Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-28
THE LOLLING Room.
Lovely Little Nests Built in the'TOps
of New York Houses
WHERE WORRIES CANNOT ENTER
Places Where Society Leaders Can Enjoy
Genuine Privacy.
MRS. MORGAHS MADISON SQUARE EYRE
WRITTEN FOR THE D1srArcH.,

in city blocks. The points of the compass
seem to have no meaning in the country.
have seen stately mansions built with walls
scarcely pierced toward the eastern sun, and
the living rooms bravely breasting the north
and west winds, while the owners were alb
solutely unconscious that they had thrown
away what other people would spend hign
to secure.
On the other hand people who live in de-
tached houses can have no idea how city
people manoeuver for light and air. Money
can't give a man the sun on all sides of his
house. Mr.. Jay Gould with all his millions
can't get it. None of the Vanderbilts has
it. The ingenuity with which architects in
sert inches and break up walls, in order to
get little openings into which the sun may
peep for few minutes each day.is pathetic.
The sky in town is coveted sight. How
few of us ever see more than q narrow strip
and that at the risk of an aching neck. The
wonderful pageant of the heavens is almost
efaced through the tyranny of bricks and
| mortar.
A POPULAR APARTMENT.
How tired nerves sigh for and prize the
sky's reposeful depths. know OF house
retained when the march of progress had
gone further up town, because from an in
| valid's couch could be seen nothing of the
town but Grace Church's slender spire, its
circling birds and the wide canopy of the
sky.
The introduction of the elevator into pri-
vate houses has set about a movement that
is fast gaining force in fashionable life and
which includes all these. Heretofore the
top floors have been practically unknown
regions; hither tend the furniture when it
becomes shabby, and the insignificant men,
bers of the family and the poor relations
climb to sleep. There the servants roam at
will. But the elevator has obliterated the
stairs and the result has been not only the
rescue, but the apotheosis, of the top floor.
It is now the most popular and the most
exclusive part of the house The mistress
has entered it and shut the door. Guests
who visit the drawing room may never be
considered worthy to be received on the top
| floor. A visit there is a seal of intimacy;
| it implies all manner of distinguished
| qualities, of being what DR.. johnson would
| call "clubable fellow" regardless Of SEX
To be more specific, the demands of soeia
| life on every New York woman are so grea
| that her physical and nervous constitution
| demands place where she can retire and
pull herself together, a place where she can
shut out the distractions of her household,
where the sound of the door bell does not
reach her, and where she is spared the pain
of hearing her servant aver she is not at
home. 1t is such a retreat the top floor gives
| her. There she can repair in the morning
| in neglige, and can lie on couch in the
blazing sunshine; she can toss book on the
floor, leave it lie, and can enjoy unabashed
the fascinating confusion of things out of
place. This abandon is also delightful to
those of her intimates who may come to tell
her how sweet is solitude from out of the
depths of divans and cushions There they
may gossip over tea, without fear of inter
ruption or amuse themselves with whatever
may be the fashionable diversion of the mo-
ment.
In brief, it is place where one can be
oneself alone or in company, but where no
one can enter unasked, not even the hus-
band of ones bosom downstairs or the babes
about the knee on the lower floor.
Such are the possibilities of the '1olling
room, Jas man has named it, although
every woman does not exact all that the
room is prepared to give. The late Mrs.
Mary Jane Morgan had the first of these
rooms. Mrs. Morgan was not a woman of
fashion, but her decorators carried the news
and her great wealth and manner of spend
ing it made what she did and what she had
matters of interest.
MRS. MoRGAN's EYRIE.
Mrs. Morgan's home was on North Madi-
| son Square, block that some compact of
ownerships has preserved from the clutches
of trade From the eyrie that Mrs. Nor
gan chose for herself she had before her the
park in all its loveliness; her nearest neigh
bors were the birds in the treetops. For her
the sun painted pictures in the sky each
evening, and during the day for her enter
tainment was the ever varying panorama of
Fifth avenue ard Broadway.
The room was the width of the house, the
usual hall bedroom being an alcove thrown
into the main room. The three windows
were united by long divan nearly the
height of the window sill, and so wide that
Mrs. Morgan could lie at ease propped up
by cushions, bathe IN the sunshine that all
day flooded the room and realize the delights
of oriental luxury in depths of silk and
down. The windows that gaze onto the
park were in stainless glass, the design be-
| ing wrought out In the leads.
The hard wood floor was strewed with
magnificent rugs; the walls were wainscoted
a mans height, and the roof eeiled with
American butternut polished like satin.
| Between these two the wall space was hung
in raw silk There was but little elabora-
tion, the panels had only slight relief and
the carving was scarcely more than an ac-
cent Large vases of the rarest porcelains
! neiQ exotic plants from ner nnely equipped
greenhouse, for the light and sunny warmth
of the room made it an admirable adjunct
to the greenhouse.
The room also served Mrs. Morgan for a
water color room, and here she brought
those of her most precious works of art she
wanted to enjoy silently. Instead of an in
innate friend, dainty repast and an in
spring cup o: Ca, Mrs. Morgan would have
some painting brought up and placed on an
easel, and when its presence had become too
familiar, some other work of art or object
! took its place. In this manner woman,
all of whose wealth would not purchase an
hour of health, prolonged and refined her
| pleasures.
PLEASANT RETREAT.
The region around Stuyyesant square is
one of the most picturesque parts of the
town. St. George with its towers, a really
imposing mass. rears above the pleasant
garden with its splashing fountains, and
Second avenue, which is one of the noblest
streets in town, cuts the garden in twain
The spot is also dignifed by some of the
handsomest private residences in town. Mr..
Rutherford Stuyvesant occupies one corner;
block below is the capacioes residence of
Senator Evarts; on the upper corner is the
home of ex-Secretary Fish, set in a garden
with trees where it wears an air of quiet
luxurious ease that many more pretentious
houses cannot achieve. Next door lives his
| daughter. Mrs. Sydney Webster.
Mrs Webster is the fortunate owner of
one of these top floor retreats. Beneath her
spreads the pleasant prospect of Stuyvesant
1 1,ar ovsa 4rvrra ,f :