The San Francisco call., 1899-07-30
~wNHAT is true heroism?

" v danger ana peril 10 tnlnK OF
the many instead OF the few
to forget self entirely-to for
get all ties except the one
broad tie which binds every life to all
humanity-to forget all duties except
the duty owed to our fellow creatures?
Was DR.. Reuben Ludlam Of Chicago
heroic when he unhesitatingly went on
with and brought to a successful con-
clusion a capital operation during
which his father was stricken dead by
his side?
Is It true heroism when the crucial
test comes to listen to the voice Of the
soul instead of to the voice of the
heart?
If so. then I know a true heroine.
She lives right here in San Francisco,
this young woman whose story 1 am
going TO tell you, and she hasn't the
least idea that she has done anything
wonderful at all. She simply did what
seemed TO her at the time to be her
highest duty, and. having done it, she
thinks herself entitled neither to notice
nor praise and, being as modest and
unassuming as she is brave. shrinks
even from question or comment on the
subject.
IL WAS uOluluSI Sue say . O14lJ
had TO think quickly and act quickly.
I did the best I could; that was all.
Any one, doubtless, would have done
the same"
And yet, disclaim 1t as she will. the
TACT remains that no soldier under rain
of shot and shell, no sailor fighting
against the mad fury of wind and
wave, no fireman in q raging hell Of
flame and smoke, no hero facing death
in any form for the sake of others.
ever acted from lOftier motives or
showed sterner or more unwaVering
courage than this girl who merely did
the best she could
She really doesn't look the least bit
heroic it must be confessed. Her fig
ure is neither tall nor commanding,
and her manner is not al all self-asser-
tive. She is just a slender, ~raceful lit
tie creature in her early twenties, and
her chief distinction in the eyes Of
strangers and those who know her
least lies in the fact that she is so ex-
tremely pretty as to be remarkable,
even here in San Francisco which is
famed for its pretty girls.
Her ancestors, rendered unable by the
cross purposes of the gods to leave to
her the broad lands and shining gold
which made their own lives luxuriously
happy under CALIFORNIA; sunny skies,
before the Gringo came" left to her a
bequest Of beauty of the proud old Cas-
lillian type, which is rendered more
charming still through the vivacity and
expression given ii by new world sur
rOundings and the changed circum-
stances of the family in these later
days.
The dainty feet, with their high
arched insteps the slender, shapelJ
hands, the tea rose complexion. the lux
uriant crown of ripping midnight hair
and the great dark eyes-velvet anf
diamOnds-now full Of dusky shadows.
now bright as sword blades, all tell that
SenOrita Aurora OndovilIa lis not of
common folk.
She herself says nothing of those who,
together with their glOries, are dead
and gone Neither does the still hand
some mother, whose whole life now
that she has grown somewhat stout and
the frost of age has touched her beau
tiful hair is given over entirely to low
ing and solicitous care of her children.
1t is enough for them to live their lives
where God has placed them, independ-
entity and uprightly, and they find their
happiness in so doing.
For some time past the mother and
her two daughters, who are both en-
ployed uptown, have been making their
home in one of the many grand old
mansions south of Market street.
from which the tide of fashion long ago
receded, leaving them stranded on the
shores Of the lower grade of city life,
and doomed to pass the remainder of
their eXistenceS as rOOming or lodging
houses
The house in which the Ondovillas
dwell has met with better fortune than
most Of its old-time companions, for