The morning news., 1889-01-18
THE SOUTHERN WOMEN
A BEvY OF SOCIETY BEAUTIES IN
NEW YORK.

c,,iri+-GlimpSeS at tie EarIy Lie or
60 of Them Proud of Their
Nones-Their Home and Society Life
re-Conspicuous in All Charities
Noble Women.
From the NelC York sun.
7, the ever varying armament of New
works. glittering society CLEANS a radiant
r-oIovv of stars of the first magnitude, whose
oor,as proclaim their ancient lineage and
or,+barn origin. This coterie of well-born
-vornen. transplanted from southern soil, do
~ &c we have intimated, form a select and
a.,arota society OF their own, the open Sc
son,o Of whose portals is the possession of a
c,rordfstber or two of renown, but they have
o r,orried and intermar:ied with the old
L-rickerbocker element and intermingled
-;+h 1vall-known northern families that they
ara anow well affiliated with the cosmopolitan
social life of Gotham. They are the most
ornroechabe, hospitable, suave, kindly dis
,,osad and charitable of women, with GER
tain indefnable high-born dignity and
y1roud reserve, and slow, sweet grace of
Zach and manner which has been handed
lawn to them through generations together
with exceptional physical beauty. Their
homes are with few exceptions, unlike the
conventional fashionable New York houses,
hnt individual and unusual, with historical
and ANTIQUE adornments, and an atmosphere
of culture, refinement and gentility.
One of the purest types of the proud old
soutbern regime, now fast passing away, is
Mrs Annie c. Bettner, well known not only
for courtly grace of bearing, but also for
her charity, beuevolence, and rare sym
nathy and kindly helpfulness. AS a south
ern woman would say in her low melodious
voice, MRS. Bettner was born Carnochan,
in Savannah, Ga, 80 many years ago that
children and grandchildren to the
fourth generation are gathered about her.
After her marriage to Mr.. Bettner
she resided at her summer home at River
dale. spending her winters south until his
death She traces her lineage through her
father to the Murreys of Scotland and
among her mothers ancestors are Israel
Putnam and DR.. Frazer, the renowned
British army surgeon, and she is a sister of
the late Dr. Murrey CarnoChan, the surgeon,
on account of whose death, together with
that Of her son, the Hon. James Bettner of
California, she is at present retired from
society Her life has always been
SO systematized that no social pleasure
was allowed to interfere with what she con
sdered the duty she owed to benevolent en-
terprises, and she still keeps up the accom-
ulishments If her girlhOod-music, French
remember how often, as the last guest de-
parted from her Tuesday receptions, to
which no cards are sent out, but where the
best people gather about her until her par
lor is like Paris salon full of the choicest
spirits she has tossed aside the roses from
her belt and her rustling silks and sparkling
Jewels to go in the plainest garb
with some needy, waiting woman to the
bedside of the suffering, to make broth in
some tenement house, or to bend over the
cot Of a foreign sailor in the hospital on the
island, to talk to him softly in his own lam
guage. Others remember, too, how after
long days work among the public institu-
tons Of the city or the parish work of St
AIMS Episcopal church, she has dressed
herself with care, and with pink roses on
her corsage and diamonds in her hair, she
has graoed some drawing room festivity
with courtly charm.
The most memorable occasion of Mrs.
Bettners social life was her reception of the
Grand Duke Alexis for the city of New
York at the Martha Washington party
given for the benefit of st. Johns Guild in
the Academy of Music, where, in the char
acter Of the wife of the first President. she
presided in a white brocaded silk costume.
copied from Huntington's celebrated
painting then in possession of Mrs
Stewart, and to which the designer
Of her dress had access. Huntington
uA4IlStlI uT6W Jn6 design LOT the
duchesse lace cap which, worn above her
own diamond-strewn white hair, made the
tout ensemble of her toilet strikingly beau
ttul as she greeted the grand duke with the
pretty phrase spoken, to his surprise, in the
language Of his court. "J'di phonneur de
S1luer Uojre AlteSSe." OF all the compl-
meuts Mrs. Bettner has received from her
admirers she treasures most that which was
gwen her then by Huntington, when he
n fvyO
OF the character she assumed
Il On this same occasion Mrs. Fannie Bar
row, another elderly southern woman, did
n DUTY as Brazilian queen. She is a Charles
Ton woman, daughter of Charles Mease
ana the beautiful Sally Graham. Her hus-
Dand Is descendant Of the Trinity church
NestTyman for whom Barrow street was
E named, and the Barrow pew was directly
g5hlnd that Of Gen. Washington in the
uAys when Battery park was a stylish
resort Tor the gentry of Varick street
4 AIVer the birth OF her children Mrs. Bar
TO" began writing juvenile stories founded
vi tIe 1acts in their everyday life,
unu t1lrty-twO Of these books are the re-
su!J OF her literary efforts Little Alicer is
story of her daughter, Mrs. Connolly. and
INC Doctor" Is written Of Mrs. Connellys
SISTER MRS BarrOw's Saturday afternoon
III ISoepIloAS IN her large drawing room, dec
GRATED In dull blues, aud with its profusion
iii "a YaluaDle and ancient bric-a-brac, are
a&lgely attended by the literary and social
.!.olneuJ II the city. Mrs. Barrow's chari-
s"s aIe OF the true scrptural kind, which
-1.N'ain secrecy as TO their purpose and re-
v; SrS A recent enterprise is the sending Of
tI'nta'nas boxes to the south with gifts for
''SGA % children in Sunday schools.
Nls' hoger A. Pryor has ALWAYS been a
e'H rather than a society woman. She
e s "a 'oen devoted mother of seven chill
Sie."' VI "hom only one remains unmarried.
Il r.+j.ae na' nved for seventeen years in greater
pr9euI because Of the death of a SON
~ De"h irst honor man and scholar
kno,,au ,eaulorlage in England. She is well
tbroI, I, as a charitable and benevolent lady,
Vii, o4Sh x whose energy and tact the Jackson
stiJif,T9leI nI9leI Society was organized and so
onl1t eiIy conducted TO success, and who was
~ ~ VI we ladies' that founded the Home
vais 7 tFiehdleSs in BROOKLYN. In the
bIond U VI AIRS Pryor's children runs the
RayLeoi VI Tue f. f. Vs-the Randolphs. the
NJ ~ Tue Atkinsons, and the Bacons.
three ag ,yor IIved in Washington during the
war administrations preceding the civil
,.1',,rao uer husband having been a member Of
Ne h'''a and minister TO Greece during
y SL yeaTs. She was part of the circle
JongiaoII hts' I. e. Clay, Mrs. Stephen A.
oustos Mfs. Senator Pugh, aud Mrs.
tho. "a ulee were members. and many
ma N,S,tI vs. Igulshed men and women of that
-vor "neh virginia seeded and Gen.
brigaSGd Vniered the confederate service