Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-23
Ny Dream in the Ant CITY

ed wife. md told her that l would b.
home again to claim her in less than
five years, being young and hopeful ]
was AS positive about being able to
do this as | felt about her love and
fidelity.
Five years look quite long enough
to young man of twenty 70 turn him
self about in new country and make
a fortune for the girl he loves; quite
how constant she may be by nature,
to wait patiently, and keep herself
select for, while as for wedlock it would
just leave us old enough to know our
own minds and young enough to be-
gin to enjoy the life before us.
! SO with these hopes and philosophical
reflections L said good-by to pretty and
| gentle Maud Davis and began my ad-
ventures.
Brisbane, Qeensland, was the port |
set sail for, as it was the newest
colony at the time and the most boom
ed up in the papers, so that l had lots
, Of company to make the passage cheer
full; all fOrtune-hunterS and nearly all
as hopeful and impecuniOus as l was
myself
! We were not taking much among us
to the promised land, but felt a blind
confidence that we should get all we
required out of it and go home again
to enjoy ourselves with the proceeds.
! which is very common state of affairs
with immigrants to Australia.
Most people know it pretty well from
books, if they have not seen it, what
Brisbane is like at the present day-as
noble and prosperous city as anyone
can wish to settle down in. At the
time I landed it had the site and MAX
ings Of the fine city it has become since,
with it's magnificent winding river and
numerous hills, but it had a good deal
of building to be done about it and
Il great amount of capital to be sunk
in it before it could be boosted about
as Il city; while the worst of it was
that most of the inhabitants had rush
ed to it in the same condition that my
self and ShlpmateS were in; the natural
results of which We're that while the
laborerS were many the masters to EN-
ploy them were exceedingly limited
in consequence of which l saw more
tatter-demalions hanging about the
streets hard up and idle, on my first
days march, than | had seen before in
my life.
For Il full week | rushed about the
different workshops and yards with a
| Of annlioonfs Saal-ipo v1i1ll,- for
a days work | was modest at the
time, and there were more desperate
hunters before me, SO | found myself
ousted on each occasion, and at last
gave up the attempt of staying in the
coming city; so picking up what few
articles | considered strictly needfu
I sold the remainder of my stock at Z
sacrifice and went on the tramp.
/ laid in a pickaX and spade, with q
good steel hammer and a dOuble-barrel
ed gun. and struck toward the north
resolved to exist the best way / could
in the bush while / tried my hand al
gold digging. | had no experience al
the business, but was ready to take
advantage of anything that turned up
|
colonies
For the first year I wandered abOu
by myself, living pretty much like
wild man of the woods, until l was
as brown in the face as an Indian anC
as hard as a backwoodsman, while
my clothes wer as bepatched as
Joseph's coat. / did not discover amy
gold, but | gained great deal of eX
perience and bush knowledge which
served me afterward.
At the end Of the first year | tool
a situa ton on a back station as stock
man, and here / put in another year
getting fair wages, and writing home
hopeful letters to Maud, who replied
to them affectionately, assuring me O.
her faith and fidelity, which were grea
comforts to me in my lonely and hare
life.
Then ] struck out again gold-seek
ing. this time with three experiences
mates, who put me up to many dodge
connected with the soil and eartl
signs, and with whom I wandered IA
inland prospecting with indifferen
luck; still we managed to jog along AM
indulge in an occasional visit to th
different townships, where we dispose'
of our tiny nuggets and laid in pre-
visions for another spell of the bush.
The five years slipped away in thu
way and at the end Of them l was u
about the same condition Of Worldl
position as before. We had not struc
upon the lucky claim, although w
often seemed close enough to it to haV
| q week or so of excitement and t
keep me hopeful in my home love
letters.
But Maud Davis had grown tired G
hopes so distant, and in one of be
. letters-the last that I received froI
{ her-she told me that she had becom
| wearied of wasting her time any longe
and was about to be married to tn
: village baker, so that I need not bottle
writing any more, unless l cared I
:, return her letters.
r That kind Of settled me as far a
I any laundering after the old countr
j was concerned, so, after reading a
e her letters over again, and, L al
p ashamed to confess, wetting a few c
|" them with some womanish tears,
packed them up, and getting the fe'
small nuggets / had left made into
f brooch. I sent them home to her. wit
: the brooch as wedding present, an
g then 1 turned my back on my chun
l. and civilization and made for the neve
never land by myself.