Year: 1879

a WIfe'S Fidelity.


A REUNION AFTER A SEPARATION OF


TWENTY-FIVE YEARS.


There is now living in this city a lady
whose life so far has been filled with
more real romance than are the most
delicately wrought characters of fiction.
Twenty-Five years ago she was married
to man who like herself was in hum
BILE, though respectable life. Their
courtship had been pleasant and for
aught the lady knows harmonious and
mutually agreeable. On the day fol-
lowing the wedding, however, the hus-
band left home without any apparent
reason or any warning whatever. The
wife merely supposed at the time that
business had called him hence and that
he would soon return. Days, weeks,
months, years passed before she was
aware that she was a deserted and
wronged woman. She heard nothing
from him, but could not entertain the
idea that he was dead and instinctively
believed that she would again see him.
And just as she became convinced that
she was deserted, her martyrdom be-
gan. She was thrown entirely upon
her own resources for subsistence, and
they were simply honest toll, living
faith in the reward of duty-dOing, and
a great self-sacrifcing spirit. Thus she
toiled on never hearing a word from
her husband for many years, but still
clinging to the strict and self-imposed
duty of silent forbearance. One day
after eight years she accidentally met
him, but he failed to recognize her.
She did not speak to him, but learned
from others that since his departure he
had led rowing life, and had been in
every state in the union. Now that she
knew he lived and yet did nothing to
aid her in her battle of life, her action
toward him, herself and the world re-
manned unchanged. And just here she
exhibited to a great degree her almost
sanity character, for instead of accept
ing any of the numerous and advan-
tageous offers of marriage which she
might have done, she silently did her
every day work, bearing his name and
cherishing the same affection for him
that had induced her to become his
wife,


There was then another long time
that she never saw nor heard from him.
But fate seemed to favor her, and again
she met him by accident. He acted
pleased to see her, told her what he had
been doing, that he was still her hus-
band, but never referred to his strange
departure, nor offered her any means
of support. Their conversation was a
brief one, and they parted without en-
nifty. Neither had an idea of the plans
of the other, nor asked to know. The
next that the wife knew of her husband
was learned from a newspaper. There
she saw that he had been arrested for
leading Fenian riots in Canada, and
was sentenced to be hung. A subse-
quent report informed her that his SEN
tence was committed to six years. i'm
prisonment. During those six years
she retained her love for him and clung
to the faith that her cOnstancy would
eventually be recognized and appre-
ciated. After the man was let ont from
his prison cell he again became an ad-
venturer and again accidentally met
his wife. He said to her: "What did
you think when you saw me sentenced
to be hung ?" 81 supposed you would
be hung" she replied. A short inter
view, in which neither learned the plans
of the other, was the result of the meet
ing. And again he was off. After
several more years they again met,
recognized, but passed in silence.


Strange as has been the first act of
this comedy of curious actions, the Sc
quel is stranger still. Last February
the wife received letter from her er-
ratio husband, in which he begged for
forgiveness and asked her to go to
Washington and live with him. He is
in the government employ. She has
consented, and will start for her new
home in September.


Twenty years elapsed between
the day of the wedding and the receipt
of the letter. During that time she
never ceased to love him, and he never
commenced to love heI. Neither ever
tried to obtain a divorce. The lady is
the picture of health. The man was a
fine looking fellow when he was mar
ried, and had jet black hair. To-day
he is much thinner and his hair is al
most white.


AS dream-like and unnatural as all
this may seem, it is asserted to be true
by responsible and highly esteemed
lady, whose relations with the wife
gave her the means of knowing the
particulars of the extraordinary ro-
Milwaukee Wisconsin.