The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-11-29
COPPER
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was practicing medicine At the time
In Rotterdam. "a large. struggling town
six miles south of Sheffield. In York
shirt. England. In the heart Of the
South Yorkshire coal district.
1t is a rough class OF people with
whom a general practitioner generally
has to deal in such a district. though
there are some very big swells in the
neighborhood. TO be sare. Still. as Is al
ways the case in life among the rough
est and most uucouth. one sometimes
finds a gentle flower.
Such a sweet exception was little
Elsie Underhill. to whose bedside ]
was called professionally on the even
ing of Nor. %. 1873. 1t is long while
ago, and 1 doubt much IL any Of the
persons connected with the little story
am about to tell. should any Of them
still be surviving. will remember DIR.
Newman. At any rate, not one Of those
who knew me will be hurt, and the one
person against whom shall have much
to say is so mean and contemplate, in
my opinion. that care little for his.
1t was a poor little home l was call
ed to In Church street, where Elsie's
parents lived, but very different from
the dirty. carelessly kept cottages and
small houses In the vicinity. But l am
not going to weary you with a descrip-
ton. l was met by the dear, old kind
ly faced mother at the door, where. be-
fore taking me up stairs to the tiny
room where lay her suffering daugh-
ter, she told me something of her his
tory.
Elsie was only Just turned nineteen.
but she had already made herself q
reputation which was honorable and
ennobling. The years before, when
Just turned sixteen. being pretty and
well developed girl. with more than
| the average amount Of intelligence, she
had obtained an engagement at the To-
cal theater. where she had appeared in
| the character Of Jeanie Deans in An
drew Halliday's adaptation Of Sir Wal
| ter Scott's novel, 1.-The Heart of Mid
| lothian" She had attracted a great
deal of. attention. The local CORE
| spondent Of London theatrical paper.
| The Hornet. then the property of Ste
phen Fiske. had spoken highly of her.
| and more than one London manager
| had visited Rotterdam to see her act.
There were stock companies IN those
days.
| Among the many young fellows who
had become infatuated by her beauty
was one Horace Wellington. the son of
q physician in Sheffield, a very rich
man. This young mans attentions were
very marked. He obtained an intro
duction to the young girls parents,
and through them to Elsie. And then
he began a serious courtship.
In every way his manner and appar-
ent object were decidedly honorable.
Only one thing he omitted-he did not
take her TO his own home.
In order to be near the man who had
completely won her heart she refused
| more than one lucrative offer to go to
London, where she would have at once
been on the highroad to fame. and &C.
cepted an engagement at the Sheffield
Theater Royal, which. being close to
her own home, she could also reaSu
very easily. Here her opportunities
were wider than in Rotterdam, 1t Is
true, and here she succeeded in In
creasing her already high reputation
She remained in Sheffield two seasons
playing during the summer series OF
| &c h<
northern counties.
Then came a proposal from a grea
London manager which was SO goot
that she could not afford to neglect II
Her aged mother went with her to tn
city of smoke and fog. and in Septem
Der, 1873, she made her debut before
London audience at the Princess thea
ter. Less than a month later her healtl
entirely gave way, and she found
necessary to throw up her engagement
and return with her mother to the In
tie home in Rotterdam in which sh
had breathed her earliest breath.
/ So much her mother told me. the
took me up to see her daughter.
Did I say just now that she was sui
fering? That was hardly the case. Sh
was dying Of rapid consumption. Sh
was too weak to suffer much physica
Iy, but the broken heart was giving he
exquisite torture.
>, Such lovely girl have rarely seer
Brown curling hair swept back frol
the sweet face and long dark lashe
shaded the blue gray eyes that were
intelligence and had been wont to a
II
II The little room in which she lay wa
filed with delicate feminine knicl
} knacks, "reminiscences OF her favorii
roles, souvenirs Of her professioni
i friends, all arranged about the roo
with gentle. thoughtful love by h'
stricken mother. But most interestir
of all was q rather curious thing han
4 Ing above her pillow on the bedpost I
10 narrow blue ribbon 1t was som