A SAD STORY.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume II, Issue 94, 8 October 1873, Page 3

A SAD STORY.

A FEW days ago a sad spectacle was presented at the Police Court. A woman, about forty years of age, and bearing the remains of beauty about her, was charged with vagrancy, and, having been several times before the Bench for the same offence, she was sent to prison for a term of some months. Even while she stood in the dock she appeared to be under the influence of drink, not having slept off the effect of the previous night’s intoxication. Who, looking upon this bloated and dissipated specimen of womanhood, would have recognised in her the once pink of Calcutta fashion, the belle of the ball, and the proud and handsome wife of a wealthy gentleman then resident in that oriental city ? Who, going still further back, could have believed it possible that she was the dashing Irish girl who some fifteen years ago followed the hounds, was foremost at a fence, and always carried in her wake a train of devoted admirers ? Who, indeed, looking upon that fearful wreck of a woman would have believed her to be the once brilliant Kate — , of County Galway? She, however, it was; but oh! how sadly changed from whnt she was! She was the eldest of several sisters, and when young was looketl up by all the neighboring matrons as a pattern for their own daughters. Her father was possessed of considerable means, her mother died while she was yet a child, and brothers she had none. Thus she was left, to a great extent, to follow the dictates of her own will, which led her to be always to the front in the giddy whirl of a fashion that turned night into day. Of course she was beloved, and had many offers from rich and handsome men, but she spumed them all, determined not to give up that freedom which allowed her capricious will and inclination to have full swing. But visiting Dublin on one occasion, she became enamored of a captain stationed there with his regiment, and thev were secretly married. Shortly afterwards, the"regiment to which Captain belonged was suddenly ordered away to India, and he had to depart at a moment’s notice, leaving his wife in Galway. He was in many of the engagements which took place during the Rebellion, and at the capture of Delhi was severely, and it was thought at the time fatally, wounded. While in hospital, he was recognised by an uncle who had been in India for twenty years, and who possessed great wealth. The nephew recovered, left the army, and went into business with his uncle, who at once settled the sum of £50,000 upon him. Kate in the meantime had confessed her marriage to her father, and there had been a scene. Headstrong and imperious, she could brook no condemnation, and selling off her diamonds, she left her home and took steamer to India, resolved to join her husband. Upon her arrival, she learnt of her husband’s residence in Calcutta, where the uncle was established in very extensive business. The meeting between the two was a very happy one, and the lady was taken to a sumptuous mansion, over which she presided with the grace of a queen. The business prospered, and her husband soon became very rich. He was passionately fond of his wife—and as proud as he was fond of her. She became the leader of fashion—was almost worshipped by the men, and admired, but envied, by the women. Her dresses were of the most costly description, and we are informed by a gentleman who knows her entire history, and was at the time a resident in Calcutta, that he has been present at balls where she has worn diamonds upon her of several thousand pounds value. But a cloud was coming between her and her husband : it was openly talked about that Colonel was too marked in his attentions to her, and the husband became jealous, and watched them both carefully. His suspicions then became confirmed, and a scene followed. He and the Colonel met, and the latter fell wounded, but not mortally. Mrs. fled the house and the country on the very day of the uncle’s death. Behind her she left a letter, imploring forgiveness, but stating that her shame was so great that she could not remain in India. She then returned to Ireland, where she found her father dead, and her three younger sisters married With one of these she resided for some time • but the evil report of her liaison wrth the

Indian Colonel was wafted across the sea, and penetrated to Galway. She had to leave her sister’s house, and, stung almost to madness, she resolved to again seek her husband, and implore bis forgiveness; so, for the second time, she embarked for India; but unfortunately for her, there was on board the vessel a gentleman by whom she had been courted, but whom she had rejected, years before. He now again renewed his professions of love, ignorant of her marriage, and believing her statement that she was going to join a maiden aunt resident in India, who was to make her her heiress. Despite her former vows to Captain , she consented to the marriage being consecrated on board by the Rev. Dean , a passenger. And now her mind was a prey to agony, and to a dread of their arrival at Calcutta. Could she have altered the steamer’s course she would have done so, but that was impossible. On arriving at her destination, she learnt almost with relief of her first husband s death. He had died broken-hearted within six months of his wife’s desertion, and had left every penny to his next of kin, and not one to the woman who had been faithless to him. The second husband, shortly after landing, learned the horrible truth, and at once cast his newlymade wife away from him ; she had now become perfectly callous to her former good name plunged into dissipation of a certain kind, and commenced to go headlong to destruction. For the sake of their name, some relatives of her husband, held several interviews with her and at length persuaded her by the payment of a sum of money to return to Ireland, ere she became utterly and irretrievably lost. Again she took • steamer and returned to Galway, but the breath of scandal did not spare her on board the vessel, where her conduct became so notorious that the Captain had to confine her to her room. On arriving at her native place, where years before she had been almost a goddess, her sisters would not even see her, and in a sudden fit of rage she proceeded to London, where she remained for more than a year, getting her living as a governess in a private family of some pretensions. But here again she brought ruin on a family, for she had suddenly to fly through the tongue of scandal being busy with the name of her self-found employer’s husband. And now she plunged down lower than ever. Some of her relatives learning of her whereabouts thought she might reform if sent to a new country. Their agents saw her and she consented to go to Melbourne, to become a governess at an establishment in the city —the past to remain buried in oblivion. But on her arrival at Melbourne, a fresh craving seized her, and she gave way unrestrainedly to drink. The situation she had come to fill, never saw her. Lower and lower she fell, until meeting with a digger, she joined her fortune to his, and about twelve months ago she came over to Dunedin. But, sick and disgusted with her, he abandoned her immediately on arrival, and since then she has been sunk into an abyss of degradation from which she can never rise again. The police have had her in their charge time after time for vagrancy, drunkenness, and prostitution, and, as stated above, she is now undergoing a term of several months’ imprisonment. It is indeed a sad, sad story, but is, unfortunately, only too true. —Dunedin Guardian.

FARM AND GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR OCTOBER. (From Chapman’s Almanac.) Farm.—Mild spring weather ; the principal crops, both spring and summer, should now be iu the ground. Plant maize iu rows five feet apart and two feet six inches from hill to hill, five seeds in each hill, and when they come up, remove two for green food ; alluvial and ground nearly level with the sea grow best maize. Finish potato planting, hoe those advancing. Keep drill harrow at work between rows of all drill crops. See water does not lodge on newly planted or sown ground. Forty-eight hours under water will destroy any crop, especially at this season. Grass intended for hay look to; gather off wood or stones lying about,then roll and shut up the field for hay. Repair fences. Shift sheep every fortnight if in paddocks, to give grass a start. Attend to lambing ; shearing will commence end of this month ; keep rams in a small paddock by themselves. Cows will now have abundance of grass and winter oats ; see that pigs have plenty of food, and litter to convert into manure. Grass may be sown with success this month ; it succeeds better on clay soils in spring than autumn. Kitchen Garden. —Finish planting potatoes ; sow main crop of carrots; sow Musselburgh for planting-out in trenches, sow Sion house, Newington wonder, and light dun dwarf French beans ; sow peas and broad beans; radish and small ealading sow every month; tie up lettuce for blanching, and sow for succession. Plant.out cabbage and cauliflower; prick out celery ; asparagus beds, hoe and weed ; rhubarb, litter the crowns ; peas, hoe up and stake ; prepare the ground where early potatoes came off for cabbage and beans. Flower Garden.—Sow African and French marigold, Indian pink asters, zinneas, German and ten week stocks, cockscombs, nolanas, tropKola, and the more tender sorts ; dahlias, if started in a little heat, or on a dung bed last month, will now be throwing up shoots ; divide old roots, or strike young shoots from cuttings, latter method makes finest plants ; keep down insects, especially on roses; water newly planted trees, shrubs, roses, and herbaceous plants, if the weather continue dry ; beds should be filled up from reserve garden.