The bee., 1883-07-14
THE LOVE OF HER LIFE.


WHY a Celebrated Actress IN Unmarried
Her Sweetheart Proves False to Her In
Money Matters and Dies UufOrgiven.
It has been fact patent TO most Of
the friends of little Miss Lolita during
the la two or three years that her
spirits have been steadily declining.
She has plavel with her usual vivacity
upon the stage, but she has been sor-
rowful. almost mOrose off it for a very
long time. When a comparatively
young, a certainly pretty, and beyond
all doubt rich woman takes to pining,
TO losing her interest in her usual pur-
suits, 10 look ng peaky and miserable
and to talking hopefully of death and
its kind oblivion, the masculine mind
usually asc'ibes the change to the
mysterious opel ations of love.
A reporter Of the World and a we'll
known the ttrical manager met the
other afternoon. Said the reporter ::
Lolita, know, is in poor physical
health, but she suffers as well from a
mental mal8iSe. What occasions the
latter?
Said tie manager: "Tl tell you.
Lotta is warm-hearted, impulsive,
affectionate little creature, to whom
the Fates granted beauty and charm
and material success. But they have
always denied her the one boon which
women prize most of all--the happy
and uninterrupted love of sincere
and honorable man. She has been
constantly in love-over and over
again There used to be tradition
that she was mally devoted to all her
leading men and her light comedians.
AS a matter of fact the girl has been
b art-hungry, but she has met with
one great, cruel disappointment, and
she has never been quite herself since
that fatal day."
"What were the circumstances w
"Well, about ten years ago Lotta,
who had been prosecuted for a long
time by all sorts of admirerS-thoSe
who were attached to herself and those
who hankered after her money-fell
head over ears in love with ahandsome
young Phlla lelphia1 Of Nce lent
family. He was a tall, delicate fellow,
a thoroughbred gentleman in aprer-
ance, with soft, womanish eyes, silken
hair and gentle, even weak, express
icn. Heloved her with an equal pass
ion. His parents, however, disdained
the little actreSs--partly on count of
her profession, partly on acc unit of the
shabby and disreputable old man,
Crabtree, who called himself her father.
but they were devoted to each
ether. Heseemed to idoliZe Lolita, and
Lolita would never allow word to be
spoken against him. They said he drank
and gambled-Gut she would never be-
lieve it,
Their wedding day was appointed.
In expectation of being her husband
the young Philadelphian wa intrusted
with the handling of her money. She
reposed the fullest confidence in him.
"Lo! a d behold, one night while
she was playing und r Jarrett & Palm
er's management in Niblo's Garden,
the young man disappeared with $l3,
001 of her money. Scar h WAS made
for him everywhere. Before they found
him they discovered where the money
had gone He hal got drunk, sought
gambling den and spent most Of the
missing $4,000.
"It was a cruel blow to poor little
Lolita. From that dark night She made
upher and that all that men admired in
her was her fortune. She never again
spoke to her err.ng lover, and when he
sent her piteous notes, begging her to
forgive him-for he really and truly
worshiped her-She sent them back
10 him unopened.
"His relatives reimbursed the little
girl--but it wasn't the money she
wanted. Nobody could give her back
her faith in mankind. By-and bye the
young Philadelphi IN died-suddenly,
I've heard. He was buried in the big
cemetery Just outside Philadelphia.
Even on his deathbed he begged for a
farewell kiss Of little Lotta But She
never knew it. Perhaps if she had
known il, it would have made no diff
ference Vet, when it was tod her that
he was dead she cried bitterly, and nov
every time she go S TO Phila lelphia she
drives out cne day, heavily veiled, to
the cemetery, covers his grave with
flowers and sits there sObbing to her
self till the sky darkens and she has to
get back again to make ready for the
theatre.
THAT'S the story that's at the bot
tom of Lotta's unhappiness, and you'll
agree with me it's very sad, not to
say romantic, story, too."-Neoo York
World.