r and much richer than
himself, and she was living on two acres in North Adelaide, bought with
her money at the first sale of city lands in 1837, and Mr. Tinline
boarded with her till his marriage. The nephews, and especially the
nieces, of the old lady interested me--Lucy, the eldest, a handsome
girl, was about two years younger than myself; Arabella, about the age
of my sister Mary; Elizabeth, the baby Beare, who was the first white
person to set foot on South Australian soil after the foundation of the
province, died from a burning accident when quite young. The only
survivor of that first family now is William L. Beare (84), held in
honour as one of our earliest pioneers. By a second marriage there were
nine more children. Several died young, but some still survive.

It was not till 1843 that I went as a daily governess at the rate of
6d. an hour, and gave two hours five days a week to the families of the
Postmaster-General, the Surveyor-General, and the Private Secretary.
Thus I earned three guineas a month. I don't recollect taking holidays,
except a week at Christmas. I enjoyed the work, and I was proud of the
payment. My mother said she never felt the bitterness of poverty after
I began to earn money, and the shyness which, in spite of all her
instructions and encouragement, I had felt with all strangers,
disappeared when I felt independent. When a girl is very poor, and
feels herself badly dressed, she cannot help being shy, especially if
she has a good deal of Scotch pride. I think mother felt more sorry for
me in those early days than for the others, because I was so ambitious,
and took religious difficulties so hard. How old I felt at 17. Indeed,
at 14 I felt quite grown up. In 1843 I felt I had begun the career in
Australia that I had anticipated in Scotland. I was trusted to teach
little girls, and they interested me, each individual with a
difference. I had seen things I had written in print. If I was one of
the oldest in feeling of the young folk in South Australia in my teens,
I am the youngest woman in feeling in my eighties; so I have had
abundant compensation.

CHAPTER IV.

LOVERS AND FRIENDS.

It is always supposed that thoughts of love and marriage are the chief
concerns in a girl's life, but it was not the case with me. I had only
two offers of marriage in my life, and I refused both. The first might
have been accepted if it had not been for the Calvinistic creed that
made me shrink f