The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-12-04
A STORY.

II had a strange experience once i'm
human hair" said a member of a firm
of human-hair importers to q reporter
for the Philadelphia Times. "A French
lady of noble blood, who has been my
friend for years, wrote me u few months
ago, inclosing n lock of hair, which
was q peculiar shade of drab and of
silky %fineness. She wanted me to match
1t, and | set about doing so. dis
patched my agents all over Europe,
but nowhere could they lind 4 thread
of hair that would match the sam
pie.
IL then inserted an advertisement i'm
the principal Philadelphia. New York,
and Boston papers. Offering a liberal
reward for a switch OF the desired quail
ity and color. One day a woman of
about 20 years of age, shabbily dressed,
but with Il form and face that Venus
might have envied, entered my Of
flee.
~ came in answer TO your advcr-
tisemcnt,' she said. and. removing her
hat. unbound a luxuriant coil of hair
that called from me an involuntary
cry of admiration. Will this do?' she
asked.
81 examined her hair and compared
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.
"'That hair is exactly what | want
] said, and ] will give you 5000 an
ounce for it.
Take it off, she said, with a nerv-
Gus trembling of her voice that at once
attracted my attention. Il am starv-
ing, | and my baby, and what you are
willing TO pay is a fortune to u.s.
Il became interested, and questioned
her. After a little hesitation she told
me her story. Her husband had been
a sea captain, and shortly after they
we're 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 foundered at
sea and all hands had been lost. The
presumed widow had struggled to
maintain herself and infant child, but
with indifferent success. Finally, when
suffering from pangs of hunger, she
had read my advertisement, and hast
ened 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 a long story short, |
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 re-
turn mail brought me q letter authoriz-
ing me to pay h poor little sailors
widow 1000 extra. l did so and wrote
an account OF the affair to our official
journal, which is published in New
York. The story was so romantic that
the daily papers copied it. and | re-
ceived 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 man who
was bronzed and bearded, came into
my office very much excited. He held
in his hand Il copy of u New York pa
per, and unfolding it pointed to my
story.
Can you give me the address 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
shipwrecked on the African coast, and
he and two others OF the crew alone
managed t. reach the shore. 1t was
several months before they managed
to reach u civilized port. He imme-
diately sent word of the disaster To the
owners of the foundered vessel and
wrote to his young wife. From the
former he received u reply, but he
heard no word from his wife, and when
he reached Philadelphia he discovered
that she had mysterlously disappeared.
One day in looking over the paper he
came across my story, and had hurried
TO my Office to learn full particulars.
! sent him to his wife in my carriage,
and you car 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 cap
tain now commands her yacht, and the
wife who sacrificed her hair to buy
bread sails with him on every voy-
age"
-