St. Paul daily globe., 1892-12-26

eral years and which is commemorated
by Lord Byron III the first cantO of
"Childe Harold"
The famous house of AbbOtsfOrd, in
whose construction Scott expended the
generous sums which he had made out
Of his Waverly novels and which finally
contributed to his financial ruin, is too
well known to need any description
here.
Less known, but equally worthy of
note, is the house built near Worksop.
England, by the eccentric Duke of
Portland, who died in 1882. This was
known as Welbeck abbey. He was a
hermit who loved SecluSi on. 1ndeed.he
was liable to attacks Of eczema which
made him fancy himself repulSive to his
fellows. So he buried himself and his
eczema in most fanciful privacy. An
element Of originality was secured by
building huge structures-llbrary, rid
ing school, winter garden, and SO OH
all underground. Here was buryiGg
ones self with vengeance! 1t could
not have been merely the desire for Sc
cluSion. because seclusion can be
obtained above ground by admitting
light through clear-storieS quite as eff
fectively as under the earth. 1t must
have been love for eerie effects. The
immense scale of the expenditures
makes the result even more striking,
but the duke did not ruin himself, as
one Irish peer is said to have done, in
building park wall that exhausted all
his resources. Indeed, it is hard for
hermit Of secluded tastes and with an
annual rent roll of $2,000,000 to ruin
himself. One of his mysterious habits
was to have four quarts of malt liquor
drawn for himself every day. He never
drank them, that Is the only thing
known; what became OF the liquor no
one knew, but it was thought that the
duLe used it to soak the Oaken floors
TIL they attained special shade of
color.
American millionaires also have their
fads. Russell Sage loves horses. He
has stables in New York and at Law
reuce, l.. l., wherein he keeps dozen
fast steeds. which have never, however,
been allowed to figure Oh the trotting
track in public. Far different is the
case of Mr.. Bonner, who for period
made it his business to own the fastest
known trotter in the country, and
bought up one famous record breaker
after the other at fabulous prices. Will
lam c. Whitney's passion is for dogs.
Several OF them are kept at his home in
this city. Others are at Newport and
at Washington. He often visits Wall
street accompanied by huge mastiff
When he was secretary of the navy he
paid $500 for magnificent st. Bernard,
"Gyp." and when she bad a litter of
puppies, he presented several to his
personal friends. MIR. Lorlllard. an
other dog fancier, fances them as
much for profit as for pleasure, and
makes money out OF his extensive dog
kennels in New Jersey. AS much as
$1,000 has been brought in to Mr. Loril-
lard'S pockets from the sale of a single
dog. Cyrus w. Field used to love do
mestic fowls, and his hennerieS, full of
hundreds of hgh-bred fowls, were a
feature of his summer residence at
Ardsley -theHudson.
But there is nobler side Of the pct-
ure. There are eccentricities which we
call eccentric only, alas! because human
nature is so selfish that it rarely bur-
geons out into any great deed of kind
ness. Yet. though rare, we may he
thankful they are increasing in num-
Der, as the world grows better and kind
lier. II
When Stephen Girard, of Philadel-
phia, died, he left fortune of S9,0OO,-
900, which he had ACQUIRED ir the usual
way by strict attention to business. In
his lifetime Girard was not noted for
his hospitality; in his manners he was
Grabbed and unapproachable. In
small affairs he was miseriy to
the last degree and penurious even
to meanness. He spent little money
on himself, was careless about his