“When Horace was sixteen years of age he expressed to me his earnest desire to engage in some special work for the spread of the gospel, which he had learned himself to prize above all earthly things. His father at this time was not residing with me in the town, but held the post of manager of my country estate and sheep-farm, which flourished admirably under his most vigorous and faithful superintendence; for he was a born ruler of others, and a man of such decision of character that everything he laid his hands to fell, as it were, into order under his unflagging and indomitable energy. I knew that I had ‘the right man in the right place,’ and was satisfied. However, when his son expressed this his heart’s desire to me, we rode up together to my country house and laid the matter before Mr Jackson.
“He seemed at first confused and embarrassed when I mentioned the subject to him, and asked me to wait for his views upon it till the following day. So we spent the night at the farm; and the next day the father and myself walked towards the neighbouring hills, and then he told me, what you may be sure I was deeply thankful to hear, that what he was pleased to call the consistent Christianity which he had witnessed in our household had been blessed to himself, and that he trusted that he was now endeavouring to live as a true follower of his Saviour.
“‘You will approve, then,’ I said, ‘of Horace’s wish to be trained for direct gospel work.’
“‘Yes and no,’ he replied. ‘By no,’ he added, ‘I mean that I do not wish him to enter the ministry. I have reasons of my own for this which just now I would rather keep to myself; but one day, and it may be before very long, I should like you to know them.’
“‘And what would you wish, then, Horace to do?’ I asked.
“‘I will talk the matter over with him,’ he said. And he did so that day; and the result was that the young man proposed, with his father’s full approbation, to pass through a course of training in medicine and surgery with a view to his becoming qualified for the post of medical missionary. So, on our return to Melbourne, the necessary steps were taken; and two years ago my nephew left us for a short experimental trip to one of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, under the guidance of an excellent and experienced missionary.
“And now I am coming to a very sad and wonderful part of my story; but as I have talked long enough now to weary myself if not to weary you, I will ask you to amuse yourselves for a while among the grounds and in the park till tea-time, and after tea I shall be happy to conclude my story, the most important part of which is yet to come.”