Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 403, May, 1849 — John Shaqi
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 403, May, 1849Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 403, May, 1849
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
"But the classes who can hardly imagine the pleasant feelings
which emigration provides for the well-disposed pauper, have
pleasant feelings of their own when they emigrate, which are
perhaps more lively in proportion to the greater
susceptibility of a more cultivated mind to the sensations of
mental pain and pleasure. Emigrants of cultivated mind, from
the moment when they determine to be colonists, have their
dreams, which, though far from being always, or ever fully
realised, are, I have been told by hundreds of this class,
very delightful indeed. They think with great pleasure of
getting away from the disagreeable position of anxiety,
perhaps of wearing dependence, in which the universal and
excessive competition of this country has placed them. But it
is on the future that their imagination exclusively seizes.
They can think in earnest about nothing but the colony. I
have known a man of this class, who had been too careless of
money here, begin, as soon as he had resolved on emigration,
to save sixpences, and take care of bits of string, saying
'everything will be of use _there_.' There! it is common for
people whose thoughts are fixed 'there,' to break themselves
all at once of a confirmed habit--that of reading their
favourite newspaper every day. All the newspapers of the old
country are now equally uninteresting to them. If one falls
in their way, they perhaps turn with alacrity to the shipping
lists, and advertisements of passenger ships, or even to an
account of the sale of Australian wool, or New Zealand flax;
but they cannot see either the parliamentary debate, or the
leading article which used to embody their own opinions, or
the reports, accidents, and offences, of which they used to
spell every word. Their reading now is confined to letters
and newspapers from the colony, and books relating to it.
They can hardly talk about anything that does not relate to
'there.'"--(P. 127.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account