A BLIGHTED LIFE—A TRUE STORY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1375, 20 October 1886, Page 3

A BLIGHTED LIFE—A TRUE STORY

(Chris'church Telegraph.) Three years ago, or thereabouts, a prepossessing young girl of eighteen we a living with her parents In one of the provincial towns of Canterbury. She became acquainted with a young man living in Christchurch, to whom she became greatly attached. He asked her to marry him, after some months acquaintance, and, unfortunately for herself, she permitted him greater license than she might otherwise have done. When she began to feef alarmed at the conspqnence of her indescretion, she urged him to earry out his promise, but he evaded the subject, having always some plaus'b'e excuse to offer. Finally, she became suspicions and made enquiries about him, with the result that she found out that he was already married, and that he had given her a fictitious name Certain circumstances attracted the notice of her friends and relatives, and the inquiries set on foot by her parents culminated in theT turning her away from home. She under went a great deal of trouble and privation <n this city till after her confinement. Fortunstjly for her, perhaps for the infant too, It died immediately after its birth. For a time the girl served in a confectioner's shop, and conducted bereelf in the most irreproachable manner. But somehow or other her employers came to hear of her misfortune, with the result that she was uucermoutously dismissed} Unable to procure employment of another kind, on account of the story becoming pretty well known, she took a situation in a bar. Here her prepossessing appearance and inexperience, notwithstanding the lesson she had had, got her into another entanglement She became the victim of a second libertine, who was also a married man. Her father had repented his rashness too late, and tried to persuade her to return home, promising that the matter should not be referred to. Bat his entreaties were of no avail—she could never go back home, she said, after being treated by him so Inhumanly. In order to divorce herself from all her associates, and to start life anew somewhere where she was not known, she left New Zealand for Melbourne, where she succeeded in obtaining employment SB a confectioner’s assistant, For some time things went smoothly enough, the girl, by her naturally engaging disposition, combined with her irreproachable conduct in her sphere, soon established herself in the good graces of some highly respectable people. Bet she seems to have been born under an nnincky star. For, one day while ont shopping, she came face to face with the man who had been the canse of her second faux jjoj. She tried to avoid him, but it was of no use. He persisted in molesting her and in trying to lead her astray, and even threatened to disclose her indentity to her employer. Lacking the courage to face this, she was unhappily Induced to make another slip. No sooner had this dastardly scoundrel's object been attained tnau he carried his former threats into execution, with the result that the unfortunate girl lost both her situation and her friends. She then went from bad to worse, apd became also addicted to drink. Her course of life hereforth was miaous, and after a twelve month’s run t f dis. sipation nature gave way, and this once handsome girl lay on her deathbed. She died in one of the filthiest slums in Melbourne, without a single friend neat 10 close her eyes or listen to her unavailing regrets.