You have persuaded us to labour, yea, to make
roads which we knew would lead to the conquest of our country. But you
had better rest and be content, not allowing success in other things to
induce you to enter upon what no man can accomplish. If you attempt, O
Governor, to wage war with woman and her love of ornament, you will
assuredly fail.'
'The assembled chiefs,' Sir George wound up the tale, 'roared with
delight at this answer, which really left me without a word to say.'
In South Australia he established one of his first schools, and the
lessons obtained from it were widely useful. They suggested the
difficulties that had to be overcome, wherever the alphabet was spread
before the Aborigine. Children made bright pupils, but, as they grew up,
were apt to go back on what they had learned. The reason was not far to
seek. An educated native found himself out of touch with his uneducated
fellows; education made a barrier. He was not the equal of the Europeans,
and could form no friendships with them. Neither was he happy with his
own people, whom he had passed in civilisation. He swung between two
poles, and very frequently was dragged back into the volume of native
life.
'You see the difficulty,' Sir George pointed out, 'as one that is
necessarily present with regard to all savage races.
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