EMIGRATING 



even equipped with a microscope and a big magic lantern 

 — ^the last two treasured possessions of my father. 



I may say, parenthetically, he was the pioneer with 

 the late Sir Francis Lycett of working men's clubs; 

 really the germ of that idea led to the foundation of 

 the People's Palace, for which chiefly Walter Besant 

 got his knighthood. 



" How much ready have you got with you ? " asked 

 Walter Pallant at Gravesend. 



" Very little," was the reply ; " but here's the wine." 



" I didn't mean that," he added, " but I was think- 

 ing that a lot of these things could have been better 

 turned into ready in England before you left. You'll 

 get nothing out there on them." Such was the mind 

 at nineteen to twenty. 



I can tell you that with a lot of scientific slides for 

 the lantern, and all sorts of extraordinary things in the 

 microscope, I got the reputation on board of being 

 a very studious young man. But I am afraid this was 

 belied on more than one occasion. Emigration was 

 all right in my case, for I was capable of making my 

 living, and had relatives in the country I was going to. 

 But what a farce it was to reckon up the prospects 

 of others on the ship. Some of them had really been 

 shipped off by their families to get rid of them. One 

 or two were in the last stages of consumption, and 

 others were not at all endowed with any attribute for 

 colonial life. It was the same old story with many of 

 them. They landed with a bit of ready and went to 

 the best hotel in the place. Look for work ? Not a 

 bit of it. They became " remittance men." Two or 

 three on the ship obviously had been sent because of 

 their capacity to absorb. The captain had instruc- 

 tions about two, and the steward limited the amount 

 of whisky, while he could give them as much bottled 



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