Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-12-24

about to see if could better myself heard of this new land across the ocean, and though it was not then the Fl Dorado which it after wards turned out, and, truth to tell. had rather a shady name, owing to the transpor- tation of convicts, yet 1 longed tc go there and start a new life. Unhappily, however. 1 had not the means to go. and saw nothing better before me than the dreary life of 8 London clerk, as it was impossible that 1 could save out of the small salary got Just at this time, however, an old maiden aunt of mine died and left few hundred pounds to me, so, with this, 1 came out to Australia, determined to become rich man l stayed some time in Sydney, and then came over to Port Phillip. now so widely known Mar vicious Melbourne, where intended to pitch my tent l saw that it was young and rising colony, though of course, coming as l did, before the days of the gold diggings. never dreamt it would spring up, as it had done since, to nation l was careful and saving in those days. and indeed. l think it was the happiest time of my life
 "l bought land whenever could scrape the money together, and, at the time of the gold rush, was considered well to do. When. however. the cry that gold had been discov. cred wass raised, and the eyes of all the na- tions were turned to Australia. with her glittering treasures, men poured in from all parts of the world, and the Golden Age commenced l began to get rich rapidly, and was soon pointed out as the wealthiest man in the colonies. bought a station. and leaving the riotous, feverish Melbourne life, went to live on it. 1 enjoyed myself there. for the wild, open air life had great charms for me, and there was senss of freedom to which had hitherto been stranger But man is gregarious animal. and 1, growing weary of solitude and communings with Mother Nature, came down on a visit to Melbourne, whefe with companions as gay as myself. spent my money freely, and, as the phrase goes, saw life After confessing that loved the pure life of the country, it sounds strange to say that l enjoyed the wild life of the town. but did l was neither Joseph nor St Anthony and 1 was delighted with Bohemia, with its good fellowship and charming suppers, which took place in the small hours of the morning, when wit and humor reigned supreme It at one of these suppers that first met Rosanna Moore, the woman who was destined to curse my existence She was burlesque actress and all the young fellows in those days were madly in love with her She was not exactly what was called beautiful. but there was brilliancy and fascination about her which few could resist Or first seeing her did not admire her much. but laughed at companions as they raved about her On becoming personally acquainted with ter. however 1 found that her powers of fascIna- ton had not been overrated and ended by falling desperately in love witt her 1 made inquiries about her private life. and found that 1t was irreproachable, she guarded by a veritable dragon of a mother, who would let no one approach her daughter. 1 need not tell about my courtship, as these phases of mans life are generally the samA but it will be sufficient to prove the depth of my passion for her when 1 at length deter mined to make her my wifa It was on con dition, however, that the marriage should be kept secret until such time as l should choose to reveal 1t My reason for such a course was this: my father was still alive, and he, being a rigiC Presbyterian, would never have forgiven me for having married a woman of the stage, SO. as he was old and feeble, l did not wish him to learn that had done SO. fearing that the shock would. be too much for him in his then pres ent state of health 1 told Rosanna I would marry her. but wanted her to leave her mother, whc was a perfect fury, and not an agreeable person to live with. AS l was rich, young and not bad looking. Rosanna consented, and, during an engagement she had in Sydney, went over there and mar rted her, She never told her mother she had married me: why, do not know, as 1 never laid any restriction on her doing SO The mother made a great noise over the matter, but gave Rosanna a large sum of money for her, and this the old harridan accepted and left for New Zealand. Rosanna went with me to my station, where we lived man and wife, though, in Mel bourne, she was supposed to be my mistress At last, feeling degraded in my own eyes as to the way l was living to the world, wanted to reveal our secret but this Rosanna would not consent to 1 was as- tonished at this and could never discover. the reason, but in many ways Rosanna was en enigma to me She then grew weary of the quiet country life. and longed to return to the glitterr and glare of the footlights This 1 refused to let her do, and from that moment she took a dislike to me child was born. and for a time she was sngrossed with it, but soon wearied of the play. thing. and again pressed me to allow Der to return to the staga again refused and we became estranged from one another. l grew gloomy and irritable, and was accus toned to take long rides by myself, fire quently being away for days. There was a great friend of mine who owned the next station. dne, handsome young fellow called Frank Kelly with a gay, sunny disposition, and wonderful flow Of humor. When he found l was SO much away, thinking Rosanna was only my mis- tress, he began to console her, and succeeded SO we'll that one day, on my return from ride, found she had fled with him, and bad taken the child with her. She left letter saying that she had never really cared for me, but had married me for my money she would keep our marriage secret, and was going to return to the stage l followed my false friend and false wife down to Melbourne, but arrived too late, as they had just left for England. Disguised with the manner in which had been treated, plunged into whirl of dissipation, trying to drown the memory of my married life. My friends, of course, thought that my loss amounted to no more than that of mistress, and soon began to doubt that had ever been married, so far away and visionary did my life of the year previous seem. con- tinued my fast life for about six months, when suddenly was arrested upon the brink of destruction by--an angel 1 say this ad- visedly, for if ever there was an angel upon earth, it was she who afterwards became my wifa She was the daughter of a doctor, and it was her influence which drew me back from the dreary path of profigacy and dis sipatton, which l was then leading 1 paid her great attention. and we were. in fact, bad r1l kx~% '