REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4907, 24 March 1894, Page 1

REMINISCENCES OF A JOURNALIST.

I BT EUSTICUS.J (All rights reserved.) NO. XIII. HOW A LADY'S "TANTRUM" COST HER .£20,000. " Truth," it has boan demonstrated over and over again, " is of .en stranger than fiction." Not only is such the case, but I will venture to assert that " fiction " always has and always - will spring from "truth." The finite mind of the fictitious writer must always turn "to the infinite mind of truth or nature for his moat enthralling and interesting literary materials. Why? Because truth, as represented by nature, is almoßt daily developing new actualities or events, which the brain of a Solomon could not have conceived of, much Jess matured and fructified. Therefore, " truth" must not only always continue to prove " stranger than fiction," but fiction must alwayß subordinate itself to "truth," as embodied in the stern realities and j actualities of life. This reminds me that my own puny mind is wandering too far into tho illimitable sphere, of philosophy, and if 1 do not at once retrace my Bteps and clamber back over the fence into the realms of plain common sense and prosaic facta, I shalf speedily drift into the local lunatic asylum> I waa obviously never built on a philosophising or theorising plan, so, before farther mental mischief ensues, let me to my narrative— which, by way of premise, I assure my readers is strictly true. In the town of Laceborough in England there resided seven years ago a retired sock and stocking builder. Having accumulated .825,000 in the manufacture of hosiery when " trade was good," he, like 1 a sensible man, wisely decided not to risk his fortune in Continuing his business when the " bad" financial times visited his manufacturing centre. He, therefore, bonght him a neat little suburban villa, and prepared to comfortably enjoy himself for the rest of his days, and watch v l_i- Jes3, : cautions fello*w.. .•manufacturera float, sink, or swim on the commercial tide. He saw many of them sink, but that is merely a detail in my story, and is only mentioned because he advanced one of them, who was an old school chum, .89000 on the security of some superbly mounted diamond ornaments. At tha data of his retirement Mr Harris only owned one child, A GOOD-LOOKING, WAYWARD, HEADBTONG GIBL OP NINETEEN. She had been away at a distant seminary receiving her education for some four or five years. And in the light of subsequent events, it is evident that the curriculum at thia "young ladies' college/ must have been an extremely comprehensive one— -too comprehensive, in fact, to be consistent with moral safety and rectitude. Harris pire had an objectionable habit now and then, when his anger was aroused, of rendering the atmosphere and everything else around him perfectly lurid with his profanity. But he was simply paralysed, stunned, and (as he himself afterwards expressed it to Mrs H.), "knocked all of a heap" when Lucy, or " Lou," as she was generally termed, consigned him in good strong emphatic language to a place where the very lightest ot summer clothing would be preferable ! In absolute astonishment he gasped— " WHA-WHAT WAS THAT TOIT SAID, LOU ? " Without the slightest hesitancy she simply gave him another polite invitation to go to a hotter, sultrier climate, and told him to stay there on a prolonged visit. Poor old Harris! He was profoundly to be pitied. For though, as I have said, he had a reprehensible habit of indulging in profanity himself when aroused to anger, yet, in justice to him, it must be added that he had generally restrained himself in a most commendable manner on those occasions when "Lou was home from boarding-school." It was obvious to him *then, poor man— and the fact came home to him with poignant anguish— that he and his good, easy wife had been too engrossed in money-grubbing and accumulating to pay that attention to their daughter's morals and conduct which they should have done. He had never, previous to the event jußt narrated, had cause to thwart his daughter's will, for he and her mother almoßt idolised the girl. This was, perhapa, why she had never betrayed her familiarity with the "vulgar tongue" on a previous ocoasion. But on the day to which I am now alluding, Bhe had expressed a wish to visit a particularly low-toned music hall in Laceborough. Harris knew the character of the resort, and absolutely refused to either take or pormit her to go there ; and it was this refusal which induced the retort that was to teach him for the first time in his life that there are other parental duties besides those of money-making and endowing a child with a good education. It would do no good, and might aucon traire be productive of incalculable harm, were I to lift the veil and describe the unfilial, unwomanly, nay, unnatural propensities which this girl gradually developed during the subsequent twelve months or so. Suffice it to say that her conduct afforded a most striking illustration of the fact that speciously-worded and attractive newspaper advertisements are by no means always to be accepted as guarantees of the respectability of female scholastic establishments, much lesß of male. Oftentimes, indeed, they prove veritable hotbeds of evil to the rising generation, ub many a parent has found to his or her cost. BHE"I.EVANTED WITH THB GBOOM one eventful night or morning; old Harris never succeeded in determining which it was. She levanted, too, with a good deal of valuable plate, jewellery, and other portable property, which enabled her and the partner of her flight to live in hiding for more than eighteen months. The only redeeming quality her consort evinced was, that he • honourably married her. But he ill-treated her scandalously, until he went just l_deg too far in his illusage, and aroused the lurking tigress within her. But the tigress was aroused, and she retaliated with a kitchen saucepan or some other equally fragile utensil, to euoh good purpose that he lay on tho thre-bol_. of the Great Never, Nevor More

for over a week ! And he was simply "a sleeping partner in the house" for nearly two months longer. When he arose from his sick couch he wsb a weaker, sadder and wiser husband. Also he was muoh quieter— much. To "Lou's" credit be it said, although ie her passion she came perilously v-.6vx making horself a widow, aud something else, when she fully realised what a m'accle sue possessed she was profoundly sorey, and told her neighbours quietly that " JIM HAD HAI? ._>STASTT FALL ON THE KITCHEN- -PENDER." E% passant I may observe tbat fenders Often do get blami-a. iv this unjustifiable manner, don't jou know. The money realised by Mr *pd Mrs Harris's stolen property waa by /^la time beginning to look very sick and' consumptive, [and as thore was a proapeat of an increase in the nest census return f/.; Lucy humbled herself to the extent, not ofimploring paternal and maternal pardon, 'jut of writing home to her mother for "a trifling loan of .£100! " She didn't/get bb many pence, for, like a dutiful wifv.Mrs Harris handed the application to her epouse, and he emphatically swore— and he did use some powerful language just about the time thebegging letter came to han^-that " not one pennypiece more of his monoy should the hussy receive ! As she had made her bed, so sho might and should lie upon it." Mrs Harris fully ahd entirely acquieaced in the verdict. I think had Harris only known what sort of a " bed" sha had manufactured for the runaway groom "to lie on" he would have _elent_d to tho extent of the i.IOO cheque, for he somehow appeared to consider that the luckless horse-valet was responsible for nearly all his daughter's bad conduct, forgetful of the fact that she had shown herself to be completely full up to the chin of general demoralisation and devilry long before she ever knew him. But ! Harris | HATED HIS EX'GtROOM LIKE POISON, and so the old man left him and his wife and prospective progeny to starve. But " Lou " had no intention of starving — not if she were anywhere on hand whon the starving had to ba gone through. She waited until thoir last trinket had found its way to Uncle Emanuel's ; and then, as Jim was still either too weak or too unwilling to put his neck into the collar again, Bhe took train for Laceborough and a cab to her father's villa, and, boldly mounting the viliy. steps, rang the bell. A serving maid answered the ring, and recognising her " young miesis," said " LA, MISS _-tr JT ! IS IT TOIT COME 'OME AGIAIN?" "Yes, it isn_3j Mary. Don't stand there staring like a fool j but go and tell father I want him. . On second thqpghts, how-, ever, I'll go and announce 'myself . He' may not be very amiable when he sees me) but I'm his only child, and as I shall soon have one-. \ of my own to support, I'll make the pater do something for me." * She, was ad- • vanoing acro.s tho entrance hall when the pater himself,' attracted by her loud tones and Lady Macbet; style of delivery, emerged from a drawing-room and confronted her. The scone wliicit ensued may be imagined, but it must hot "b^ described— er-— not in these columns, an^hq.w. I can only say that Harris, whor f%aa terribly excited and likewise ? terribly^-unforgiving, sent « for the police, and gave "Lou" the choice ot .•;;' beivig- .thero ,and then locl^^..*:up.?f4-^)^%-iry-?<>r.>.bsenti^g > . hjarr self quietly and decorously. She chose the latter alternative, but on her assurance that she was almost penniless and could not reach her home without money, the old man literally took his well-filled purse out, threw it at her feet and bade her begone. THE PURSE CONTAINED NEARLY £10. And on this "Lou " and her husband lived until he procured work at a livery establishment in London. She made several further applications for assistance, not because she really needed it; for Jim, when he got fairly settled down in harness, proved himself a "stayer," or, in non-sporting parlance, continued ajeadily in employment. | Five years had elapsed when apoplexy J carried Harris at very short notice over j the Stygian stream. He died intestate, | but his wife, of course, claimed and rej tamed possession of everything. She wa3 !at least ten years her late husband's I senior, and at his death was a feeble old I lady, and scarcely sufficiently compos J -mentis to go inside out of the rain. I Whether she had entirely forgotten the existence of her erring daughter, or whether she continued to respect his wishes by ignoring her altogether, I cannot undertake to say. Anyhow, she never mentioned the girl's name or enquired after her. Be that as it may, however, she lived in strict retirement, keeping only one servant instead of two, as when her husband lived. But in her seclusion she contracted two somewhat unusual habits : she took to curling her hair up in paper every night before retiring* to rest ; she alao manifested a marked degree of affection for a very shabby and ancient-looking pair of stays or corsets, whichever may be the correct term. Once or twice a week Bhe would well curl out and comb her silvery but still luxuriant locks, and this she would do privately in her own bedroom. The serving woman used to think when she saw her mistress manipulating the stays, that the latter was endeavouring to repair them for further use, and so took no more notice of the matter. She also noticed that Mrs Harris paid occasional but not frequent visits to a lumber room in the houae. This did not excite any more curiosity in her mind than that it was but a harmless eccentricity of the old lady's. But that haircurling, stay-nursing, and lumber-closet visiting were pregnant with meaning, as I shall now proceed to show ••— • One November afternoon old Mrs Harris had gone to her room to lie down, as she did not feel quite so well as ÜBual, When the servant went to take her up a cup of tea, Ac, she discovered to her dismay that Mrs Harris had gone to a land where tea is not— so far as I know, that is ; and where there are very few etceteras by the same token. " Lou's " mother was dead. The doctor was called in who had been attending her, and he sent for the police. An inquest, post-mortem, "verdict of death from failure of the heart's action," funeral, discovery of the family lawyer's name, all followed each other in rapid succession. No wili was ever mado by either husband or wife, so far 83 the lawyer knew. But one thing he did know most positively, viz., that old Mr Harris had realised .£12,000 worth of Government securities, some Uttle timo prior to his death, probably with a view to other and more profitable investments. The old gentleman, too, was known to be in possession of some very valuable diamond jewellery, security for a £9000 mortgage ; but how it had been disposed of, he (tho ! solicitor) could not Bay, Evidently there was most valuable property lying around loose somewhere, if it oould only be found. a The house was thoroughly searched, but J nothing of the wealth specified by the | lawyer was discovered. Lucy was believed Ito be living ; but as her letters home had, Ino doubt, been destroyed nothing waß | known as to hor whereabouts. She was at | length unearthed by advertising, and came |to her abandoned home. She was, of j course, made acquainted with the fact that 8 the larger part of her father's known 1 wealth was mysteriously missing. This j last intelligence brought out all the worst

traits of her unprincipled charaoter, and the maledictions she was frequently heard to utter on the bodies and souls of her progenitors were sufficient to make an infidel's hair curl or a heathen Chinee shudder with fear. ONE "MORNING LUCY WENT TO THE LUHBEKBOOH. She took with her just her sweetest and most angelic temper. "That cursed old hag of a mother of mine must have hidden the money so that I should not reap the benefit of it. I won't have this room littered up with rubbish any longer, I'll carry down moat of the filth and useless trash and burn it in the garden." She did carry down quite a miscellaneous assortment of rubbish, piled it all in a heap, and set fire to it.. Among- other apparent "rubbish" was an old tea-chest, containing hair-combing., superannuated curl-papers, and a dirty old pair of staya. Tho cremation had been just about satisfactorily completed, when "Lou" (who had been acting as chief stoker, and cursing her defunct parents while firing up), suddenly noticed one of the. burning curl-papers untwist itself in a somewhat carious fashion, and then fall back from the fire and gaze right up at her, as it were. She stooped down and picked it up. It was about the third part of a J6500 Bank of England note! "Oh, my God ! " she cried. " What have I been doing ? " Then she dropped down on her knees, and with her bare fingers — utterly regardless of pain — she raked among the ashes for one, juife one, unburnt bank note* But it was too late. Sbo had been too good a stoker. Those old curl-papers were every one dead and gone Bank of England notes! She raked one or two discoloured bits of some Bhiny substance out of the ashes, and, to her intense chagrin, she made the additional discovery that thousands of pounds worth of valuable unset diamonds had beon sewn up in that filthy, contemptible-looking pair of stays! Later search among the family documents clearly showed that something like -220,000 worth of bank notes and diamonds had been thrown into that trumpery tea-chest, and the whole lot, coffin and all, had been hastily and unconsciously cremated by an angry, ill-tempered woman. Was she worth pity ? Yes ; bad as she undoubtedly was, I pitied her most devoutly. Tou ccc her parents were more to blame than she was ; for had they paid as much attontion to her moral training as they had done to her education, she might, and most probably would, have have been something better than she proved to be. I pitied, and still pity her. The proceeds of the villa residence and the value of some gold jewellery from which the gems had been extracted, was all that remained to her of her father's large fortune. I know had I been in her place when that awful discovery was made, I should simply have gone mad, or else have toppled over and died broken-hearted.