The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1894-10-05
IN FAIR AUSTRALIA.
DR.. rALMAGE IMPRESSED BY ITS
BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR.

sydney Harbor. the Magnificent Gate to a
Wonderful Country-A Beautiful Picture
} Of tho Breaking Day-Sweet Voices of the
Postoiiice Chimes.
| copyright, Louis Klopsch, ls9il
SYDNEY, Aug 7.--Pitched, shaken,
twisted, flung sickened. bruised, dis
mayed, alarmed are some of the words
which describe our feelings while cross
ing from New Zealand to Australia We
heard that the passage was like crossing
the channel at Calais from France -
England, but that, instead of the hour
and half it would be four days and q
half 1t was worse than we expected and
worse than usual We had nearly six
days of it. Tho only alienation Of the
4 voyage was the captain, who was jolly at
thG time to be jolly, serious at the time
to be serious and deeply religious at all
times. Converted in Presbyterian
church in New Zealand, he has become
a flaming evangcl, preaching on board
his steamer once or twice every Sabbath
Our rough sea experience prepared us
for full appreciation of one of the
brightest panoramas of the land and
sky that ever unrolled before mortal vi
sion. Captain Neville said to us, "Wo
will soon be in sight of the Australian
coast, and when we approach the harbor
Of Sydney come up ON my bridge, and
will point out to you the objects of in
terest. " THANK you, WAS our reply
to the unusual invitation, for sea cap
tains do hot ordinarily like to have
company on the steamers bridge In a
| few moments we climbed to the sido of
the captain. Great walls of rock built
| by the eternal God reached along tho
coast and stopped only wide enough
spart to allow ships to enter and to keep
the boisterous ocean out.
"Yonder, said the captain, lis tho
retreat in the rocks which i'll tho twi
light deceived the captain of the DUH
Can Dunbar to mistake it for the harbor
and to aim for 1t, crashing into destruc-
ton All on board persisted save one
man; who was picked up after he had
hoated down onto the shelving.
| Safely we rode III between the two
great brown pillars of Hawkesbury
sandstone, and then began the revela-
( ton of harbor such as nowhere else i'll
the wido world is to be found The
| whole Scene is an Odyssey, "Di-
sina Commedia, an Old Testament
and d New Testament of grandeur and
loneliness You cannot for moment
relax your energy of Watching without
missing something which you cannot
see again. The white palaces of the
merchant princes of Sydney shine
through the foliage of the trees Dip
ping to the bay are gardens abloom in
winter and lawns with an emerald like
unto the fourth layer of the wall of
heaven, Tropical plants and tropical
flowers stand side by side with the
Efowths of more rigorous climates.
| Vineyards and orange groves, pome-
granates and guavas and pineapples
growing in a revelry of luxuriance.
{. Norfolk pines, palm, Moreton bay fig
anu Eucalyptus trees. stretch their scep-
/ ters over the scene. Complete bewitch-
ment of landscapes! "SteadyP' cried
the captain to the man at the wheel.
Steady" But 10 observer can keep
very steady while watching this ever
3babging, ever inspiring, ever enchant-
ing scene. ''Yof,der is the monastery.
Yonder, just coming in sight, is the adj
| miral's house. Yonder is the universe
| II. yonder are the houses Of parlia-
ment. Yonder are the old prisons.
There is the governors residence"
Here, sweeping up close to our steamer,
are launches with excursionists. Yonder
are sailing boats SO small they suggest
| f1uttering sea gulls While the area Of
the harbor is said to be nine square
miles, the water line of it, if followed
up and down all its ihlets, would be
1900 miles The ripping waters kiss
| the beach, and the beach embraces the
bay. At the next turn of our steamers
| wheel more garniture of island and har-
Dor and inlet and promontory. Oh,
how the marine loneliness played 'hide
and SEEK amid the islands! Five
grim batteries pointing their Armstrong
guns of us, but only in play. "Yon-
der" says the captain, is French
steamer, yonder an American and yon-
| der an Englishman.
Sydney harbor is so broad and honest
| that no pilot was needed to come on
| board Room here for all the navies of
| the earth to ride in and secrete them
selves SO that they could not be found
without much search. Room for the
Great Easterns of the past and the
| Companies of the present to wheel
without peril. Room to welcome all the
centuries and generations and ages
which are yet to drop anchor in its
clear depths He only belittles and be-
dwarfs and bemeans Sydney harbor who
compares it to the bay of Naples or the
entrance to Rio Janeiro.
God works by no model, and this har-
Dor was Of divine origination. He
| works with rocks and waters and skies
as easily as architects work with pencil
and rule and compass, and he intended
this harbor not to be repetition of
anything that had ever been done and
to make it impossible for any human
engineering or landscape gardening or
| hydraulics to initiate. 1t is winding
splendor, an unfolding glory, tran
scendent illustration of what omnipo-
tence can do in the architecture of an
ocean gate.
The day we entered it clouds of all
hues were looking down into its mirror;
beauties of all styles were walking its
| opaline pavement; grandeurs of all
chariots were rolling across its crystal
| line highway On the captains bridge
we stood until near enough to the wharf
to see the deputation of clergymen and
prominent citizens who were waiting to
come aboard to greet us, and when they
thronged the cabin of the steamer and
addressed us in welcoming words we
were compelled by our own feelings to
reply, Brethren and friends, after sail
ing against n2ad winds and over very
rough seas, il is most delightful to get