The Somerset reporter., 1901-10-17
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was pra.tieins medicine at tie time
in Rotterdam. Il large, STRUGGLING town
six miles south oil Sheffield. in York
shirt, England. in the heart of the
South Yorkshire coal district.
1t is rough class of people with
whom a general practitioner generally
has to deal in such district. though
there are some very big swells in the
neighborhood, to he sure Still, as is al
ways the Gaze in life among the rough
est and most uncouth, one sometimes
finds a gentle flower
Such sweet exception was little
Elsie Underhill to whose bedside |
was called professionally on the even
ing of Nov. -. 1873. 1t is long while
ago, and | doubt much if any of the
persons connected with the little story
| am about to tell, should any of them
still be surviving, will remember Or.
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 poor little home 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 | am
not going TO weary you with "A descrip-
ton. | was met by the dear, old kind
ly faced mother ut 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 a
reputation which was honorable and
ennobling. The years before when
just turned sixteen, being a pretty and
we'll developed girl, with more than
the average amount of intelligence, she
had obtained an engagement at the To-
cal thCater, where she had appeared in
the character of Jeanie Deans in An
drew Halliday's adaptation of Sir Wal
ter Scott's novel, 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 Fislie, 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
physi ian 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 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 20 to
London, where she would have at once
been on the highroad to fame and ac-
cepted an engagement at the Sheffield
Theater Royal, which, being close to
her own home, she could also reach
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
northern counties.
Then came a proposal from a great
London manager which was so good
that she could not afford to neglect it
Her aged mother went with her to the
city Of smoke and fog, and In Septem-
Der, 1873 she made her debut before a
London audience at the Princess thea
ter. Less than a month later her health
entirely gave way, and she found it
necessary to throw up her engagement
and return with her mother to the lit
tie home In Rotterdam in which she
had breathed her earliest breath.
So much her mother told me, then
took me up to see her daughter.
Did l say just now that she was suf
fering? That was hardly the case. She
was dying of rapid consumption. She
was too weak to suffer much physical
ly, but the broken heart was giving her
exquisite torture.
Such lovely girl l have rarely seen.
Brown curling hair swept back from
the sweet face and long dark lashes
shaded the blue gray eyes that were all
intelligence and had been wont to fill
her audiences with blind enthusiasm.
The little room in which she lay was