The Northern Guardian. — 1893-01-17 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

STORY OF MISTRESS AND  MAID.  ROMANTIC INCIDENT IN DOMESTIC LIFE.  There are two women in San Francisco who can tell a story of ups and downs that would astonish a novelist. One of them lives in Noe Street. She's a refined, well-educated woman, with a pretty way of murdering her es that betrays her Southern origin. She is a widow, and she lives with her mother in a house that shows unmistakable signs of penury and want. She goes out to sew by the day, and she manages to make just enough money to keep the breath of life in her old mother and to purchase a few poor comforts to warm the chill of age. Yet that woman was once the mistress of a splendid home. She dispensed the open-handed hospitality of the old South, and she never knew what care or anxiety meant. In the days before the war there was a rich Kentucky family named Montgomery. They lived on a beautiful plantation near St. Jose, Montana. Mrs Montgomery had over fifty slaves. One of these was a mite of a black baby, whose parents were dead. Mrs Montgomery had a little daughter, I just the age of the slave mite, and as soon as the children grew old enough the little black girl became the maid of the little white girl. Life was very gay in those old days ; there were lots of visitors to the beautiful plantation, and little Miss Montgomery had nothing to do but grow and be happy. When she was 13 years old her maid married a young fellow who belonged to a family in the neighbourhood. He was called Bristol. He used to come over to the Montgomery plantation once a week to see his wife. Things went on smoothly for the young negroes for awhile. Their owners were friends, and so they saw each other quite often. At the end of six years the woman , had a family of three children. Then came the war. The Montgomery family suffered like all the rest of the South. They lost all their property, they were compelled to give up their home, and finally all the slaves were gone. Miss Montgomery's maid and her three children went to St. Jose, and the woman went out to work by the day. She did not know where her husband was. Early in the beginning of the great struggle he had been sold to Colonel Wilson, who went away with him she knew not where. So she struggled along as best she could, trying to gain a living for her children. Finally she drifted westward. She lived for several years in Salt Lake City. All the time she was trying to find out what had become of her husband. She knew that he called himself Wilson, Bristol Wilson, after his new master, and she knew that Colonel Wilson came to the coast. One day she heard that he was in San Francisco. She wrote to him. He was delighted to get a trace of kis wife and family, and at once sent for her. When she arrived she found that her husband had prospered in California. At the close of the war his master set him free, and he managed to accumulate quite a little sum of money. Some time ago the little slave girl and her husband met and found themselves free and prosperous. They bought a pretty home out on Guerrero Street, and there they live to-day. They often wondered what had become of the Montgomerys, and Mrs Wilson never forgot her young mistress. Not long ago Mrs Wilson wanted some sewing done. She advertised for a woman to come and sew during the day. Her old owner answered the advertisement. She was no longer the pretty, light-hearted Miss Montgomery. She was married. Her name was Mrs Sweeney. She was wan and pale from overwork and anxiety, and the two women did not at first recognise each other. Then the truth came out. The Montgomery's had been ruined by the war, and they had come west to try and recruit their shattered fortunes.