Two years passed away, and ere they are passed let us stop a moment and
see a little of this new country which lies away on the opposite side
of the earth from America.
Australia, as you may all see, my readers, by getting out your
geographies, is in the Pacific Ocean, down in the tropics and lying
south-east of Asia. It is generally called a continent; but it looks
very small, does it not, compared to Asia or either of the Americas?
Now, look down on the south-east coast of this little continent and you
will see Botany Bay and the city of Sydney lying close together. Look a
little to the south-west of Sydney and you will find Goulburn. Camden,
which is a comparatively new town, is not marked on the old maps, lies
between Sydney and Goulburn.
This region you will find marked as the "gold region." But gold was not
discovered until 1857, eleven years after the Chittendens settled in
their new home.
The country in New South Wales is good for farming and grazing; with
the exception that it is subject to extremes of drouth and floods.
There are no high mountain ranges, and very few rivers. There is no
snow there, and the Winter season is a rainy season instead of being
cold and freezing like our Winters. There are trees in that country
which shed their bark instead of their leaves. I shall speak of these
trees and the uses to which their bark is put further on. Then, there
grows a native cherry, which has the pit on the outside, and the fruit
inside. Wouldn't that be queer?
There are many precious stones found in this country, and also
considerable gold; but the discovery of gold failed to excite William
Chittenden, or turn him from the even tenor of his way.
On the 15th of April, 1853, a son was born to the Chittendens, who was
christened William John, but who only lived a few weeks.
Some time after his death Mary dreamed that she was lying in her bed
asleep. It was, as you might say, a dream within a dream. As she lay
sleeping two men, each carrying a satchel in one hand and a cane in the
other, came to the foot of her bed. She dreamed then that she awoke
from her dream and looked earnestly at these two men; so earnestly that
their faces were indelibly fixed upon her memory. One of them held out
to her a little book.
"What is the use of my taking the book?" she thought within herself, "I
cannot read a line, for I have never learned to read." Then, after a
moment's hesitation, she thought, "Why, I can take it and my children
can read it to me." So she took the book.
One of the men said these remarkable words to her:
"We are clothed upon with power to preach to the people."
She awoke in reality then, with those strange words thrilling her with
a new power she had never felt before. She roused her husband up and
related her dream, and he replied kindly to her.
They had now been married eighteen years and Mary had borne seven girls
and two boys; neither of the two boys, however, had lived but a short
time. The farm upon which they lived had been rented, or leased, from
a large land-owner named McArthur, for twenty-one years. This McArthur
owned some thousands of acres of farming and grazing land in this
region, which was leased in farms of various proportions.
The Chittendens' farm consisted of two hundred acres, and was mostly
farming land. The terms upon which they leased it were very similar to
others in that country. For the first five years they paid sixpence an
acre. After that it was ten shillings an acre.
William put up the house in which they lived, and an odd house it was,
too. First he took a number of poles, or uprights, which he placed in
the earth at regular distances. With these he made the framework of
his house. Between these uprights were placed smaller poles. Then he
took fine willows and wove them, or turned them round the center, or
smaller pole, resting the ends on the larger poles. In and out went
these willows, something the same way as you will see willow fences
here. Then he made a thick mud and well covered the whole, inside and
out. Next came a good plaster of lime and sand, and finally all was
whitewashed. The roof was made with rafters laid across the top. Now
came in this bark about which I told you. Going up to the forests which
were found on the near hillsides, the bark was cut in the lengths
wanted at the top and bottom of the tree; then with a sharp knife split
on two sides, upon which it peeled off in thick, straight slabs. It was
then nailed on in the place of shingles, each one overlapping the under
one. Then the floor was nailed down with wooden pegs, "adzed" off and
finally smoothed with a jack-plane.
In this manner one large sitting-room, two bedrooms, a dairy and a
kitchen, detached from the main building, were built; to which was
afterwards added a long porch to the front of the house, which faced
east, the rooms all being built in a row.
Mary cooked upon a brick oven, which was built upon a little standard
just between the kitchen and the house.
Large fire-places were built in the kitchen and sitting-room. The one
in the kitchen, being big enough to take three immense logs, which
would burn steadily for a whole week.
The dairy was well furnished with pans, pails, etc.