A WIDOW BY PROXY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2161, 15 May 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

A WIDOW BY PROXY.

Should you. wish to know to what weight artistic grandeur can be brought, let me advise you to pay a visit to Haarlem (in Holland), where near the beautiful park filled with deer, which makes such a beautiful walk, yon will find the famous horticulturist Claereboets. After he has shown you his astonishing colleotion of tulips, hyacinths, carnations, , anemones, crowsfeet, camelias, primroses, cowslips, cactus, and pelargoniums, you will be delighted. Try and persuade him to allow yon to see his'six (laughters, and you will be dazzled. It is the story of the seventh, or rather the first, which I am to tell you just aa this worthy mani who has remained poor, although bis convervatories are full of treasures, told me last year! ' At the end of the 'year 1882 he had seven daughters on his hands. However, the Misses Claereboeti were as various as they were lovely, m sensible as they were poor, alas ! and thair appetites were only equalled by their virtue, One winter's evening, at the end of one of those meals which absorbed all the profits of the business, Claereboets lighted his pipe, and with a mysterous air drew from his pocket a letter with a foreign post mark. •Guess who has written to me? 1 be said. Several pairs of well developed shoulders shugged simultaneously, expressiveof ignorance. • Why, Micheels Maassen, the son of our former neighbours, the don tractor. Ho is the cashier of Planter Van Meeryut, in Java. He wishes to settle, and seeks one of your hands in itnarriage.' ' Which one, papa? 5 said six somewhat tremulous voices. 'It's the same to him. He was eleven years old when he left ; he is now twentyeight, so you may understand he has no choice. It is for you to decide, and I am going to take your opinion, beginning with the eldest. Well, tHina, will you marry Micheels ?' •Yes, papa,' replied the eldest Miss Claereboets without hesitation. * She was a magnificant blonde, twentyfour years old. Around the silent room six discreetly subdued sighs were heard. ' Right, my child,' said the father, as quietly as if it had been a matter of delivering a hundred hyacinths. ♦ Micheels is a good fellow, with excellent references. He sends his deeds; all in order, to the lawyer for the marriage. We will avail ourselves of its being Fall to consummate the affair, so that you will not arrive there in the hot weather.' Three weeks later Mina had become Mrs Maassen. 'When I say had, 'it' re* quires explanation. " The Dutch, the best colonists in the world, and the most practical people that I know of have devised an easy means by which their single friends settled iv the •Antipodes* can eaeily be married ia the metropolis. i

To make the bridegroom pasi two months at «oa, thereby to attend the registry for ten minutes and the chnrch for perhaps double that time, was a barbarity. To send out the intended was dnngerous. Sho might find the suitor eaten up by a tiger. To geb over this the Dutchman instituted marriage by proxy. For instance, you may bo m Sumatra and you wish a fine looking helpmate. You have nothing to do but to eend a friend at Rotterdam or Utrecht a power of attorney to act on your behalf. Ho marries her without any commission whatsoever ; she always carries away her title deeds with her. He registers her in the first steamer, and four pr live months after the order is given, the commission is executed and delivered. Thtu the beautiful Mina, who had seen many of her friends married in the same way, did not consider the process anything unusual. She cried a little, however, as she em* barked on a superb steamer belonging to the 'Koninkylke Nederiandsohe Stooraboot Maatohappy,' and saw her native land disappearing. Presently the Batavia got ' out to sea, and then she was too. much otherwise engaged to be able to find time to cry, and she never came out of her state-room till they reached Suez. Then awful storms arose, the shaft broke, and they reached Colombo by sailing, arriving just in time to catch the boat for Singapore. Mina was so ill as to be unconscious. She was carried from one ship to the other, and again they were at sea ; the only difference she realised .being that the basin close to her was of china instead of, copper. She arrived at Singapore in a prostrate condition, imagining her end had come. Again she was transferred like a bit of baggage to another steamer, and two days later they arrived in Batavia. At last a fourth boat landed - her at Samarang almost lifeless. Here she found her- • self in the abode of the Dutch consul, . lying on a couch which seemed to be tossing up and doWn, although on 'dry land, till she thought she would be thrown out on the floor. > She was just lamenting the inattention of everyone to her, when a young man wilh a fair monstaohe and straightfor-, ward looking blue eyes entered the offices of the consul, who was busily writing to catch the mail. • I am expecting a young woman from Europe, whom I have married by provy,'; said the visitor and I have come to make enquiries.' ' She has just been brought here.' said the official without stopping his writing. ' She is in a very bad state, and you would 8.6 ue a favour by taking her off my couch as soon as possible. Leave your address and the baggage will- be forwarded.' The meeting 1 of the pair may be imagined. He timid, she a weakened ghost of her former self. The young oolonist was, however, pleased with his acquaintance, and hailing two coolies, had - his wife taken to Samarang depot. The train took them half way to Djokjokarata, where two almost nude men lifted the Well nigh in- < sensible Minn out. An hour later she was seated next to her legal husband on the rough cushion of a two- wheeled oart, dragged by two jogging oxen, which shook her terribly. However, Mina felt better. She looked up at her husband, and was pleased with his appearance. Gun in hand, he seemed to watch furtively every nook and crannie as they passed, but paid her no attention. Thit seemed strange to her. 4 You are very fond of sport, it seems ?' she said in 'a semi- reproachful tone. These were the first words she had uttered to her companion. ' I never was so frightened of meeting game as at this moment. This is a lovely climate, and I hope you will like the country, but it has one disadvantage. After six in the evening it is ■ infested with tigers, who prey about in search of what they may devour, so that it is best to remain at home after that hour. However, we have passed the ,most dangerous part, and we are getting near, home.' Poor Mina ! She no longer wished to talk. She trembled fronrr-head to foot. At last they arrived at a fine bungalow raised off the" ground to-iaivofd snakes and adders, with verandahs all round. ■ On the steps stood * pale, thin old lady, who came forward attracted by the noise, of the wheels. She was Mina'a mother-in-law. , ' What, my child, you here already ?' cried the old lady, much surprised. We did not expect you bore until next week. 'We had an accident on the way,, madame.' That would delay rather than accelerate your arrival. However, here you are, that is the main thing. Be welcome, my child. You mn9t bo very hungry.' 4 Oh, madame, I only want sleep. •If you only knew what a journey, I have had.' 'Don't make any excuses, my- child. X will get your room ready at ones, and take you there myself.' , An hour later Mina, slept beneath, the waving punkah} wrapt in sweet sleep and pleasant dreams. ' „ , ' ; 4 Do you know you will have-.*, pretty wife?' said the mother on rejoining her son under the verandah.; , f 1 It is astonishing how little she resembles the photograph your unolesent of her.' i 4 Yei,' said the young man, 'she is very lovely. I would like to, go early to the church, mother : because after all we have not been regularly married.' , In the morning Mina came down all pink and white. 4 Did you sleep well, dear Anna P'.snid her husband, for the first time kissing his wife's forehead. , , ' 'But,' said the young lady smiling, 4 my name is not Anna; my name is Mma — Mina Clara Claereboeta. . Hare you already forgotten it ?' 4 What!' cried the colonist, pale as death, ' are you not Anna — Anna Taussens ?' 4 Great God ! and you ' 4 1 am called Hans Van Hesslett. Don't you come from Edam ? Isn't your father a cheeso merchant P' 4He is a gardener near Haarlem. ,1 have married Mioheels M&asoen, cashier of the house of YanMetryut. Here is my' certificate of marriage.' Hans seized the papers with trembling hand, and irlanoed over them hurriedly. 4 Mother? said be, to the old Mrs Van Hesslet, who at that moment entered, arrayed in her finest robes, ' a misfortune has occurred. I have made a mistake at Samwang. The young lady belongs to another.' The matron was a sensible woman. In a moment she understood all. It was certainly hard on the son, already three parts in love with a woman who was not for him, and whose husband would - have to be found in an island one thousand five hundred miles away, and he would have to be found before the real Mrs.: Hans appeared on the scene, else she would have two daughter!- iu«law. upon her hands. Before losing a day they sorted off with Mina, who thought rest would never come to her. The only pl»n wag to go to the consuls of the various islands till they hiarl n<JWH oi the happy Maasscn, to whom he worfd hite to give up Mina, to ba leptaoed by tie homely original of his photograph. ■ ' To less resigned natures the position would have been insufferable, but these , two contented themielve^iatho hgppineM

of seeing each other daily. Hara was more in lovo every day with Mina, and she alas ! often shed a tear when ahe looked up at the false Micheels. Ten days had already elapsed in visiting the porta most inhabited by Europeans— Butavia, Cheribon, Tagot, and Pekalongon. The trio often became a duo, foe Mina still suffered at sea. Every place had been tried even to Sonoabaya, but, alas ! it was chance which first gave them a clew. In the hotel where they alighted, and they were telling the tale for the ninety-ninth time, they were stopped at the first word. " Micheels Maaasen ! He was hern four days ago. A strange adventure happened to him. He was expecting a young woman by the steamer whom he had married by proxy, on the other side, and the agent had given him another one. Maasscn was not pleased, for the exchange was not for the better." "I believe you,' said Hans, with a confident air. "But what did he do with my wife ?" •Oh, she's yours? Well he took her away, feeling sure that the real husband would, follow to claim her and bring him his own. He even left his address. He lives on the other side of the island, be* tween Pourworedj, and Patan.' 1 YVelf/saicFHans, ' tie's a cool kind of a custora&BKDrid "would imagine wi^h him that it was, rather a matter of a change jof umbrellas in a cafe than of a human being, liver e we are again for an eight days' journey." , After Rome days at spa, a furious tornado, arose, sweeping eveything away ; lightening (iashing, thunder rolled, and the monster waves rose like huge mountains on every side. By a miracle the ship wa# saved. In the morning all were astonished to find themselves alive, the children more than any. Everything was gone; the compasses jwere upset : but the captain knew these seas so well that it made no .difference. ' , * .'I ought to have an island in front of me just here,' he remarked ; ' but I see nothing.' Alter seeking for the island half a day, it was found to have disappeared entirely, with all its inhabitants. , So they made for a neighbouring town, but in this ever famous night the neighbouring .town and the authorities to whom the captain had intended making bis, report had also disappeared. It was no longer a question of the plantation of Vau Meeryut, of the cashier of the ,bank, . or the poor Anna. Hans and Mina were widower and widow— that ia to say, free. , I don't think they wept much over their respective and unknown ppbuaes. They will not be able to marry for some weeks;. The Dutch law enacts that widows may not marry within a certain period of the death of their husbands, so that Hans must submit to wait.