The morning news., 1889-01-18


girl whose charms have softened into
womanly dignity and tenderness now
that her hair is silvered beneath
| the widows border that signifies
why she is at present in retire
ment Mrs. Sullivan has a most amiable
| graceful presence, and such rare aud dell
cate tact as to make you feel that she Is
granting you favor when denying a re-
quest. Her life with her husband was one
of the utmost harmony and sympathy and,
as a pretty southern lady said recently:
| These people who are so anxious 10 find
out if marriage is failure ought to ask
Mrs Algernon Sullivan; she could answer
them with the evidence Of her own ex-
perience, which is full of poetry and music"
Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt is a Mobile
| girl, with a grandfather who gives her
more distinction and honor In the south
than all her husbands millions. ''1t makes
me smile, said another southern lady, ''to
hear people class her with the nOuUeduc
! riches, when, as we say in the south, she
has the blood Of the Howards in her veins
not that mean she was a Howard, you
| know, but that is an old English saying
| signifying the best Of ancestors. Mrs Van
| derbilt was a Miss Smith. a beautiful girl of
one Of the proudest old families in Mo
| bile, the seat of culture and refinement in
| the south. 1t wasn't rich family, but it
wasn't money then that gave you position,
can't buy these. People say that Lady
| Mandeville helped Mrs. Vanderbilt into the
| society that the old commodore was ex-
cluded from. but Lady Vaudeville was
southern girl herself, and now she is one of
| the powerful society women in England,
| She recognized Mrs. Vanderbilt's standing,
| because she knew her as everyone knows
everyone else in the south who is of good
| family, and the friendship was mutual.
One of Mrs Vanderbilt's sisters is Mrs.
| Tiffany, and the other Miss Smith married
a count"
| Mrs. Ogden Goelet was southern girl of
| good family on her mothers side, aud prob
ably has larger income than any of the
| southern circle. She lives very quietly
| however, in her elegant home on Fifth
avenue, or travels with her husband abroad,
| and fits from one watering place to another
| in the summer. She is not what you can
| call prominent society woman, and is not
| conspicuous in anv charitable enterprise.
| Her sister, as is we'll kown, has married Mr..
| Herbert of the legation.
| Mrs. Burton Harrison is a well known
woman in New York Of whom much has
been written. She is proud of an ancestry
of Fairfaxes and Careys. One of her Carey
| kinswomen had the honor of being invited
to become the bride of Gen. Washington,
| but the renowned father of his country was
not then either rich or famous and the Carey
| paIer answered MIN: Slr, my daughter Is
| accustomed to riding in her carriage" and
Washington withdrew his suit. 1t is not
| known whether the fair Carey
! lady favored the attentions of
the revered truth-telling Wash
ington or not. Mrs. Harrison's rooms in
her residence are furnished with historic
pieces, and her china has a wealth of family
traditions all its own. Mr.. Harrison was
| jefferson Davis secretary during the war
! MrC iS 1an Vvn n
of royal lineage, whose home on Fifty
second street is a modern city house of ele-
| giant appointments She entertains in de-
| hghtfully generous southern manner. She
| spends her summers abroad.
Among the younger southern women
leading active social lives is Mrs. John
| Harvie Dew, whose classic features have
already been reproduced in a popular jour
nal as a type of southern beauty. She is a
tall, slight, willowy woman, with dark eyes
| and brown hair. She is a descendant of
the great statesman and jurist John Mar
shall Of Virginia, on her mothers side,
| while her fathers ancestors went over to
England with Richard Ceur de Lion when
the head Of the family was created Earl of
Pembroke.
She queens it full graciously over a de-
lightful little home up in the Fifties. where
every nook and alcove bear pretty evil
| dences of the touch of a woman's hand in
their arrangement and adornment, and it
| is whispered by her friends that she is 80
loyal and devoted to her husband that she
remains with him in the city through the
entire summer, only going out with him on
his brief vacation. True kiudliness of
heart, southern suavity, tact, and the trueSt
| courtesy combine to make her gracious
manner yet more charming, while the real
society woman's happy knack Of remem-
bering faces and persc nal incidents win for
her very many friends.
Mrs. Allan McLane Hamilton, who en-
tertains delightfully."- in New York in win
ter and in Newport in the summer, was the
beautiful Miss Craig, the belle of Baltimore
| whose picture was on exhibition in the
Paris Salon, and who added t. her charms
of face, figure and presence the more ma
| terlal grace of great wealth. She is the
wife Of grandson Of Alexander Hamilton
| In their historic home on the Boulevard
dwell two noted ladies', Mrs. Semmes Fitz-
gerald and Mrs. Semmes Ives, descendants
Of Admiral Semmes, the great blockade
| runner. They are very interesting women,
retaining many marked southern character
istics. and are influential in the Roman
Catholic church, of which they are
members. Their luxuriant home was
bequeatbed to them by an ancestor
who, although a bishop in the Epis-
copal church, became convinced that
the Roman church was the only direct high
way to eternal happiness, and abandoned
his enviable place in the Protestant church,
and his wife and children as well, to be a
Papist priest.
Mrs. William Pryor is another beautiful
young southern lady. She is granddaughter
OF John Allan of Richmond, Va-the
patron Of Edgar Allan Poe-and her mother
was Miss Hoffman of Baltimore. She is
great-niece Of that favorite New York wit,
William r. Travers. Her husband, a ris-
ing young physician, is the youngest son of
Gen Roger A. Pryor.
Another extremely well-connectei and
charming southern lady is Mrs. James
Ball, formerly Mis- Walker of Florida Mr..
Balls great aunt was George Washington's
mother, and Mrs. Walkers father was a
lieutenant-goyernor under Jackson. She
has a relative in high official position in
every southern state. Her grandfather and
an uncle are both buried i'll the Congress
graveyard at Washington aud George
Wyte, sgner Of the declaration Of inde-
pendence, is an honored ancestor. Mrs.
Balls mother was the late Dr. Carnochan's s
sister, and in consequence OF his death Mrs.
Ball has retired from society. She is deli
cate woman, who spends much time in
travelling, aud has what she calls "a little
box Of home" on Long Island in summer.
She is prevented from doing active charity
or social work on account Of illness.
Mrs. Edward l.. Cofey, who occupies an