Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-02-27

to lose their hermit. Margaret Now
land is going TO be married on
Christmas day of this year to the
white-haired stranger. who will on
that day celebrate his eighty first
birthday
The minister was besieged with
visitors on the day following the visit
from the old couple, and this is the
story which Margaret Rowland author
/ lied him to tell to the curious:
| Fifty years ago. in Sioux City, a
little town north of Chicago. beauti-
full young girl and a handsome young
man plighted their troth.
/ The wedding day was set and all
was going happily when, without
warning, preparations for the nuptial
rites We're stopped. The young girl.
Margaret Rowland, belle of Sioux
City, mysteriously disappeared and
the fiance, Horace Stern. made a trip
| to Denver
This was in May, 1851 On June
| IA of the same year Horace Stern
was married to young girl in Denver
city.
Margaret Rowland was heard of no
more, her whereabouts were never
learned of by the people of Sioux City.
her DISAPPEARANCE was as mysterious
and final as though the earth had
opened and swallowed her.
Mr.. Stern, his wife and two sturdy
boys lived and prospered in Denver,
but there was lcok of settled sadness
on the mans face which no amount
of luxury, fame or success could
! tighten.
Margaret Nowland severed all ties,
gave up friends and home and, taking
with her a small fortune which she
possessed in her own right. travelled
east until she reached Massachusetts,.
Here she settled, as has been told
in forsaken cottage in Forest Hills
and for so years lived the secluded
life of a hermit, never once giving an
, inkling to her past to anyone.
Thre years ago Mrs. Stern died in
Denver, and since then Horace Stern
has bent all his attention and energy
in searching for Margaret Rowland,
whom he felt still lived, and for
whom, although he krrw she must
now be old and gray, he felt the same
affection that he offered SO years ago
to the beautiful young woman who
was then belle of the west.
How Mr.. Stern found his old sweet
heart is story of determination and
perseverance. For three years he
secured the country. passing through
almost every state in the union.
While visiting a friend in Blooms
burg, Pa, he was told the story of
this Massachusetts, hermit and by in
tuition he knew that this mysterious
person who puzzled the people of
Forest Hills was the woman whom he
had determined to find.
| Why did Margaret Rowland refuse
to become Mrs. Stern in 1851? Why
did she forsake home and friends and
take up her lonely life in Massa-
! chusetts while the man who had won
her heart drifted to Denver?
When young man of Fl, five years
before he pledged himself to Margaret
Stern visited Colorado and there met
young girl for whom he felt boy
ish affection.
The feeling was mutual, and al
though there was no actual engage
ment it was understood that some
day, when Stern was established in
business. he would return to Denver
and claim his sweetheart for his wife.
This was the story Horace Stern
told Margaret Rowland two weeks be-
fore the day set for their wedding.
and with noble unselfishness she babe
him keep his promise to the girl in
In Denver whose heart he had won
and who had given him her affection
in good faith.
The decision was irrevocable; Stern
went west and fulfilled his promise.
For AZ years he was faithful to the
woman he had married, for AZ years
he lived an uneventful life in Denver.
News of Margaret's disappearance
had been sent him; rumors of her
death reached him, but he never lost
hope of one day finding the girl who
| had sacrificed her love for honor.
| DIVORCE OF THE BANKS.