The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1878-09-21
MRS. PARAN STEVENS.

and my own.
MRS. PARAN STEVENS.
Mrs. Paran Stevens has married her
daughter into the English nobility at
last. The case presents a notable in
stance of an ambition early conceived,
persistently adhered to, and triumphant
ly realized. Mrs. Paran Stevens was
what one of our Boston wits once called
'Ea chophouse impreSsario." Her hus-
band was the first great hotel-keeper Of
Boston. When first remember him he
was keeping the New England House,
a hotel at the North end Of Boston, in
which Boston merchants boarded their
clerks for the purpose of capturing coun-
try customers as they came to the city.
(This was before the days of ''drum-
mers," you know.) The New England
House was well kept in its way, but it
was several degrees, below first-class
When the Revere House was built every
body was surprised at the ambition of
Mr.. StevenSto be its landlord. Hetook
it, and kept it well, too. More than
all this he taught the landlords all over
the country how to improve in their
business. He was clear headed sound
minded business man, who knew his
own sphere and his own strength, and
never attempted anything above them.
He died worth 1900, 900. In the days
of his earl prosperity he married the
lady who is now his widow. She was
considerably younger than himself, and
a resident of Lowell, in this State. She
brought him no money, but she had a
bouncless social ambition 1t did not
procure the entrance into society in
Boston, even after her great wealth came.
Neither did New York readily yield to
her when her family moved to that city.
Then she set about buying for her chill
dren place independent of either city.
Her daughter Minnie, who promised to
be brilliant and beautiful girl, was
destined by the mother to lead the for
tunes of the family. To this end she
educated her most carefully. She
brought her up and brought her out ac-
cording to the Strictest propriety, and
when at last Minnie was educated and
ready for society, she was able to say
that the girl was fit to be bride for the
best of the coronetS. Such was the gen
eral opinion also. Miss Stevens had
many admirers for her amiability, her
grace and her intelligence. Still the
doors of New work did not open to her.
She went abroad and, she just made the
sensation that her mother had longed
for. Interpolation followed her home,
and, when titled foreigners came here
to pay her attention, then New York
also yielded. The unpleasant feature
about it all is the fitting a young Ameri
can girl for foreign matrimonial mark
et-the advertising her in advance as
preparing for that distinction. You
can find the whole process set out in
"The Tender Recollections of Irene
Macgillicuddy," which almost every
body inside feels that Mrs. Stevens sug-
gested. Mrs. Stevens campaign shows
how much may be done with money, too,
among the best blood of the English
nobility, for Miss Stevens is but an inn
keepers daughter, after all. The S4,
600, 900 that her father left was employ
ed by her mother to tempt the English
families to an alliance, which it is too
probable that her grace and sweetness
would not alone have secured. There
is hardly $1,000, 900 of it left. Mr..
Stevens estate is understood to have
shrunk severely with the English to Sc
cure their dot. The husband will
get very charming wife. Let us hope
that he will always deserve her
And while Mrs. Stevens has fairly earn
ed the success that has come to her en-
deavors, let us hope that other Ameri-
can mothers will not be driven wild with
emulation. We need such girls as Miss
Minnie Stevens, with or without their
fortune, at home. l can't refrain from
alluding to the romance of the thing,
with all the rest. From the New Eng
land H ouse, at which they still sell chops,
in the most stingy part of Boston, to the
Society at Buckingham Palace, is avery
long stride. 1t is as near the fabled
splendor of transformation ir fairy tales
as we often get nowadays. Yankee sense
and ShrewdneSS, and Yankee energy and
persistence, are the magic wandS that
wrought this spectacle.--N Y Cores
bOndenee Of Hartford C0nrant.