The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-08-01

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lovIsit a relative 4 curtain then fell on his doings
and whereabouts, never to be withdrawn.
Here in London, almost every day presents US
with social phenomena quite as startling, though
somewhat different in character. Men leave their
homes to make a call upon a friend, and their alb
senee proves eternal young ladies run away from
their families, sometimes with Frenchmen, who
may be known by the trick of biting their nails /;
sometimes with Germans, no less remarkable for
their tondness for beer sometimes with our own
gay countrymen, who often. however, desert their
victims in the course of a few weeks, so that if
they think proper. they may return TO their
friends. In general, however, no such thought
comes 10 them-that an act begun perhaps in
thoughtless passion, terminates in n life of shame,
or in suicide.
Many years ago, there happened in a family
with which | am acquainted an incident belonging
10 the class of facts above described \ Young
lady, about two or three and twenty, through no
motive that could be OWNED, except that of anna
tory caprice, left her fathers house 50 suddenly
and secretly thai no trace of her movements could
he discovered. It was not even known whether
she went alone or in the company of n lover.
Advertisements, placards, Offering n large reward,
were had recourse to. The father. widely known,
and as widely respected, interested all his friends
IN prosecuting inquiries respecting the lost one,
without avail. Year after year passed. and at
length the truant might be almost said to oe for
gotten.
More than forty years a~fterward, a brother of
the lady, though not born when she disappeared,
emigrated to Australia, and, on arriving at Syd-
ney, had his name inserted in the journals in the
list of passengers. One morning, while sitting in
his hotel ut breakfast, he was informed that n
lady below desired To speak with him. SHOW
her up" said John Bull, rather perplexcd to con-
lecture who could wish to see him in that new
world. When his visitor entered, he saw that she
was old, though still in robust health. Instead of
explaining her business, she abruptly inquired
whether or not Inc was the son ola gentleman whom
she uaned, together with the locality in which he
bad resided in England. Upon being answered in
the affirmative, she said Then | am your sis
ter y and forthwith entered into a full account of
her mysterious disappearance. She had not left
her home alone, but with n lover inferior to her
III rank, who had taken her to Australia, where
he had set up n hotel, and realized n fortune. 1t
was the affair Of the hotel, however, that had
withheld her from communicating with her iami-
~, who might have regarded it as n degradation
tn live by industry. Her husband, however, was
dead, yet the hotel still sustained its celebrity
under the management of the lady, who, when she
fled from her home, had not, ut all events, fled to
poverty.
\ more striking example Of these social phe-
n"mcna is that of Agnes, daughter of James Fer
guson, the machinist. While walking down the
strand with her father, she slipped her arm out
of his while he was lost in thought, and he never
saw her more, nor was anything known of her
fate ill many years after FcrgusOn's death.
From the short hints which have been left us on
the subject, 1t appears that a nobeman, To whom
sue uiu DccOnlc known ut her latner : lectures.
took her, IN the first instance. to Italy. and then
but whether there or after their return to Eng
land is not stated-deserted her, in conformity
with the general rule.
She then applied to Garrick, who gave her a
trial ON the boards, but the attempt proved n fail
ure. Agnes next tried authorship with no better
success; after which, in despair, she threw her
self upon the street, and died miserably i'm Round
Court, of the Strand; and it was upon her DEATH
bed that she disclosed to the surgeon who attend
ed her the melancholy story of her career. From
the localities in which she moved, she must fire.
quently have passed her relatives in the streets,
though withheld by shame from making herself
known, while they imagined her to be in some
distant country, or IN the grave.
At Llanelly, in South Wales, n man of proper
~ and respectable position, who had married and
become the father of two children, left his home
suddenly, without being observed by any of his
ncighbors. and all the inquiries made by his wife
and relatives proved unavailing. The Welsh are
an aliectIonate and, upon the whole, 4 romantic
people; but the deserted wife was not romantic.
so, after Whiting a certain number of years in ex-
pectation of her husbands return, she listened to
the wooing OF another man, and married again.
There was no poetry in her compositions, neither
was she, like TennySon's Mrs Arden, driven to
take this step by the fear of poverty for herself or
her children.
The truth was, the buxom Welsh woman want
cd n husband, and took one, having waiting long
enough, us she thought, for her first lord and
master u come back, il hc meant to come back
mt all. But though the wife thus gave proof of
her want of faith in the husband of her youth.
or else really believed him To be dead. the lost
man had Il sister much Younger than himself
who instead of sluring the wifc's despair, regard
cd the second marriage rs an ac: of vice. and al
ways looked forward confidently 20 her brothers.
return. When lac had been absent about eight
years, however, IL circumstance occurred which 1
staggered even her confidence. \ man in Sailors
Garb called upon her, and related that nc had
brought Il message from her dead brothcr-for
that lac WAS dead he made no doubt Mt all.
The ship in which they had been together in
the Pacific went To pieces on n coral reef, and all
hands, Inc said. persisted except himself. His
life was saved by the accidental passage of n
whaer, the crew of which, discerning Il man up
ON the reef, lowered Il boat, and took him ON
bard. During the FIVE years which have elapsed
since that event, hc had been 4 wandcrcr i'm
America and elsewhere; and, i'm Obedience to the
instinct. lac soon resumed the habits
of his former life, and disappeared from Tlaneliy.
This story soOthcd the wife's conscience, and
sDitened the aspcrity with which the
female critics of the town spoke of her second
Years again rolled on, and the missing John
was not only given up rs n lost man,
but he was almost forgotten. All who are fami-
liar with the habits Of the Welsh people know
that i'll small towns and country villages they are
in the habit, when they 20 out, Of leaving their
doors on the latch. locks and keys being thought
almost superluOus. One fine day, toward the
close of Summer, when Mrs. Williams, now Mrs.
no longer, had gone forth with her hus-
band and the two children (shc had none by her
second marragc) to enjoy a walk in the neighbor-
Ing fields, John suddenly made his auakOr at La J
nelly, and, going straight to his own house, lifted
the latch, hung his hat on n peg in the Passage,
and then, finding no one ut home, went and sat
ON n window seat, whence lac could command n
view down tine street, to watch for his wife. l
After Il short time, lac saw her and his two chill
iren coming toward the house in familiar CONVEX
satiOn with a man, whom, however, he had
known from n boy. lie sprang from his seat, and 4
ran to the door to meet them. \ romance writer
might make something of the situation, and
cave it 10 the romance writer.
When Mrs. Williams saw her first husband
from the door, she forgot her second, T
md, bounding forward, threw herself, with n
,urSt of tears into his arms while honest Eric-