They had now been married eighteen years and Mary had borne seven girls and two boys; neither of the two boys, however, had lived but a short time. The farm upon which they lived had been rented, or leased, from a large land-owner named McArthur, for twenty-one years. This McArthur owned some thousands of acres of farming and grazing land in this region, which was leased in farms of various proportions.
The Chittendens' farm consisted of two hundred acres, and was mostly farming land. The terms upon which they leased it were very similar to others in that country. For the first five years they paid sixpence an acre. After that it was ten shillings an acre.
William put up the house in which they lived, and an odd house it was, too. First he took a number of poles, or uprights, which he placed in the earth at regular distances. With these he made the framework of his house. Between these uprights were placed smaller poles. Then he took fine willows and wove them, or turned them round the center, or smaller pole, resting the ends on the larger poles. In and out went these willows, something the same way as you will see willow fences here. Then he made a thick mud and well covered the whole, inside and out. Next came a good plaster of lime and sand, and finally all was whitewashed. The roof was made with rafters laid across the top. Now came in this bark about which I told you. Going up to the forests which were found on the near hillsides, the bark was cut in the lengths wanted at the top and bottom of the tree; then with a sharp knife split on two sides, upon which it peeled off in thick, straight slabs. It was then nailed on in the place of shingles, each one overlapping the under one. Then the floor was nailed down with wooden pegs, "adzed" off and finally smoothed with a jack-plane.
In this manner one large sitting-room, two bedrooms, a dairy and a kitchen, detached from the main building, were built; to which was afterwards added a long porch to the front of the house, which faced east, the rooms all being built in a row.
Mary cooked upon a brick oven, which was built upon a little standard just between the kitchen and the house.
Large fire-places were built in the kitchen and sitting-room. The one in the kitchen, being big enough to take three immense logs, which would burn steadily for a whole week.
The dairy was well furnished with pans, pails, etc.
CHAPTER III.
In 1853, William decided to take a trip up to Sydney to sell a load of grain, bringing back with him, if he succeeded as he wished, a load of freight for some settlement or town near his home. There was a great demand for wheat now as many hundreds of emigrants had rushed into the great gold country. William left the farm to be managed by his prudent little wife and started out on his hundred mile trip. How little did he dream of the result of this journey! On his arrival in Sydney after the disposal of his wheat, he walked out to see an old friend named William Andrews who lived in the suburbs of the town. Here he passed the time until evening when Mr. Andrews remarked, "I say, Chittenden, I've got some brothers come from America, and I am going up to see them. Would you like to go along?"
"Oh, yes," replied William, "I didn't know you had any brothers in America!"