Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/26

4 He was educated at Kent House School, an old double-fronted Georgian building of rather curious aspect, which is now a private house. As a schoolboy, the future Postal Reformer was remarkable chiefly for his gift of memorizing poetry and prose. At the age of ten he knew by heart the whole of Pope's "Essay on Man," and could recite page after page of Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic." The historic associations of old Rochester, the Cathedral, the Castle overlooking the great stretch of river, could hardly fail to arouse in a boy feelings of romance and adventure.

At the age of sixteen, after pursuing his studies at King's College, "Adventure lit her stars" for him, and he was free to roam the world at his will.

In those days Australia was looked upon as a kind of Promised Land for younger sons, and their impoverished elder brothers, and it was to Australia that John Heaton's eyes were eagerly turned. With a light heart and a still lighter pocket, he left England for the country of sunshine that was to be his adopted home for many years, and where after some vicissitudes he was to gain his first experience of the good fortune that followed him ever after. Those who knew him at that period speak of him as a tall, thin youth, with deep hollows showing beneath his high cheek bones, eyes large and kindling and an indescribable "something" that marked him out.

The first part of his life in Australia was spent in the bush, where he found employment on the great sheep stations. With no previous experience of agricultural life, he made all the blunders and mistakes peculiar to young Englishmen fresh out from