The Vow, the Ring, AND THE RIVER.

Patea Mail, 31 May 1882, Page 3

The Vow, the Ring, AND THE RIVER.

A PATEA ROMANCE. ; He was a youth of 19, a sweet age for wooing; tall, slender, and lackadaisical ; and had served some , months to the profession: of carrying ;draper’s parcels. She, was'younger, andisweeter, jand had consented 1 to,act as a lady-help in the domestic department' of another drapery establishment. He, carried parcels for draper. No. 1; she. washed dishes for draper No. 2 ; and when he and she met by chance of an evening, their parting was long : and; ;tender. ; Their true love’s course did hot run smooth. He. proposed to; marry her; and out of his revenue from the parcels carrying business bought a ring.;; “ Two souls with but a single thought” quarrelled over this ring, • and he went away to drown himself. He was determined tb do it, and to make sure of it he ■ knocked ;up the sleeping occupants of a . .river-side where, > and . asked. Charlie the :fisherman to hold his'coat oh the river side while he went in to find a watery grave. He who had carried so many light parcels for others now carried his own-heavy heart into the river. It was about 9 1 BO last night, and the pale sad moon looked down oh the solemn scehe~the fisherman hold-' ing a coat, and the lover wading in slbwly where the water, was : shallow. On and on he went; ! the chilly water creeping' up his stockings inch by inch. Then down he went—rbut only a stumble , into deeper water, up to ;the waist,. -This fearfulforetaste of a watery grave was too much for v; the" broken-hearted lover, ’, He turned round to : see if the fisherman

held his coat safe; and the fisherman: said (as fishermen/will),. M Heave ahoy there, my hearty—come out, you fool, or you’ll get wet I” (words to that effect.) The: sad youth 1 thought lei. hehrdi the 5 “ still small voice of conscience ” (it was the fisherman’s loud halloo), and came, out wet, weary, and wiser. “ Here, you fool (said Charlie the fisherman ),■ this drowning, case will get you into trouble —come and I’ll give yon into custody.” The sad lover agreed to consider himself as Charley’s, prisoner,, and walked up the town to the Police Station. 1 The wet hero was taken in and put to bed. He was brought up in custody this morning before the R. M., charged with attempting to' drown hiriiself, and was formally remanded till-Friday. His name is supposed to be J. Griffen, though he goes, by the chummy name of Packer.