ROMANTIC HISTORY OF A WELLINGTON BARMAID.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 83, 7 April 1880, Page 4

ROMANTIC HISTORY OF A WELLINGTON BARMAID.

Many years ago, perhaps nearly a quarter of a century, two youngsters met, loved and married in Victoria. The courtship had been very short, and the marriage was not happy. The " UDhappy pair," after living for six months together in a c&t-and-dog style, separated for ever. The husband bolted for a new rush which had broken out in a remote part of New South Wales. Subsequently the young wife gave birth to a girl, but the mother died ere the little one was three hours old. Some good lady brought up the child and reared it. This lady brought up the child iv good style, giving her a

fashionable education. However, when the "Black Wednesday 9 ' dismissals from the Civil Service took place, the lady's husband lost his billet, and as he had not saved much money, the wolf soon appeared at the door of the erstwhile happy househould. The husband sickened and died. The widow and her adopted daughter were thrown upon their own resources. Times were very bad indeed. The young lady | tried for a situation as governess bat • the market wrs overcrowded, and she did not succeed in obtaining a situation I At last she had to accept a situation as a barmaid. Soon after this, her fos^j [imother caught the typhoid fever, Jm j|l yer y prevalent in MelbourjJSi W&k in ten days she was laid^Jf||| fllfde of her husband in the | apery. The girl afterwards iliiyGPiF a good situation as barHotel, which she Being possessed of con\gSJjsTKmß personal attractions, and mgL jfobetter educated than the general -maids, she became a light i§B ffpNrbich the jeunesso dorree I ff§§Bred. Her fame reached WellingpGO, and she received a tempting offer from a boniface in the empire city. Being tired of the the flatteries of the fast men about town in Dunedin, and sick of their not " proposing " she gladly accepted the chance of fresh fields and pastures new. In Wellington, she was as successful as usual. The gay youths sported around her, but being of a practical turn of mind, she paid far more bead to the attentions of middle-aged commercial traveller wbo seemed to have fallen desperately in love with her. , She encouraged him; he proposed and was aocopted. They plighted vows of eternal constancy, though Coleridge says that "constancy dwells in realms above." Of course the lover was curious (o learn the history of his fiancee, She told him tha history of her life, even from the date of her parents' marriage. She noticed that he grew pale as the narrative went on. At last he started up in horror, and exclaimed, "Why you are my own daughter ! " Complete explanation were entered into, and the father rejoiced, to have found, after an absence of 20 years a daughter who was perfectly charming. All this occurred some months ago, and the young lady baa since been married to a suitor whose pretentions she had previously despised.— Chronicle,