Australia, as you may all see, my readers, by getting out your geographies, is in the Pacific Ocean, down in the tropics and lying south-east of Asia. It is generally called a continent; but it looks very small, does it not, compared to Asia or either of the Americas? Now, look down on the south-east coast of this little continent and you will see Botany Bay and the city of Sydney lying close together. Look a little to the south-west of Sydney and you will find Goulburn. Camden, which is a comparatively new town, is not marked on the old maps, lies between Sydney and Goulburn.
This region you will find marked as the "gold region." But gold was not discovered until 1857, eleven years after the Chittendens settled in their new home.
The country in New South Wales is good for farming and grazing; with the exception that it is subject to extremes of drouth and floods. There are no high mountain ranges, and very few rivers. There is no snow there, and the Winter season is a rainy season instead of being cold and freezing like our Winters. There are trees in that country which shed their bark instead of their leaves. I shall speak of these trees and the uses to which their bark is put further on. Then, there grows a native cherry, which has the pit on the outside, and the fruit inside. Wouldn't that be queer?
There are many precious stones found in this country, and also considerable gold; but the discovery of gold failed to excite William Chittenden, or turn him from the even tenor of his way.
On the 15th of April, 1853, a son was born to the Chittendens, who was christened William John, but who only lived a few weeks.
Some time after his death Mary dreamed that she was lying in her bed asleep. It was, as you might say, a dream within a dream. As she lay sleeping two men, each carrying a satchel in one hand and a cane in the other, came to the foot of her bed. She dreamed then that she awoke from her dream and looked earnestly at these two men; so earnestly that their faces were indelibly fixed upon her memory. One of them held out to her a little book.
"What is the use of my taking the book?" she thought within herself, "I cannot read a line, for I have never learned to read." Then, after a moment's hesitation, she thought, "Why, I can take it and my children can read it to me." So she took the book.
One of the men said these remarkable words to her:
"We are clothed upon with power to preach to the people."
She awoke in reality then, with those strange words thrilling her with a new power she had never felt before. She roused her husband up and related her dream, and he replied kindly to her.