The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-11-18
A CALIFORNIA ROMANCE.
Strange Story OF a Couple who Were
long Separated.

respondent of the Sacramento Bee, the
residence of the late Judge Delos Lake
was sold at auction for SIT, 900. It cost
to build it over $50, 900. 1t has rather
an interesting history. It is u monument
to a woman's folly and a mans weakness.
In the early days of California, a Massa.
chusetts farmer started for the land OF
gold, after selling his farm and dividing
the proceeds with his wife, who, with
her two little girls, he left in Boston.
His wife did not hear from him for q long
time, and her money being expended,
she had a hard struggle for life, but she
went to work bravely, making fancy
horse blankets through the day and CIV
ing music lessons in the evening. In
this way she managed to feed and clothe
herself and children and save a very
small sum every month. Communica-
ton between the Eastern States and Cal
ifornia was not so direct mol sure then as
it is now. and she thought that the let.
tiers she wrote might have gone astray,
and a like misfortune had prevented her
from hearing from her husband. Then
came O letter, short, and containing no
intimation Of what he was doing or how
he was prospecting in his new home.
After this she received one or two let
tiers at long intervals, and then they
ceased forever. She wrote continually.
but received no answer, and she feared
he was dead. She gave up all hope of
ever seeing him again, and devoted her.
self to the education of her two little
daughters and the saving of money for
a rainy day. Years went on, and she
did not hear from her natural protector
until q lady returned to Boston from
California on visit to some friends. The
anxious wife called upon the California
lady, and inquired of her whether she
had ever heard of her husband in that
wild western land, and was surprised to
hear that the lady knew him, and that
he WIS considered quite q rich man out
there. She obtained his address and
wrote him, but received no answer.
Then, like o brave Yankee, she cold her
belongings. took what money she had
saved, and with her little children
started for San Francisco. arriving there
with $3.50 in her pocket.
She inquired for the silent husband,
was directed to where he lived. and
presented herself to him with her two
little ones clinging to her skirts. You
would imagine that q frst-class circus
would have cnsued, but it was not SO.
He received her calmly, as though it
were quite an ordinary thing to have q
wife and two children drop down on
him from the clouds, and expressed
himself as pleased to see them. She was
a spunky little woman, and no doubt
''gave him u bit of her mind" but it
affected him no more than the cry of
poverty does a millionaire. He gave no
reason for his long silence, and she
found on looking over his trunks, all
her letters unopened.
When she asked him why he acted in
the way he did, he only answered, q"
don't know" That was all-he did not
know-and she docs not know to this
day why he remained silent. He had
formed no other ties Of any kind here,
and there was not the slightest evidence
of a woman being at the bottom Of it
all. He was q good-naturcd, kindly,
well-disposcd man, honest and industrl-
Gus, not given to any vices. and had &C.
cumulated quite Il large fortune. He
was stopping at a hotel when she ar
rived, but he Immediately, on her ar
rival, took q house, furnished it, and
they went to housekeeping.
The wife, for the first time in many
years, enjoyed the comforts of a good
home and rest from hard labor, but she
was not content. She could not let we'll
enough alone, and determined to make a
show with the fortune which the. old
man had quietly accumulated. The first
thing she must have was a fine house,
then fine clothes, q carriage and servants.
The old man pl obably thought he had no
right to refuse her anything under the
circumstances, weakly acceded to her re-
quest, and began the erection OF a fine
house on q ffty-vara lot in the then most
fashionable portion of the city. The
house was finished and furnished, and q
big hole was made in his pile: Then
came expensive living, and then, in a
little while, q visit to the East to show
her friends the fine lady she had bios
somed into in California. She went East,
summcred at Saratoga, married one OF
her daughters off. and cut a dash gen
orally, returning home to find a mort
gage on the new house.
The old man had not-as is usual with
rich husbands when the wife is away
gone in for dissipation, but q misfortune
Just as great overlook him. He got into
the hands of sharpers and they robbed
him. Loss followed loss until he was
hopelessly involved. Most of his money
was gone and his spirit was broken.
While he remained at his old business of
making bricks he was all right, but when
he gave up that plebian business, and
started out into what the wife considered
a wider sphere and one more in keeping
with their wealth, he was all at sea and
was soon a financial wreck. He was
still silent with reference to his affairs,
and the e%xtravagant style of living was
kept up until the inevitable crash came
and the sheriff's red flag 1oated from the
grand mansion. To-day the old couple
are poor and the husband an invalid.
They had their time, at least she had.
The house came into the possession of
Judge Delos Lake, then judge of the
criminal court in this city, where he
lived until he was carried from it to be
placed in a narrower house in the city Of
the dead. There seems to DE a fatality
about the house, for his family left it
almost as poor as that OF its builder.
A Knowing Old Rabbit.
Here is a story which beats the old
dog stories hollow. According to NJ.
I,ahOrde a writer in the Rerue Scientir-