Homesteading 



All this may not be without great good in the 

 future, for there must be many faithful hearts 

 who, through the dearth of time-honoured reh- 

 gious observances, may realize a deeper spiritual 

 religion. This may bear noble fruit in time 

 to come, especially if it helps those who experi- 

 ence it to see that the essence of Christianity 

 does not consist so much in building beautiful 

 churches and in paying good salaries to popular 

 preachers as in doing justly and loving mercy ; 

 in fact, the opposite of that mere materialism 

 which is so rampant. 



It is only fair to add that among the settlers 

 there is (apart from religious profession, and in 

 spite of some littleness) very much of that spirit 

 of mutual helpfulness and goodwill towards each 

 other which is surely of the very alphabet of 

 Christianity, and one longs that in this great 

 new nation this spirit should permeate the 

 Churches, and through them the State. 



Tom and I were invited to eat our Christmas 

 dinner with a family who lived some five miles 

 away to the north-west, so, having fed and watered 

 our stock, we set forth early in the day, not for- 

 getting to take with us a turkey which we had 

 procured, to help out the feast. The day proved 

 fine, though there was a bitter wind, but our 

 faithful bulls went cheerily along, and there was 



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