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OBITUARY ~----V---- MISS SAItAHI JANE WhAD.IUtl. Deatll has removed another of o.il old residents ill the Ieorson of Miss Sarah Jane Wadnuore, tile youngest dalughter of the late Jaml;es and iM\llll W\admorre, who were amongst 'thie first hardy hand ol pioneers Wll? of settled at Cape 1ridgewater in thi At early fifties. In her early and life- JM long assuclatloi witho ou eaurly col unists iand their families, she ac quired anlld preserved to the end a keen land sympiathetic interest in tht early history of the Portland Bi) mi district, and made it one of the chief lII ainms of. her life's work to do hunout di l.tple in oil ou ? h y of-h who bot;,ht t[.. heat ind burdeln of tileo day ill pro- i moting settlement in a new and- al-ii mlost unkllllnwn latl--ndeti and woulen who overcame the dillliculties which at beset themn. s \Vith the helarer alpi'roach of the Centenary if the landing 'of the tii lientys at Portland l3uy In 1834, Miss C, Watdllore was largely Instrumental ol in compiling the "t'ortladl ,Pioneer t ( Wo\men's Ilouk of Itemembranee,' C and almnost alone succeedied in erect ing a pernmanient ilentoriai to the womeno of the t'ortlald 'Bfay District, which now stands on the sea front b In Cliff street. Her Interest In the it work of the piloneers and recorded hi history never waned, and as late as a few weeks ago she sought to have correction made in an article aplpeaur ing in a Melbourno journal, which m' gave credence to a statement that when IEdward Hlenty landed at Port- a land ay lihe did so between two h piers, alleged to have been Ihllt :by F. whalers frequenting the bay before lie came. l-ler protest was- allowed, to s pass unheeded. I The following biographical sktch 't of Miss WVadmore's career appeared in the "Portland Pioneer \Vounn's h Book of Remembrance":- 1. Sarah Jane Wadmore, the convenler of thie Portaind Bay District Pioneer Women's Book of Itelnemibrance, was born on Cape Bridgowater, fourteen , miles from Portland. Her pairents, h .lames adid Mary Wadmore, came from Brasted, Kent, England, in the' o sailing ship 'Constant," registered l 535 tons, Captain James, the agents being Messrs. S. G. oenty and Co. It was her maiden voyage. She sailed into Portland Bay. on b'ebru- c ary 24, 1855, after being hecalmed for two days off Cape Bridgewater. 7 James Vadmore acted as Doctor's n assistant on the voyage, which lasted three months, and was Instrumental in quelling a riot on board ship. I Consequently he and his young wife enjoyed many prlvileges. On arrival at PIortland Bay, as there were no jet ties in those days. Mrs. \Vadnoro was carried ashore on the back of.a I kindly sailor. After spending a short time In Portland, the young couple I got employment with the late RMr, Charltonr"TFrtRQCifaW? at"Llapi+ 7T3k7lýte water, and subsequently took up land t and began farming. A month after the birth of their youngest child, Sarah, a dire calamity befell the falnily, tn the accidental death of .their father and breadwitnner. M.11'. Vadmore was fishing off the -toctks on the west coast of Bridgewater. I with another man and it boy, and was washed off by one of those treacher- , ous waves which rise up unexlicc tedly. Although he was a powerful swimmer and called lustily for aid, his companions were powerless to render any assistance. His body was sucked under a ledge of rock and was not recovered until the third day. I The poor young widow, just recover inlg from her nmaternal illness, might have succumbed to her loss, only for the sympathic help of her neighbours -those wonderful pioneers who were the backbone of society in the curly days of settlement. When time had softened and mellowed the shock of her husband's death. Mrs. Wadmore, 'although born and 'bred in the City of London, and unused to the hard shllps and Irivlatlons attending life in a new country, rose to every oietr gency and struggled bravely and sue cessfully to maintain itnd educate her children. "Whatsoever her hand found to do, she did it with her might," not forgetting the troubles of others in her own. On her high spirited bay mare, at all hours of the day and night, she sought to help the sick and afflicted, and those in I trouble and distress. At a time like this when we speak with pride of our hummnitarian legislation anti amelioration of social wrongs, it is well to remember that in those pri mitive times therd was no State aid for widows and orphans, and the rearing and training of a young and helpless family was no light task. So at an early age, Sarah, who had de veloped Into a healthy country wo manl at the age of fifteen years, was atble to help her brother in all duties of the farm. The State school teach ers, Mr. and Mrs. Joseoph Voysoy, who had always taken a great in terest in Sarah, offered to train her as a school teacher. This was gladly accepted by the widow, and so to those people can lie attributed any sUccess achieved In 'her life. At the age of twenty she was appointed head teacher of the Kentbruck school, and for years ,cnrried out her duties In that capacity. Miss Wadmore also contributed an article to iLone Furrows on Sea and Land" recording the "RIeminlscences 3 of a Pioneer State School l'eacher," in which she described the difficul ties besetting education in sparsely populatel areas in the way of tnrans port- and lack of technical aid in school work. Children had to walk long distances over rough hush tracks, and schools were mere wooden shells, with bare walls, smotke-colored, with not a single article of furnitur'e or provision for the Itarest necessities of comfort for children or teachers. "'What," she asked, "do yeou young people today know of the hardships of the lioneers and their famllles?" With the close of her iassotlathln with the Educatlion Department. MIss Wadmore settled permanently In Portland, tating upl her resldence at "Annesley," erected and occuliled for a number of years by Dr. It. E?. { Brewer. and ultlnmately lI)toselsd by Miss WVndmore. "AnnesCloy" his since Sfigured promlilnently In many mnove nlents for patriotic and chnrltablle piurposes liberally and gentrotHly supported by Miss Wulomhnre, over s Slong course of ye:trsH. l-elr hineft( tlons'nlmay iho snld to have becn hollnd leNes, is was nlson her veneration atndl Sdelvotedness to St. Stiphen's Chorch. T In matters pertaining to thile nlntertial and soclul well-helnt if PorttLund sllte proserved a lively nind intelligent Il ttrent, and In many ways sItO will 1re sorely missed. Tt many he irtly sanl1 of Miss WVadmori that site shart' largely In the honor of those splten did, women wheose tnselflsh, unwen'ry Inc seal helpled to male the Victoria of today.

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