Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1880-02-07
YIyyJRsOW WEEDS GLITTLE
NELLY
How a ssLittie NclI'' of Real Lsfe was
Found and Loved and Lost.

NELL.n
How a s.LittIe NclI'' of Real L.fe was
Found and Loved and Lost.
Thurlow Weed is an ardent admirer
of Dickens works, and expresses him
self enthusiastically in an interview in
the New York World. After touching
various characters he said:
Sand little Nell
Here for moment there was a break
| in the veterans vOice-lt was almost a
break of tears-but he quickly recovered
himself and continued:
Forty years ago | was living in AL
bany,and one afternoon on my leaving of
| flee, went to the BARRIERS to get shaved.
There were several men in the Office,
and while | was under the BARRIERS
hands, heard them saying that writ
ing master named Chapman had died
that day of delirium tremens, i'm room
that was bare of furniture, fire and
wood, and that they had found little
child two years of age alone with the
corpse. After had got through | asked
the man what had become of the child,
and they told me that Jenkins, the con
stable, had taken it to a wOman's house
on such street, to care for it until it
was sent to the poorhOuse. 1t was ter
rible winter day, and furious storm
was raging as | went home. At the tea
table | told the story very quietly with
out comment. As soon as we had finish
ed, my son Che was living them rose and
said, father, shall go and look after
the child% | told him nO-that he need
not go. Then l put on my OyercOat, and
when | got to the door | found my
daughter there, with her bonnet and
shawl on, and asked.her what she in
tended to do. "TO go with you and bring
that baby home" told her that the
storm was too severe. found the house,
and as [ entered the sitting-rOOm | ask
ed the woman in charge if / could see
Mr.. Chapman's little girl. Certainly"
was the answer, and she called, MARY,
a gentleman wishes to see you" / had
noticed little girl two years old sitting
quietly in the corner i'm the freight.
She came and sat upon my lap. took
her home that night and we all took her
to our hearts.
1.-The blessing of God came into our
house with that child" said Mr.. Weed,
and as he said it his voice quivered.
"She was as sweet and bright and
lovely as the little Nell whom Dickens
has made immortal She stayed with
us twelve years, and each year we loved
her more and more, and she won every
heart with which she came in contact.
In her we found that little Nell was no
fancy picture, but living reality, and
you cannot wonder that love the hand
that drew her lineaments." Mr.. Weed
here took off his watch and chain and
showed his visitor two portraits OF the
fair young girl-One enameled on the
inside Of his watch and the other con-
tanned in pendant charm-each str1k-
ingly lovely.
''The story of that child" he cOntinu-
ed, sis as strange as any fiction. After
her death we remembered having heard
rumOr that Mrs. Chapman had left an
other and older child at Charleston, and
with my wife and daughter, [ went
there to look it up. At the hotel L pick
ed up directory, selected name iden
titled with charities, and found that this
very gentleman had actually adopted
Mrs. Chapman'S boy, and that he had
been the best and the brightest child in
the institution. He was ready for col
lege, but came and visited us for a
month. At Niagara he caught severe
cold, and in a month we laid him at rest
beside his sister. But this is not all.
We were in Europe shortly afterward
and at BoulOgne met an officer of the
British navy, whose wife, as it happened,
had known Mrs. Chapman as child in
England (where she was bOrn), and had
traced her TO the island of Santa Cruz, in
the West Indies, where she had been a
gOyerness in the family of the Danish
governor, Won SchOutOn. She had gone
thence to Charleston and married there"
Mr.. Weed subsequently visited the gov
ernOr at Santa Cruz, and there cOmplet-
ed the life story of his little Nell. By
another strange coincidence the father
of the reporter of the World to whom Mr..
Weed told his story, was at that time
rector of the English Established)
church in the island of Santa Cruz.