St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-17
AN AMERICAN HOME.
Where Wealth and Hospitality are
Blended.


New York letter in Boston Gazette
Miss Hewitt. the daughter of Abram S.
Hewitt, is said to be particularly well up
in horses and dogs. She is also well up in
music, and has organized 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 that they do requires a
very large income. In the winter they
live on Lexington avenue, corner of Twenty
second street. In the summer they live
at Ringwood their country seat in New
Jersey. Rmgwood is somewhere near
| PasSac. and is eleven miles from the rail-
way. This is their summer headquarters,
and they make trips to Europe or to New
! port or Bar Harbor from Ringwood. They
do not attempt to entertain their friends
! during the SUMMERTIME weather will not
permit-but in September their entertain
ing begins, and they Go it on 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 enter
tain themselves in their own way There
is no early breakfast hour, such as prevails
at any hour that pleases him best, and ring
his bell and have his bath brought to his
room, and order coffee, tea chocolate, rolls
eggs, toast or any such light food as he may
desire. Up to II o'clock he is not inter
fered with. If he wants to drive, he may
order trap flom the stable: the same if he
wishes to ride; or he can enjoy 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 excursions together. At II
o'clock tine gong sounds and the FAMILY and
the guests assemble 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
guest wants anything that is not on the
table, he 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 one hundred and fifty feet from
| the main house, which A1r. 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 pump.
kins stand around on shelves. At one end
of the large room is an enormous chimney
with open fireplace. An old-faShlOned
crane swings over the glowing wood and
boiS the tea-kettle, and tea is served i'll
common blue china cups. If any of the
guests feel like something more substantial
than tea, Miss Hewitt makes them q hoe
cake in the embers, and serves it hot
with the famous Ringwood butter right
fresh from the dairy. AT Z o'clock the
gong sounds again to let the guests know
that dinner will be served in half an hour,
and at 1880 comes the first formality of the
day, tlmdinner. 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 music and
dancing and card-playing, at II or half past
the ladies retire to don their dressing
gowns, and gather round 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 ne money; but there you are
mistaken. Plenty of people with more
money even than Mr.. Hewitt have not his
art of entertaining. l know of one New
York family who have quite as much
money, and who entertain extensively, but
who make Z o'clock breakfast the rule,
and who appear in most gorgeous costumes
at this early morning hour. And that is
not the worst of it, but they set to work to
entertain you deliberately, and you have the
feeling all the time that you are being en-
tertained, and you wish to heaven you
were somewhere else, even back in the
heat of the city where you could entertain
yourself in your own way and be let alone
for little while. 1t goes without saying
that an invitation to Ringwood Is haueq
with delight, while to the other pace l
have in mind it is received with shudder
and, if possible, declined. We are picking
up 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 doat
home at the same time giving an oppor-
tunitv for entertainment if they care for it.