OCR Text |
Show WOMAN HERMIT WEDST MASSACHUSETTS TOWN LOSES PICTURESQUE INHABITANT. Ulss Margaret Nowland Ends Fifty Tears of Loneliness by Marriage to Her Girlhood's Sweetheart Happy Ending of Komance Began Long Ago. (Special Letter.) Massachusetts has a bona fide woman wom-an hermit. In a picturesque part of the village of Forest Hills, Mass., there stands alone and many acres apart from any other residence a quaint weather-stained weather-stained cottage. This is the home of Margaret Nowland. hermit. For fifty years Miss Nowland has town north of Chicago, a beautifu 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 war stopped. The young girl, Margaret Nowland, belle of Sioux City, mysteriously mysteri-ously disappeared, and the fiance, Horace Hor-ace Stern, made a trip to Denver. This was in May, 1851. On June 14; of the same year Horace Stern was married to a young girl of Denver and the two made their home in that city. Margaret Nowland 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 op-ened and swallowed her. Mr. Stern, his wife and two sturdy boys lived and prospered in Denver, lived in Forest Hills and yet she is today at the age of 76 as unknown to the people of that town a3 she was half a eentury ago, when, a beautiful girl of 21, she walked into the village, from nobody knew where, and took up her abode in the little house which had so long remained unoccupied. Weeks and months passed and the young woman continued to live a life of seclusion, alone in the quaint little cottage. Finally, by some chance it was learned that the mysterious young woman's name was Miss Margaret Nowland, and that she came from the far Wesr.. More than this no one could discover. discov-er. Miss Nowland never went to the ipostoffice nor to church, and except to buy food she never strayed beyond the little wicker gate which shut the outside out-side world from the lawn which stretched around the hermitage. For fifty years this has continued and all the force of New England curiosity cu-riosity has failed to ferret out the history his-tory of Margaret Nowland, which would have remained a mystery until the end of time had not unforeseen circumstances cir-cumstances brought to light the very romantic story of this woman's life. Mysterious Stranger Comes. About one month ago, the town of Forest Hills was startled by seeing a white-haired man push open the gate leading to the hermitage, walk briskly up the path to the front door, and lift the knocker, which fell back with a sound that seemed to demand admittance admit-tance far the intruder. MISS NOWLAND 50 YEARS AGO. but there was a look of settled sadness sad-ness on the man's face which no amount of luxury, fame or success could lighten. Margaret Nowland severed all ties, gave up friends and home, and taking; with her a small fortune which shei possessed in her own right, traveled! east until she reached Massachusetts. Here she settled, as has been told,' in a forsaken cottage in Forest Hills, -and for fifty years lived the secluded, life of a hermit, never once giving an inkling of her past to anyone. Three years ago Mrs. Stern died in Denver, and since then Horace Stern has bent ail his attention and energy in searching for Margaret. How he found his old sweetheart is a story of determination and perseverance. For three years he scoured the country, coun-try, passing through almost every state of the union. , x While rtShig a' friend in Plooms-buig, Plooms-buig, Pa., he was told the story if this Massachusetts hermit and by intuition " " -1 -he knew that this mysterious person who puzzled the people of Forest Hills was the woman whom he had determined deter-mined to find. Slowly the front door swung back, for an instant Margaret Nowland and the intruder faced each other, then the man stepped across the threshold which for fifty years had not been passed by a visitor, the door was closed and the villagers were left standing on the sidewalk staring at the cottage in open-mouthed amazement. About two hours later the man left the hermitage, walked quickly to the station and took a train for Boston. The following day Margaret Nowland went i.) the poSstoftiCe T-i're the-astonished clerk handed her a letter so heavy that it took double postage to carry it. For one week this same thing occurred oc-curred daily; every morning Margaret Nowland, still uncommunicative, went to the postofflce, received her letter and disappeared in the hermitage again. On the eighth day the white-haired stranger reappeared. This time Miss Nowland met him at the little wicker gate and the two strolled around the grounds before entering en-tering the house. Never had 'Forest Hills been so stirred, the entire town was wild with excitement and burning with a curiosity which threatened to break all bonds. Late that afternoon Miss Nowland MISS NOWLAND TODAY, and her visitor called upon the Unitarian Uni-tarian minister of the town and the lips of the hermit were opened. Before hearing the story of her past, full of romance and tragedy however, Forest Hills was shaken to its foundations founda-tions by the statement that they were to lose their hermit. Margaret Nowland Now-land is going to be married on Christmas Christ-mas Day of this year to the whiter haired stranger, who willrtra that day celebrate his 81st birthday. Minister Tells Story. The minister was besieged with visitors visi-tors on the day following his visit from the old couple, and this Is the story which Margaret Nowland authorized him to tell to the curious.1 Fifty years ago in Sioiix City, a little |