St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-22
A FAMILY AFFAIR.

1t may be beyond the limit of the Or
binary prophecies for man to rush into
print with affairs that are purely of
domestic concern. Yet there is so much
good sense in Mr.. HUNTINGTON recent
interview in relation to the rumored
marriage of his adopted daughter with
a scion of royalty. one is disposed to for
give him for having transgressed the
rules of polite society. The metropoli-
tan newspapers have had good deal to
say recently about the rumored engage
ment of Miss HUNTINGTON, the adopt
&c daughter of the American railroad
magnate, to Prince HATZFELDT. There
was late story to the effect that Mr..
HUNTINGTON had suddenly dropped all
of his business affairs, and, taking the
fastest steamer on the line. had rushed
over to Germany to break off the en-
gagement. The publication of the story
had naturally put Gotham society into
futter of excitement; and in order to
putan end to all the silly gossip that is
going the rounds OF the clubs, both in
this country and In Europe. Mr..
HUNTINGTON publishes a statement
of the true condition Of affairs. He
begins by stating that he has not broken
off the engagement between his daugh-
ter and the prince, simply because
there is no engagement to break. He
says that the young gentleman has been
lavish in his attentions, and there is no
reason to doubt his intentions; but the
time has not come for him to make up
his mind as to what to think of this par
tIcular Teutonic nobleman; yet he does
not hesitate to say that the young So
ciety men of his generation, princes in
cluded, are a sorry lot. "Of course, we
Americans are rather disposed to turn
up our noses at people who travel about
on the strength of unearned titles"
said Mr.. HUNTINGTON. 1--WE like to
know what a man has done or can do,
not what his father or grandfather did
for him. Nv own family dates right
back to the Norman conquest. but that
never troubles me. If can't get glory
for what am myself, will go without
glory" Mr.. HUNTINGTON admits that,
after having seen Prince HATZFELDT,
he thought better of him than he ex-
pected to; that he found him to be
pleasant young man, possessed
of many accomplishments; but the
fact that he was pleasant, accomplished
and prince, was no reason to suppose
that he would make good hu band
for his daughter, unless he possessed
true nobility of character. In his opin-
ion the possession of the old-fashioned
virtues, honesty. economy and industry,
are better qualifications for a son-in-
law than to be prince and an ac-
complished gentleman according to the
code of to-day. This plain talk from
Mr.. HUNTINGTON will be of great adj
vantage to the young German prince
who aspireS to the hand and
the millions of the daughter of
Americas great railway king. for
it will enable him to overhaul his
character and determine in advance
whether to risk the humiliation of
refusal It will Furthermore serve to
relieve American society of the COM
mercial aspect which it bears in Euro
pean eyes. Our American institutions
have been brought into disrepute by the
eager misunderstanding among the
effete nobility that some of our Ameri
can milliOnaires have been doing. Now
the European aristocracy are given to
understand that it takes something bet
ter than an unearDed title to win the
affections of true American girl.