Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-05
RICH THOUGH POOR.
Reduced GentleWomen Who Are Cared
for at the Louise Home.
A RATHER PECULIAR CHARITY.
Only Forty Inmates and They Are Sur
rounded With Luxury.
A VISIT Is LIKE A TRIP TO DIXIE
RATHER PECULIAR CHARITY.
A VISIT Is LIKE A TRIP TO DIXIE

of fashionable Washington within stones
throw OF the big palace Of Vice President
Morton, surrounded by the mansions OF
statesmen, Generals, judges, stands the most
aristocratic charitable institution in the
world. There is nothing else like it in the
world, and there will be nothing ever found
ed which will compare with it in exclusive
ness and respectability. 1t is a home for
the blue blooded only, and its inmate has to
have her genealogical tree. 1t is a home
for women who have never worked, for
women who have been rich and have be-
come poor, and more especially home for
the reduced gentlewomen of the old families
of the South who lost their all in the late
war. d.
1t was founded about 20 years ago by the
millionaire philanthropist Mr.. W. W.
Corcoran, and of the $1,000, 900 which be
spent in charity none was much better ex-
pended than the amount which went into
this. BE erected it as q monument to his
daughter, Louise Corcoran Eustis, who was
the wife of a member of Congress from
Louisiana, and was related by marriage to
Mr.. Eustis, the present United States Sem
ator from that State.
Was a Woman's Idea.
Louise Corcoran sympathized greatly with
the South, and when she died in the South
of France, shortly after the close of the war,
she asked her father to make some provision
for the women who had lost their fortunes in
it. This home was her idea. 1t cost $780,
900 at the start for its building and grounds,
and Mr.. Corcoran gave in addition an
endowment of $3.50, 900. A large tract oi
land surrounds it, and this has become very
valuable within the past ten years. Its old
ladies trot around through gardens, the soil
of which would sell at auction for St pei
square foot, and they have quite little farm,
surrounded by the most expensive OF resi-
dences.
Only 40 inmates are admitted to this home
at a time. They come upon invitation, and
once invited they are expected to stay in it
for the remainder of their natural lives. In
yitations are given only to those who can
show satisfactory certificates of blue. blood,
education and refinement, and a list of
suited the moment one of the old ladies dies
I,na,es Have All the Comforts
oa,,;.,od +baoId1.dr hos os nIa.sant
a home as she could have in frst-class
hotel. She is cordially welcomed and she is
under no restrictions other than those of a
hotel, She has her own rooms and maid
to keep them in order, and if she wishes she
can take her meals in her room and receive
her company there. Surrounded with all
the comforts. she spends her time here with
her books. flowers, birds or bits of so-called
fancy work. She trots about the house,
PLAYS ON the parlor piano or visits about
among her friends at will. Her washing is
laundered in the finest manner for her and
eyery Friday the clothes come in immacu-
late with no bill attached. She can 60 about
the eity and call upon her friends, and she
knows that these conditions will continue
for her until the day Of her death.
This great home is peculiarly Southern
institution. It is q big three-story and man
sard brick with windows all around it, on
the three sides of which the sun ever shines,
and upon all of whose walls grow the lux
uriant vines of our Southern climate. 1t
has many shade trees, and the magnolia
blooms side by side with the trees of the
North. It is more Southern, however,
within doors. The moment you enter its
wide portals, you turn your face from
Yankee land and
Find Yourself In Dixie.
You feel as though one OF tne old ooutn-
ern plantations surrounoe9 you: ana Us you
chat with these gray-nalrso oIu laaies, there
passes IN mentat reFie" peioFe you 'ne luz
urlous lie OF tne master anu tne simpie
rollicklng existence Oh tne slaves; Nearly an
OF these old ladies' were nelies IN tnelr youtns'
and they can tell you stories OF cong uests IN
Richmond, Charleston ana new orleans;
MOST OF tnem were mlssresses Q. sPienalu
homes tlii the Goyernmens ireea tnelr
slaves ana tne war leis then poor anu neip-
less. Is 1t any wonder that they SIT to-
gether here dreaming OF the dear old days
or that they take from tnelr wraPplngs
again and again the Con1eoerate nag, or
gaze frequently at the pictures OF Gon1eder-
ate heroes wnlcn SO consplcuously adorn
their wallsf
Notably among the OLD ladies' Is woman
whose name has appeared with every public
mention Of the Louise Home since the open.
ing. This is Miss Hartley Graham, called
by wide circle OF frlends Aunt Hartley,
and who still, at the age OF 81, retains the
grace and elegance and much of the beauty
that made her noted belle 60 years ago.
Miss Graham is Vlrglnlan by blrth, and
descendant OF the famous Scottish house OF
One of CaIhoun,s Flames.
Anons 'ne uessGo . i: y.
ianiit, Sue :IaS Va" az uS
by. her ancient ancestress, the wife of DR..
Cooke. formerly Miss Catesby of the royal
Stewart line. Belonging to the same grand
dame is a tiny patch box" fashioned of
motber.of-peari and lapis Iazuli. Coming
down to the distinguished friends of her own
time. Miss Graham, who retains the intel
lectuaI yicor of youth, talks charminely of
her acquaintance and association with John
c. Calhoun, with Webster and his wife,
and of her lifelong friendship with the late
George Bancroft. Her chief treasure is an