The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-01-02
IN THE ANT CITY.

LIN LIZ AN I'll L.
When I left Maud Davis, my engaged
wife, and told her that I would be home
again to claim her in less than Eve
years, being young and hopeful / was as
positive about being able to do this as I
felt about her love and fidelity.
Five years look quite long enough
to a young man of 90 to turn himself
about in a new country and make q for
tune for the girl he loves; quite. long
enough to ask any girl, no matter how
constant she may be by nature, to wait
patiently and keep herself select for,
while as for wedlock it would justs1eave
us old enough to know our own minds
and young enough to begin to enjoy the
life before us.
So with these hopes and philosophical
reflections / said goodby to pretty and
gentle Maud Davis and began my ad-
ventures.
Brisbane, Queensland, was the port /
set sail for, as it was the newest colony
at the time and the most doomed nm In
the papers, &c that I had lots of compa-
ny to take make the passage cheerful
all fortune hunters and nearly all as
hopeful and ~impecunious as was my
self.
We were not taking much among us
to the promised land, but felt a blind
confidence that we should get ell we fe-
quired out of it and go home again TO
enjoy ourselves with the proceeds,
which is a very common state of affairs
with immigrants to Australia.
Most people know pretty we'll from
books if they have not seen it what
Brisbane is like at the present day-as
noble and prosperous q city as any one
can wish to settle down in. AT the time
| landed it had the site and markings of
the fine city it has become since, with
its magnificent winding river and nu-
merous hills, but it had a good deal of
building to be done about 1t and a great
amount of capital to be sunk in it be-
fore it could be boosted about as q city,
while the worst of it was that most of
the inhabitants had rushed to it in the
same condition that myself and ship
mates were in, the natural results of
which were that while the laborers were
many the masters to employ them were
exceedingly limited, in consequence OF
which / saw more tatterdemalions hang
ing about the streets hard up and idle
on my first days march than ] had seen
before in my life.
For a full week I rushed about the
different workshops and yards with a
crowd of applicants seeking vainly for q
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 I con-
sidered strictly needful / sold the re-
mainder of my stock at a sacrifice and
went On the tramp.
laid in q pickax and spade, with q
good steel hammer and a double bar
relied gun, and struck toward the north,
resolved to exist the best way I could
in the bush while / tried my hand 81
gold digging. / had no experience 81
the business, but was ready to take ad-
vantage OF anything that turned do,
which is the proper way to tackle the
colonies.
For the FIRST year I wandered about
by myself, living pretty much like 4
wild man Of the woods, until i was a
brown in the face as an Indian and a
hard az o backwoodsman, while my
clothes were as bepatched as Joseph'l
coat. | did not discover any gold, bu.
| gained a great deal of experience and
bush knowledge which served me after.
ward.
At the end of the first year l took
situation on a back station as stocknan,
and heie ! put in another year, getting
fair wages and writing home hopeful
letters Il Maud. who r~eplied~to them
affectionately, assuring me of her faith
and fidelity, which were great comforts
to me in my lonely and hard life.
Then ! struck out again gold seeking,
this time with three experienced mates,
who put me up to many lodges CON.
nected with the soil and earth signs,
and with whom / wandered far inland
prospecting, with Indifferent luck. Still
we managed to jog along and indulge
in an occasional visit to the different
townships, where we disposed Of oul
tiny nuggets and laid in provisions fol
: another spell Of the bush.
The Eve years slipped away in thil
way, and at the end OF them Twas ii
about the same condition OF worldly
position as before. We had not strucl
2 upon the lucky claim, although We hai
often seemed close enough to II to havy
. week or so Of excitement and 10 kee]
me hopeful In my home lore letters.
But Maud Davis had grown tired D
hope 20 distant, and in on of her Ut
ters, the last that / received from heE
she told me that she had become wea
ried Of wasting her time any longer an,
was about to be married to the villag
= baker, 90 that I need not bother writin,
any more. unless I cared to return he
q letters.
ell That kind of settled me SO far as On,
marketing after the old country was con
! cerned, 50 after reading all her letter
= nrxn~ aoaxxns osnH So. .at~r~~I -