ROMANTIC HISTORY OF A BARMAID.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 5, 28 April 1880, Page 4

ROMANTIC HISTORY OF A BARMAID.

The following curious story was related in the Wellington Evening Chronicle a short time back : —

Byron says that truth is strange — stranger than fiction. We might cite many incidents within our own knowledge illustrative of the accuracy of Byron's affirmation. A short time ago a pressman sent to an Australian periodical, in the form of a story, the account of the marriage, early death, and burial, of a Victorian maiden. The story contained nothing but facts which had come within the personal knowledge of the contributor. But the facts were so startling as to appear wholly incredible, and the editor of the periodical in question returned the manuscript to the author, informing him in a very kind note that whenever he wrote fiction his contributions would be, as they had previously been, welcome and well paid for, but that this narrative of facts was so startling that no one would believe it. Now, there has just occurred in Wellington an incident which, though not so

startling as the one above alluded to, yet shows in a very forcible way the chances and changes of colonial life. Many years ago, perhaps nearly a quarter of a century, two youngsters met, loved, and married in Victoria. The courtship had been very short, and the marriage was not happy. The " unhappy pair," after living for six months together in a cat-and-dog style, separated for ever. The husband bolted for a new rush which had broken out in a remote part of New South Wales. Subsequently the young wife gave birth to a girl, but the mother died ere the little one was three hours old. Some good old lady adopted the child and reared it. This lady brought up the child in good j style, giving her a fashionable educa1 tion. However, when the " Black Wednesday" dismissals from the Victorian Civil Service took place, the lady's husband lost his billet, and as he had not saved much money, the wolf soon appeared at the door of the erstwhile happy household. The husband sickened and died. The widow and her adopted daughter were thrown - upon their own resources. Times j were very bad indeed. The young I lady tried for a situation as governess, I but the market was overcrowded, and J she did not succeed in obtaining a j situation. At last she had to accept a situation as a barmaid. Soon after this, her foster mother caught the typoid fever, then very prevalent in Melbourne, and in ten days she was [ laid by the side of her husband in the I general cemetery. The girl was after- ! wards offered a good situation as bari maid in a Dunedin hotel, which she ; accepted. Being possessed of considerable personal attractions, and ; being better educated than the general j run of barmaids, she became a light ~ round which the jeimesso doree fluttered. Her fame reached Wellington, and she received a tempting offer from a boniface in the Empire City. Being tired of the flatteries of the fast men ' about town in Dunedin, and sick of their not "proposiug," she gladly . accepted the chance of fresh fields and pastures new. In Wellington she was ( as successful as usual.* The gay ' youths sported around her, but being of a practical turn of mind, she paid far more heed to the attentions of a middle-aged commercial traveller who seemed to have fallen desperately in love with her. She encouraged him ; he proposed and was accepted. They plighted vows of eternal constancy, though Coleridge says that " constancy dwells in realms above." Of course, the lover was ■ curious to learn the history of his fiancee. She told him the history of her life, even from the date of her parents' marriage. She noticed that he grew pale as the narrative went on. At last he started up in horror, ' and exclaimed " Why, you are my own daughter !" Complete explana- ; tions were entered into, and the father : rejoiced to have found, after an absence of twenty years, a daughter who was perfectly charming. All this ■ occurred some months ago, and the ; young lady has since been married to a suitor whose pretensions she Had previously despised. \ „ !