St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-16
THREE WEAR CROWNS
A Trio Of American Queens
Who Occasionally Don.
Them.
Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Mills
and Mrs. Webb Are Their
Wearers.
Mrs. Vanderbilt's Has a Lot of
Big, Shiny Diamonds
in 1t.
Modelled After the One Vic
toria Wears When Out
Shopping.

lldSlCu liulllOltlnbO 0OLOllbAOhs WV wv
a buzz of comment. The crown was a
real unmiStakable crown, not a tiara by
any means, and is, according to her
friends, made in exact duplicate of the
British crown.
Mrs. Ogden Mills and Mrs. DR.. Seward
Webb also have crowns, and they have
worn them at the opera during the last
week, but they did not elicit the un-
Stinted and unqualified admiration COM
manded by Mrs. Vanderbilt's queenly
showing.
Mrs. Vanderbilt has, in deed, two
crowns. The one made in imitation OF
Queen Nictoria's crown was got up,
after some patriotic hesitation, by a Lon
don icWelcr. The other one is the crown
of a German princess, purchased from
the one-lime regal and legal owner by
Mrs. Vanderbilt herself. The purchaser
.ras every necessary guarantee Of its
g%enuineness. She does not wear it reg
ularly, because the princess was some
what obscure and the crow does not
fit her as well as the British crown does.
1t is very well in its way, though, and
she keeps it in reserve.
The crown that Mrs. Vanderbilt has
worn at the opera and which she has
previously worn at some society affairs
is a glorious arrangement in pearls and
diamonds, rising in a very stately and
picturesque fashion from the head. 1t
would make half a dozen tiaras, and it
is said to have cost $500, 900. The de-
sign is very graceful. The suggestion
has been made that if England should
become a republic In Il few years 1t
might go out Of style. Mrs. Vanderbilt
has treated this frivolous criticism with
the contempt it deserves. She answered
quite senslbly that she had no fear of
the fashion in crowns changing, and
that if they did she could easily have
her crown made over. Naturally she
did not believe in remade and rear
ranged French bonnets, but if the queS-
ton came up of amending an English
crown it might be done with dignity
and prOpriety.
The crowns worn by Mrs. Seward
Webb and Mrs. Ogden Mills are not so
costly as Mrs. V~anderbilt'S crown is.
One enthusiastic gentleman. SIP eaking
in the opera house lobby the other even
ing on the subject of crowns, declared
that compared with Mrs. Vanderbilt's
queenly ap%purtenance Mrs. Webb'S and
Mrs. Mills affairs were simply stage
properties. This pawnbroking opinion
was taken up very warmly, and the re-
sulting dispute continued until the cur
tain went up on the next act. All argu-
ments aside, however, it may be stated
with the utmost ~poSitiveneSs and on eX-
pert authority that the Webb and Mills
crowns. although not equal TO the
articles, made i'll the best style,
Tivetcd throughout and warranted,
so far as the number and quail
ity of the Jewels are concerned, equal
to any of the minor owns of Europe.
At all events, their exhibition at the
opera house las been t~he'crowning SEN
Sation of the current season.
Simply as a matter of history it may
be mentioned that these Q%ueenly crownS
were brought over from Europe last
summer by the queens themselves.
They were packed away i'll trunks with
other baggage. 1t is the only way, &C
c0rding to Collector Erhardt' that
crowns may come into this country.
is popularity believed that some duties
80 with them. What those duties are
the trio of society queens will probably
demonstrate in time, now that they
have crowned themselves and the OPP
era house audiences have assisted at
the coronation.
Without r|etracting in any way the
statements that the appearance of the
crowns and the crowned heads at the
opera has excited much delight. APP
preaching to applause, it must in all
fairness be added that the buzz of adj
miration that circled the house was
touched and modified by the critical
comment Of a score, perhaps, Of radical
,,,J n,,l,tior,a n.y. cpIrifc Othnrc 1AO1rnI
on in a cold and analytical fashion, and
one Union club man said that the as
sumption Of $500, 900 crowns by million
aire American women has a deep philo-
Sophical significance, and he proposed
to write an essay oil the subject and
read it before the Nineteenth Century
club.
Some of the criticisms expressed have
attained wide currency, and have had
some influence, it is SAID, in checking
the regal progress that has been inaug-
urated. Some atrocious Union club
jokes have been put into circulation,
aud these have had a discouraging, not
to say whiting, effect on the beginnings
of United States royalty and the growth
of right-dOWn regular royal queens.
This was q case where the sublime and
ridiculous will have no connection what
ever.
Those who are interested in the
growth of what is exclusive and aristo-
cratic in the midst of us will be panied
to hear that the sublime is giving way,
and that the ridiculous may possibly tri-
umph. Mrs. DR.. Seward Webb has al
ready had her crow cut down toone-half
its original queanly dimensions. She
declares that she never felt more SenSi-
tive 0ver anything in her life than she
did oyer the unkind remarks that had
been made respecting her crown. DIR.
Seward Wcbb'S b%lackballing at the
Union club two or three months ago
had not disturbed her spirits so vio-
lently. She determined, therefore, to
reduce the crown in size, and hopes the
comments and criticism will vanish at
least prOportionately.
There is a story about a fourth crown, |
whose owner was so frightened by the
irreverent references made to the three
crowns already i'll evidence that she
will not put it OIL her head and go out
with ii. For the present she simply
wears il in front of her dressing glass,
and then carefully goes out without it.
She is considering the ACCESSIBILITY of
presenting it to the Metropolitan Mu-
scum of Art.
The only story that really worries
Mrs. Vanderbilt is the II to the effect
that Queen Victoria only wears the
British crown when she opens parlia-
ment. Mrs. Vanderbilt really likes to
dress appropriately. and the situation
suggested here presents an insurmount-
abe obstacle. She has duplicated the
crown, but the reproduction of parlia-
ment is another matter. There is a con-
greSs at Washington, but that is already |
opened, and it is made up almost en-
tirely of Americans.
The i%nsinuation that these wealthy |
and cultivated women have purchased
crowns because they were married and
conld not therefore buy titles and a
titled husband, and the further inslnua-
ton that ii they wear crowns and are
queens their husbands must therefore
be kings and wear crowns too, are ig-
nored altogether. Everybody knows
that Willie Vanderbilt and Ogden Mills |
and Dr.. Webb are not kings. But the