ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 58, 30 August 1911, Page 7

ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY

AMBITIONS BLIGHTED BY A 'LOVE AFFAIR. A pathetic history was concluded a few days ago in a charitable home near Melbourne by the death of an inmate Whose career had .been stranger than most of the unfortunates who find an ultimate re- i fuge in old men's homes. He was a main ' of sixty-nine years, battered and enfeebled by the burden of an existence which had left him a hopeless derelict.'on the t ocean of life. More than forty yeafs ago he was standing on the threshhold of.a great commercial career. He was an officer high in the service of the Colonial Bank in Melbourne, and when the. last big alluvial gold rush occurred in 1808 this young man was chosen as the smartest and most reliable of the bank's officers to open a branch at Spring €reek. After the rush was over he was .trans-' feired to the management of another j branch and subsequently was promoted, to the responsible position of ;chief accountant at Ballarat. Physically, mentally and morally he was a fine stamp of man, and his friends predicted for him a brilliant business career. ' But his'ambitions were blighted by an- untortuflisrtelove affair. He became engaged to k charming yomg lady, and they- were pre •. •. paring for the marriage when anot-hbr young man appeared on the sceiie. 1 The new arrival made love to the young lady, who preferred his suit, and soon rriarried him, leaving the man to whom' she was engaged in the lurch. The poor fellow's downfall dated from that time:. He; threw up his position and went- to Queensland, where he lived an ' utterly reckless life for some years, taking a junior position in a bank only 'when necessity drove him' to accept this alternative to starvation. Ambition had deserted him with his fickle fiancee; and soon lost his self-respect. He drifted back to Victoria, and for some years he was able to support his aimless existence on a legacy left him by his broken-, hearted mother. When the money was' spent he lived for some time in the pathetic position of .a derelict, and only a few weeks after he had ,been rescued from the whirlpool of misery came the inevitable end.