"BOBS" AND THE LITTLE WOMAN FROM IRELAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 15000, 19 September 1900, Page 2

"BOBS" AND THE LITTLE WOMAN FROM IRELAND.

The following letter, which appeared .in tho Express, tells a new and very good-story of "Bobs":— -• "Only last year Lord Roberts was present •it a big review at a place which may be ;alled Somewhere-in-Irelnnd. He felt the ground hot and thiisty, and had still faxto go before he could reasonably hope for refreshment of any kind, when he came on a house with a pretty garden in front of it, •ml a lovely Irish gin standing at the gate. She called on him to halt, reminded him that they hud once met, and invited him. to "It inny have been because he had acjuired an abnormal thirst ; it may have icen because the Irish girl was charming. At any rate in taking his leave Lord Roberts tssuiv . his hostess that ho had never eujoyed -a cup of tea so much, nnd added, •Remember, I will never forget the UUle .roman of Somewhcre-in-Ireland.' The rid— gtie was twenty-one— laughedback her chunks, and was duly proud. "Now the girl was the wife/of a oaptain n svn Irish regiment, and he was presently, ordered to Africa. When it came to jrossng the Tugela, the company he led evas first, and half way across he waa badly . rounded in the chest, and would have been kowned had not some of his men. cradled Mm on their iifles. ' "The news came home, nnd hisVife wantjd to go out and nurse him, but was without the necessary funds for the voyage. Afc last, after much effort, sho got employment on one of the- hospital ships, and so reached ■— Japetown. But even here her case was litclp better ; she could not pay for a wastage round to Durban, whence she coulu reach ;he hospital whar© her husband lay.. "She appealed to the authorities to send her, and they all protested that they could not dp so. 'There is only one man that can -nunage it,' said an officer, who was more ■xplicit than the others. 'Who?' said she. Lord Roberts,' answered he. "Sho went and asked to see Lord Roherts—who. was still in' Cape Town— and to bavo her name sent- up sho was told it was impossible. And then— she was very good -o look at — she procured a blank card and mote on it, - Little Woman from Somewhere in Ireland,' and managed to get it sent up to the Comnuinder-in-Chief. : "In n very few seconds, -to the evident istonishment ' of everyone except herself (you wouldn't bo much afraid if you were trusting to the pledged' Word of Bobs) there appeared a messenger, who -asked her. to step up. "And Lord Roberts came to meet her. 'I know all about you. Don't esplarn ; I remember perfectly. What can I do?' '"She told him, and was dismissed with another promise, nnd "soon got a letter which told her that she was to have a free passage, and lia:l been cogimenaW by the Commander-in-Chief to tho special caro of everyone could possibly help her. -And at last she got to the hospital and asi.ed^— who knows with w,hat a dread at her heart ? if Captain So-and-So was still there;'explaining that she was his wife. "She was told that ha was,- but that he ■nusfc not bo disturbed, since he had only that day undergone a severe operation, and ivcs jlow asleep. But she pleaded hard, and blue eyes can be eloquent ; and at last a soft-hearted nurse let her go and sit by the bed ,oi,her husband, and.waitcb.— and watch " —while he slept hour after hour. "Then at last ho woke aad looked up lazily, and recognised her. Se iust gripped her band, which had been lying handy for hours, and then x 'How the devil did_ you, get here ?' he said, as he fell, asleep again. "They are both" back.in England now, and ho is longing to get sent back to the front."