Pioneers and Founders: or, Recent Workers in the Mission fieldYonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
History
Pioneers and Founders: or, Recent Workers in the Mission field
Yonge, Charlotte M. (Charlotte Mary)
Missionaries
piece of water he jumped in, and when Mr. Marsden at once sprung after
him, did his utmost to drown his intended deliverer; but after a violent
struggle the Yorkshire muscles prevailed, and the man was dragged out, so
startled by the shock that he confessed his intention, and, under the
counsel he had so fiercely spurned at first, became truly penitent, and
warmly attached to Mr. Marsden, whose service he ultimately entered.
The square short face and sturdy form of Samuel Marsden show the force,
vigour, and determination of his nature, which told on beast as well as
man. On the road between Sydney and Paramatta, he used to let the reins
lie loose on the splash-board of his gig and read, saying that "the horse
that could not keep itself up was not worth driving," and though one of
the pair he usually drove was unmanageable in other hands, nothing ever
went amiss with it when it went out with its master. Such a spirit of
determination produced an impress even on those who opposed him most, and
many works were carried out in the teeth of the difficulties thrown in
their way; such as the erection of schools, of a factory for the
reception of the female convicts, and of a sort of model farm, where it
was intended to collect, tame, and civilize the aborigines. This was at
first planned between the governor and chaplain, but when it was ready
Marsden was under Colonel Macquarie's displeasure, and was therefore
excluded from all share in the management, though the site was actually
in his own parish of Paramatta. The experiment was a failure, probably
not on this account, but from the restless character of the blacks, whose
intellect was too small, and their wants too few, to feel any comfort a
compensation for their freedom and wandering life. Mr. Marsden and the
other chaplains repeatedly tried bringing up children,--some too young to
retain any memory of their native habits, but they always relapsed into
savage life on the first opportunity, and though here and there
individuals may have better come up to the hopes of their devoted
friends, yet as a race they seem too little above the animal to be
susceptible of being raised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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