1867 - Thomson, J. T. Rambles with a Philosopher - CHAPTER II.

       
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  1867 - Thomson, J. T. Rambles with a Philosopher - CHAPTER II.
 
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CHAPTER II.

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CHAPTER II.

THE OLD ROYAL. REFRESHMENT. THE RULE OF CONTRARIES. DOUBTS. PROJECTS OF AN INFANT SETTLEMENT. A NEW ACTOR. ALCHEMIC CIRCLES. EFFECTS. A RIOT SUBDUED. SATISFACTORY EXPLANATIONS. THE STRANGER'S FIRST REFLECTIONS. SMALL BEGINNINGS MAY HAVE LARGE ENDINGS.

IT was not long before I was washed, dressed and prepared for dinner. Our horses at the same time were cared for, and enjoying, no doubt, in their own way, the transition from the cold snow-driven mountains to the warm stables. The stranger had already entered the long room, and I had thus for the first time an opportunity of scanning him. His age might have been over thirty. He was broad chested, but spare in the lower extremities. His complexion was so sallow as to evidence ill-health. His hair was dark, yet his features were of the true English type. His nose was prominent, but not aquiline; and his eyes (the most attractive feature) were coal black, soft in influence, yet sparkling up to occasional brilliancy. His brow was capacious, rounded, but not over prominent. On my entry, he bowed in recognition, and, advancing, shook me warmly by the hand, and thanked me for what he termed his rescue from a difficult, if not a dangerous, plight.

Our kindly host was not long in laying the good things

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THE OLD ROYAL.

of the Old Royal upon the table, for he knew that sharp airs and peckish appetites brooked not delay. The dinner bell no sooner rang than a dozen guests speedily took their places. As fortune would have it, I sat opposite to my new acquaintance, so that I had an opportunity of satisfying any lurking curiosity that might have arisen within me. The first topic of our conversation was naturally regarding the track over the snowy mountain. He expressed his astonishment of my easy traverse of so tortuous and difficult a road, obliterated, as it was, by deep-lying snow and so blinding a storm. He was so full in his expressions of obligations to me, that even the most exacting of deliverers would have been satisfied; at the same time, out of his unfeigned and open recognitions, a somewhat haughty bearing was slightly perceptible. I remarked, in return, that I was astonished at his hardihood in attempting the journey alone--and I particularly complimented him on his cool perseverance in trying, without aid, to cross the obstructive swamp. I remarked, also, on his apparent disregard, not to call it contempt, of cold, hail, snow and danger. He smiled, and replied, that as for cold he was not sensible of such a thing, he had too much caloric in his body, imbibed by a long residence in the tropics, for that to affect him; and, as for danger, if bad came to worst, he added, I had only to abandon my horse to take care of himself, while I would have sought the lee of the mountain for shelter, and camped for the night in the bush. To meet such contingencies in colonial travel, he added, I always carry with me two days' provisions, a panniken and matches. With the last articles a fire is soon lighted; water is everywhere abundant, and can soon be made to boil, and with boiling water and provisions, you know a hungry soul can soon be replenished.

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I remarked, in reply, that I had felt the bitter blasts of the mountain most keenly, and that no doubt he, equally with myself, appreciated the grateful change from the exposed mountain to the snug quarters of the Royal.

"Yes," said he, "the rapid transition from a disagreeable position to its opposite is necessarily most agreeable. The rule of contraries is as little to be ignored by the moderns as by the ancients. Rapid transition from one extreme to the other, I must confess, has, for good or for evil, a subtle fascination over me.. The excitement it induces animates the spirit, incites the imagination, braces the nerves and nourishes the powers. When for good, it developes in man such higher aspirations of which his nature is capable, it elevates his destiny, promotes great projects, stimulates to great deeds--whether it be in civil or military life. Transition from this to its opposite is the spur-wheel of humanity. In it all things circulate, all things live, all things exist and have a being. This is true with regard to creation, organic or inorganic. Without the contraries, what would the world be but a chaos? without two opposites, what would this life be but a blank?"

I was, I must confess, somewhat startled at his vehemence. To tell the plain truth, I had no other thoughts than of the good dinner before me, and which, being well cooked and served, was particularly engaging. During my new acquaintance's epilogue, I scanned him as narrowly as good breeding permitted; for in startling me out of my self-satisfying train of thoughts, he drew my narrow attention. I say I scanned him: yet I saw no evidence of the unsettled eye of the monomaniac, nor did I see the fitful glances of the visionary. His eyes sparkled but for a moment; then their soft, soothing influence fell on me. That influence was full of benevolence, benignity,

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SCHEMES

and philanthropy. I had doubts but for a moment: then I was satisfied as to his gravity. Our conversation dropped and our joint attention settled on the objects before us. As is usually the case while the viands were being demolished, so did the heart commence expanding, and the conversation of the guests became more animated.

The first exposition of the stranger's theory flitted across my mind. Transition from this to its opposite--transition from cold to warmth, transition from hunger to satiety. Mark the effects as the transition progresses: how the flow of life bubbles up and effervesces. The topics of conversation were numerous; all tongues were at the same time noisy, and the arguments were stirring. Local interests naturally had pre-eminence. One shaggy-haired man, with large eyebrows, was, even at that early period, full of a railroad to the West Coast. This was fiercely opposed by another, who advocated an ingenious scheme for lighterage between the Port and Capital, to be worked by windmills. He stubbornly supported his scheme by explaining the complicated arrangements of whips, cranks, cogs and paddles, by which means, he assured his hearers, he would work his vessel against wind and tide, and thus overcome the laws of dynamics. Another of the company laughed at both schemes with supercilious scorn. Their schemes were but rubbish as compared with his own. As he unfolded the same to a somewhat irreverend audience, it proved to be no less than to make Dunedin the world's centre.

"For," continued he, "are we not placed in the very pivot of the world's ocean navigation? We thus command all continents and islands, even more so than Great Britain herself--yea, I say to you, gentlemen, even more so than Great Britain herself. You may depend upon it,

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gentlemen, Otago is destined to be the great emporium, not only of Australia but of the Pacific--more than that, gentlemen: of the whole world itself. Has not the great Macaulay foreseen it, as well as myself? Now listen attentively, gentlemen, when I unfold my grand scheme, for it is no less, gentlemen, than to establish steam communication with the old world by the North-west Passage, and we will thus excel the deeds of Parry, Ross and Franklin."

Jeering applause met this announcement; this great scheme met as little encouragement as the two former. The flow of conversation and war of wit went on, and from interests material the company moved to interests spiritual. At length, the spirit of anger rose to a degree that would have led to the argumentum ad hominem, when a new actor appeared on the scene. He was a person of gentlemanly exterior, of fair proportions, and comely presence; yet an insinuating address somewhat detracted from the agreeableness of first impressions. He at once performed three alchemic circles with his left hand, and then mixed some symbolic matter in the air. The effect of this demonstration was more instantaneous than can be described in writing; for the first circle had the effect of attracting the immediate attention of the rioters: the second relaxed their angry muscles: the third imbued them with the bolus of mirth, and the mixing process suffused their countenances with the elixir of delight. Good humour having thus been restored, the company gradually dropped off till the alchemist, the stranger, and myself were left alone. The alchemist also prepared to depart, but before going he remarked to the stranger, towards whom he appeared to have conceived an intuitive regard, that "if the right way were taken with these poor people, they were as manageable as lambs."

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SOCIAL ASCENT.

Being now left alone with the stranger, "Well," said I, "what do you think of our little settlement and its people?"

Said he, "I perceive in your settlers the universal law of contraries in active operation. Where transition from one thing to its opposite is most rapid, so do we see sober minds most hopeful, sanguine minds most ambitious, sordid minds most avaricious. As the lively mountain torrent courses to the still lake, how its eddies swirl, its cascades leap, its sprays dance! Here, these people have evidently left the ready-made Old World, and they suddenly find themselves in opposite circumstances in an unmade New World. To them the transition is as a mighty ascent in the social ladder. In the Old World their energies were palled by disappointments, their aspirations were cramped, their desires curbed. There the country had been fenced, the cities built--all needful work had been done. Here everything is yet to do; a mighty labor is before them, and they exuberate in fancy as they gird their loins to the task of building a city in a wilderness--a home in a desert--a country and a nation at the Antipodes. This transition puts determination into their hearts--fierce force into their vitals. The labourer here finds himself a master, the pale mechanic is a designer. Humanity is elevated and aspires; their untrained fancies dream of chimeras. Such are the seedlings, it may perchance be, of a new nation. Such are the effects of sudden transition between opposites. A miserable village in the remotest part of the world, with its one or two hundred inhabitants--with its streets impassable by reason of deep mire, and its pathways choked with the native flax--how mighty its ambition! how soaring its destiny! When extremes do meet, we land most truly in the sublime--or its opposite, the ridiculous."


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