Mr. Allen drove me to the railway-station. The address I had was for some people in Bradford, near Manchester. In the train I had to keep showing my ticket every here and there. I told them I was going to Bradford, and settled myself to have a good view of that beautiful country. When asked where I was going, I said, "Bradford." Trains and carriages were changed en route, and at last I found myself in Bradford, in Yorkshire. Then I showed my ticket and had it explained that the Bradford I wanted was a continuation of Manchester. I learned when I got there it bore the same relation as North Adelaide to Adelaide.
I had some tea in the town of Bradford, and got back to Manchester that night at about 11 o'clock. The people I was to go to were well known, as they kept the post and telegraph office. In this Bradford there was no break, so far as buildings went, and when I saw it afterwards it all seemed Manchester. Those kind folks had a letter from Adelaide to inform them that I would visit them, and expressing the hope that they would try and persuade the mother of the Adelaide lady to return with me to Adelaide. I got a cab to take me there, but they had gone to bed. How they did laugh when I told them I had gone to Yorkshire! I was interested in writing in my note-book all the names of the different places, but it was too much trouble to look at the ticket so many times. However, it was a lesson for me not to neglect the precaution again. Although the mistake was purely my own the railway company did not make any charge, and I got all that way back for the Manchester ticket. Mr. Allen got the ticket for me.
Only for that incident I would not have seen so many places. The train stopped at Wakefield and Halifax. It was dark coming back, and I had been in the train all that day, so that I was weary. I had the best bedroom and some supper, and when I awoke in the morning there were all the little children in the room to see the woman that came from aunty's place over the sea. There was the grandma, too, that I was to take back. She shook her head and said—"Na, na, I am a true Briton; I will never cross the sea. Here I was born, and here I will die."
There was plenty to be seen in Manchester. Mr. Ride, with whom I was staying, had a stationery and book shop, as well as the post-office, and the high reputation of Mr. and Mrs. Ride was acknowledged everywhere. They were well-known and respected. He seemed to have the "entree" to all the warehouses. In some of them I saw some busy-looking gentlemen from Adelaide hurrying about.
They took me to see the Bluecoat Boys' School. I made no note of that. I can see those dear boys now. No one could forget them. Then we went to Oldham and I did not like it so well. It looked a poor place and gloomy, and the humble people wore wooden clogs on their feet. The noise they made was distracting.
I stayed at Bradford with those people for a week. What with the people I was introduced to, the places visited, and the hospitality and amusement I received, it was enough to make me forget who I was. For the month of May it was not so warm as I had known it in Scotland at that time of the year. The eldest son had the charge of the telegraph-office, and I had the inner workings explained to me.
I RETURN TO MY OLD HOME.
It was easy to get a train from Manchester to Scotland. I went in the night train and had a nice sleeping compartment, through to Glasgow, which I reached about 7 o'clock in the morning. I had been away for ten years, but the place looked so familiar, except that they had tramcars running all over the place. I got in one and was soon at Dr. Fargus' house. A male attendant opened the door and told me that Mrs. Fargus was at their summer house at the seaside. I asked for the daughter, and was told that she was at home. She was a married lady now. I saw her and she remembered me. I brought some wild flowers and shells for her mother from the Cape. She was pleased and told me that they expected her mother back that night. She asked me to stay, and so the first night in Scotland I was in what seemed to me my old, old home. It was a rest indeed.
Mrs. Fargus returned, and I had much to tell. My listeners looked appalled; I saw tears in that dear lady's eyes, because of the ungenerousness of my husband. They would have liked me to go back to them again for all time, but I could not, however much I wished to do so, and although it was indeed a home of gladness. I slept that night in my same old bed. And the next day I went to see Mr. White, whom I had letters for, at Mary Hill, with his sons. He was in a bank in Glasgow, and he had a daughter in Adelaide. They had but one word to say—Would I come there? They had no other daughter. How they came clinging close to hear every word I could tell about their girl. There were three sons, and they were in Scotch Volunteers and wore the kilts. In the evening they brought a lot more in with kilts on to see a woman from Australia. I had one letter sent there. It was from Captain Alstone not to let me forget. I went then through the Slamannan, and after travelling about so much it did not seem far. For a time the rush of memories was awful. I got into the old identical train with a ticket for Slamannan. I cried all the way. I got there early in the afternoon. I could see no one whom I knew when I got out at the station, and I walked to the village. I saw one man whom I knew, and I made myself known to him. He took me to his home. His daughters and I were playmates as children. In walking along with him I passed the house where we lived. The door was open, and I could see the gooseberry bush that I had planted. I was not in Mr. Boyd's house five minutes before there had gathered a crowd of the people whom I used to know. Certainly I was the object of so much eagerness and curiosity that it was a comedy. They said they came for "auld lang syne." They questioned me as to whether I had seen Mr. So-and-So, who had gone to Melbourne. And someone else who had gone to Queensland. My brother-in-law's sister came and brought a large photo of her brother's place near Geelong. I remembered the man before he went there. They thought it strange I had not been to see him, as he was a prosperous and a rich man.