River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1897-09-23
BACK TO HIS OLD HOME.
Statesman Wins "A Bride Who Owns
PrnnertN Tint Once Mas His.

There is representative in congress
( from Maryland, one of the most popu-
I lar of the delegation from that state.
who has had a romance in his life which
goes to prove the truth of the saving
that fact is stranger than fiction. The
representative is essentially self-made
man. and is not ashamed of il. for il was
not his fault that fortune imposed upon
him the task of carrying out his golden
I future. His father died and he had de-
volyed upon him the task of supporting
a mother and several brothers and Sis
tiers. Work in the machine shop of his
/ little town grew slack, and he started
to Baltimore with brave heart and
seven cents in his pocket.
The first night he reached the city
he put in walking the streets. Owing
TO his own efforts he finally secured en-
ployment in one of the largest machine
shops OF Baltimore lie sent for his
mother and the children. and prospered
| for season. They lived in a little house
on a small street and were happy. Then
work grew scarce and the present rep
resentative lost his place. Tie rert was
! in arrears, and one day when the young
man saw the agent of the mouse he was
told that unless the rent was paid by a
| specified time they would have to go.
The house belongs to young lady
in the country" the agent said. and
she needs the rent to buy herself dresses
and other things. The income from the
house is all she has for pin money"
The rent could not be paid in full,
and the family, with the mother in the
last stages OF consumption. moved into
another. though they hated to leave.
The congressman fell in love with his
wife through photograph which a
friend had and he worried the friend
into taking him 10 the little country
town and introducing m. The engage
ment followed. but the family objected
to the match. The only objection they
could offer. for the young man had never
touched drop of liquor, and was noted
for the way in which he trod the paths
| of reetitude, was that he had worked
as machinist and ordinary laborer.
Il knew of this" said the congress
man to the Star reporter, land | de-
termiued, after we became engaged,
that | should show my intended wife
exactly what | had been, for | had adj
vanced to a higher position then. /
took her out driving one evening and
arranged so that we should reach the
entrance Of the works where had been
employed at a certain time We got
there about six o'clock when the men
came out, dirty, SCOT blackened and
weary. ! told her | had been one of
them only short while before.
"Afterward | drove past the place
where we had been forced to leave on
account of my not being able to pay the
rent. told the whole story of how the
gent had said it belonged to a young
lady in the country, who needed the
rent for pin money. We stopped at the
little house, aud pointed it out.
There il is. Mary | tod her I
turned and looked a her, and IL ere were
tears in her eyes. She was sobbing
softly, and | thought she had been
touched simply at the story of my strug-
gle to support myself and my family
"'Do you know whose house that is?'
she asked, in broken voice told her
/ | did not.
1T was her own. She was the young
lady of whom the agent had told me.
and to whom the rent had to be paid.
1t seemed almost incredible. but il was
the r,.tn."-W shington Star