Year: 1869

In recounting what I may safely call
the dream of my life, do not propose to
speculate on the origin of dreams IN gen
eral. Whether those mysterious agencies
known under the names of mesmerism,
Odic force, or animal magnetism which are
said to hold certain temperaments Zen
rapport" with each other, influencing the
sleeping thoughts and every day actions of
life, had anything to do with my particular
case. | will not pretend to say; others
must Judge, if what happened was attrib
utable to such causes, or if it was merely
series of curious condolences All l
know is, that at Lucerne, some years ago,
| dreamed dream which, heralding as it
did, the most important epoch in my Ca
reer, and foreshadowing my subsequent
fate, am fully justified in looking upon
as most unmistakable portent, and the
remarkable circumstances under which it
occurred leave it a very open question
whether it was the result of mere chance
or whether there are not, indeed, certain
unknown and unmeasured influences at
work surely but silently around the web of
every human existence.


When, at the age of eighteen, 1 was on
the point of commencing a college educa-
ton, my father died, and to the surprise of
every one, instead of leaving me a hand
some independence, it was found his assets
were next to "nil." 1t was an ordinary
case, supposed affluence proved to have
been absolute poverty, fair position only
upheld, until the desperate struggle with
overwhelming odds to keep up appear
ances was put an end to by death. Natur-
ally, my plans and prospects went with
the wreck; | must abandon every scheme
of ambition which had ever nursed, and
/ must earn my bread. So, instead of 60
ing to Oxford, l went into merchants S
counting house.


/ should not perhaps have realized so
tangibly this change of fortune, had it not
been accompanied by misery which, to
an earnest disposition at the outset OF life,
is almost overwhelming / had formed an
attachment to the only daughter of the
tutor in whose house | was living, whilst
being prepared for my Alma Mater. 1t
could scarcely be called an engagement,
inasmuch as, although our parents were
not averse to the affair, they yet reason
ably maintained that we were too young,
and it had been settled that if, at the ex-
piraticn of five years, we were still both
of the same mind, no objection should be
offered to our union My father quite ap-
proved of my marrying early, saying that
as my prospects were good, if could find
girl whom really loved, it mattered lit
tie whether she had money or not, and
the Rev. Hugh Mollett saw in the alliance
all that he could wish for his pOrtionless
daughter. Beyond an occasional visit on
my part, no communication was to be per-
mitted, and all parties seemed quite salts
fled with this arrangement. which had
been arrived at just as | was about to
leave my tutors house, and when my ia
theirs sudden death shattered the whole
fabric


Many long months elapsed, and still the
grief and disappointment, consequent
chiefly, as have limited, upon the termi-
nation which was thus put to my lOve-af-
fair, were unsubdued. Molett, who was
sufferer financially by my family troubles,
naturally insisted that the slight inter
course proposed should be, together with
our future plans, entirely cancelled. He
argued, reasonably, that my prospects now
no longer warranted the contemplation of
matrimony; it was great question
whether [ should be able even to keep
myself, much less wife and family. He
was deaf to all my appeals and avowals
of answering fidelity; and gave me
no credit for the determination which
i declared, if he would only give me the
time, of yet being able in some degree to
retrieve my lost fortunes If he would
only, | urged, allow me still to look for
ward to the possession of his daughters
hand, | should have motive for exertiOn
which nothing else could supply. In
word, used every argument which my
sincere affection for Bertha prompted, and
which can be imagined as coming from a
lad in the passionate enthusiasm of his
first love.


After much correspondence, my letters
were at last returned unopened. | was
wild, mad with my sorrow | scraped
together what little money could, and, in
mt OF desperation one morning. shipped
myself as a steerage passenger on board
vessel bound for the Antipodes MY re-
cent employment as merchants clerk
had taken me a great deal amongst the
docks: | was continually witnessing the
departure of the Australian liners. | had
frequently speculated on the prospects
which a new country offered to men of
energy and enterprise in my situation, and
now that the only tie which could make
England dear to me was entirely broken,
L determined to quit her forever, unless |
should be able to return and take up the
position to which, from my earliest days,
i had been taught to belIye [ was enti-
tied


Fortune smiled on all my efforts in the
new country, not that / especially courted
or deserved her favors, for was Indifferent
as to how matters went with me for long
while after leaving London, Yet every
thing L touched literally turned to gold.
Making my way to the diggings, became
most successful adventurer, coming day
after day upon vast quantities of the
precious ore, and realizing, i'm a few
months, more than many had done in
twice the number of years. Like many
things in this world, my Indifference as to
whether found the gold or not seemed to
be the reason for my meeting with it every
where My fame as a finder spread,
bringing with tits consequent dangers and
narrow escapes, the cupidity and lawless
state of society in these regions. obliging
every one to defend with his life the re-
suits of his industry or good luck Great
gain had really not been my original
thought in going up there, but imagined
that any merely intellectual, or monotOn-
ously routiEe-like existence i'm CITY,
would not half so cffectually distract my
mind from its settled grief and disappoint-
ment as the wild and adventurous life
must necessarily lead in the gold-felds l
found, however, that this was only partial
1y the case / never forgot my sorrow,
but as my wealth increased, by degrees /
ciung to that, not with any miserly inten-
ton, but because it seemed to open the
prospect of my some day returning to
England a rich man; and if | did so,
might not still make Bertha MOllett my
wife? 1 could not entirely repress the
latent hope, and yet dared not indulge in
it; nevertheless, it would sometimes assert
itself, and indirectly it undoubtedly had
an influence on my future plans


/ spent several years as a digger, paving
periodical visits to Melbourne, where [
turned the nuggets and dust to the best
account Then grew weary of the work
and the life, my health was not good, and
/ finally determined to settle in Melbourne,
and, If possible, by judicious commercial
speculation, complete the fortune Of which
had already laid more than good foun-