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Letters from Early New Zealand

Lyttelton. August 4th, 1852

page 320
Lyttelton. August 4th, 1852,

My Dear Mother,

The Samarang has arrived, and relieved my fears in many ways. In the first place, you seem all tolerably well, although I do not much like the accounts of yourself; however, Sara says at last that you were really better from your bilious attack; that long Spring in London is specially bad for you. She says, too, that my father looks nearly the same as ever, in spite of his illness, and other people mention you all as looking very well. If it had not been for the cause, 1 should not have been very sorry that you had not written, for I always feel, with each of your letters, now they are so long, that it has cost you half a night's rest at least, which is not a pleasant idea. But Louisa and Frances! did they not write? or will the letters still make their appearance? I suppose, not write, for they both seemed to have made up their minds that we must have started, though I cannot remember any letters in which I intimated that such a thing was likely. But as it evidently was the case that this idea had gone home, I cannot say how much I was relieved to find letters from anyone; and Sara writes as good as gold, and C. Pollen, and one of the Colvilles, and altogether I hear a good deal. The news of the change of ministry had come to us before, from Australia, and has of course excited my husband a good deal; he is, too, much astonished at some of the appointments, as I suppose everyone is. He thinks it now very unlikely that we can get, this year, the Constitution for this country which he would have waited to see started here, and so I suppose, we are likely to make our start home pretty soon; but we do not know anything till the next mail comes in. Only the preparations are being thought of, if not made, and I am sometimes seasick by anticipation. The voyage out was quite bad enough, without a baby to be anxious about, but we must hope for the best, and remember only how many people have had to do page 321much more difficult things with babies. If the sickness does not stop my nursing, I hope we may do pretty well. Poor baby is, thank God, very fat and flourishing now, but she has already been very ill, for a short time, with an illness that was quite new to me, but is, I believe, called "Fire blister" at home. Dr. Donald told me he had never seen it on a European, but the Maoris often had it. Indeed, it was seeing how evidently he knew very little about it, that helped to make me unhappy about her, and for two days, just after I wrote my scrap to you, she was very ill, just as if she had literally been burned with fire all over. The blisters came out by degrees, from head to foot, and at last she seemed to have been completely skinned. She had medicated baths three times a day, and then we dressed her in rags of old tablecloths, and wrapped her in calico sheets, to save the dressing. You may suppose that it was very sad to see her suffering so much. But she slept constantly and was never ill in any other way, and in ten days it had quite passed away. She is now very fair, and fat, and—everyone says—pretty, for a baby, and I am afraid promises to be big. After all, it was settled that her name was to be Rose Mary. Mrs. Cookson, and Mrs. FitzGerald, stood proxies for Sara and C. Pollen, who had promised to be godmothers to my first girl; and Captain Simeon for the godfather, who is to be Mr. Adderley, if he will consent. A page of baby is enough, isn't it? but I am such a complete nurse just now, that I must be forgiven if my head is pretty full of her. I have really scarcely time to think of anything else. Powles attends to all her usual avocations in the house, and does all that I do not do for her; and then I have visitors, and a little walking out, and the day is gone quicker even than before I had her, which I used to think must be impossible. I was at a ball last week, for an hour or two! Does not that sound wonderful? But it was given in the barracks, just outside our back door, so there was no great difficulty, and I could have been back in two minutes if "Miss", as Arthur called her while she had no name, had even cried. He is very much delighted with her, and takes it quite as a matter of course that she must be attended to first, and so on; he is even quite proud of her, but very page 322indignant when we speak to her in the baby language that one unconsciously falls into. I called her "little sissy" for "thing", the other day, and he remonstrated strongly, and said: "You know, if you talk so to her, some day, when she can understand, she will begin directly 'Gie a dram to Baldy Allen'!"—a Scotch reel tune that he has learnt from Powles and now sings, and dances to, with great emphasis.

We have not had any great events lately; every now and then a ship comes in from the diggings, and brings accounts of gold to be had for so little trouble that there is a great reluctance to work even as hard for it as they must here; and then those of the unsettled ones, who have their passage money ready, go off when the ship returns, but no one, I believe, stays long at the actual "diggings", the life is too hard. A letter has just arrived from a young gentleman who was too discontented to stay here, that has amused people very much. He says that he now "looks back on New Zd. as a little paradise", and the people are such a set that "I think even Wakefield would go to heaven if he were here"; meaning Mr. Felix W., who is considered, with some reason, the worst character we have had out here. I have very little doubt that we shall have all those back again, who are at all worth having. My husband has been getting up a "Colonists' Society" here, connected with the reading-room, and the Lyttelton branch seems to flourish very much, but at Christchurch, I am sorry to say, they have split into two parties; one wishing for general discussion on all subjects, and the other wishing to exclude politics, and it will, I fear, prevent its ever doing much good there. Here we have had already two or three very harmonious meetings, which occur once a fortnight, and a series of lectures are to be delivered (D.V.). My husband is to lecture on the "History of N.Z.", the doctor on scientific subjects, Mr. FitzGerald on something else, and Mr. Paul, who is the Bishop's Commissary, and a sort of Archdeacon of the settlement, has already delivered one on the Reformation, on which subject he has written a book. My husband made William a present of a ticket of the Society, and I hear from Powles that the meetings are productive of great amusement to him, and others of his class. They have their favourite page 323speakers, who are listened to with great attention, but when a less popular one begins, those in the background, at all events, will not listen, and then come in whispers at the other end: "There's FitzGerald, now let's hear what he has to say"—"Now silence, be quiet you there, old Jack's got something to say to us"—meaning no other than the Chairman, J. R. Godley, Esq., who is a great favourite, I believe; but I think the familiar soubriquet of "old Jack" is very funny, and would amuse Mr. Godley not a little.

August 9th. We have just got the Quarterly and Edinburgh, with Tom's address, which I quite approve of. I can't help being glad that he should continue an M.P. If he were to excite himself about it, as my husband would, I should say no, but now, to say the least, it is a most agreeable club for him. How very different their house must be now with the two children! I dare say he looks several years younger, by sympathy from playing with them. I am very sorry to hear of Uncle Robert not being well, after his fall; Sara says he was coming to London, but shall I get another letter after your seeing him? I am quite sorry to send such a scrap of a letter as this must be, only I thought it better to send something, but I must lay the blame, or rather assign the cause, to Miss Rose. If you were here, you would see how little writing time I have left; what with her, and visitors, and some little attention, much too little, I think, to Arthur, and with the routine of the day, and there it is gone. I shall, I expect, have two opportunities of writing during the next fortnight or so, and shall hope to write to Sara, and to C. Pollen, who mentions seeing you all; and when shall I! God grant it may be so, and soon, too, prays yours very affectionately.

Charlotte Godley.