AN INTERESTING STORY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3565, 19 July 1890, Page 2

AN INTERESTING STORY.

In the second cabin of the Orizaba, which Bailed yesterday, are a young couple with a baby, around whose circiimstances tliero lianas a savor of

—well, not exactly romance, bnt ± peculiar interest. Tho buabciud had till rccjntly a writer's situation ill the Civil Service,' and was much esteemed by his fellow clerks. One lino day (be poor fellows health broke down, and • beggary -stared liiui in the face. - Then the lads belonging to the same department clubbed together what they could, and raised just enough to pay their comrade's passage ■ to Australia. The young wife arid'' child, it seemed, 1 would.have to-be left behind in her father's care till George could send for themHe had • fair : prospects in. Adelaide, - coriso- ; ,. quently thaimigbt Nevertheless the litiljßfi would not _T. be comforted, I quote from-, Mr Lacy, who tells tliS Btory in a Liverpoolpaper: "Oneday the wife was --. travelling eastward in a second class . carriage on the Underground Bailway , She shared the. corapartmont with an elderly "lady, who, observing her distressed condition, entered;into conversation with ier.s' Drawri by her sympathy, the poor woman told her

story, which the stranger attentively jv-, listened to. 'The' Mansion House/w Station was the destination of the '' disconsolate wife, and there, too, tho. stranger got out. On finding where ~ she was; landed, the stranger; was. . greatly perturbed, protesting that she had meant to get out at St James 1 Park, and Bho had not a penny to pay her fare baok. 1 < I should like to help you,' she Said to tho wife, * but must first consult my husband. If you call on rae in the morning at 11 . o'clock at 10, St James 1 Square, 1 will see what can be done for you. In tho meantimo I have come without my %• purse. I have not a penny to pay my return fare, so please lend mo sixpence. The poor woman could ill afford to spare the sixpence, and it seemed a very curious circumstance that her benefactrc ss should be in all , this quandary ;.but after / what had passed she could not for very shame yiold to the feeling of. natural sua.

picion, and handed over the sixpence. When she went home and told her husband tba strange story ho mocked her credulity and laughed at her proposal to accept the invitation to St. James Square. ' A woman without twopence in her pocket to ; \-' pay a second-class fare to St. James Park does not live in Sfc James Square,' ho said, Howevor, the wife determined to. see (lie matter out, and kept her appointment. On giving her name to the servant who opened the door, she was at once admitted, andshowniuto the drawing room. Presently, entered the mys. terioug lady of the second-class carriage, 'I have spoken te my husband about your case,' she said. 1 It is our rule nover to help people who do not help themselves, but ho has given me £SO to pay your * • passage out with your husband, and I have added £lO, bo that you may take the little child, My husband is not in office now, but you must let us hear how your husbaud gets on and ' perhaps by-and by Mr Gladstone may ' do something for him.' And handing ■ her tne £GO, she bode her a kindly ' farewell.' That Mrs Gladstone should 1 be discovered in a second-class carriage without a penny in her pocket may > seem to some people tho strangest part of the story. Those who knew ' her personally will rccogniso .in it a /. curious characteristic trait, The''* 1 gentleman who told the story had^ previously interested himself in the ' case of the emigrants, and, bitter Tory as he is, protested he will nover ' a»ain say a harsh thing about Mr ! Gladstone,"—Dunedin Star's London 1 Special.