Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Catherine Carmichael ; Or, Three Years Running .
Catherine Carmichael ; or , Three Years Running .
BY ANTHONY" TROLLOPtt .
CEIAPTKH J .
Cin ; is * nus DAY . NO . 1 .
A T II E lt IN E C A R M 10 HAE L , whoso name is prefixed to tin ' s story , was very early in her life made acquainted with trouble . That name became hers when she was married , but tlio reader
must first know her as Catherine Baird . Her father was a Scotch-» man of gootl birth , and A had once been possessed
of fair means . But tho world had gone against him , and ho had taken his family out to New
Zealand when Catherine was as yet but ton years old . Of Mr . Baird and his misfortunes little need be said , except that for nearly ' a dozen years he followed the precarious and demoralizing * trade of a gold-digger at Hokitika . Sometimes there was money in plenty , sometimes there was none .
Pood thero was , always plenty , though food of the roughest . Drink thero was , generally , much more than plenty ; Everything around the young . Bairds was rough . Frequently changing thoir residence from ono shanty to another , the last shanty inhabited by them would always be tho roughest .
As for the common decencies of life , they seem to become ever scarcer and more scarce with them , although the females among them had a taste for decency , and although they lived in a region which then seemed to be running oyer with gold . The mother was ever decent in language , in manners , and in morals ,
and strove gallantly for her children . J . hat they could read and write , and had some taste for ' such pursuits , was duo to her ; for the father , as years passed over him , and ' as ho became more and more hardened to the rough usages of a digger ' s life , fell
gradually into tho habits of a mere miner . A year before his death no one would have thought he had been tho son of Fergus Baird , ' Esq ., of Killach , and thafc when he had married the daughter of a neighbouring laird , things had smiled pleasantly on him and his young wife .
Then his wife died , and he followed her within one year . Of the horrors of that twelve months it is useless now to tell . A man's passion for drink , if ho be not wholly bad , may be moderated by a wife , and then pass all bounds when she is no longer there to restrain him . So it was with him ; and for a
while there was danger that it should be so with his boys also . Catherine was the eldest "daughter , and was then twenty-two . There . was . a brother older , then four younger , and after them threo other girls . That year to Catherine was very hard , —too
hard , almost , for endurance . But there came among them at the diggings , where they were still dwelling , a young man whose name was John Carmichael , whose presence there " •avo something of grace to her days . Ho , too , had come for gold ,
Catherine Carmichael ; Or, Three Years Running .
and had joined himself to the Bairds in consequence of some distant family friendship . Within twelve months the father ofthe famil y had followed tho mother , and the eight children wore left without protection and without anything in the world worthy of the name of
propert )** . The sons could fight for themselves , and were loft to do so . The three younger children were carried back to Scotland , a sister of their mother ' s having undertaken to maintain them ; but Catherine was left . VVhen the time came in which the threo
younger sisters wero sent , it was found that a homo presented itself , for Catherine ; and as the burden of providing for even the younger orphans was very great , it was thought proper that Catherine should avail herself of tho home which was offered her .
John Carmichael , when ho came among the diggers at Hokitika , —on tho western coast of tho southern of the two New Zealand islands , —had dono so ehie'ly because he had quarrelled with his cousin , Peter Carmichael , a squatter settled across the mountains in the Canterbury Province , with whom he had been
living for the last three or four years . Tin ' s Peter Carmichael . who is now nearly fifty , had for many years been closely connected with Baird , and at ouo period had been in parfnorship
with him at the diggings . John had heard of Baird and Hokitika , and when the quarrel had become , as ho thought , unbearable , he had left tho Canterbury sheep-farm , and had tried his fortune in a , gold-gully .
Then Baird died , and what friends there were laid thero heads together to see how best the famil y should bo maintained . The boys , and John Carmichael with them , would stick to tho gold . Word came out from tho aunt in Scotland that SIIG would do what was needed . Let the burden not be made t < > o heavy
for her . If ifc wore found necessary to send children home , let them , if possible , be young . Peter Carmichael himself en mo across the mountains to Hokitika , and nrrnnsred thin <> -s for the
journey;—and before lie left , he had arranged things also for Catherine . Catherine should go with him across the mountains , and livo with him at Mount Warriwa-, —as his homo was called , — - and bo his wife .
Catherine found everything to be settled for her almost ' •before she was able to say a word as to her own desire in the matter . It was so evident that she could not be allowed to increase the weight of the burden which was to bo imposed upon the aunt at home ! It was so evident that her brothers wero
not able to nnd a home for her ! It was so evident thafc sho could not livo alone in that wild country ! And it seemed also to be quite evident that John Carmichael had no proposition of his own to make to her ! Peter Carmichael was odious to her , but the time was such that she could not allow herself (<> think of her own dislikin < - * s .
There never had been a word of overt outspoken love between John Carmichael and Catherine Baird . The two wero nearly of an age , and , as such , the girl had seemed to be theelder . They had como to be friends more loving than any other thafc either had . Catherine , in those gloomy days , in
which she had seen her father perishing and her brothers too often straying * iu the wrong path , had had much need of a friend . And he had been good to her , keeping himself to sober , hard-working ways , because he-might so best assist her
in her difficulties . And she had trusted him , begging him to watch over tho hoys , aud to help her with tlie girls . Her conduct had been beyond all praise ; and he also , —for her sake following IWY example , —had been good . Of course she had
loved him , but of . course she had not said so , as ho liad not chosen to speak firsfc . Then had coiiie the second death and the disruption . The elder Carmichael had come over , and had taken things into his own hands . He was known to be a very hard man , but never-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Catherine Carmichael ; Or, Three Years Running .
Catherine Carmichael ; or , Three Years Running .
BY ANTHONY" TROLLOPtt .
CEIAPTKH J .
Cin ; is * nus DAY . NO . 1 .
A T II E lt IN E C A R M 10 HAE L , whoso name is prefixed to tin ' s story , was very early in her life made acquainted with trouble . That name became hers when she was married , but tlio reader
must first know her as Catherine Baird . Her father was a Scotch-» man of gootl birth , and A had once been possessed
of fair means . But tho world had gone against him , and ho had taken his family out to New
Zealand when Catherine was as yet but ton years old . Of Mr . Baird and his misfortunes little need be said , except that for nearly ' a dozen years he followed the precarious and demoralizing * trade of a gold-digger at Hokitika . Sometimes there was money in plenty , sometimes there was none .
Pood thero was , always plenty , though food of the roughest . Drink thero was , generally , much more than plenty ; Everything around the young . Bairds was rough . Frequently changing thoir residence from ono shanty to another , the last shanty inhabited by them would always be tho roughest .
As for the common decencies of life , they seem to become ever scarcer and more scarce with them , although the females among them had a taste for decency , and although they lived in a region which then seemed to be running oyer with gold . The mother was ever decent in language , in manners , and in morals ,
and strove gallantly for her children . J . hat they could read and write , and had some taste for ' such pursuits , was duo to her ; for the father , as years passed over him , and ' as ho became more and more hardened to the rough usages of a digger ' s life , fell
gradually into tho habits of a mere miner . A year before his death no one would have thought he had been tho son of Fergus Baird , ' Esq ., of Killach , and thafc when he had married the daughter of a neighbouring laird , things had smiled pleasantly on him and his young wife .
Then his wife died , and he followed her within one year . Of the horrors of that twelve months it is useless now to tell . A man's passion for drink , if ho be not wholly bad , may be moderated by a wife , and then pass all bounds when she is no longer there to restrain him . So it was with him ; and for a
while there was danger that it should be so with his boys also . Catherine was the eldest "daughter , and was then twenty-two . There . was . a brother older , then four younger , and after them threo other girls . That year to Catherine was very hard , —too
hard , almost , for endurance . But there came among them at the diggings , where they were still dwelling , a young man whose name was John Carmichael , whose presence there " •avo something of grace to her days . Ho , too , had come for gold ,
Catherine Carmichael ; Or, Three Years Running .
and had joined himself to the Bairds in consequence of some distant family friendship . Within twelve months the father ofthe famil y had followed tho mother , and the eight children wore left without protection and without anything in the world worthy of the name of
propert )** . The sons could fight for themselves , and were loft to do so . The three younger children were carried back to Scotland , a sister of their mother ' s having undertaken to maintain them ; but Catherine was left . VVhen the time came in which the threo
younger sisters wero sent , it was found that a homo presented itself , for Catherine ; and as the burden of providing for even the younger orphans was very great , it was thought proper that Catherine should avail herself of tho home which was offered her .
John Carmichael , when ho came among the diggers at Hokitika , —on tho western coast of tho southern of the two New Zealand islands , —had dono so ehie'ly because he had quarrelled with his cousin , Peter Carmichael , a squatter settled across the mountains in the Canterbury Province , with whom he had been
living for the last three or four years . Tin ' s Peter Carmichael . who is now nearly fifty , had for many years been closely connected with Baird , and at ouo period had been in parfnorship
with him at the diggings . John had heard of Baird and Hokitika , and when the quarrel had become , as ho thought , unbearable , he had left tho Canterbury sheep-farm , and had tried his fortune in a , gold-gully .
Then Baird died , and what friends there were laid thero heads together to see how best the famil y should bo maintained . The boys , and John Carmichael with them , would stick to tho gold . Word came out from tho aunt in Scotland that SIIG would do what was needed . Let the burden not be made t < > o heavy
for her . If ifc wore found necessary to send children home , let them , if possible , be young . Peter Carmichael himself en mo across the mountains to Hokitika , and nrrnnsred thin <> -s for the
journey;—and before lie left , he had arranged things also for Catherine . Catherine should go with him across the mountains , and livo with him at Mount Warriwa-, —as his homo was called , — - and bo his wife .
Catherine found everything to be settled for her almost ' •before she was able to say a word as to her own desire in the matter . It was so evident that she could not be allowed to increase the weight of the burden which was to bo imposed upon the aunt at home ! It was so evident that her brothers wero
not able to nnd a home for her ! It was so evident thafc sho could not livo alone in that wild country ! And it seemed also to be quite evident that John Carmichael had no proposition of his own to make to her ! Peter Carmichael was odious to her , but the time was such that she could not allow herself (<> think of her own dislikin < - * s .
There never had been a word of overt outspoken love between John Carmichael and Catherine Baird . The two wero nearly of an age , and , as such , the girl had seemed to be theelder . They had como to be friends more loving than any other thafc either had . Catherine , in those gloomy days , in
which she had seen her father perishing and her brothers too often straying * iu the wrong path , had had much need of a friend . And he had been good to her , keeping himself to sober , hard-working ways , because he-might so best assist her
in her difficulties . And she had trusted him , begging him to watch over tho hoys , aud to help her with tlie girls . Her conduct had been beyond all praise ; and he also , —for her sake following IWY example , —had been good . Of course she had
loved him , but of . course she had not said so , as ho liad not chosen to speak firsfc . Then had coiiie the second death and the disruption . The elder Carmichael had come over , and had taken things into his own hands . He was known to be a very hard man , but never-