The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-03-19
FOUND A RICH HUSBAND
THROUGH AN ORHH(E
Romantic Story Los Angeles Working Girl Who Has just Married
New Capitalist

r,enoorv IF q schoolgirl epistolatory lark.
Some mothers would have reprlIhahuueo
their daughters for writing notes mus mus
crminately to people. But Neille Mdl sIieIi
believed she saw an honest young man
hack of the letter she had, ana her
mother after some mental debate, sa" no
harm in at least a civil message ammo c
ing receipt of letter from 5VVV lniles
away
From that a regular corresponding
grew. At first the letters were plleI oiu
formal. Mr.. Stevens gave references as
to his reputation and family. He told OF
people in Pasadena who had known NM
from his birth. and his parents Tor Years
before that. When the summer VI 800
had slid into fall the letters between 'no
little white house on the -foothlil raIlch
and Rochester, n. Y, became more ire
8quent. Photographs We're exchanged, anu
at once there came big fat letter with
row of postage stamps upon the envelope
showing that the correspondent IN Rocn-
ester was charmed at the picture OF MS
California correspondent.
Very quickly a cousin of Mr.. Stevens
drove out from Pasadena and called upon
the Marshalls. Then the Marshalls were
invited to visit in Pasadena. Meanwhile
the mails between Glendora and Roches-
ter were not neglected. Important let
tiers shuttled also between Pasadena and
Rochester. More photographs were ex-
making.
In the winter of 1866 Mrs Marshall
and her daughters sold their foothill
home and moved to Los Angeles, where
Miss Nellie became a clerk in a candy
store. Mr.. Stevens came to Southern Cali
fornia. on a flying trip between his pro-
fessional duties. One of the carriage
rides he took with Miss Marshall was
drive to Azusa to the orange packing
house, where his first message among the
oranges a year before had been written.
When Mr.. Stevens went back to Roches-
ter he left solitaire diamond ring on
the hand of his fiancee.
The course of true love, as the poet
says, never did run true. In this case 1t
ran over boulders so huge and surged
curves so sharp that many a stream of
love would have spent itself among the
rocks before it reached the broad and
smooth river of matrimony. Mr. Ste
vens' parents had hopes for marriage in
another direction, and both they and Mrs.
Marshall objected to a marriage with a
young lady under Is. Some impatient let
tiers went between Los Angeles and Roch-
ester Then the letters grew more infre-
quent. Then shorter Finally they
ceased, and there was a return of former
gifts. Each resolved to forget the other,
and each thought their romance closed.
Mr.. Stevens inherited a large fortune in
the fall of 1896, and he went to Europe
with his sisters. w lille IN Italy in the
winter of 1861 he met an old school
mate of his from Rochester, who was
travelling with her parents. Before he left
for America he was engaged to marry
her Meanwhile Mrs. Marshall had died
and her daughters went to live in the
family of an uncle in Ventura, where
Miss Nellie was employed in the sffice of
a nursery concern.
The marriage of Mr.. Stevens and his
aff1anced was fixed for the early summer
of 1897 He built a beautiful home at Wick
Park, in Rochester, and was planning for
its furnishing with all that wealth could
buy when his promised bride took Ill and
died with pneumonia. He was almost
crazed with grief. He went to Mexico
and Cuba and sold the home he had built.
A year ago he came out to Los An
geles. Very naturally his mind went back
to his last former visit in Southern Cali
fornia. His relatives in Pasadena told
him they had lost track of Miss Nellie
Marshall after she had moved away from
Los Angeles. The candy-store where she
was once employed behind the counter
had changed hands, and no one there
could answer Mr.. Stevens adroit ques-
lions concerning Miss Marshall. Some one
said she had married and moved away to
San Francisco.
He had given up his quest Cfor simple