Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1885-10-02

face that Venus might have envied,
entered nay office
/ i came in answer to your adyer-
tisement she said, and, removing her
hat, unbound . luxuriant coil of hair
that called from me an involuntary
cry of admiration. Will this dof she
| asked.
Il examined her hair and compar-
ed it with the sample sent me by the
countess. The two were so Sialiiar
that when l mixed them together /
could not distinguish one from the
other.
1.-The hair is exactly what want,
said, and l will give you Ssoa an
ounce for it
Take it off, she said, with ner-
yous trembling of her voice thSt at
once attracted my attention. i am
starving, l and my baby, and what
you are willing TO pay is a fortune to
us
Il became interested, and questions
ed her. After 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 10
maintain herself and infant child,
but with indifferent success. Finally,
when suffering from the paugS of
hunger, she had read my advertise.
ment, and haSte2ed to nay place of
business, praying lnwardly that her
halr, which had been her husbands
pride. might be of the required shade.
We'll, to make long story short,
l bought Eer 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 woman Of great
wealth and goodness Of heart. The
return mail brought me letter au-
thorlzing me to pay the poor little
sailors widow 81, 600 extra. did SO
and wrote an account of the affair to
oar official journal, which is publish>
ed in New York. The story was SO
romantic that the daily papers copied
II, and | received several letters from
charitable people offering pecuniarv
assistance to the sailors widow She
was proud and refused 10 receive any
help.
"OnQ day, about three weeks after
the publication of the story, man
who was bronzed and bearded, came
into my office very much excited lie
held IN his hand a copy of New York
paper, and unfolding il pointed to my
story.
"'Can you give me the address of
this womanG" he asked eagerly. "Shc
is my wife; l thought her dead.
while / wrote down the address
he told me his story. His vessel had
been shipwrc caed on the African
coast, ana he aud two others OF the
crew managed to reach the shore. II
was several months before they man
aged to reach civilized port. He
Immediately sent word of the disaster
to the owners of the foundered vessel
and wrote 10 his young wife. From
the former he received 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 TO 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. | wrote
to the countess, giving the sequel TO
the story, and the result was that the
shipwrecked captain now commands
her yacht, and the wife who sacrificed
her hair to buy bread, sails with him
on every voyage