MARS AS MATCH-MAKER.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 278, 25 May 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

MARS AS MATCH-MAKER.

SOME LOVE ROMANCES OF THE WAR.

"I F the full story of the war could bo ■*■ written, no volume of it all would ' compare ui fascination with that which I would record the activities of Cupid. ' From cover to cover it would be crowd- ! ed with stories as strange and romantic ■ as any you will find in the whole realm | of ficfon, for never it. all h's long hi-**-' torj- has lie wrought such havoc, with j tho hearts of men and maids, eir shot his arrows with such deadly and dram- j a tie effect. i Where, for example, will you find in ! fiction a story more charming and ro- J niiutie- than that of .whi'h Miss Nina . George, pretty Scotch lassie, was the i heroine, a few months ago? When tht | war-trumpet first called our bravo boys j to war, M'sa Nina was barely emanci- i pated from the schoolroom; but already | she wa.s the acknowledged belle of her j native town, Invcrgordon, on tho shores | cf the Cromarty Firth, whoso glorious : red-gold hair, blue eyes, exquisite com- | plexion and dainty little figu,V, in- I stunt with grace in every movement, I set many a heart fluttering. But siie J was r> unconscious of her Itauty as sue i was indifferent to her conquests. She • was far too happily busy with her work for the comforts of our gallant lads- at j the front to allow any such thoughts to j disturb her industry. •' Then one day there came to tho < neighbouring training camp a handsome young officer, who lost his heart at first sight of Nina's young charms. Intro- : duction was followed by frequent meetings, each of wh'cb added fuel to tho i flame of a love which gradually won its i reward ; and one cay Invcrgordon heard : with amazement, and also with pride, I that its loveliest daughter had been se- J eretly wedded to Viscount Ufnngton. j heir to the fourth Earl of Craven, lord of 10,000 acres. "'On her return to her father's j house." says one of her friends, | "Viscountess Ufnngton found herself .1 town celebrity. Her appearance in ' church or in the street is the occasion for respectful {dances and interested , whispers; for has she not by her marriage in London with Viscount Uffing- j ton made Invcrgordon the scene of the mos-t romantic: of war-courtships?" ■ A V.A.D. ROMANCE. • But no less romantic is the story n ' how ser<eant frees, of the Nortel Somerset Yeomanry, wood and won a peer's niece for bride. The gallant sei- j gcant had come scathless through some of the, fiercest fighting in France and Flanders, when at l:;st ?> severe wound sent him homo to the V.A.D. Hospital at Oakley Manor. Shrewsbury; ami ; th"r.e, though he little dreamt it, his valour was to have its reward. The sister second in cemmandof the hospital was Miss Jackson, daughter of n wealthy Shropshire family, and niece io Lord Hatherton, of Teddcsly Park, Staffordshire, a lady who has won golden opinions by 1 er devqt'on to our wounded soldiers. I-'rom the dav o j h's arrival Miss .Jackson took a deep interest in the sergeant, whose pluck and patience and good temper appealed strongly to her. She nursed him back to health after a severo operation with infinite care rnd skill; and in tho process p, mutual attachment sprang up between nurse and patient, which, •within a few monhs-, had its crowning , scone, at the altar. A touching and dramatic story is told of a Swiss volunteer, who fought bravely in the French ranks from the beginning of hostilities until his wounds compelled him to return to his home at Basle. Early in the war this Swiss, whose name is Haberthur, lost an arm during an artillery bombardment, but whence recovered he insisted on returning to his and continued to fight until a bullet robbed him of sight.' A patriotic Alsatian girl. M'llo Mix, heard the tragic story and decided to visit the crippled hero in his home, when his modest ami uncomplaining behaviour so touched her heart that with the greatest delicacy and earnestness she linked him to allow her to share h's life "But." he protested, ''l am blind and maimed and helpless—a perfect wreck of a man!" "'For that reason, was her answer, "you will not refuse my request. I want vou to see the world through mv eves.' to lean on my strength. 1 cannot fight, but 1 can at least." if y.-.ir will allow me, bring a lit- j tie brightness ; nto the life of one who has fought c o bravely at such a price-." Fnablti to resU such pleading, the stricken hero gratfully accepted the off'j- end when, a low weeks later, be was led from the altar by his wife, he riul. "I lost an arm and my eyes. I won the l.e'ion of Honour and a charming wife. The God of wars hay indeed I ."p "end to me." THE SIMIIIT OF FRANCE. When Emile Prinvanlt. a. strapping ccrgeant in the .">th French iniantry. was struck bv an explosive bullet which shattered Ins right arm. h's first act, after bis arm had been amputated, was to have? letter sent to hi* fiancee s u ,,. t ' telling i.er that, now he had imiv one arm, it would be very difficult for'him to make a living in future, and Hnt le ennsdered it h'-s duty to rclonsa her daughter from her pronme. Tho mother red the letter to her daughter and said. "What shall I tell him' Iteflcet well before vow answer. "Ihaveno need to reflect," replied in-s

bravo girl. "Tell him I want to marry him more than ever." "Kis,s me," said her mother, "you have done well to sav so. If you had refused 1 would have disowned you." fho war has been responsible for many dramatic meetings, but of few more strange and romantic than that of which a hospial at Eta pies was the sopno about a. year ;igo. A Canadian soldier, terribly wounded in the Ypies salient, had boon taken to the hospital in apparently a dVuig condition. For days ho lay unconscious un the brink of death, and when at last he recovered consciousness he saw as in a dream -» sweet face stooping over him. For • few moments lie gazed at it, doubt struggling with gladness in his eyes, until at last, when the mist of memory cleared, ho uttered an exclamation of joy, raised his arms weakly, and whispered " Eleanor —it is- you !" The same instant tho face stooped, and he ion warm kisses on h's lips and tears dropping on bis face. Tho last time the soldier and the nurse bad mot was in Manitoba two year-> earlier. A lover's quarrel, the result of jealousy had parted them, as they thought, far ever. But Providence, which works in wondrous ways, had brought thorn together in a far lano, and in tho joy of their meeting tho eld love woke to a new life which a few mo-nlis later was crowned at the alACCTDENTOR FATE? >t. Margaret's Church, Westminster, was recently the scone of a union little loss romantic. The bridegroom was an Australian wno had come to London after being seriously wounded and disabled for further service at Gallipoli. Years earlier ho and the bride had been boy and girl sweethearts, until, at her father's wish, she became engaged to a wealthy suitor, and the young lovers had drifts! apart, seemingly for ever. Tho d'sabled wariior, however, had not been many hours in I>ondon when by ace'dent —or was it Fate?—he met her in tho Strand, and to his surprise and joy learned that her engagement bad long boon cancelled, that she still loved him—more than ever —and that she wr.s very willing to share his life. "n this volume of the war's love-ro-mancps, if ever it is written, we shall read tho full details of a story told by Lady Randolph Churchill of an aviator fr'end who flew over from Dunkirk, mi lo an excursion to the altar with tlio lrdy of his heart, and within fortyeight hours was flying back over the Channel to play havoc with the Taubo°, an'd wo shall also read of that romantic union at sea between an English doctor and a nurse. it was qt Salonika that Dr. Percy Wallace and Mivs Dora Woodcock plighted their troth and decided to Ik* mado ono as speedily as possible. She. however, was just about to start ror Montenegro, and ho for Serbia, and dk'V discovered, to their dismay, that three weeks' residence and notice were necessary for a wedding at Salonika. But for such lovers obstacles only exist t:> be overcome, and they quickly discovered.a way out of their dilemma. Lo lining that they could bo legally wedded on a British ship outside tho thr.HMiiilo l'mit, they promptly chartered a vessel, took a clergyman with them, and when they had loft the shore more than the regulation throe miles behind them, the ceremony was performed, and they returned jubilantly to Salonika, man and wife. AN ENTERPRISING WARRIOR. lYhon tho soldier turns his thoughts to matrimony he is the last man to allow tho grab's of delay to grow under his impatient feet, and ho will undertake! tv> find a life partner, woo, w'n. and wod her, and bo luck again in the firing line a married man within three or four days of st-irting on his One such enterprising warrior, a friend of the wriior, landed at Folkestone on a Thursday. Th? *une evening he met. propo-cd to, and was accepted by a very charming u'irl ;it a dame at tho Hotel. On Friday he travelled to London and procured the marriage licence The next morning he was married and off on ! twenty-four hours' hcuevmoon, and on Sunday he was back in tho trenches. But proba.blv the most remarkable, and also the saddest of the«e war-rn-man-H'S is tho following. In Septemlier li'l t. ;> girl of seventeen, known to the writer, became the wife of a young otn-d-r of the Regular Army, who loft for the front a few days later. In December news came to her that her husband bad been killed. For a year she was inooiedahle. Then, in the following December, she consented to give her nand to a captain in a Yorkshire regiment, who«e symnathy had done much t«. heal her wound. Hut aga'n ill-luck pursued her. for within a iov weeks of her wedding-day -!c was left a widow for the second lime. Last September she was persuaded to make a third venture, and again disaster pursued e.cr, for within four woks of bidding him eood-hye on lis return to France her third husband was reported missing, and as no further ncw-i nf him has come, ho is probably d.ad. leaving her a widow for the third time while slill n her 'toons. Thus in war does tragedy often shadow romance.