TRUTH STRANGER THAN FON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5490, 21 June 1879, Page 5

TRUTH STRANGER THAN FON.

THE DISAPPOINTED. The folly of leaving tho loved one behind, while we seek at the Antipodea a position of inJependence, in the hopes of securing a home worthy of the object of our affection, has been fraught with ao many disastrous circumstances that, as a warning to those who hesitate to gather the rosei as they go, I will relate one of the many occurrences that took place during my residence in one of the Southern settlements of tliis North Island. Some time in the year 18G5, a respectable young mechanic, from the North of Scotland, arrived in New Zealand, whose industry proved to the observant that he had some other object in view besides self that kept him continually plodding on. And, although for some considerable time his gains were small, yet, by continued iudustry, he was enabled, towards the end of the sixth year, to send home a sufficient sum of money to bring out to the country of his adoption the yonug girl hi had toiled for bo long. And, during the next six months, he wa3 seen building and rendering comfortable the house he was preparing for his expectant bride. When the letter arrived in England it was received with joy, but circumstances had

arisen which rendered his request diffiunlt to be complied with, for, in the meantime, her father had died, aud she was now the sole support of her aged mother ; and, much as she longed to go, her duties as a child, and love for her parent rose superior to her affections for her lover, and she wrote b.v;k to say that she could not leave her mother while alive, and, as she might yet live many years, she called upon him to forget her, although her love for him was as undying as ever. When he received her answer, all hope of ever seeing her again fled, and, c lusideiing her reply final, he, having prepared everything to make home comfortable, soon after proposed t>> aud married a respectable colouUl girl, resident in the township. Within a few weeks of despatching her 1 tter, her mother took ill and died, aud she to>k her passage out to New Zealand by the next vessel, placing nerself under ihe protection of a Presbyterian minister and his family, who were leaving for the same settlement;. The voyage was unusully short and prosperous. And I can conceive the happiness of such a one, satisfied in having done her duty to her parent, now about to be rewarded with the love and protection of the only ouo she cared for on this earth. When the vessel touched the shores of New Zealand the wa3 a bright, handsome girl, with joy depicted in every feature, but ere the sun had gone down, she had learned the truth, and a despair, such as I had never seoo, had settled upon her. She continued for a time to reside with the minister's family, but nothing he could say or do could rally or remove the melancholy that beset her, and, thinking that a change would help to cast off the that was blighting her existence, he advised her to get a situation, and try aud forget her great disappointment. Following hi 3 advice, she left his house that evening and took lodgings in the township, and, when the sun rose again next morning, she was found to have cast off the cares, anxieties, and disappointments of this world, and let us hope and pray, for a better and a happier, for during the night, in her great despoir, she had taken th'j life God had given her. T. W.G.