A COLONIAL LIFE. 
error or have one madej in the original choice of a 
profession. How often do we hear of the old Scotch 
saying, when speaking of any one who has been 
unsuccessful, or unfortunate, ‘ He’s misla’en his trade 
nor is it so only, with the assistant and superintend- 
ent. The same saying can be applied to many pro- 
prietors ; Mr. Wildgoose had evidently mistaken his 
trade. And this is one of the secrets wherein suc- 
cess can be attained in any colony. 
M en who had been brought up as banking clerks, 
or in merchants’ offices, or whose talent lay in the 
management of spinning mills, went out to Australia, 
at the time of the great run towards that colony, ex- 
pecting to make their fortunes, but they did n’t. They 
found the clipping or shearing of sheep, and the clear- 
ing of land in the bush, however romantic it might 
read in “The Guide Book to ilustralia,” was a very difier- 
ent thing in practice. They found it was not in their 
line, and, try it as they liked, they could not like it. 
It is a matter of history now, and it will be a 
matter of history in all time to come, the reaction 
caused in all our colonies, by an overstock of emi- 
grants, and if the question is narrowly examined, it 
will be found the chief evil, or evils arose, not so 
much from the number of the immigrants, as the 
quality of the talent or labour. 
We continually hear of some making fortunes in 
some of our colonies. When this comes under the 
notice of young men, who are hanging about the old 
country, and cannot get anything to do, no, not as 
much as to supply the necessaries of life, the first 
natural impulse is, to go and do likewise, without 
at all making any investigation as to whether or not 
they are in possersion of the natural qualities and 
abilities, which no doubt the successful ‘man they 
would fain copy had. They do not think how, or 
w^hy, he has realized a fortune, but merely that he 
has come from such a colony, and if^ they proceed 
there also, no doubt they will be equally successful. 
Or, to put it briefly, because Mr. A. has returned 
from Ceylon after a residence of twenty years with 
a good competency, they have nothing to do but to 
pack up their trunks, get a few letters of introduction, 
take out their passage by the P. & O., and come 
back equally successful, or very probably (such are 
the bright hopes of youth) in less than half the 
time, for they are quite sure the man whom they 
would fain copy was and is ‘ ‘ rather a slowcoach. ” 
No doubt, but let us look on the other side. Is 
the other party sure,- that he is not too fast^i I 
think I see some one, after the day’s work is over, 
K 
