The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-08-19
LARABELLE'SSUNDAYTALK
Diversions CT a Select Few Who Spend
the Summer Season on Long Island.
The Duchess of Marlborough on Ill-Assorted
Marriages-The Methodist Nunnery-
Mrs. Lockwood and the Presidency.
Special to the 1ndianapoli, Journal.

Special to the indianapolis Journal.
New YORK. aug. 18-There is a colony or
very swell people at Babylon. L. l. L is made
up Of two or three dozen families. who joined
in the purchase Of a tract of land at the sea-
shore, divided 1t into plots. built summer resi-
dences there and control the place in an exclusive
manner. To this quiet and polite resort they
transfer themselves every spring, and do not re-
turn to the Fifth-avenue region until autumn.
They make a pretty good imitation of aristoc-
racy, and their daughters are just about as fash
ionable as it Is possible to be and live. l was
the girls had become decidedly superstitious
in a belief in the supernatural power
of a fortune teller. This witch was
Emma Georgeanna Fletcher, and her aspect
was enough to inspire awe. for she was ugly of
visaee and misshapen of figure. She lived in a
howell 3 mile away from the Babylon settlement,
aud in . spirit of adventurous Amusement the
bellies had made numerous visits to her. A
party was made up for thai afternoon. and l
went along. Mrs. Fletcher was not remarkable
in her methods. She shufled a soiled pack of
cards, and discerned dark men. light women
and vice versa. who were my friends or enemies.
She talked a great deal of stuff aud nonsense,
but shrewdly endsavored to elicit responses that
might guide her in a right direction. We paid
a dollar apiece for our interviews. and went
away. Neither my companions nor myself
were weirdly impressed. Two days later we
read the accounts Of a murder committed by
this same woman. Although she was white her.
self. or IS nearly so as her yellowed
complexion permitted. IL seems that she asso-
ciated with negro families. One of these house
holds contained Maria Jones. a young negrsss
with whom she had violently quarreled. Pass
ing through this girls room in the night, and
seeing her asleep, she became possessed Of a de-
moniac impulse to kill her, and she did so with
an ak. This tragedy. SO closely connected with
the fortuue-telling has thrown the Babylon Girls
into a fever of excitement, and they are in
clined to ~construe Mrs. Fietcher's crime. by
some queer process OF feminine reasoning, as
proof that she really was a witch. Therefore,
they treasure their best recollection of the
fortune-telling that she did for them. and most
of them have carefully written outfrom memory
all that she said.
This same Babylon coterie belongs to the So
c;al set out Of which the widow Hamersley
emerged a duchess by means of her famous and
much-criticised marriage with the Duke Of MARI
borough. While / was there a letter was re-
ceived from her by a friend, and in it she wrote
about an eccentricity of wedlock. which, she
said, was exciting London society q great deal.
The Duchess of Aloutross. aged seventy. had
just married Henry Miner, aged thirty-four.
The old lady is rich as we'll as titled. and has al
ways been accustomed to do as she pleased. The
new husband is what they call well born In Eng
land. since his mother vas connected with the
Berseford family. 1t is hardly necessary to
waste words in adding that he is poor. 1t may
interest my readers to know the views OF the
American duchess regarding this union of m ale
May and feminine December. THE wedding
took place last week, she says, "and it can only
be regarded with unmitieated regret by every
true woman and manly man. Caroline Agnes
Bersefofd was born 10 1878. and contracted her
first marriage in 1896; her second.
forty years later; and has now, more than
half O century after her first wedding,
married a man ~forty-six years younger than
herself What can oe thought of o man who
contracts such a marriage anG accepts a settle
ment of &c. 900 o year from bis wifel Surely
such q marriage cannot be defended on any
grounds! That the church should be compelled to
lend its countenaDce to such q union is imam
Gus. and that society should tolerate it. is a
scandal. As 1T is evident that no ordinary in
stincts OF decency or propriety will prevent I'M
4 uaLuEdi uulOBS L knisk KIM, IL might W6l De. rs
q member OF Parliament suggested in CONVERSE
ton a day or two ago. that the state should
step In and prohibit women of seventy marrying
men, say, less than half their age. 1t is ready
enough to legislate upon other matters quite as
personal, and OF considerably less importance to
society. Until some such statute becomes q
law 1 suppose such marriages as that just con-
cluded Will continue to be accepted by society,
If not with enthusiasm, at least with liberation,
SO long as old women are vain aud young men
venaL"
suppose preachers are the most beloved of
meu. The pastor not idolized by the female
portion of his congregation could hardly keep
his pulpit. The ~platonic character Of this love
is proved by the scarcity of ministerial scandals.
Certainly no such mishap is possible to the Rev.
DR.. Howard Crosby. famous as q general philan-
~thropist. as well az for his fashionable Presby-
terrain pastorate here. But he has one of the
most devoted admirers that l ever heard of in
the person Of a lady with a wondrous memory.
She has missed hearing only now and then one
Of his Sunday morning sermons during the past
twenty-five years, and she has Just given to him
forty dig volumes of manuscript reports OF
these discourses written out by ner own hand.
1t seems that soc began a quarter OF a century
ago. and has kept up until the present
time. the practice Of going directly home
1tOAA NA1OAL hLlL4uk " IL %
Her recollection is SO marvelously accurate
that, without the aid of a note. she could put on
paper q report so nearly verbatim that both
Crosby and she declare it 10 be almost exact,
word for word. That is probably not quite
true, but the Inaccuracies and omissions are
very slight indeed. The most singular thing
about this case is that the lady cannot perform
the same feat with other mems oratory. She
has tried the experiment many times with other
mems talk. but is only able to produce a tolere-
bly, good report. 1t is only with the Crosby
Seemingly, it is her admiration OF this particu-
lar speaker. her keen appreciation Of his lam
cuege, and her sensitiveness of p~lstonic love
that combine TO enable her to be mentally stem
ographic. DR.. Crosby has placed the forty vol
umes In his library, and he exhibits them with
q great deal Of pride.
1t is the Methodist ministers who are soon to
be called upon to NEEDLE with that ticklish ques-
tion, a ladyis age. The great Methodist confer
ence which was held in this city in May author
lied the organization of the order of deacon
esses, who are TO do the work Of nuns in their
denomination. and who viii wear a distinctive
costume. live in houses by themselves. and gen.
orally be in aspect more like the Roman Catholic
sisters than anything hitherto seen in Protestant
churches. 1t Is expected by those who advocated
them before the conference that they will minis
ter to the sick. and do other work that is now