The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-29
AN HOME
Where Wealth and Hospitality Are Beauti-
fully Blended.

Where Wealth and Hospitality Are Beauti-
fully Blended.
New York Letter in Bos ton Saturday Gazette.
Miss Hewitt, the daughter of Abram S. Hewitt,
is said to be particularly Well up in horses and
dogs. She is also we'll up in music. and has or
ganized an orchestra among the young ladies of
New York, which will be heard in private this
winter. The Hewitts, by the way, take about
as much solid comfort out of life as any people
that | know. But to take comfort in just the
way they do requires a very large income. In
the winter they live on Lexington avenue. cor
ner of Twenty second street. In the summer
they live at R%ingwood, their country-seat in
New Jersey. Ringwood is somewhere near
Passaic, and is eleven miles from the railway.
This is their summer headquarters, and they
make trips to Europe, or to Newport
or Bar Harbor from Ringwood. They
do not attempt to entertain their
friends during the summer-the weather
will not permit-but in September their enter
tanning begins and they do it on a princely scale.
They have few, if any, guests during the week,
but over Sundays they entertain as many as
thirty at a time, and they entertain them by
letting them entertain themselves in their own
way. There is no early breakfast hour, such as
prevails In most families. The guest may get
up at any hour that pleases him best, and ring
his bell and have his bath brought to mis- room,
and order coffee, tea, chocolate, rolls. eggs, toast,
or any such light food as he may desire. Up to
r. oo,clock he is not interfered with. II he wants
to drive ne may order a trap from the stable;
the same if he wishes to ride; or he can enloy
himself In the library, or wander about
the place, or, in fact, do anything
that may please him best. If he meets
any of the other guests, they may make
little excursions together. At II o'clock the
gong sounds and the family and the guests as
semble for the breakfast, the first regular meal
of the day. This is served on the English plan
and in the most informal manner. The servants
bring in the hot dishes and place them on the table,
and then they leave the room. If a guest wants
anything that is not on the table, ne rings the
bell and the servant brings it. But they help
each other and themselves from the dishes that
are already served. No one dresses for this meal
with any idea of show, but entirely for comfort.
After breakfast they ride or drive, or play lawn
tennis, or go fishing, or do anything they want
to for enjoyment, and at 5 o'clock they usually
assemble at a little log. cabin about
main house, which Mr.. Hewitt built
for his eldest daughters amusement. This log
cabin is furnished with old fashioned chairs and
tables; strings of dried apples hang from the
~rafters, punches of dried corn hang upon the
wall, and yellow pumpkins stand around ON
shelves. At one end of the large room is an
enormous chimney with open fireplace. An old
fashioned crane swings over the glowing wood
and boils the tea kettle, and the tea is served in
common blue china cups. If any of the guests
feel like something more substantial than tea,
Miss Hewitt makes them a hoecake in the en-
bers, and serves it hot with the famous Ring
wood butter right fresh from the dairy. AT
o'clock the gong sounds again to let the guests
know that dinner will be served in half an hour,
and at t7:3O comes the first formal
ity of the day, the dinner. For
this meal the ladies wear evening
costume, and the men appear in their dress-coats
and white ties. The cooking is excellent, and
the ceremony of eating steals away the greater
part of the evening. After dinner there is mu-
sic, and dancing, and card-playing. and at IL or
half past the ladies retire to don their dressing
gowns, and gather round a large open fire in one
of the rooms up stairs to discuss the events of
the day, while the men do the same thing down
stairs over their cigars and-soda. Perhaps you
will say that it is easy enough to entertain in
this manner If one has the money; but there you
are mistaken. Plenty of people with more mon
ey even than Mr.. Hewitt have not this art of en-
PERTAINING. know Of one New York family
who have quite as much money, and who entertain
the rule, and who appear themselves and who
expect their guests to appear in most gorgeous
costumes at this early morning hour. And that
is not the worst of it, but they set to work to
you deliberately, and you have the
feeling all the time that you are being enter
tanned, and you wish to heaven you were some
where else, even back in the heat of the city
where you could entertain yourself in your own
way, and be let alone for a little while. 1t goes
saying that an invitation to Ringwood is |
hailed with delight, while to the other place /
have in mind it is received with a shudder and,
if possible, declined. We are picking up a good
many ideas from England, one of the best of
which is not to entertain our guests too much,
to let them feel at home by allowing them to do
as they would do at home, at the same time Civ /
ing an opportunity for entertainment if they
care for it."
Wiley's Experiments with SORGHUM |