ales!" Some of the tales appeared long after as
Christmas stories in The Adelaide Observer, but my young hearers
preferred the oral narrative, with appropriate gestures and emphasis,
and had no scruple about making faces, to anything printed in books. I
took great liberties with what I had read and sometimes invented all.
It was a part of their education, probably--certainly, it was a part of
mine, and it gave me a command of language which helped me when I
became a public speaker. My brother-in-law's newspaper furnished an
occasional opportunity to me, though no doubt he considered that he
could fill his twice-a-week journal without my help. He was, however,
helpful in other ways. He was one of the subscribers to a Reading Club,
and through him I had access to newspapers and magazines. The South
Australian Institute was a treasure to the family. I recollect a
newcomer being astonished at my sister Mary having read Macaulay's
History. "Why, it was only just out when I left England," said he.
"Well, it did not take longer to come out than you did," was her reply.
We were all omnivorous readers, and the old-fashioned accomplishment of
reading aloud was cultivated by both brothers and sisters. I was the
only one who could translate French at sight, thanks to Miss Phin's
giving me so much of Racine and Moliere and other good French authors
in my school days.

But more important than all this was the fact that we took hold of the
growth and development of South Australia, and identified ourselves
with it. Nothing is insignificant in the history of a young community,
and--above all--nothing seems impossible. I had learned what wealth
was, and a great deal about production and exchange for myself in the
early history of South Australia--of the value of machinery, of roads
and bridges, and of ports for transport and export. I had seen the
4-lb. loaf at 4/ and at 4d. I had seen Adelaide the dearest and the
cheapest place to live in. I had seen money orders for 2/6, and even
for 6d., current when gold and silver were very scarce. Even before the
discovery of copper South Australia had turned the corner. We had gone
on the land and become primary producers, and before the gold
discoveries in Victoria revolutionized Australia and attracted our male
population across the border, the Central State was the only one which
had a large surplus of wheat and hay to send to the goldfields.

Edward Wilson of The Argus, riding overland to Ad