The west shore., January 01, 1880, Page 18, Image 18

THE WEST SHORE.
January, 1880.
THK MORAL WARFARE.
Whan freedom on her natal day
Within her wall-rocked cradle lay,
An Iron race around her sussl,
llsiitluxl her Infant hruw In Mood;
And thru' the storm which ruund her ewet,
Their cousUut ward and witching kept.
Then, where our fiulet herd" " ii ,
The roar of baleful hatllo rose,
And brethren fit a common tongue
T11 mortal itrlfe aa tigers am ,
And every gift on freedom a ehrlne
Waa man lor hread, and blood (or wine)
Our felhere to their graves have sons;
Their atrlle la at - their triumph won;
Rut atenter Irlnla await tho race
Which rleea In thulr honored place
A moral warfare with the urlme
An-l fn:!y ot an evil time.
Ho let It lie. In (lod'a own might
We gird ua for tho oomlnv fight,
And. alrong In him whose cauae Uouri,
In ooiittlct with unholy Mwcra,
We graap the weapon he haa given
Thellght, and truth, and love of heaven.
- John 0. Whittur.
mm! OK HONKKItS.
The r of pioneers havo boon faced and
overcome liy brave men the world armind.
Thoao wlm havo resolutely to work to
oarvu out I and fortunes in Ngiou mil yet
brought iin 1 r tho rule of peace and -i viliza
tion, am oftep entitled to mueli honor fur their
valor in achieving jieaco and quiet for thoao
who ooine after them, Many in our own coun
try have survived moat eriotia dangci , Mvd both
to 11 who have acted in auuh loum and
thoao wlm havo liateued to the thrilling recital
nf them, tlit) following aooount of pioneer life in
Taamania will In interesting i
Mr. Jainea Itobertaon, a strong aiuowy Hoot,
from lUdenouh, arrived in Van )ieman'a Land
as a free settler iu 1825; ho being then juat aa
old aa tho century. Ho got a grant of land on
tho South 1 Mi river, aoiuu 12 miles down
atream from tha present township of Avoca,
and was living there, unmarried, iu one of tho
primitive buah dwellings of thoao daya com
monly ealled the "hut,' alxmt three years after
hia arrival. He had two assigned aervanta,
well conducted prisonara, or " Governmout
men,'' as llioy wera usually termed -one em
ployed an cook inn! general aervani, aud the
other as ah'iherd. One day ha waa out alone
on tho "ruu" (sheep farm), not far from home,
when ho observed four mou carrying lirearms
approaching him. He had heard that a party
of convicts had taken to the buah, but did not
know they were iu his neighborhood, and sup
posed that tho mull coming towards him were
oonatablea, till they presented their pieoos and
ordered him "to stand." Being uuarmed, and
one against lour, ho had no alternative but to
throw up his hands, in token of submission,
after tho approved fashion. They told him to
lead on to the hut, which he did, the inun fol
lowing and covering him with their guns. Ar
rived at their destination, they made prisoner
of the oook, who waa a big, powerful fallow,
slightly lame. This doue, one man stood guard
over tho osptivoa while the others rummaged
the hut and collected ev. ry thing they thought
might bo useful to llioui, makiug up buudloa of
tea, sugar, flour, aud other sluras. They also
turned out Mr, Robertson's wardrobo, aud
dreated themselves in hia clothra; ordered tho
oook. to prepare dinuer for theut. and heartily
enjoyed the meal. Just aa they had finished,
the shepherd osuio in from tho "ruu," and he,
tun, was made prisoner; aud uot long afterwards
Mr. iray. magistrate, whoso land adjoined
Mr. Robertson's where the Well-known estate
of Vaut'luae now is oanie along ou horschaek,
n I waa "bailed up" before he knew that he
Wt ill danger, and his horaa appropriated by
his captors.
Tha four bushrangers had now secured aa
many priaonors, and determined to make a
start, and to take their captives with them for
some distance, either to prevent their going off
to the police-station at the nearest township
and giving the alarm, or possibly, with some
ulterior end in view. They tied Mr. Robert
sou' hands to a strong stick eoine from wrist
to wrist behind his back, and Mr. Gray and
the shepherd were fastened together by a wrist
of eaoh, so that they two had each one band
free.
One of the outlaws was named Howe, and
was a nephew of a more celebrated desperado
of the same name, Miuk Howe, who some years
boforo had been tho terror of the Colony.
Another was called llrown, and was a tall,
strong-looking man, while the names of the
others my informant had forgotten. The big
oook was not bound, and him they forced to
carry an immonse bundle composed of the vari
ous stores and other artioles they had appro
priated, while Howe armed himself with Mr.
Robertson's new double-barrelled gun. The
whole party now proceeded for several miles
along the bmk of South Esk, the prisoners in
front, Mr. Robertson all the time planning and
plotting a way of escape, but seeming to bo
light-hearted and merry, and exchanging jokes
with his captors. Howe appeared to fancy
something was wrong; he was suspioioua of
Robertson's unseasonable gaiety, and several
times proposed to his comrades that he should
shoot "that blarsted Scotchman;" but to this
proceeding the others, fortunately, did not givo
their consent. At length thoy came to a place
where a Iwat was moored on the other side of
tho river, aud there it was determined to cross,
tho intention being, apparently, to make for the
lien I .loin ii id tiors. tor this purpose Howe,
who had been riding Gray's horao, swam the
animal across tho atream, which was thoro of a
good width, and, having tied him to a troo, pro
ooedod to return in tho boat.
Meanwhile tho oaptive party were allowed to
sit down and rest on a fallen tree, apart from
one another, but near onough to oonverse, the
bushrangers being at a little distanoe watching
tho proceedings of their comrade who had crossed
tho river. Taking advantage of this oppor
tunity, Mr. Robertson explained to hia com
panions iu bondage his plan of escape, and ob
tained their promise of hearty and vigorous
oo-oporation. He had a clasp knife in his coat
tail pockot behind, whioh, as ha sat on the log,
he contrived, pinioned aa he waa, to get out ;
and, having with great ditlioulty opened it, he
out the cord whioh bound him sufficiently to
allow of his getting hia hands free, though in so
doing he indicted a severe gash on his wrist,
the mark of which he bore till his death.
When Howe was soen roturning with tho
boat the other outlaws came over towards their
prisoners, and told them to stand up, which
they did. They were then all close togethor,
tho bushrangers unsuspicious of any attempt to
escape. Molding a largo horse-pistol at full
oook in his hand, Brown, having tirst looked to
sea if Mr. Gray and the ehepherd wore securely
tied, advauced for the samo purpose to Mr.
Robertson, who waa then merely holding the
etick behind hia back with his unfettered hands.
Justaa he oame close Robertson shouted his
iirooonoerted signal, "Now," at the very top ot
hia voice, and at the iustaiit olasped Brown
round the body, over his arms (the pistol drop
ping from his hand), aud "downed" him on the
grass. Taken by surprise, and feeling the
sinewy arms of the Highlander grasping him
liko bands of steel, Brown cried out "Don't
hurt me," just aa Mr. Robertaou planted his
knee upon him. "Turn on your face then"
aid Koberteon, at tha same time helping him
to roll over ; and, then, tearing the black ailk
kerchief from hia own ueck, he lirmly tied his
imaouer a hands behind hia back. In the mean
time at the moment when tha warning signal
had been ehoutad, Mr. Gray and tha shepherd
who had each one arm free, had rushed at the
eewnd bushranger, and the big oook at the
third, and as soou as Mr. Roberteon had finished
tying Bwwil ha ran to the aassUtanca of his
tallow. Both man wera secured, much to their
disgust and chagrin, their arms taken from them,
ana Gray and the shepherd unbound. Howe
was now approaching in tha boat ; but, seeing
his late captives on the bank with arms in their
hands, he pulled away down the atream. Sev
eral shots were fired at him, one of whioh passed
fhrnnah his left arm above the elbow hnf
escaped for the time, only to be captured a few
hours later, wounded as described, by a party
of constables.
Mr. Robertson and his associate! marched
their prisoners back to the hut, and the shep
herd went off with the news to tha nearest
polioe-station, from whenoe a detachment of
constables oame and removed the bushrangers,
glad to And that the work of oapturing such
reckless villians had been so well done for them.
Howe was brought in the same evening, and
next morning all four wera inarched off to the
gaol at Launceston. Strange to say, the three
unwounded men escaped from the prison before
the time fixed for their trial had arrived, and
again took to the bush, vowing vengeanoa on
Mr. Robertson. He applied to the authorities
for protection, and a corporal and five privates
were sent to garrison his domioile. This guard
lay concealed in the house all day, and patrolled
around at night But, though the escaped des
peradoes "stuck up" many houses in the district,
and said that at all events they were "going
to kill that confounded Scotchman," they never
went near his place. They were afterwards
again taken, tried for robbing and shouting at a
man near the township of Oatlands, and were
all three hung.
And the brave Scotchman was not killed, but
lived to a ripe old age, and at a ball on the
occasion of the celebration of his seventieth
birthday, danced a reel with all comers, and
oxhauBted partner after partner of both sexes
before he himself gave in. He lived to see the
colony peacable and prosperous, free from blacks
and bushrangers, ana be died quietly in his bed,
surrounded by his weeping family, not in a bush
hut, but in his own handsome mansion, that
would be an ornament to any street or square in
the metropolis of England.
Town and Couktry. In an address at the
late New York Dairy fair, Mr. T. Whittakor
voiced these sentiments: We once heard, or
read, of a farmer's daughter in the full fresh
ness nf youth and bloom. When passing along
the street, a young man exclaimed, " Painted,
by Heaven;' she turned and said, "Yes sir,
painted by Heaven. " Then must we say that
the farmer who stays at home amid health,
happiness and the purest of pleasures, makes a
saenfleo, and he who chooses a city life reaps
all tho rewards ? What a fascination there is in
that word, reward. How few know the price
paid or realize the reward. Last night I met
an old friend with whom, not many years ago, I
took dinner. Then prosperity shone upon him :
he occupied and owned a 150,000 honsa with
plenty of other property. In the course of con
versation, he said: "I suppose you know that
lama poor man?" I said: "No, I have not
heard of that. " He replied, "it ia too true,"
and this is too often the case. After year of
toil, care and anxiety, there come a chilling,
blighting wind which sweeps away ail his
wealth, and buries his long-cherished hope in
tho ashes of desolation and despair. Farmer,
I do not say that you have no cares, no sorrows,
no trials and no obstacles to overcome, but re
member, he who ha none of these must aver
fail to attain the true standard of man. Labor
develops the muscles and gives bodily strength,
the trials of life develop the mind and every at
tributethe man with these undeveloped is an
idiot. Then do not let us turn and run from
those evils of which we so often complain, for
they are blessings disguised to lead us upward
and onward to higher attainments, and over
coming them all develops oar highest natures.
Did you ever notice tbo fact, that a tramp
who claims he has a trade, but can get no work
at it, in the winter i a biiokmaker, and in the
summer a lumberman or lofWwyar I