The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-08
FAMOUS MRS. RUSH.
An Old Beau Recalls Her Proinenades ana ke'
ceptions in Philadelphias Streets.

your correspondent last evening. 'They formed
q wonderful trio-Wells, for gallantry and ex-
ouisite taste in dress; White, for his jolity and
graceful manners, and Nine Rush, for her
queenly dignity, brilliant conversation and
fondness for show She always preferred to be
called Madam Rush. This was not what would
oTdinaralIy be called aEeetation; it was con-
cession to the womans social position which i'll
compared with the simple Mrs / often won
dered that she did not reintroduce the pretty old
English form of address so common in the
seventeenth century. and call herself Mistress
Rush However. Charley Wells was the
only rerson who could have offered her any such
suggestion. Had he done so she would, in all
likelihood, have accepted it. He was the Lord
Cha mberlaln Of the Rush salon. He set the
aslhons for the gentlemen who attended us
memo able gatherings as completely as ooes tlle
Prince ot Wales for the English nooIilty' 1 was
,,r;a1a1 r-bor / went to Charley Weiss funeral
. eSort $50 or, and found so few there-a
,roro bo .,IiG 9 and none among them
- ~ ~ tbe th of his social popu
laritv Why bless you, youns iia ..S sI br
time when he courted and Pc tbay ra1-ar
persons who would now pretend that N'' son;al
heard his name. l tell you he was a 90. &c,
nabob. and exercised a despotic soverejgA
while it lasted. DIR. Rush was a scholarly,
studous man, of retiring disposition He was
proud Of his brilliant wife, and loved to humor
her social ambition. For her he built the great
house which she made landmark of the city;
for her sake he stood in the background that she
might shine all the more brightly. He was
gentle, good old fellow whom everybody re
spected but nobody particularly cared to meet.
Charley Wells was married to wealthy Balti-
more lady Miss Henry, if | remember, but
this fact made difference in his devoted pla-
tonic alteration of the then queen Of Philadelphia
society, Nine Rush"
81 have heard Of the daily pilgrimage down
Chestn ut street and back; tell me some of its
actual incidents" asked the writer.
'"This pilgrimage lasted for forty years, never
interrupted save by weather or sickness. It's
incidents are as multitudinous as the sands on
the shore. We all knew to minute the hour at
which the incompatible trio left the Rush man
sion for their promenade down to Fourth street
and back. High noon was the hour. 1t was a
confidence I received from her husband that
Blme Rush rose late. In early life she had risen
betimes and eaten breakfast with the doctor; but
as years and mbitious ideas grew apace upon
her she led different life-one of almost mon
Rstic seclusion, except at stated hours, which
the social world she ruled was supposed to know
and to recognize. For that hour she was pre-
pared will not say by fasting and prayer but
by careful and devouJ attention to even the
most triiing detail of dress. of hair arrangement
and of bonnet have heard of the mod
erns in this club who are fond of talk say that
Nine. Rush's dresses would to-day be regarded
as loud That is simple nonsense. What CON
ceptIon can youngsters whose memories do not
carry them back to the days in which ladies
wore the immense crinoline which marked the
era OF 1890 to 1890 have of that splendid lady
and her two faithful companions sweeping every
thing and everybody before them as they daily
passed down our one fashionable thoroughfare?
Not the slightest | say it reverently, the scene
was splendid one | am proud to call myself
one of the ladys proteees. l was dead in love
with her. though she was my senior in years and
rather patronized me. But her manner, how
ever full of condescension at times, never
offensive, and actually increased the esteem
which felt for her. ''Esteeml that is weak
word say reverence or abject devotion.
'But about the walk itself; describe days
pilgrimage"
Zone day was much like another" said the
old Philadelphia, as he looked apparently out
of the open window, but, in reality, far into the
past, beyond the vanishing point of memory.
''As ] said, we knew when to expect her coming,
and we understood the penalties for neglecting
to meet her and pay her homage at least
exacting about the amount of attention
shown her. To be forgotten, or to believe her
self no longer admired, would have killed her.
There was a melancholy satisfaction felt among
her oldest friends when they learned of her
death at Saratoga, for faint signs-indistinct
those which precede the sunset-had been de-
serted of waning prestige. She died before she
ever suspected the fact; she died the undisputed
queen Of her city, and have no doubt her con-
fdence in that belief made death much easier to
confront. Do not ascrbe any such feelings to
me, however. Her death nearly broke my heart.
/ was Frustrated | could not go to her funeral.
even at this distance of time it does not sound
ridiculous in my ears 10 make such confession.
But intended to tell you of the walk When
we heard the clock strike II we knew that Nine.
Rush with Charley Wells and Count White, had
left the Rush mansion. Such of us as had bach
elor's quarters below Broad street hurried our
toilets. Others of US whom this hour found
breakfasting at our club would watch the clock
as we mentally communed-
" Now they are at Broad, and
1--WE could follow their progress almost to
the minute. Two hours were generally con-
sumed i'll the going and return. Much of this
time was taken up, to be sure. in the informal
reception below Fourth street in front of Bailey
& Kitchens, then the most fashionable shop of
the town and located where the postofice re-
Gently stood. That open-air fete. |
cortrived to meet Nine Rush somewhere along
the route nearly every day When was i'll or
unable to keep the appointment for day or
two left my card at her home or sent basket
of flowers, with few lines making my excuses
and expressing my respect She law unto
herself as to street etiquette was Nine Rush.
President Pierce was presented to her on the
street, and believe attended one of her recep-
lions. Senators, congressman, members of the
English and French nobility were introduced in
the same informal way. She was very sus-
ceptibe to fattery. and have often heard
distinguished gentlemen compare her, to her
face, to Nine. de Stael The hour she chose
for her open air levee was not originally fash
ionable one. But she made it So She chatted
adorably. No platitudes or commonplaces We'll
as l know her, often as | was honored and fat
tered by word from her, do not remember to
have heard her once refer to the weather. She
never was at loss for neat phrase or sentence
She spoke French @faultlessly. Describe her!
Why, young man, she was superb" And, in a
vacant way, my gray companion rose to his feet.
raised his hat reverently, and, with a smile on
his face, bowed unconsciously to the woman
whose personality he still worshiped though
separated by memories of quarter of century,
''For Charley Wells this Reorganization was as
the walk from the Hotel Drouot to the Madeline
Though the dictum was uttered years after
that, Nobody lives north of Market street
Charley never visited above that tnoroughfare
| always liked him very much. though it dis
gusted me to know that he wore stays like a
woman"
WAS there any startling social upheaval dur
ing that epochl'
Eyes; there scandal that threatened to