A TOUCHING STORY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 242, 3 December 1880, Page 4

A TOUCHING STORY.

A rare example of constancy, .courage, and devotion combined has. just been furnished by a brave young peasant woman, born and bred in a remote hamlet of the Yosges. Marie Hagarfc, this heroine in humble life, bade adieu to her husband some months since, and saw him start for. the great, city of Paris in the hope of obtaining employment there. But almost upon his arrival in the capital he fell ill, and being without either funds or friends was taken to the Hospital de la Pifcie. The news of his illness reached the hamlet where his wi'e lived in course of time, and the latter, listening only toi the promptings of her heart, determined to join her sick husband at once. She was utterly destitute. To travel by rail was, therefore, out of the question ; so she started on foot with a baby in her arms, just two francs in her pocket, and a journey of a hundred and three leagues before Jier. Braving hardships of every description, sleeping by, the roadside or in. the fields, and living on what scraps of food she could obtain on the way, she preeesd onward, nobbing daunted, for the city where her husband lay sick. She had lost her way seyeral times, her clothing was in rags, her shoes were gone, but her courage remained undiminished, until a few . evenings ago, when, footsore and -weary, she found herself at Charentin, when she sunk down in the streets overcome by her sufferings, exhausted from want of food, exclaiming faintly, '* Mon Dieu, t can go no further." Mother and child were conveyed to the police station, revived, warmed, and tended, after which the poor woman related in a few simple words her touching story, seemingly astonished . that those who listened to her should have, been mjoved to express admiration for her conduct. Kindly;; persons offered the young ,woman the assistance and shelter ; her forlorn position required, but her • absorbing thought was to obtain news of the man for whom she had travelled bo .far... The police commissary undertook to satisfy her on this point, and a lew hours later she learnt that he whom she had walked so many leagues to aeejhad expired: in the hospital ward twentyfour hours before tier arrival.— Evening Standard. *