Revised Jun 1 2021
We now pass on to the end of 1873, and the beginning of 1874. The state of the island, as regarded its different products, had been gradually declining. Yam crops, in some instances, almost totally failed. The Irish potato and the sweet-potato both yielded but poorly, and many of the orange-trees shared the general decline. But worst of all, water was scarcely to be obtained anywhere on the island. Brown's Water, a large reservoir that had former supplied the inhabitants, was dry, and there seemed but small prospect of rain. Every day succeeded the other in increasing heat, and the plants all suffered. At this time, the people on Norfolk Island, learning of our distress, sent an urgent invitation for us to return, saying that if we would accept, they would charter a vessel to convey us. One principal reason they urged was the rapidly increasing number of inhabitants here, and the limited means of support that the island afforded, in the future, should the people continue to increase.
The question of a return was long debated, and earnestly considered amongst us, and while some eagerly agreed to accept the invitation, others resolutely determined to remain and wait for "better times" to come again, these last believing that "while the earth remained, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night should not cease," and that the Heavenly Father, who makes his sun to "shine on the evil and on the good," is able to send his "rain on the just and on the unjust." And when did any one trust in God and was disappointed? Surely they were not who so believed. Rain in great abundance soon came, and from that time everything has been steadily improving.
When the answer was sent to Norfolk Island, stating the different conclusions at which the Pitcairn Islanders had arrived, they said in reply that, as we were so undecided, they could not waste their time or money to come here for nothing. There the matter ended, and so it is likely to remain, especially as the inhabitants of this island have since been more generally content to live here than they were before.
On the 30th of November, 1874, Mrs. Margaret Young, one of the first party that returned, died, leaving a husband and five daughters to mourn her loss, and to learn the value of a mother.
Up to this time, communication between this island and Norfolk was seldom held, as the means of so doing were very uncertain; still the liveliest interest was manifested in each other, and the receiving of letters from relatives and friends on Norfolk Island constituted one of the chief happinesses of our existence, and was the event looked forward to in our quiet, and monotonous life.
I should have mentioned that in July, 1873, H.M.S. Chameleon came on a visit to this island, and brought a large supply of clothing, and other useful articles, from kind Christian friends in Valparaiso and Honolulu, prominent among whom were Rev. S. C. Damon, of Honolulu, and Rev. Dr. Trumbull, of Valparaiso, who have ever been faithful friends of the Pitcairn Islanders.