KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



65 



HAPPINESS AND ITS OPPOSITE,— 



OR 



THE INSATIATE THIEST FOR GOLD. 



If solid Happiness we prize, 

 Within our breast this jewel lies ; 



And they are fools who roam. 

 The world has nothing to bestow ; 

 From our own selves our joys must flow, 



And that dear hut, oub. home. 



Cotton. 



Happiness is a road-side flower, growing in the high- 

 ways of usefulness. Plucked, it srhall wither in thy 

 hand ; passed by, it is fragrance to thy spirit . 



Ttjpper. 



UESTIONABLE indeed is 

 that which mankind call 

 Happiness ! Much has been 

 written on the subject, by 

 the best of men ; but it 

 never had, never will have, 

 any lasting good effect. The 

 world have their own ideas about it, and all 

 argument is vain. 



We took occasion, in our second volume, 

 to call attention to the fatal folly exhibited 

 by those who, despite of all warning, would 

 give up good situations in England to seek 

 their fortunes in foreign climes. This folly 

 has been already repented of by many thou- 

 sands who have reached Australia, and are 

 now starving there. Letters innumerable are 

 daily arriving full of ill-news; yet is the 

 mania for " gold, gold, gold," still on the 

 increase. There are more people waiting 

 to go out, than there are ships to receive 

 them. 



For us, or indeed for any body, to attempt 

 to argue with people mad for gold — the very 

 name of which makes them forsake friends 

 and country — would be folly. We say, let 

 ■ such madmen go ; and let them be well 

 punished for their folly. Perhaps they will 

 return, as many have already done, wiser 

 men. Our heart has ached, whilst listening 

 to the dismal tales of woe related by those 

 who have given up their all for a mere 

 shadow. They went out full of glee, dream- 

 ing of gold and happiness. They have re- 

 turned home penniless, and truly miserable. 

 Many of our well-salaried clerks, redolent of 

 kid gloves, pomatum, and macassar, whose 

 " heavy" hours of " business" averaged daily 

 some six or eight hours, are among the ven- 

 turers. These, we learn, are in a most de- 

 plorable condition. They find lavender- 

 water, cambric handkerchiefs, a well cut 

 coat, and figured shirts, little esteemed there. 

 Gold rings, too, on their fingers, and large 

 diamond pins in their shirt-fronts, stand 

 them in little stead. They gaze upon the 

 gold, exhibited in large lumps at the win- 

 dows of the dealers, and wish themselves 

 at home again ! The accounts received of 

 these silly boys are very laughable ; but 

 they really ought to have a voice, seeing that 



many hundreds of other equally silly boys 

 are preparing to follow suit. This by way 

 of a hint. 



The subjoined extracts from a letter, gives 

 so fair a statement of Life at the Diggings, 

 that we feel sure our readers will enjoy a 

 perusal of them. The letter was written by 

 a son to his mother. The names of the par- 

 ties, of course, we suppress : — 



Melbourne, July 30, 1852.— I told you of my 

 start for the diggings, with my stores, &c, in 

 mine of the 28th of April. On my arrival our 

 company broke up, and I, joining with Dr. M'C, 

 worked there till the latter end of June (in the 

 most part of the time dreadful wet weather), when, 

 as we had clone very little good in that time, 

 owing to the obstacles thrown in our way by the 

 continued wet, I sold off my stores at very good 

 prices, and returned to Melbourne, which I 

 reached again on the 8th of this month. I sold 

 flour, that I had given £3 per bag for, for £16 ; 

 sugar, for which I had given 3d. per lb., at Is 6d., 

 and so on. My two horses, cart, and harness, cost 

 me close on £80 ; I sold them for 3lb 2f oz. of 

 gold, which at £2 17s. per ounce, was £110, the 

 price agreed upon by the buyer ; but I brought 

 the gold to Melbourne, and sold at £3 3s. per ounce, 

 so that they brought me in £121, I making about 

 £40 by the transaction. But such a sum as £40 

 is not thought much of here now, as gold-diggers 

 think nothing frequently of giving £50 or £60 

 for a couple of two-horse flys to drive a wedding 

 party about the town for two or three hours. 



There are one or two of those weddings here 

 nearly every day. The party drive up one street 

 and down another half the day ; shewing them- 

 selves off, and getting gradually drunk as the day 

 advances. You would stare in London to see 

 such a wedding, the whole party, excepting per- 

 haps, the bride and bridesmaids, smoking ; and 

 generally one, the drunkest of the party, leaning 

 half over the back of the fly, black bottle in hand, 

 inviting the public in general to have a ' nobbier.' 

 One of these weddings frequently costs the ' happy 

 bride-groom' £300 or £400. 



We understand, that very little indeed can 

 be said about u virtue" here. No females 

 whatever, of any respectability, can go about 

 unprotected ; even what they see on every 

 hand, is enough to shake their principles to the 

 very foundation. Modesty is all but unknown 

 This we can readily understand — but how 

 deplorable the thought ! Let us inquire fur- 

 ther, about the accommodation afforded to 

 new-comers : — 



August 31. — People are flocking in from all 

 countries now, and there is not accommodation for 

 a tenth of them. Some have to sleep in sheds, &c, 

 who never knew anything but a feather-bed in 

 England. 



Let our scented young clerks, with their 

 oiled and curled locks, and Spanish leather 

 boots, think of this. There will be no Tur- 

 key carpets to receive them at night —no 

 divans where they can loll away their time 



Vol. III.— 5. 



