ral England I knew so little, from actual personal experience,
yet loved so well--who should know better than I (sinning against the
light in the writing of this unpardonably involved sentence) that such
restlessness, such nostalgia, are no more based upon reason than is a
bilious headache. The philosopher should, and does, scorn such an itch
of the mind, well knowing that were he foolish enough to let it affect
his actions or guide his conduct he would straightway cease to be a
philosopher, and become instead a sort of human shuttlecock, for ever
tossing here and there, from pillar to post, under the unreasoning
blows of that battledore which had been his mind. Nay, rather the
strappado for me, at any time, than abandonment to foolishness so
crass as this would be.

Over and above all this I deliberately chose my 'way out,' and it is
good. I am assured the life of this my hermitage is one better suited
to the man I am to-day than any other life I could hope to lead
elsewhere. The mere thought of such a fate as a return to the
maelstrom of London journalism--is it not a terror to me, and a thing
to chill the heart like ice? Here is peace all about me, at all
events, and never a semblance of pretence or sham. And if I, my inner
self, cannot find peace here, where peace so clearly is, what should
it profit me to go seeking it where peace is not visible at all, and
where all that is visible is turmoil, hurry, and fret?

Australia is a good land. Its bush is beautiful; its men and women are
sterling and kindly, and its children more blessed (even though,
perhaps, rather more indulged) than the children of most other lands.
For the wage-earner who earns his living by his hands, and purposes
always to do so, I deliberately think this is probably the best
country in all the world. It is his own country. He rules it in every
sense of the word; and there is no class, institution, or individual
exercising any mastery over him. Millionaires are scarce here, and so
perhaps are men brilliant in any direction. But really poor folk,
hungry folk, folk who must fight for bare sustenance, are not merely
scarce--they are unknown in this land.

That is a great thing to be able to say for any country, and surely
one which should materially affect the peace of mind of every thinking
creature in it. Whilst very human, and hence by no means perfect, the
people of this country have about them a pervasive kindliness, which
is something finer