Henry Parkes

Name: An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight
Author: Henry Parkes

An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

Summary

“An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight”, published in 1896, is a work by Henry Parkes. It explores elements such as Sydney, Birmingham and devil.

Quotes from An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (Henry Parkes)

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ There is a man now passing before my eyes well worth describing.
Imagine yourself standing by me on the deck of a small schooner lying in Sydney harbour. There is a miserable-looking old man paddling an old canoe from the Sydney side to the opposite shore. The face is unshorn, and his beard and hair are as white as snow. As his vessel glides over the sunny waters he casts his haggard countenance towards the bright blue sky above, and you hear him speaking vehemently in a jargon between French and English. Listen! You now hear him fiercely cursing God Almighty, and calling upon the devil. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ Give my love to my brothers. If we never meet again may their years be many and their share of happiness large. That they may go down to the grave in honour and peace will ever be his prayer who is far away.
I thank you sincerely for the sweet words of consolation and advice which you send me over the wide, wide sea. You also have my thanks for the news you send me about old Brummagen. You have a poet and a poetess, have you? You do not seem to be aware that the greatest poetical personage of Birmingham is now living with us at the Antipodes. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ And Clarinda and I have little to ameliorate the exile's lot; we have neither wealth nor friends, and the very means of comfort afforded us is in itself a source of discomfort, for it separates us, who have none other for the weary heart to lean upon. Still we have much to be thankful for, and I trust we are truly thankful. And, God willing, the time shall come when all who know us at Birmingham shall acknowledge that we are honourable. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ Failures to enormous amounts occur continually. There is scarcely a mercantile house in Sydney which a man could say with safety was solvent a year ago, which is not now undermined by these repeated crashes of bankruptcy. At present we have also too much labour in Sydney, great numbers of workmen, mechanics, and labourers, 'old hands in the colony'—unemployed. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ The commercial state of Sydney is at the present time^ and has been for the last twelve months, as gloomy as can well be conceived. The market is overstocked with almost every commodity. Most kinds of British goods may be purchased here as cheap as, or cheaper than, in England. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ The fact is, the parties who are foremost in the endeavour to inundate us with workers look only to the depreciation of labour as the sure result. They have been accustomed to having the convict's toil for nothing, and they cannot bring their minds to paying for that of the free man. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ That land, at the present time, is worth £10,000. He, growing a reckless drunkard, sold it for 16s. and a bottle of rum! For the last twenty years he has had no home, living in a hole in a rock on the north shore. Some days he brings over to Sydney a few oysters, and selling them buys bread. The iguanas have been known to steal his bread in the night, when in the morning he would come back to Sydney for more, declaring that the devil came when it was dark, and took away his bread. Whenever you see ' French Peter' he is cursing God, and raving about the devil. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Henry Parkes, An emigrant's home letters — Letter Twenty-Eight (1896)

“ The new-comers fare worse, of course—that is, those who stay in the town. In the interior there is still employment. Wages are much lower than they were a few months ago. You will feel surprised that in this state of things there should be such a cry raised in the colony for increased immigration, not only from Great Britain and the continent of Europe, but from India and China. ”

Henry Parkes

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