Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-12-16
miscellaneous.
Not . vain Sacrifice.
A WOMAN SELLS HER HAIR AND FINDS
HER HUsBAND,

member of human hair importing
firm tells a romantic story of q Philadel-
phis Times reporter. He had an order
! from a French lady of noble blood to
match some hair of peculiar shade ana
fneuess. He sent all over Europe with
out success, and finally advertised in Phil
adelphia. New York and other American
papers. Among those who appeared in
answer to the advertisement was "a wo-
man OF about 20 years OF age, shabbily
dressed. Int with form and face that
Venus might have envied" Her hair was
found to correspond precisely with the
sample. The importer relates the rest OF
the romance as follows:
.sThis hair is exactly what l want"
said. land will give you 5000 an ounce
for it.n Take il off, she said, with a
nervous trembling of her voice that at
once attracted my attention. 81 am starry
ing, and my baby, and what you are Will
| ling to pay is fortune to u.s." became
interested, and questioned 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 alter leaving port land
it was presumed that he had foundered at
sea and all hands had been lost. The pre-
sumed widow had struggle to maintain
herself and infant child. but with indiffer-
ent success. Finally. when suffering from
the pangs OF hunger, she had read my ad-
vertisement and fastened to my place of
business. praying i1wardly that her hair,
which had been her husband pride, might
be of the required shade. Well, to make
a long story short, l bought her hair,
which weighed four ounces, and paid
her eight hundred dollars for it. l sent
the switch to my customer, the countess.
and wrote her the history of the hair.
She is woman of great wealth and good
ness of heart. The return mail brought
me letter authorizing me to pay the
poor sailors little widow $1,000 extra. l
did so and wrote an account of the affair
in our official journal, which is published
in New York. The story was so roman
tic that the daily papers copied it, and |
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 a
New York paper, and unfolding it pointed
to my story. "Can you give me the adj
dress of this woman?' he asked eagerly.
'She is my wife; | thought her dead"
While wrote down the address he told
me his story. His vessel had been ship
wrecked on the African coast, and he and
two others of the crew managed to reach
shore. 1t was several months before they
managed to reach 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 wien he reached Phila-
delphia he discovered that she had mys.
terlously disappeared. One day in look
ing over paper he came across my story,
and had hurried to my office to learn fuller
particulars. sent him to his wife in nv
carriage, and you can imagine what oc-
cured at the meeting. for each believed
the other dead. | wrote to the countess
giving the sequel of the story, and the re-
suit 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