Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-05-03

travagance OF some Of the finest Eng
lish country houses. 1t was said to
have cost 81, 900, 900, and at that time
the Stewart residence in New York
City was the only dwelling house in
America that had cost that sum. II
was the Hopkins mansion that made
Mob Hill the fashionable quarter Of San
Francisco. All have heard of the
splendid residences that Governor
Stanford, James Flood and other Cali
fornia millionaires have since built
there. Since her husbands death Mrs.
Hopkins has purchased Menlo Park,
Ralston's famous country place, and
there she has settled her adopted son, a
young man of 26, who recently mar
ried Miss Crittenden Of California, o
niece Of Mrs. Hopkins.
Notwithstanding all these large pos
sessions, not to speak Of others on the
Pacific coast, Mrs. Hopkins proposes to
make her home in her husbands native
town of Great Darlington, Mass. She
has always had an affection for the
place, and comes there because its peo-
pie and surroundings are congenial to
her taste. During recent years Mrs.
Hopkins has come here to spend her
Summers. 1t was there that she lived
when a young girl, and there that she
was married. When she grew rich she
added the porticoes, put colored glass
in some of the windows, and furnished
it luxuriantly. The carpets in every
room are as soft as down, the chairs
are of antique mahogany upholstered
In yellow silk plush. Every bit of pot
terry, every bit of bronze, every foot
stool, every sofa, lounge, chair. stand,
vase or whatever it may be, bears evi-
dence of having been selected with
cultivated taste.
The new building that is to supplant
the old will be 17S by 14S feet. and will
be built of blue dolomite. 1t is a very
hard stone, of finer grain than granite,
and is obtained from neighboring
quarry owned by Mrs. Hopkins herself.
The exterior walls are to show the stone
in rough surface, with cut seams. The
stables and the coachmans S cottage are
already built. They are of the same
dolomite to be employed in the con-
struction of the residence, and look as
though they would endure through all
the ages to come. l can not give
description of the residence for the ex-
cellent reason that have not seen the
drawings.
The ground upon which Mrs. Hop
kins is to build her castle extends
hundred yards along the principal
streets, and back of it, to the south
little, is a level meadow valley that
runs off along the shore of the Housa-
tonic and to the foot of the picturesque
Berkshire hills on the other side. In
the midst Of this smooth meadow field
is an artificial basin in which is foun-
tain from which in Summer springs
stream Of water nearly a hundred feet
in the air and comes down in mist
that is as soft as silken veil.
Mrs. Hopkins is a woman of great
strength Of character. She Is well fit
ted to care for the vast estate left her.
Both in appearance and mental charac-
teristics she is strongly masculine. She
is OF commanding appearance, and one
is always made to feel, when in her
presence, that she has the unmstakable
elements of superiority. She is thor
oughly acquainted with all the ways of
business, has broad grasp of financial
questions, looks after her vast interests
with the closest minutcness, and drives
a bargain with tact and economy. Her
husband was passionately fond Of hors-
es; SO is she. Her stable at Great Bar
rington is one of the completest and
most comfortable in the country. Its
inmates are of the finest breeding and
movement, and are looked after by
their colored master with the greatest
care. During her visits to Great Bar
rington, Mrs. Hopkins may be seen on
the afternoon of every fair day driving
out behind pair of the trotters, she
herself holding the reins. She makes
long excursions about the surrounding
country, and every inhabtant, young
or old, knows her. She is the great
woman of Great Darlington. - New
York World.