Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1893-11-09
JENNY LIND'S ROMANCE.
The Love Affair in the Life Of the
Nightingale.

No one could see Jenny Lind and not
fall under the charm of her perfect
| naturalness, freshness and originality.
Although her features were irregular,
she was anything but plain; her COM
pleXion was fair; she had abundant
tiaXen hair and the most wonderful
gray eyes, beautiful figure and hands
and arms and graceful movements. Hers
was not the slow, sinuous grace, which
has it's own charm; her movements
were light, decided and expressive
She always seemed to do everything
more quickly than anyone else. At
this time she was studying the part of
''Susanna'-a ''sweet part she SAID it
was, and had the partition of the
''Nozze" always on the knee. In the
evening she sang her Swedish songs.
and then we all went out to listen to
the nightingale's singing under the
magnificent old beeches She had a
passion for the song Of these "little
sisters" of hers, and used to mimic them
and excite their rivalry, so that the air
was filed with music
1t was strange that it should have
been the fate of my father, writes C.
M. Simpson in the ''New Review who
was entirely destitute of musical sense,
to be of use to the most celebrated
singer of the day 1t was in lS49 she
had resolved to give up the stage and
had affianced herself to Mr.. Claudius
Harris, a young Indian officer, brother
to Mrs. Joseph Grote, whom she met at
the Palace, Norwich. My mother and
had just returned from our drive one
cold afternoon in April, and found in
the hall a note from Miss Lind for my
mother, asking her to beg my father to
call on her next day to meet her trustees
about her marriage settlements, either
at three, or, if that were not possible, at
nine, p. M 1t SO happened that he was
not free at three, so he went to her at
| nine. She did not expect him, and was
quite alone They entered at once
upon business, and my father soon
found out that she was very half
hearted about the matter altogether.
Indeed, she could scarcely have found
ris and his family were intensely low
church. and they thought that the re-
mainder of the great prima donna's life
could not be more appropriately spent
than in atoning for her theatrical
career. The attraction to Jenny was in
her lovers goodness. She said he had
such pure mind
But when she was first introduced to
him she said to Mrs. Stanley: ''What a
dull young lnanw Nothing could be
more true. He was heavy and stupid,
but tall, fair and good looking. The
Stanleys supported Jenny in her reso-
luton to give up the stage, and so in
deed did Mrs. Grote from a different
reason, for, in spite of her intense sym
pathy with her young friends artistic
al career, she saw that the strain was
too great. Jenny was worn out by
fatigue and emotion. She threw her.
self into every part as if she herself
were suffering the woes of the hero
inc, unlike other great actors and
actresses, who succeed in making their
representation to a certain degree me-
chanical. But her essentially truthful
spirit could not do this. The tears she
wept in ia Sonnambula' came from
her heart. We had more than once the
stage box, and could see that she was
almost oyerpowered by her feelings.
She had led this trying life for upward
of ten years, and she longed for rest
and the peace and regularity of domes-
tic life. The manager of Her Majesty's
theater, Mr.. Lumley, was in despair.
1t was almost ruin to him to lose her.
and he urged for at least a few fare
well performances; she offered instead
a series of dramatic concerts. Only one
took place
Although the "Flauto Magico," which
was chosen for the first performance,
would seem to be independent of act
ing, the libretto is so eminently stupid
and undramatic, yet, in spite of Jenny
Lind's splendid singing, the whole af-
fair fell fiat, to her great disappoint-
ment. Never before had she met
with a cold reception. Mrs. Grote and
Lumley entreated her to give the oper.
attic performances but she would not
yield. At length my father succeeded.
where they failed. They suggested that
loved her; he urged the unfairness of
disappointing Lnmley, and finally the
unsatisfactory termination which
failure would put to her whole career.
So she promised to give six farewell
nights Lumley was overjoyed, and
sent us boxes for all six. The enthu-
siasm of the audience knew no bounds.
Yet no one could believe that the sing
er, in the very plenitude of her powers
(she was only twenty-eight), really in
tended these to be the last of her tri.
umphs. But it was so, and after the
curtain fell on the last of the six she
never appeared again on any stage.
Mr.. Harris had consented to those
performances, and he and Jenny were
once more on good terms.
She lived at this time in little house
very near us. 1t was called Clairville
cottage; it was covered with roses and
| creepers; it had a pretty garden, and
was thoroughly rural. The backs of
the houses in Brechin place now oc-
cupy the ground. She and Caudius
Harris often joined our country rides.
He generally fell to my share, and did
not find him exciting company. Lord
Lansdowne sometimes joined us and
also came to meet them at dinner, but
we did not venture to invite anyone
else, except the Gfotes and one or two
others of Jenny's intimate friends. All
seemed to be going on swimmingly, and
Mrs Grote went off to Paris, followed
soon after by my father, but before he
went he said to Jenny Lind: Some
thing tells me that your marriage will
not take place. If it should be broken
off again, write no letters and have no
| 70 roMo11 inforviaxue hut ioir, NTne
Grote in Paris immediately
Affairs had not been going on so
smoothly as appeared. Mr.. Harris had
asked Jenny to insert in the settlements
q promise that she would never act
again. To this my father objected. and
he also insisted that Jenny was to have
IN :ontrclled power over her. earnings.