Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-11-21
tbsr Of Mrs. Isslin to be Of Spanish
origin, and 0'Donnell shows his Irish


origin.
Mrs. Iselin in her youth Was famous
" handsome, and nov the mother Of
grown family and about sixty years Of
sge. che still shows much Of her girl
hoods beauty. She has certain ha,'-
ter, with dark eyes, dark hair, now
slightly silvsred, and remarkably strong
features. Her nose is large and aqua-
line, ard her chin snd mouth show
great st strength Of character. She is,
altogether, most striking, distin.
guished-lo0kipg woman. whose face i'm
presses every one who may see her.
She was the hAp6somest Of large
family of sisterr-all Baltimore bellies.
She Us related TO the Baltimore branch Of
the Bcrapsrie family by marriage. OF
her own children, all Of whom are 6ne
looking, first is Mr.. Adrian lselin, Jr.,
who married Mis- Csylus, daughter Of
a prominent French gentlemen Of New
York. A daughter is the wife OF Colo
mel Delaney Kane. Then Mr.. Will
liam IseliD comes next, who IS well
known 10 ysch,ing circles. Young Oil
yer l>elin married Miss Jones, grand
daughter of the famous Mrs. Mary Ma.
son Jones, whose block Of white mar
BILE houses on Fifth avenue between
Fifty-eishth and Fiity-ninsh streets, has
lorg been an objective point OF interest.
MIR. Columbus O'D. Iselin is q we'll
known whip, cIoss-country rider, and
athlete. who is also married, and who
owns a fine estate At New Rochelle,
near that Of bis father.
In all this large family the greatest
copgenisllty and harmony has always
prevailed the mother is responsible,
to great extent, for this delightful
order sf things. She is devout Ro-
m,n Catholic, and gives very largely Of
her ample means to the Church. To
be on the Iselins' list is a boon devout-
" 10 be wished for by those holding or
desiring to hOlda high social position :;
but it is family and intellectually
rather than money which is the "open
sesame" to this family's friendship.
While kind and afable, Mrs. lselin mas
no sympathy, or rather congeniality,
with the nouueau richie if there is an
aristocracy in America, certainly Mrs.
Adrian Iselin is the nearest approach
to it.
THE GREEK PLAY AND THE OPERA.
A kind OF sub.sOcial excitement ex-
lists in the lirst circles over the Greek
play, which is to be done st the Acsde-
nv Of Music. You would think, ma
turally enough, that the interest In a
dead drama, spoken in dead language,
must centre in the philologists, the col
lege students, the pedsgogues, and the
few classicists. Nonsense the interest
centres in the fashionable noodles, in
the cilded youth who cannot tell hex
smeter from dried herring, whose
only tIopes are heliotropes; who affect
Greek, not because it is classic, but be-
csuse it IS the cheese the lateit
tum. tnm caper Of set who want to
pstronize the incomprehenslble. Dat
of the swell crowd that will assemble
in the morning at the Academy to
show how severe is fashionable good
taste there will be few ancients, in
stiff ciavats, who will know what it is
al about. The rest OF them will be
the charming bypocrites Of the
Ao'clock teas who wish to show their
superiority to the common rabolo by
their endurance.
1t il the talk Of the inner circle Of
intellectual bellies, from Murray Hill
TO Gramercy-that is to say, they are
talking about who will be there and
how she will be dressed, and already
TIE lists have gone GU. TO the papers
setting forth the distinguished patrons
Who intend to occupy boxes and pa
,ronize with their presence the archaic
thing that they don't pretend 10 Under
stand.
Isuppose that ore reason Why fash
ion takes so priggishiy to tho dead
myths Of Wagner and to the dealer
Creek heroes is bscals9 there is no
coutempOraneous human interest in
hem. The cortemporhre0us human
thing is slightly vulgar. You know
fashion that will turn up is nose At
Walt. Whitman because be IS a
trough " all simper Gelectably over
the orotic memorials Of Pompeii, and,
while It freezes with Gi,dain the
modern French drama, Eill hug with
delieh. tie drama Of the Restoration
and quote Juycnal ia brazen ENJOY.
ment.
Tic affected indifference Of the dam
ty classes to the humln thing strange
/ " significant At this time, when the
voice, oniinous and deep, Of over Co..
| 600 contemporsueons human things has
been heard through the bsli0,-b0X,
mutteriug like one Of those seismic
waves that make priucipalIues tTemblo.
| saw Patti for few moments on
Tuesday. | could not help admiriug
the charming little woman when she
said. with that iuimitable glrlishness
lhst time and hard WORK cannot drive
ont OF her, that 4" she ielt Ike = soli-
tsry memorial of the meiodlOuS past. -"
Il hear" she cried with her peren-
nial joyousness. "that Italian opera
kept tlmshng TO pieces; they tell me
Fourteenh street Is streRn wi.h lts
wrecks. ncre | an again. | can't
shout; can't sing dem grad or
cheslra DON. belong to the Nlbe-
lupeen ing. Do you suppose the
Americans viii care for li.tlo Old
woman who clirgs so dreadfully to the
pAst:"
Then Nitolui and Nym Cfinkle
threw up their hats and shouted "I'ce
Ia Dira " and Henry Abbey trem5led
with suppressed admiration; and he
queen OF song came snd whispered in
my ear "DOn't say | called myself
little old woman, will you;"
And, miscreaDt that | am, ! sw)Ie |
wouldn't.
PERSONAL AND CLUE GOSSIP.
Mr.. Lester Wallack's curls and dow
ing mustache have been made familiar
for years to theatre. gOers Of the coun-
try by the Photographic artist; bat
since his s..ll.luxuIisnt locks have be-
come gray and his roseate countenance
furIowed with wrinkles, and a rh9u-
matte knee troubles him, he is seen SO