ject; and, as we may have occasion to revert to
it again, for the present we will dismiss it from our thoughts.

CHAPTER XIII.

"Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide,
He wales a portion with judicious care;
And 'let us worship God' he says with solemn air."

BURNS.

The party at the "Bullock's Head" retired early to rest in order to
proceed on their journey at a corresponding hour on the following
morning. They slept and rose, breakfasted and resumed their travel; and
the same afternoon arrived at Barra Warra, where they were welcomed by
their kind-hearted friends, the Dawsons. It is needless for us here to
detail the circumstances of the visit; suffice it to say, that the lady
of the house and Kate Ferguson at once established their friendship on
a firm basis; and the gentlemen passed their time pleasantly, and in a
manner congenial to their respective tastes. The only event during the
period of their sojourn, which we deem necessary to narrate, is that of
preaching in the bush.

A day or two after their arrival--on a Sunday morning--Mr. Dawson placed
his large wool-shed, which at the time was nearly empty, at the disposal
of Mr. Wigton, for the purpose of there holding Divine service; and he
gave intimation on the station that such would take place. Though Mr.
Dawson was a conscientious adherent of the Anglican church, he was not
one of those who, in the absence of a place of worship where the
adoration is conducted not strictly in accordance with the prescribed
formulae of his church, would abstain from attendance on any other
denominational service. He was devoid of such bigotry; and considered it
a duty, when an opportunity of public worship presented itself (even
though the minister officiating was not deemed perfectly orthodox by
the tenets of the Episcopalian creed), to avail himself of it. Where
means of ministration were rare, he considered sectarian distinctions
prejudicial to the cause of the gospel, and deemed the only essential to
be an earnest truthfulness and piety on the part of the clergyman. He
always encouraged the ordinances of religion on his station, and the
inculcation of moral principles among his men.

The Sabbath was one of those lovely days so peculiar to the sunny
regions of favoured Australia. The sky was without a cloud to vary its
unbroken and immaculate azure, and the sun shone with a voluptuous
lu