The 8th of December was our last day on the Clarence. After family worship, and prayer meeting, we left Iona, in company with a number of our Clarence friends for Lawrence Wharf, where, at 10 p.m. we joined the S.S. Kyogle for Sydney. When it actually came to parting with our Colonial friends, we were really sorry. The thought that all of us might not again meet in this life pressed heavily upon our spirits.
We were much disappointed in not getting away earlier, but the three steamers in which we had booked were requisitioned by the Government for trooping purposes. We arrived in Sydney on the 10th, and sailed therefrom on 16th December by the S.S. Commonwealth. Among those who came to see us off by the Commonwealth were Mrs. Shaw and Miss Shaw, Glen-Lewin; Miss Grant and Mr. Ewen Grant, Woodford Leigh; Mrs. Roderick Campbell, Balmain, Sydney, late of Clydebank; Mr. Hugh Macpherson, Won-Wonga, Richmond River, a native of Strath, Gairloch; and Mr. J. Maughan, Neutral Bay, Sydney.
The majority who travel on sea are pleasure lovers. It is most distressing to a true Christian to be on board these steamers on the Lord’s Day. That day is spent by many in holding secular concerts, in washing clothes, in knitting, dressmaking, etc., in playing cards, chess, draughts, etc., and some deck games. On the voyage to and from Australia I spoke to many on the sinfulness of their conduct, and while they all, to a greater or less extent, tried to justify themselves, I hope the words spoken to them were not, in every case, in vain. The extent to which clergymen indulge in card-playing is most lamentable. A standard author remarks that the alleged origin of the invention of cards produced one of the shrewdest replies he had ever heard given in evidence. It was made by the late Dr. Gregory, in Edinburgh, to a counsel of great eminence. The doctor’s evidence went to prove the insanity of the person whose mental capacity was the point at issue. On cross-examination he admitted that the person in question played admirably at whist. “And do you seriously say, doctor,” said the learned counsel, “that a person having a superior capacity for a game so difficult, and which requires in a pre-eminent degree, memory, judgment, and combination, can be, at the same time, deranged in his understanding?” “I am no card player,” said the doctor with great calmness and authority, “but I have read in history that cards were invented for the amusement of an insane king.” The consequences of this reply were decisive.
Praying people should at the throne of grace remember the toilers of the deep as well as the tillers of the soil.