new book has proved a remarkable success, and it could hardly have been
otherwise. Exhaustive in its treatment of a subject of the highest importance to all, the result
of years of conscientious study and labor upon the part of one who has been called " the apostle
of the renaissance in domestic service," it could not be otherwise than
welcome to every intelligent housekeeper in the land.

"This is the most comprehensive volume that Miss Parloa has
ever prepared, and, as a trusty companion and guide for all who are
travelling on the road to good housekeeping, it must soon become a

necessity No amount of commendation seems to do justice

to it." — Good Housekeeper.

PflHiiOfl'S l^ECa COOK BOOI^ AflD ^VIflI^KHT«
I^IG GUIDE.

i2mo. Cloth.

$1.50

This is one of the most popular Cook Books ever printed, con-
taining 1724 receipts and items of instruction. The directions are clear
and concise, and the chapters on marketing and kitchen furnishing
very useful.

ESTES Si I-M\JRIKT, Rublishers.

BOSTON, MASS.

This book is DUE on the last
date stamped below

Mav 2 5 1984'

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11973

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B98z

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UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY

PLEA<5^ DO NOT REMOVE
THIS BOOK CARD.;5

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University Research Library

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