LEtistory of the “ Dayspring.” 57 
of the Golden Town. In a happy hour, however, it occurred to the Rev. 
Mr. Inglis, of St. John’s Church, Ballarat, that as the ‘ Dayspring’ 
could not be taken to Ballarat, Ballarat, or at least young Ballarat, 
might be taken to the ‘ Dayspring’ and to Geelong. The idea at once 
took, and an idea which takes at Ballarat is usually soon put into exe- 
cution. Meetings of Sabbath-school teachers were held, letters were 
written, deputations were sent, telegrams were despatched, the Railway 
Department was applied to, and it was very soon arranged that excur- 
sion trains should be sent to Geelong to bring the children of Ballarat 
and its neighbourhood to see the ‘ Dayspring’ and the sea. Some people 
may think that so young a town as Ballarat cannot have as many child- 
ren as other towns, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants; but 
just the reverse is the case. The immigrants who came to Victoria 
in the great rush some sixteen and eighteen years ago, were chiefly 
newly-married people, and one can scarcely walk a street in a town now 
without treading on children. I can say at any rate for Ballarat that the 
Sabbath-school children’s meeting, which we held in the Alfred Hall, 
was the largest gathering of children I ever addressed, and was, in fact, 
the largest religious meeting I ever saw in this country. 
An excursion train from Ballarat to Geelong under such auspices and 
arrangements was sure to be popular. Many of these children had 
never seen the sea; the ‘ Dayspring’ had often been described to them, 
and was an object of intense interest to them; the Sabbath teachers 
wanted a holiday ; and so when the excursion day came it was found 
that the railway was required to convey 3000 people, old and young, to 
Geelong and back. It is understood that this is by a long way the 
largest multitude that ever left Ballarat at the same time by rail. They 
needed three separate trains, but the department was equal to the occa- 
sion ; and in due time Geelong was astonished to see its streets invaded 
by an immense procession, chiefly of well-dressed youngsters, all mar- 
shalled in excellent order, and preceded by a couple of stalwart High- 
landers, magnificently arrayed in tartan, and discoursing excellent music 
out of the bagpipes! The ‘ Dayspring,’ of course, was the great attrac- 
tion ; but the children were-also taken to the Botanic Gardens, where 
within sight of the shipping and the bay, they had several hours of sport 
and rare enjoyment. Nor were their juvenile appetites forgotten; a 
providore had been sent down from Ballarat the day before with lots of 
provisions, and the rapid consumption of buns was a sight to see. 
By four o’clock in the afternoon the various schools began to 
assemble on the railway platform’ for their return to Ballarat, and by 
