St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-12-27
A Sketch Of Mrs. Whitney, the Wife Of
the Secretary Of Che
Navy.
Her Social Regime the Most Popular
Known at the Capital for
Years.
Her Magnificent Hospitality fs Only
Equaled by Her Boundless
Benevolence.
Every Charity In Washington Has Had
It's Cause Pleaded Before Mrs.
Whitney.

PROBABLY never Deen woman III w dSdlHR-
ton whose influence upon its society has
been SO remarkable in many ways as that
of Mrs. Whitney. wife of the secretary OF
the navy. Her name has become synony-
nous with all that is generous. gentle and
good. The secretary and Mrs. Whitney
have brought the matter of entertainment
in this very peculiar community to point
of perfection that has never before been at
tanned. The same quality of terrapin and
champagne is given at New Years on
general reception, where everybody is free
to come and be served at their house. as is
offered to guests on private occasions and to
the president when he dimes there When
Secretary Whitney took the Frelinghuysen
house on street. with its hospitable tradi-
tons, there were knowing smiles upon many
faces. the owners of which faces thought the
comparison between this entertainments of
the two families would stand out in bold
relief. And so it has stood out. Work
men made complete Transformation of the
house before the new lessees went into it
last year just about this time. 1t is strange
that national reputation for large hos
pitality should be made in one year. On
the east side of tpe heuse-it faces south
a two-stOry brick addition was built, afford
ing large buffers pantry connected with
the dining room. In the rear
A BEAUTIFUL BALLROOM
was erected, 60 feet deep by ID feet wide
and 90 feet high. The room was con-
structed upon model after the style of
similar rooms attached to French palaces,
and the decorations harmonic with it.
The ceiling is rounded cone. The frieze
is of yellow papier- mache, ornamented
with dancing figures entwned in flowers.
The walls, from the frieze to the dado. are
hung with a rich, red. silken fabric. The
dada is Lncrusta Walton. in cream color
and gold. At one side of the room is a
recess for the use of musicians, and the
front is massed with foliage plants. Seats
covered with red silk run all around the
room. At the further end of the room is a
magnificent fireplace and mantel of wood
finely carved and finished in gold. It is
thirteen feet wide and sixteen feet deep,
and on each side are wooden seats. About
the fire. place is thing of Sienna marble,
and the hearth is laid with Sienna and
Grothe marble. The skylight in the roof,
with arrangements for ventilation at the
sides, is the only means of lighting the
room during the day. AT night the light
ing is furnished from the sides of the
room, and the effect is striking, the rich
gold ceiling and the red walls blending and
showing wealth of coloring under the gas
light The floor is laid in oak, in herring
bone design, and is practically
COVERED WITH RUGS,
easily taken up when the floor is wanted
for dancing upon, The ballroom IN all its
details is fine example of the Louis XVI.
style of decoration. There are finepaintings
upon the walls. among them the famous
''Sower." The furniture is dainty and del
icate There is a silken dvan in the cen
ter of the room. and wicker sofas and chairs
have silken upholstery. Numerous small
tables have baskets of flowers or curious
lamps upon them. The entrance to the
ballroom is through recess from the par
lors. and the walls and ceilings are hung
with rich green drapery. The ballroom is
the living room of the family. Here all re-
ceptions are held, the Frelinghuysen par
lorS serving best as veStibule for the
Whitney splendor. The dining-room was
enlarged by a recessed window looking out
into the garden in the rear. The wood
work is ebonZed. and the walls are COW
cred with paper in a reddish tone. These
beautiful rooms are always thronged when
ever the house is thrown open. There are
several hundred people there on every
Wednesday, bad as the weather has been
this month, at Mrs. Whitney's informal re-
ceptions. Mrs. Whitney has the rare
GENIALTY OF MANNER
and salutation that makes each person feel
that his presence was greatly desired, and
Immediately puts one in good humOr with
himself. Mrs. Whitney is an accomplished
linguist speaking most of the tongues Of
Europe fiuently. She is much sought by
the diplomatic corps, the distinguished
members of which are always to be met at
her house. Mrs. Whitney Is brilliant con-
versationalist, and is thoroughly well read
in biography. history. the PHILOSOPHERS and
science. Her sweetly sympathetic voice,
too. makes conversation with her much
coveted privilege. Mrs. Whitney's mother
was the only daughter of Nathan Perry,
probably the wealthiest man in Northern
Ohio. He possessed great areas of real es-
tate in Cleveland. So that, while she was
nursed in luxury, there was always thrown
about the daily life that feeling of taking
care of expenditures that is now one of the
lost arts among modern men of money.
The power of possession and the desire to
transmit great fortunes to the next genera
ton is not the ruling passion with men of
the present. The precariouS hold a man
has upon fortune, the possibility that he
may wake up some morning and find it has
flown from him, has superinduced the phil
osophy held by many of enjoying each day
whatever of delectatlon can be had out of
its twenty-tour hours Secretary and Mrs.
Whitney may breakfast upon simple oat-
meal, but they sup with their friends
UPON THE CHOICEST vIANDs.
Last winter Mrs. WhItney's entertain
ments were sumptuous beyond anything
ever known in Washington. Dinners, balls.
receptions and musicales followed each other
in dazzling proximity. Small wonder the
world at the capital grew dizzy in contem-
plation and in participation, for no one that
left calling card at this boantifuI palace
but was invited to some festivity. One
week last year there were four night events
at the house, besides the Wednesday after
noon reception, when everybody went who
was anybody, and cared to see and be seen.
And the larger the party the happier was
Mrs Whitney. 1t was late in the autumn
when Mrs. Whitney returned from Lenox
to the city. The fashionable families had
returned. and were living in seclusion in
their homes. They did not know from each
other who was back and who was not
From the reports of her delicate condition
that preceded her. no one expected Mrs.
Whitney to do anything socially. But in
the first week of her return she gave a
luncheon to Mrs Cleveland, invited a score
of ladies to meet her, followed that by an
other luncheon the next week, was at home
to friends on Wednesdays for series of
elaborate dinners. and, like magic, the
sleeping capital was upon it's feet. dancing
to the merry music of an early season that
would have cont nued gay had not the
death of the ex-president caused halt. In
personal appearance Mrs. Whitney is all
that one might imagine so generous
woman to be. Favored by nature with