your own ignorance, and if ever you feel inclined to make
a display, you may be sure that you have as yet learned nothing. I
think I must write to mamma next time. Give my love to her, the
girls, old Anne, Aunt M., Miss R., etc., and when you write, tell
me what has become of Farwell, and any others of our schoolmates
you may know about.

Your affectionate brother,

WILLIAM J. WILLS.

. . .

St. Arnaud, April 10th, 1858.

MY DEAR MOTHER,

It is all very well to say write about anything, but it is
easier said than done. You will find that I have written Charley a
long letter, and I had no idea of doing so when I began, as you see
I commenced on note paper. But what would be the use of my writing
to you on such subjects, and all others are soon disposed of? (You
would not think I was a surveyor, to look at the parallelism of
these lines.) You tell me in one of your letters to write about
myself. That is a very poor subject, and one that a mother should
not recommend to a son. My father sent me a letter of yours a few
weeks ago, and I cannot say whether it most amused or pained me to
see the extraordinary way in which you rush to conclusions. Your
argument appears to be this: J. is acquainted with a Mr. T. another
Mr. T. has taken out some Miss G. G.'s, about whom there are
scandalous reports (which are as likely to be false as true):
therefore J. is sure to fall in love with one of the Miss G. G.'s.
As it happens, J. has not had the pleasure of meeting any of the
Miss G. G.'s, and it is quite probable that he never may, as
Australia is not a little place like Totnes; and I do not think he
would have any wish to connect himself with the G. family, or with
any family in marriage, at present. There is another thing, my dear
mother, in that letter. You talk about high and low people; I
presume you use the words in a very different sense from that in
which I understand them. I consider nothing low but ignorance,
vice, and meanness, characteristics generally found where the
animal propensities predominate over the higher sentiments. I have
yet to learn that there is anything high about the T.'s. Mr. T. is
a jolly little man, and lives more like a gentleman than most of
the people about the bush; but he has rather a tendency to the
animal development than otherwise, which makes it probable that
there may be some truth in the reports alluded to.

From what I can judge of this dear son of yours he is not likely, I
thi