The Northern Pacific farmer. [volume] (Wadena, Minn.) 1878-1885, 1880-09-09
THE FAIRJULIET.
Miss Nelson's Theatrical Career---
What study Accomplished

Miss Meilsen's Theatrical Career---
What Study Accomplished
The mournfully sudden death of Miss
Nelson calls to mind many facts of her
personal and dramatic history which
were only known to her intimate friends
and acquaintance, but which, now
that she has finished her career, may
be properly given to the public, and
will assist those whom the secret of her
remarkable success on the stage has
never been disclosed in forming a juster
Judgment Of the actress and the wo-
man. The dramatic lists and other
authorities give her age as 30, her birth
place as Saragossa, Spain, and state
that her father was q Spanish artist,
and her mother an English lady of gen.
tie birth. All this is only the tinsel
and spangle of current biography. Her
exact age is unknown, but it was prob
ably between 33 and 50, and her birth
place is equally uncertain. Her pa
rentage was Of very humble descrip-
ton; and her first appearance before
the outside world was as London bar
maid, serving her employers customers
with grace that won her many adj
mirers. Ambitious and industrious,
she sought the opportunity to rise to q
higher position. A gentleman of good
family but of very moderate means,
attracted by her beauty and vivacity,
offered to educate her for the stage.
Miss Nelson was under training for
several years, studying toward the end
under the direction Of J. NJ. Beliew,
probably the most accomplished elo-
cutionist of the last fifty years in Eng
land, whose readings in this country
will be well remembered. Beliew has
left it on the record that Miss Nelson
was by no means an apt scholar. Her
memory was neither quick nor retent-
i've, and her powers of apprehension
were sluggish. He spent nearly a
year in teaching her to speak the lines
Of Juliet. He had to tell her when to
raise her hand, when to drop it; she
was like a clock-work, and had to be
adjusted to certain gestures before she
could accomplish them. It is said of
Rachel that everything about her and
her wonderful art were simply learned
by rote, us a parrot cries "Pretty POLL"
But the young girl was possessed of ex-
traordinary ambi ion, great industry,
and indomitable perseverance. Slight
as her physique was, she toiled on
tirelessly, never tagging, never yield
means to perfect herself in artistic
method.
Gossip has spoken of her rs given to
vanities, brilliant, but reckless. Her
whole method was contradiction of
this. She was q student, devoted to her
success and her ambition, painstaking
and plodding. She would travel any
distance and take any trouble to obtain
valuable hint in the Interpretation Of
Il passage. She had accumulated Il
very large Shakspearean and stage IL
brary. She was not egotistic or conceit-
ed; she studied practical stage business
as indefatigably rs a stage manager.
Last winter, speaking Of these qualities,
near friend of hers said: EThis wo-
man is not a genius by any means
But she is the most painstaking, care
full, thorough, and industrious actress
that ever gave the impression Of being
spontaneous in all her stage move
ments. And unless one studied her
closely she did give the impression of
being charged with emotion and i'm
pulse, passion and impetuosity. But
her subtle interpretations were often
measured and carefully elaborated
rather than spontaneous So this girl,
with reputation for fitful brilliancy,
intense passion, spontaneous pathos,
was exactly the antipodes of all these
things plodding, patient, persevering,
a little dull, but carried forward to sue
cess by an unf;altering ambition and a
steadfast determination to win name
and fortune.
Her early successes were not very re-
markable, for she had no flashes, such
as take houses by storm, until after she
learned to create them by skillful man.
ipulation OF means; but she had a low,
soft, melodious voice, and a beauty of
person that went far to redeem a little
awkwardness. Her career in London
was fairly successful. Her great sources
Of income and her principal artistic
triumphs were American. She visited
this country six times, appearing here
for the first time in the fall of 1872, and
although it is not positively known what
amounts she carried away each time, it
is known that $37 900 was the smallest
sum she ever melted in a single season,
while one of her series of performances
gave her a net result of nearly $50, 600.
Miss Nelson must have cleared in this
country, during her six trips, about
$3.50, 000 She did not AXE this amount
out Of the country, however. In 1871
and 1873, when real estate was at at it's
highest and real estate speculation was
rampant, she Was pursuaded to invest
about $4,000 in uptown property.
This was just before the panic. The
collapse came, real estate went down,
and in the depression that followed
Miss Nelson became alarmed, and