ROMANCE AND TYPEWRITING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11919, 22 January 1894, Page 3

ROMANCE AND TYPEWRITING.

. «_. _ (By George Leitch in the New Zealand Times.l I was in need of a typewriter to do some copying in a hurry ; a friond promiHed to recommend ono who waited upon mo in the ovoning at my hotel in Melbourne; a self-contained litt'o girlworaan, dressed in dark blue and wearing spectacles with double glasses She waa eager to undertake the copying of dramatic work, with a view to some interesting associatians, and to obtaining constant employment. Upon her card was " Miss Kate Pickett," written in bold msEculino characters. Her first effort in , this (to her ) new kind of work was on- \ tirely satisfactory, and I gave her all the | copying I needed from that time. It was i always woll done and punctnally do- ( livered, and she would give mo sugges- i tions at times exhibiting u shrewdness i and a critical faculty which was fro- ' quently of great assistance to me. So it ' was with much regret that I heard from ' her one day that I should no longer have ' the benefit of her valuable co-operation. • She was going to India with Mr. , j the theosophist. Never dreaming that she herself was a thesophist, I concluded that she was going to the East as an r amanuensis or secretary, and gave her j some friendly advice as to making herself J secure in a business point of view. She ■ thanked me, and told mo she was per- ' fectly satisfied and confident that all - would be well with her. Some two months afterwards, I was revising some rough work, written chiefly ■ on the bticto of old letters— turning ono ' sheet I saw that I had used the back of ' little Miss Pickett's farewell letter, ' Thinking gratefully of her assistance, 1 | turned somo pages of tho last work she had copied for me ; looking from this to , the signature on her letter again, my ( glances wandered to the columns of a | morning paper that lay on my table, and I saw in an article tho name of Kate F. < Pickett, I bent over the papor, and read: "The well was from 16ft to 17ft < deep, and contained about 12ft of water, • tbfijresult being that Miss Kate Pickett ' wWBJOWtied." With a startled and very s*.- ..iterest I wont through the article, which revealed to mo tho indisputable fact that my little friend had met with a . sad end. But a fow weeks ago sho had ' brought me tho manuscript which lay ' to my right hand. Her farowell letter J was to tho left of mo, and in tho nowspupor before me was tho account of her j doath and cremation, A littlo history of , life and death and of the unexpected, g Upon her arrival at Colombo she, < amidst great onthusiosra and rejoicing, I entered tho ranks of the Buddhists, and i became Lady Principal of the Sanglw- i mitta Girl's School in Maradama. Ono ; morning » fortnight aftor she was missing, < her bed had not been slept in, and " * ' "The well was from 16ft to 17ft deep, ' atid Miss Kate Pickett was drowned." l The Theosophista seem to have done ! their best to sift the matter, an inquiry j was held, but in spito of all that was j urged against it, a vordict of suicide was | recorded. * * Tho suggestion that tho decoasod . might have fallen into the woll in a Btato \ of somnambulism haviug been mooted, f the gardoner and Mrs. Woerakoon were ( recalled. Tho former stated positively ; that Miss Pickett was not in the habit i of walking by moonlight, and the latter I deposed that she had novor heard, nor 1 did she know, that Miss Pipkett was nc- ' customed to walk about in her sleep Other and more sinister suggestions ivwo ' mooted. Tho face of the deceased iv;is full of agony, the finger tips wero lacor- ' atod, the nails filled with scrapings from ; the side of tho woll, Yet no criob wure reported to have been heard. In her duiry produced at tho inquest there wuro some significant passagos to tho following effect:— "l feel as if lamin a dn-am , Everything is strange and everything is , new to me. I hope God will enable mo to do my duty proporly." , And that is just what I feel convinced the little lady would have done bravuly without shrinking, under any circumstances. ' The body was cremated with grout ceremony. The funerul pile was fired by Mra. Woerakoon, after the Buddhibt priests had given pansil to all tho Buddhist gathered there. Tho cofliu Wifi a coßtly one, lined with whito sitin, and mounted with silver colourod furnituru. An arch had boen erected at the ontcuico of the Model Farm, while a square pin dal was raised over the funeral pile, UpotM ..-Wing the accounts of her death from tho Ceylon papers, Mr J. E. I'ickett, a brother of the hapless girl, indignantly repudiated tho verdict of filicide, attributing the sad calamity to an accident, and this is tho only conclusion tlmt all who knew Miss Pickett would arrive at. She was an enthusiastic lover of thu beautiful ; her now lifo was full of so much that would appoal to her impassionablo nature. The iudescribablu beauty of tho tropical night drew her from the house. Seating herself upon the edge of tho well, losing herself in an estacy of contemplation, one can imugino her thinking of and speaking thi lines written in hor dairy, " I feel as if I woro in a dream. Everything ia strange nud everything is now to mo. I hope God will enable me to do ray duty." and oven with that hope perhaps, and an uplifting of tho hands, she lost all coneciousnesss of her dangerous position, and with it her life, It was in Melbourne, again, that I was once more in need of a typewriter. I was occupying some chambers in one of those huge piles of buildings rushed up during the boom timo. I had often board the click of a typowriter on an upper floor, and 1 sought tho room ; my knock brought mo a summous to enter, I found myself in a largo airy room— too airy, for it was bitterly cold, and damp from the newness of tho plaster. There waa no tiro ; a table on which rested the mtchino, a strip of carpot, n ohur, a lump, a spirit kettle, and a few utensils for making tea, were tho only portable articles in tho place, A little woman, dark-haired, and with an attractive face but for its paleness and weariness, sat working at her machine. A shawl was folded about her head, Scotch fashion, and her accent proved in a moment that she came " fra the ithor side o' Tweed." My work was gratefully accepted and punctually executed ; extra work lod to an interesting acquaintance. I could seo that my new acquaintance was very poor, though many ellorts were raudo to con- ! ceal this. The room she occupied she called her office, and horo sho she worked from oarly morning till lntu at night. I noticed that she was very depressed at time?, and 1 gradually learnt tho cause. Hor husbiud, whom she had not seen foe some years, had been recently drowned in New Zealand. Her little savings woro oxh-'weud, and she found great difficulty at timus to eke out a subsistence for herself and her child. Her name was Mackinnon, and she was the widow of Mackionon, the explorer, whose faithful forviccs, indomitable pluck and patience had done so much for New Zealand,, and cost him his lifo. Referring to an article which I road in a New Zealand journal, which embodied tin oflor from tho New Zealand Government to ronder some sub.-tantial recognition of MoKinnon's 6erv.'cea by a grant of money to his widow and child, Mrs. Mackinnon assured me that it was not till some timo after the offer was made that she heard of it, or that her brothers in Dunedin without her knp.wlecjge or conGOiit, had declined the offer, alleging as a reuson that their sister was np.t in need of assistance, and that wero she so, her fortunos should bo their care. 16 was easy for me to believe Mrs, Mac-

kinnon's assertion tlmt aha would hnve been, and would still bo, only too happy and thankful to accept the favour intended by the Now Zealand Government, On leaving Melbourne for Now Zealuiid 1 promised Mrs. Maekiuuon that 1 would do all I could on bohulf of horoolf and child, but I knew that I could do very littlo. 1 would have asked the assistance of tho press much earlior, but tho election fever was broad and long, and I thought it bettor to lot its turbulent waves subside first. Now, I hope the voicos of good and true men, who know and esteemed Mnckinnon, will be lifted on behiilf of his wife and child. Whatevor misundorstandiug may have occurred, there should be littlo difficulty in forgetting it. Mackinnon died for Now Zealand, his widow and child live, and ask of Now Zealand tho favour once kindly oflerod and missed. There was, I understand, some suggestiou mooted to erect a memorial of Mnckinnon's services, but 'twere better to give bread and lifo to his wifo and child than to the dead mau a stone. Tho following littlo anecdote alinut Mr Gladstone, as told by a naval officer of high rank, is given in Mr Smith's biography published this week :— " In 1870 I was lying in the Downs with two other ships. Mr Gladstone, then Prime Minister, wns stopping at Wnlmer Castle with the Lord Warden, and they intimated their intention of visiting tho senior officer, who at once turned to the regulations to see •what honours a Prime Minister wns entitled to on visiting a man-of-wnr, and nothing could be found. Here was a dilemma! but fortunately it was found that the Lord Warden is ontitled to nineteen guns in his own jurisdiction, so yards were manned and tile salute tired, and Mr Gladstone stood up and graciously bowed, and took to himself what was really meaut for the Lord Warden.' 1 BeTTEK TO DB OTJIIE THAN SOUKS'.— To proveut mouli spots, &c, on your butter and packagea for export, paint your boxos or kegs with a solution of Salsaline. A shilling packet makes one gallon. Odourless and harmless, fold evory whore. — Advt. Waieb Flows where Gravitation tracts.— You recognise tho fact ; the second is as true when the wate rllows upwards. People will not trouble when and what they buy, but until then thoy will always see they got CBKAsu'iAl Coffee for it is tho bast Sik CijeOKOE Gisey, K.C.B:~Amagnifiennt portrait from the most recont photograph, suitable for framing, may bo had from Mclkeo and Gamble, N.Z. Press Agrmcy Wellington. Price,2a Id, including postage. A-ffcnts wanted. — Advt, Crease's Dandelion Covkee is the suro euro of indigestion. Sold by all grocers —Advt