Year: 1878

Recently were borne from sumptu-
Gus house high up on Fifth avenue,
New York, for interment in a Connec-
tieut town on the New Haven road, the
remains of a revered wife and mother.
Half century ago, when she was the
only unmarried daughter of an old and
wealthy family of the town in whose
cemetery her body now rests, she came
to New York in the bloom and yivacity
of a youth just conscious of its own
power, TO visit the friendly household
of one of our first merchants. A pro-
longatIon of her sojourn here did not
excite the remonstrance OF her parents
until they were surprised by informa-
tiOn that her delay was possibly occa-
stoned by the frequent calls of gentle
man, lieutenant of the British navy,
whose attentions seemed ominously
serious, when her mother took the
family carriage precipitately for the city
to convey back forthwith the giddy
damsel. Upon arraignbent before the
maternal bar the young lady did not
deny the frequent visits of the alleged
suitor, whom her New York friends
had seen no reason TO interfere with;
indeed, upon stepping into the carriage
TO go horne There was no New Haven
Railroad them, she said quite eOolly:
ats useless TO find fault now, ma, for
l am married.


Such, indeed, was the startling fact
After short and only finally suspected
summers courtship, she and the lieu
tenant had been clandestinely married,
and before the hOrrified mother and
romantic daughter had been in their
Connecticut home twenty-four hours,
the bold young sailor was there too, to
claim his wife, But he found her
prisoner, locked in her own room, and
both parents met his appeals with steady
refusal TO acknowledge his authority.
The girl was but child, they said, not
conscious of her own mind, and they
should resist with every possible form
of law any attempt to remove her from
their custody, The husband, urging
that they loved each other, was told
that she whom he had made his wife,
IN name only, now bitterly regretted
her sentimental folly, and wished to
see him no more. AstOunded at this
assertion, the young man passionately
impugned its truth. Would he be gen.
erous enough to give her up, he was
asked, if she herself assured him of her
desire to that effect? Chivalrously,
though too rashly perhaps, he agreed
so to do, confident, undoubtedly, that
she would prove true to him.


And then came the most extraordi-
nary scene of the little drama. A mar
ried sister strikingly resembling the
yet imprisoned virgin wife lad been
hastily summoned from this city for tins
purpose, and, artfully dressed to inten-
sify the resemblance, hurriedly entered
the room where the Lieutenant was
present, with a friend for a witness, to
learn his fate, and, W tn simulated sobs
hastily hid her face on her mothers
bosom. Supposing her to be the wife
whom he agitatedly called by name, the
deceived husband begged her to go with
him. 81 wish to remain with my moth
er ~ was the apparently fearful answer,
without so much as glance for him:
and, without another word, the Lieu
tenant bowed to parents and child, and
at once withdrew with his friend from
the room and the house. On his way
back to New York by steamboat a fav-
orite dog that accompanied him leaped
overheard, and he, plunging instantly
over to the rescue, was drowned.