Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-12-15
Romance in Real Life.
TCharles City Intelligenccr.


The other day a strange story
came to our "ken." Nearly two
score years ago there lived young
couple among the braes of bonnie
Scotland, who were "as dear to each
others hearts rs the light to their
cen" But the time came ut last
when Donald must part fro his
Jeanie, to sail to that far away tlti-
ma Thule of the foreigner, America.
With signs and tears and plightings
of eternal troth, they parted ''on the
banks o the Clyde" and Jeanic's
fearful eyes saw sink away on the
horizon rim the bark that bore her
Donald to n far off land to seek the
fortune fate denied HIM among his
native hills. \ few years rolled
round, and the young Scot, now 4
well-to-do Wisconsin farmer. with
"hope springing triumphant on cx-
ultant wing" in his heart, bravcd
once more the "wild Atlantic surge"
and sailed for the heather hills to
bring back to his western home lis
Hieland rose. They were wed, and
happy as two hearts can be that beat
as one, they came back to the lover
husbands home on the prairies. But
as time crept by, Heterogeneous came.
ga fair, fause friend" crossed the
threshold of the once happy home,
and thencetorth peace was stranger
there. And it all seemed c..deJ,
when one night, in the darkness and
the storm, young Jeanne, forgetful Of
honor and her wifely vows, abandon
ed husband and home and virtue,
and took the downward track that
ends in ''utter shame" leaving the
deserted Donald, cruelty wronged,
bu. still loving, to lament:
can my fause friend hae stole my love,
But, ali! he left the thorn wi me-
Thirty years rolled away and the
husband had grown old and gray;
the step that led the merry reel in
"auld lang syne," was feeble and
slow, and the arm that once was ev-
err victorious in games Of skill and
strength was nerveless and palsied;
but down in his heart of hearts the
flame of love burned as brightly as
ever, and there Jeanne, not forgotten
but forgiven, ruled as queen. But
one day there came letter to the
old man. The writing, evidently
written by tremulous hand, was
strangely familiar. 1t was from that
"tair, fause" wife that years agonc
had betrayed and deserted him. She
told a pitiful story. The one for
whom she had given up all but life
itself had proven what such villains
always prove to their victims.a brute,
and for thirty years her life had boon
a living hell from which there was
no escape. She dared not return to
the husband of her choice, for him
she had most foully wronged And
so all those years she had lived on, 4
wild unrest in her heart, an ever I'M
satisfied longing to be free AT last
release came, for the tyrant had
sailed down the still river that runs
to the unknown sea-" Free! what
did 1t mean to her? The poor, bleed
ing heart knew of but one refuge
She knew that her girlhood's love
had been ever true to her, and hence
she had written. The dead mau had
made one expiation in his dying; he
had left her his little property, and
she begged forgiveness and absolu-
ton for the past, and that her hus-
band would Join her in her Iowa
home. And he, forgiving and low
ing, acceded to her prayer, and to-
day there is not a happier couple in
Floyd county than this long-separat-
ed but now happily-united pair; for
this is an "ower true tale" as num-
bers of our readers will testify when
they read tn is sketch.