The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1888-11-17
MARY GARRBTT's sADDBNED LIFE
One of BaItimore's Richest Women for
Whom Marriage Has No Charm,

# Miss Mary Garrett is the wealthie
S spinster in the United States. Wi
S Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stock
: par she Is probably worth eight or te
millions. No one outside of the Ga
| rett family really knows what Miss MAJ
/ is worth. She is certainly worth mol
than her weight in gold, and yet she
not married. When her father, Joh
w. Garrett, died his fortune was val
louSly estimated at from five million
all the way up to fifty millions. n
accurate statement was ever made. |
fact, efforts were taken to conceal tn
figures from the public. When tn
gossips and inpeCunious club lounger
ceased guessing at the fathers wealth
they began to estimate on the daugh
ter'S fortune. Quite number of bach
elor acquaintance gloated over the de
scnptlons given in the newspapers O
her valuable properties and the esti
mated extent of her fortune. What
prize she would have been in the matri
moI.ial lottery2 But she was never in
the lottery, SO the bachelors in Balti
more society looked and longed il
VAIN.
Miss Garrett is not marrying woman
says writer in the Philadelphia Times
When she was 20 years of age she hao
no more idea of falling in love than she
has now at-well, nearly twice that age
Though not literary woman, she is a
highly educated one, little on the or
der of the Rose Cleveland class. She
is not strong minded, but able to man.
age her great wealth and steer her way
IN business and society without having
man as magnet. While not hand
some woman, Miss Garrett has charm
ing manner, a pleasing way about her
that makes one forget that she is home
ly or that she is rich, and to only realize
that he IS talking to sensible and cul-
tured woman who is interested in the
noble work of elevating her sex and
caring for poor and suffering woman
hood.
Miss Garrett is the greatest of all the
Carrots in her quiet and unostentatious
way of doing good. Her charities are
not raraded before the public, and she
can seldom be persuaded to permit her
name to be published in connection
with her generous acts. Nearly every
institution for the invalid or the orphan
in Maryland receives handsome gifts
from her annually. She has endowed
an institution for a home where poor
children taken from vicious parents will
find a refuge. A fine building has
been erected, Miss Garrett and her
brother Robert donating a large sum
OF money for this purpose. She is the
patroness Of the Society for the Protec-
ton of Children from Cruelty and
Vice.
Though reared in luxury Miss Gar.
rett's life has been tinged with sadness.
Riches have had no charm for her, and
had her father taken the advice of her
mother and herself he would not have
wrecked himself on the shoals of ambi.
ton. John w. Galrett's wife and
daughter were devoted to him, and he !
was no doubt the only great railroad |
magnate Of his time who confded all |
MS financial schemes to the women of |
MS household. Miss Mary was her
ather's counselor in everything. He
mad dozen private secretaries, but she |
was his only confdential aid. After
railroad conferences the pro-
in detail were written out by
his stenographer and he then took !
hem home tor her to read. Together
hey considered what more it was best |
% do. Her business TACT and judg
nent frequently saved her father from
disastrous battles with old Vanderbilt.
In his private offices at his country
home and his city mansion she had her
little rosewood desk beside her fathers
able, and here they often worked and |
consulted late into the night. She
ooked after all his other interests out |
side of the railroad, and it is said he
never bought piece of property or
made an important investment without
irst consulting her. 1t was this conf
1ence between husband, wife and
laughter that made John w. Garrett's
domestic life so happy.
Mary Garrett seldom appears in So
,letv. She nursed her mother in her
asst illness, and during her fathers de-
cline she devoted herself entirely to
lim. For months his mind was un-
settled, and when the nurses could not
luiet him the patient daughter, by her
soothing presence, calmed him. Night
and day size was with him until death
came, and the blow was greater to her
han to any of the rest of the family. A
ew years later, and just when she had
begun to take renewed interest in life
her brother Robert broke down, and
she found herself again the nurse and
of an invalid. She travelled
around the world with him, comforting
ler sister in-law in her troubles and
her brother in his eccentric
notions. Since their return she contin-
les with her brother in the cottage in
N. J. Had she married, her
nome life would have been happy one
and she model wife. The dread Of
man who would care only |
sor the millions she would bring him
1as no doubt led her into the lonely |
life OF splnster.
In personal appearance Miss Garrett