roached it to my wife, and told her that my opinion was that a far
better livelihood might be made in the new country than such people as
ourselves could hope for in England.

"You see how it is, my dear Martha," I said, "for many years your good
father toiled on in this trade, and though he lived comfortably and
brought you up well, he saved no money; and had he met with any reverse
like the loss of his vessel the case might have been different, and he
might easily have been ruined. Now, although I have worked harder than
he was able to do, and consequently have kept my head above water, with
a large family and greater expenses, I also have saved little, and am
sadly puzzled to know what to do with our boys, and I shall be unwilling
to send our pretty girls out to service; yet if they do not marry I can
never expect to leave enough to support them.

"I have been thinking of a hundred different ways of improving our
fortune in England, but not one has occurred to me in which the risk of
loss has not been too great. Thousands of families are exactly in our
position, and the fathers must feel that not only have they no chance of
rising in the world, but that when they die they must leave their
daughters exposed to all the dangers of a life of dependence. For the
boys I fear less; they will if they survive make their own way in life
as I have done, and are more fitted to bear its ups and downs. Now, my
dear wife, I know you would be ready to follow me to the end of the
world, even if it were to penury or death, but I am not going to ask you
to do that. I am going to propose to go to a far distant land, where I
trust we shall not only gain wealth, but happiness and contentment, and
see our family happily settled."

My wife, as I knew she would be, was ready to enter into my views,
though, as she had never been at sea further than Ramsgate, she could
not help looking with some dread at the long voyage, and she had read
some rather exaggerated accounts of bush-rangers and savages in Botany
Bay which were enough to frighten her. I soon, however, quieted all her
fears about the voyage as well as about the savages and bush-rangers,
and though I did not conceal from her that there were many difficulties
to be overcome, and dangers to be encountered, I pictured the future to
her in the bright colours it appeared to my own imagination. My eldest
boy was at sea, but we expected his return every day, and at all events
I dete