The Somerset reporter., 1901-10-17


| knacks, "reminiscences of her favorite
| roles, souvenirs of her professional
| friends, all arranged about the room
with gentle. thoughtful love by her
| stricken mother. But most interesting
of all was a rather curious thing hang
ing above her pillow on the bedpost by
narrow blue ribbon 1t was some
thing that would attract the attention
of the least observant
a large gold split ring, elegantly chas-
ed and evidently of antique manufac-
ture, to which was suspended a com.
mon copper English penny piece. The
combination was SO incongruous, so lu-
/ dicrous, that | could not refrain from
! taking it in my hand to examine
"Oh, please don't touch that" ex-
claimed the dying girl. at is all
have"
Then there was story to it!
When l had prescribed a simple pal
liative for the racking cough and had
given instructions for other simple
treatment, | went down stairs again
with the mother.
you saw the penny and the ring,
doctor" she said, land you wondered.
| Is it not so?"
| confessed that | had felt little
curious to know its history, and here
is what the old woman told me:
The old gold ring had belonged to
Elsie's great-grandmother 1t had once
! been thumb ring. Elsie looked upon
/ 1t as sort of heirloom and had car
] ried it with her as a sort of taliSman
/ since childhood. One day, after she
/ had known Mr. Wellington q few
months before they were engaged to
/ be married, the young man had laugh
/ ingly pulled from his pocket penny
/ through which some foolish person
had bored a hole. Elsie was just about
! to appear in new character, so Hor-
/ ace, in fun, remarked: Take this PEN
| ny and keep it for luck. You will nev-
j er fail in a part so long as you keep
/ it."
/ Elsie entered into the spirit of the
thing and said, Now, if l could only
+ get my own talisman split l would
hang the penny ON to it."
THAT is easily DONE" said Horace,
as he took the ring In his hand and
admired its chasing. 81 will take it 10
Evans, in Sheffield and have it split"
/ Accordingly he took the ring and In
a few days returned it with the penny
hanging to it. Elsie fastened a ribbon
to it and wore it around her neck.
Alas, that ring and that penny were
the parallels of the characters of the
two persons to whom they had belong
ed! The one pure gold, refined and
chased by a master hand, destined to
be broken by the owner of the baser
metal which entered the golden heart
and broke it in two and left it..
| When she went to London, Willing
| ton followed Elsie, and there, amid the
follies and eXcitements of the great
/ Babylon, he came out in his true col
ors, a constituencies, loveless scoun-
drel 1t seems unnatural and untrue
that man could deliberately lay plans
and take years to mature them for the
ruin of a young girls life, but so it
was with Wilmington and Elsie Under
hill.
Plenty of people there are living yet
who remember the success of the
young actress on the Princess boards
and who remember with sorrow her
sudden departure and death.
Wilmington succeeded in his designs,
then left her. as it was afterward
known he had left others, to droop and
die or to go from bad to worse. He
cared nothing.
+ Else's sensitive nature was too high
strung. She could not survive the dis
grace even though it was apparent only
to herself. Her heart broke, and in
the early weeks of December when
the narrow little Church street and
the roofs of the neighboring cottages
were covered with snow. when the
timid robin had become so tame as to
fly to the windows of human habita-
lions for the food of charity, when the
world was beginning to prepare its an
nual festival of peace and good will
toward men" the poor little actress,
who was delicate flower in the midst
of a life of nettles and brambles, with
cred and @lssed away, to be trans
planted in the garden that is kept for
ever beautiful by those angels whose
duty it is to soothe and comfort those
poor waits of humanity who are not
strong enough to overcome humanty's
blows and buffets.
What became of Wellington? | have
never heard of him since. Somewhere
probably, he holds an honored position
on earth, for he was rich. and wealth
OH earth covers innumrrable sins; but
surely when his time comes to go to
that bourn from which no traveller ever
returns he viii be met by the dark re-
cording angel with page not yet blot
ted out, on which he will be shown
\ penny suspended from pure gold
ring.
The Judas Tree.
The Judas tree Is native of the
southern countries of Europe. and Is
handsome low bush with fiat,
spreading top. In the spring it is pro
fusely covered with purplish pink. bios
SONS, which burst out before the
leaves begin to unfold. The blossoms
have an agreeable acrid taste and are