The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-11-25
MODEST HEIRESSES.
What Three Philadelphia Sisters
Do With Their Millions.
The Daughters of the Late Banker Dreyel
Following i'm the Footsteps of Their
Charitable parents-Their
Sensible Life.

The three capital prizes in the matr;-
monial lottery of the Quaker City are
the three single daughters of the late
Francis A. Drexel, who was the head
and front of the well-known banking
firms of Drexel, Morgan & Co., of New
York; Drexel, Haries & Co., of Paris,
and Drcxel & Co.. of Philadelphia. In
February, 1885, Mr.. Drexel died, and
his wife's death having occurred previ-
ously. the three girls were left with
vast fortune to manage. The exact
amount which came into their hands it
Is impossible to estimate accurately, but
an equal DIVISION gave each something
over Si,00o,00o. The oldest, Mss Eliza
beth Drexel, has not yet seen thirty
summers. Miss Katherine's age is put
down at twenty-siN, and that of Miss
Louisa, VINO is the youngest, at twenty
two. Though not possessed of any re-
markable beauty of feature, all three
have graceful figures. Plenty of out
door exercise has gwen them splendid
health. which many will envy them even
more than their riches. and the fact that
they spend seven months out of every
year in the country has doubtless had
much 10 do with the requirement of
cast-iron constitutions and an almost
total freedom from the ills that flesh is
heir TO. Their city home is at No. 1903
Walnut street-a tall. four-story, brown
stone dwelling, of the plainest archi-
lecture, with low doorstep, and an iron
balcony, rough-coated with sand. stretch
ing along the second-story windows.
Here for years the family have spent
their winters, and here it was that both
the master and the mistress of the house
passed from the present to the here
after.
The doors and windows are tightly
boarded now, not to be opened, proba-
bly,, before next year, for the young
ladies are at present travelling on the
continent of Europe. and do not pro-
pose to return until next April, when
they will, it is thought, go at once to
their quaint old country seat at Torres
dale, Pa. sixteen miles distant on the
New York Division of the Pennsylvania
railroad. Here they usually live from
the LIST of April to the LIST of November,
and there it is that much of the charit-
able work for which they are noted is
accomplished. Very plain, indeed, is
the house; less imposing. even, than
their town residence, and. situated a
mile and n quarter from the station and
fully two miles back where the Della
ware river flows placidly on its course
ri tho would inn,
aginc that it was the home of the three
wealthiest women TO be found in this
country. A long, tree-bordered road
leads 10 il from the Torresdale Station.
a road which, on the occasion of a re-
cent visit TO the locality by CORE
spondent, was three or four inches
thick with dust. and not so free from
rutS and holes as one would expect TO
find on the very threshold of the coun-
try home of the orphans of a man so
well provided for in this worlds goods
rs was MIR. Drexel. A low stone wall,
covered with thick ivy, separates the
dusty highway from the rich, green
lawns. shaded by dropping fir trees and
traversed by winding paths of gravel.
The house, some distance back. is a
curious old colonial of succeed brick,
two stories in height, witt, a mansard
roof, which is about the only indication
that it has been at all altered since the
days of Washington, powdered wigs
and knee-breecheS.
Within every thing is as plain as
without There is no gaudy richness
OF furniture or decoration, and the
house seems lacking in many of the
little knick-knacks which are generally
supposed by women to be almost nee
cessary TO the making inhabitabie of
any dwelling, whether in town or coun-
try. The farm-on one corner of which
this douicile has in all probability stood
q century or more-comprises 120 acres,
composed of rich pasture land, cool and
leafy virgin forest. and fertile truck
fields, amid which the brooks gurgle,
while the lowing of the COWS and the
Heating OF the sheep are occasionally
borne TO the ears of the fair owners by
the cool breeze that even on the warm
est days of summer sweeps over the
gentle slopes from the slow-ruIning
river couple of miles away.
A large barn and stable built of wood
occupies place in the rear of the man.
sion, while a summer-house, in which
the young ladies are wont to chat sum-
mer evenings, is almost hidden by trees
which surround it. Of to the North
west, across rolling fields, may be seen
the farmhouse in which with his family
lives the farmer, James Brady, who
has entire charge of the details of the
farming, though always acting under
instructions from one or the other of
the Misses Drexel. all of WI ON have
pade agriculture as well as charity
study, and who rather believe they can