Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-07-11
STORY OF A BRAVE GIRL.
Her Poverty, StrusgIes, Pluck, and Final
Triumph

Her Poverty, StruggIes, Pluck, and Final
Triumph.
Eli Perkins in New York Commercial Advertiser.
Last Saturday large crowd of friends
with bouquets and smiles and kind ben
edictions thronged the steamer City of
Paris to see off young and interesting
lady. Many of the best people in the
metropolis took her hand and bid her
"God-speed" across the Atlantic, and
success at Milan, Italy, whittier she goes
to perfect herself in music and the
opera. She went with the intention of
returning to New York after two years
perhaps a prima donna, perhaps an.
other Jenny Lind for none can conjec-
ture what Providence has in store for
the fair young singer.
If the writer did not always go to
nature, and did not found everything
writes upon the basis of absolute
truth, you might, perhaps, doubt the
story which now tell, and which came
to me from the lips of the same young
lady.
A POOR GIRLS STORY.
Miss Emma A. Abbott was born in
Chicago about twenty years ago. In
1854 her father, then a music teacher,
took her to the little village of Peoria,
in Illinois. The little child then took
intense delight in music She had
dreams of singing in public at the age
of six. When they read to her stories
of actors and singers on the stage, she
thought they meant a coach, and won.
dered, with infantile fancy, how they
could throw bouquets into a stage.
From six to nine she sang about
home, catching every tune she heard
her father play, and, to the surprise of
everybody, began herself to play the
at the age of nine her father, very
poor man, chained down with large
family of children, brought her out with
her brother George at a concert in
Peoria. Her debut took so we'll that
her father, a man of restless genius, but
shiftless and always unfortunate, de-
cided to take little Emma on a concert
tour, which he did, keeping her thus
occasionally employed with varied for
tune until she was thirteen years old.
At this age she went to Mount Pulaski
in company with some Peoria children.
= While here they wanted her to play her
guitar and sing, SO she got up a concert
Hon herown hook.n Though wearing
printing Office, got out her own hand
bills, and then went and posted them
around town. On one of these bills now
before me it says:
Miss Abbott will sing THE Merry
Swiss Girl chorus"
The little thing didn't know what a
chorus meant, but it looked nice, and
SO she had them put it on the bill. She
drew quite house, took in seven dol.
lars, and took it home to her mother.
After giving concert at Lincoln, in a
school house, she came home again, and
gave guitar lessons to pupils twice as old
as she was at twenty cents per lesson
She now went to school, but her fathe,
little child-woman borrowed the money
from a afriend-agreeing to pay it after
she should become teacher.
At fifteen, little Emma succeeded il
securing e class of twenty poor children
who came to recite at her mother
house. At the time she sang in tht
Hebrew Synagogue-a kind old rabbi
Marx Moses, teaching her to pronounc,
in Hebrew and German
The spring of her sixteenth birthda,
found her father poorer than ever be
fore, and our little woman, to help he
mother, tried to secure clerkship in
store, but failed. In great distress, sh,
heard of school, nine miles from
Peoria, which was in need of a teacher
Thither she went on foot, through tn
mud and slush. She found the princi
pal trustee, kind old man, at DINER
"What do you want, my little VIC
man 2" asked the old farmer, as he lait
down his knife and fork to survey ou
little heroine.
81 live in Peoria, sir, and walked
"Whatl walked, child 2" interrupte
the old man in astonishment.
eyes, sir, and want to teach you
school," ~
"Well, i declare, my child, there ar
fifteen applicants, but you're a prett
girl, and plucky as Julius Cesar. Hav
you got your certifcate3"