THIS FORTITUDE OF GENIUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11454, 20 June 1899, Page 6

THIS FORTITUDE OF GENIUS.

■Very,, few; people know that Marie. Corellf has worked: against terrible odds for tiie" past four years, suffering daily tortures 'from a dangerous internal malady, yet plu'ckily. fighting on all the same. She knew that her ailment must end in a serious operation, b.iit she would not risk ithis until she .had managed to finish the work she had;in hand.' V^th the deliberation of.an ancient' Stolic, she placed her worldly affairs in such* order as to give no trouble to the ;twopersoiis v who were dearest to her, and Jwhom she "expected, to leave behind—her Stepbrother, and her intimate-friend, Miss •Bertha;Vyver. And she never* gave up. .working;-till. extremity of pain compelled her" to do' so. By a curious coincidence, she'- came within measurable distance of Ideath* on* the Christmas, Eve of 1897, the ■date: on "whicli her stepfather, Dr Charles :Macka,y, who,had*idolised her from infancy, ; and' whom she had loved with equal devotion, .passed away-in 1889. * ' Marie; Coreili made; no fuss' ahout- her ! close fight vvith death." The assertion of .self-advertisement, so frequently, and (says \" M.A.B'.")-. so unjustly levied" against .her iin •some quarters,: will probably account for ;the'fact that the serious nature .of her ill!ness was not; more widely known. A iine [in 'one or two :of the. journals announced ;that she w;as .ill and had undergone.;an I operation, but that was all. -Another :rumour said she was "convalescent" at the * veiy ,time she .was in most danger! With ! that, strange: shrinking from -'publicity which ijis almost a mania with her, Miss" Coreili ; refused to allow the public to know how ;p'iacticalljr- she had hez-self earned out; Uinder the'severest conditions, the theories [of '.'will-power", she inculcates in".-'her. books, "nor how bravely she walked to the Operating- table and laid■'. herself down' upon -it; before the ansestlietic was adpiinlstergd, -with.a-smile and a kind word *foi- all concerned inthework. SirJohnWilliams and Mr Wm.: Meredith had both given '_ opinions on her ; case, but with charac-. 'teri'stic individuality and pluck she finally chose one of her own sex for her surgeon. Mrs Mary Scharlieb, M.D., M.S., of 149 .* Hariey : street, - was.* the surgeon to : whom jhe turned, and Dr Scharlieb was lhe person to whom she said cheerily, as she entered tiie'operating room', "Well; if I die "wider it, I know it -will not be your fault."; She is now slowly recovering.