Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-10-08
An Interesting Romance.
Philadelphia Times.

An Interesting Romance.
Philadelphia Times.
Il had a strange experience once ia
human hair" said member Of a firm
of human hair importers to a reporter
for the Times. GA French lady of
noble blood, who had been my friend
for years, wrote me few months ago,
inclosing a lock of hair, which was a
peculiar shade of drab and silky fine
ness. She wanted me to match it,
and set about doing so. I Dispatch
ed my agents all over Europe, but no
where could they find thread of hair
that would match the sample.
II then inserted an advertisement
ia the principal Philadelphia, New
York, and Boston papers, Offering a
liberal reward for a switch of the
desired quality and color. One day a
woman of about 30 years of age,
shabbily dressed, but with form and
face that Venus might have envied,
entered nay Office.
" L came in answer to your adver-
tisement, she said. and, removing her
hat, unbound a luxuriant coil of hair
that called from ME an involuntary
cry of admiration. will this do2' she
asked
Il examined her hair and compar-
ed it with the sample sent me by the
countess. The two were so similar
that when ] mixed them together [
could not distinguish one from the
other.
The hair s'exactly what want, )
[ said, and [ will give you 5000 an
ounce for it.
Take it off, she said, with ner-
vous trembling of her voice that at
once attracted my attention. i am
starving, [ and my baby, and what
you are willing to pay is fortune to
us
II became interested, and question:
ed her. After a little hesitation she
told me her story. Her husband had
been sea captain, and shortly after
they were married had sailed for the
west coast of Africa. His vessel was
never heard OF after leaving port. and
it was presumed that she had founders
ed at sea and all hands been lost. The
presumed widow had struggled to
maintain herself and infant child,
but with Indifferent success. Finally,
when suffering from the pangs of
hunger, she had read nay advertise
ment, and fastened to my place of
business, praying inwardly that her
hair, which had been her husbands
pride, might be of the required shade.
''Well, to make long story short,
I bought her hair, which weighed
four ounces and paid her $500 for it.
[ sent the switch to my customer, the
countess, and wrote her the history of
the hair. She is a woman of great
wealth and goodness Of heart. The
return mail brought nae letter au-
thorizing me to pay the poor little
sailors widow 81, 600 extra. I did so
and wrote an account of the affair to
our official journal, which is publishs
ed in New York. The story was so
romantic that the daily papers copied
it, and I received several letters from
charitable people offering pecuniary
assistance to the sailors widow. She
was proud and refused to receive any
help.
"One day, about three weeks after
the publication of the story, a man
who was bronzed and bearded, came
into my Office very much excited He
held IN his hand copy of New York
paper, and unfolding it pointed to my
story.
"'Can you give me the address of
this woman?" he asked eagerly. "She
is my wife; I thought her dead
,''While I wrote down the address
he told me his story. His vessel had
been shipwrecked on the African
coast, and he and two others of the
crew managed to reach the shore. It
was several months before they man.
aged to reach a civilized port. He
Immediately sent word of the disaster
to the owners of the foundered vessel
and wrote to his young wife. From
the former he received a reply, but
he heard no word from his wife, and
when he reached Philadelphia he dis
covered that she had mysteriously
disappeared. One day in looking over
a paper he came across my story, and
had hurried 10 nay Office to learn full
er particulars. sent him to his wife
in my carriage, and you can imagine
what occurred at the meeting, for
each believed the other dead. I wrote
to the countess, giving the sequel to
the story, and the result was that the
shipwrecked captain now commands
her yacht, and che wife who sacrificed
her hair to buy bread, sails with him
on every voyage"