My pamphlet did not set the Torrens on fire.  It did not convert The Register, but Mr. Fred Sinnett, who was conducting The Telegraph, was much impressed, especially as he had the greatest reverence for John Stuart Mill, and thought him a safe man to follow.  I had another novel under way at the time, and Mr. Sinnett thought it would help The Telegraph to bring it out as a serial story in the weekly edition; and I seized my opportunity to bring in Mr. Hare and proportional representation.  In England Mr. Hare, Mr. Mill, Rowland Hill, and his brother, and Professor Craik, all considered my “Plea for Pure Democracy” the best argument from the popular side that had appeared.  I got the kindest of letters from them, and my brother considered my labour and his money well spent.  Professor Craik, writing to Miss Florence Davenport Hill about the “Plea for Pure Democracy,” says—­“It is really a pity that the pamphlet should not be reproduced in this country—­modified, of course, to the slight extent that would be necessary.  It is really a very remarkable piece of exposition—­the best for popular effect by far on this subject that has come in my way.  I rejoice to hear that there is a chance of Mr. Hare’s plan being adopted in South Australia.”  I may be allowed to observe that there is still a chance, but not yet a reality.  My aunts at Thornton Loch were applied to by my English admirers to see if they would be at the cost of an English edition; but, though they were goodness itself to our material needs, they thought it was throwing money away to bring out a pamphlet on an unpopular subject that would not sell.  Why, even in South Australia, though the price was marked at one shilling, not a single shilling had been paid for a single copy; and in South Australia I was known!  Not so well known, however.  I wrote under initials only, and many thought my letters and pamphlets were the work of Charles Simeon Hare, one of the tallest talkers in South Australia, who said Mr. Thomas Hare was his cousin.  My novels were anonymous up to the third, which was not then written.  If my name would have done the cause any good it would have been given, but it was too obscure then.

The original title of my third book was “Uphill Work,” and it took up the woman question as it appeared to me at the time—­the difficulty of a woman earning a livelihood, even when she had as much ability, industry, and perseverance as a man.  My friend Mrs. Graham, who had been receiving 100 pounds a year and many presents and much consideration from the Alstons, of Charles Williamson & Co., had to return to Scotland to cheer her father’s last years.  After his death she became housekeeper to the Crichton Asylum for the Insane, with 600 or 700 patients, at a salary of 30 pounds a year.  This started me on the story of two girls educated well and soundly by an eccentric uncle, but not accomplished in the showy branches, who, fearing that the elder and favourite niece would marry a young neighbour,