A GIRL’S STRANGE ADVENTURES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 885, 30 August 1910, Page 4

A GIRL’S STRANGE ADVENTURES.

The mystery of the disappearance of Margaret Bale, a young English school teacher, who had been missing since December last, was dispelled recently, when she was discovered in male attire, acting as a clerk in a clothing factory in Perth.

Miss Bale’s passage was booked for England by the White Star liner sailing from Albany on January 3rd, and her luggage was sent from Perth to Albany. She went out shopping on December 22nd, and was heard of no more until enquiries were made by her relatives in England, when it was discovered that her luggage was still in Albany. The girl, it seems, did not want to return to FJnglaud, and, having some money, bought a suitot male clothing, cut her hair short, and went to Fremantle, where she secured an engagement as steward in the Fremantle Club. After a fortnight she left to act as cellarman and assistant barman in an hotel, but finding the work too hard, opened an art shop in Fremantle. This not prospering, and her money being exhausted, the girl came to Perth, where she secured a clerk’s position.

Miss Bale has now returned to skirts and her friends. As a boy (says the Sydney Telegraph'* she dressed smartly. After securing her first made suit, she had clothes made to measure. At the Fremantle Club she was considered quite an aristocratic boy steward. As a barman she was also a sue; cess, but could not make things pay. She played the part thoroughly, however, engaging in a lawsuit against a city firm for breach of contract, but she was mulcted in £6 costs. When the art shop failed, she closed the door and posted a notice : “ Proprietor gone up country.” She operated under the name of “Martin Able,” the surname being an anagram on her own. She is 25, speaks several languages, smokes cigarettes occasionally, and was last year a school teacher at Kalgoorlie. Miss Bale denies that she had to pay £6 costs as her solicitor, believing her a young fellow without money, did not charge her a fee. Her experiences had not caused her to think better or worse of men. They were an interesting study. She had had admirers among girls, chance acquaintances in the street, who would say ‘‘Good evening,” and then they would talk. She had never heard such a thing before. It was nice to be a man, and able to do things. Girls had so little to do. They had to sit at home, sew, go to church, sing hymns—all very proper, but not too interesting. If a girl did anything unusual, even the men did not like her. A girl’s life was too monotonous aud restricted. She had been frequently in the company of girls who had known her intimately, but they never suspected her. She had merely to regulate her voice.