Los Angeles herald., 1892-03-16
MRS. ABBY SAGE RICHARDSON.
She Is at the Head of a Cooperative
Housekeeping establishments.
ISnncinl C0rrnsnnndnncn


Housekeeping Establishment.
Especial Correspondence
NEW YORK, Oct. 29.-Mrs. Abby Sage
Richardson, though so painfully con.
spicuous about twenty years ago, has
been since the event known as The
Tribune tragedy almost lost to the
sight of the general public. But to q
large circle of deeply sympathizing
friends, who have watched her develop
ment, she has been well known all the
time as a cultivated woman of letters, q
devoted mother. brilliant thinker and
cOnversationist.
1t was a remarkable fact that no word
Of blame was ever printed of Abby Sage
Richardson, deeply shocked as the whole
country was by the tragic event which
tortured the sensibilities and provoked
the expression of the deepest feelings
and prejudices of opposing political fac
tions. Deep silence expressed the feel
ings of men toward her, while every
true woman spoke out her sympathy,
and the final expression of that senti-
ment eliminated in one of the largest
and most enthusiastic gatherings Of ''la-
dies only that l ever saw.
That meeting was in Apollo hall in
New York. By II o'clock in the morn
ing, after the funeral of Mr.. Richard
son, the hall was packed with large,
fashionably dressed, earnest and eager
concourse of women, many of them the
most distinguished in the country, and
all above the average in social position,
education, intelligence and refinement
1t was an exceedingly dignifed body.
There We're seen beside Mrs. Benjamin
F. Butler, two nieces of General Grant,
Mrs. James Parton Fanny Fern), Miss
Susan B. Anthony, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton (the orator of the day., Miss
Catherine f. Beecher, Mrs. E. B. Phelps,
'pretty Phoebe Cousins" then in her
teens, Mrs. Robert Dale Owen, Eleanor
Kirk Ames, Mrs. Tappan, Mrs. D. G.
Croly Denny June), and Mrs. Theodore
Tilton, then in the heydey of prosperity.
With admirable tact Mrs. Stanton
avoided any allusion to the actors in the
tragedy, save what was necessary to
make more forcible the call which she
urged for an expression of the sympathy
of her audience. And nobly did those
five hundred or a thousand women re-
spond to her appeal.
The general public has right to ask,
as it frequently does of our editors:
Where is Abby Sage Richardson? Has
she gone into the silent land? Is she
crushed beneath her sorrows? Has she
risen above them?
In one of those modest, picturesque,
modernized Queen Anne houses that
have sprung up like magic on the west
side, in Ninety-fourth street in New
York, the leading spirit in household
which has for two years or more beer
making successful experiment in CO.
operative housekeeping, Mrs. Richard
son lives with two of her children. Mrs.
Florence Carpenter Ives and Miss Helen
Watterson, formerly of The Evening
Sun, lately married to Mr.. Moody, a
bright young newspaper man, are the
other co-operators in the household over
which Mrs. Richardson presides.
1t is considered privilege to be on
the list of visitors or guests at that house.
The "Sunday evenings" there are charm
ing reunions of old and new celebri ties
in the world of literature, journalism
and art.
Mrs. Richardson usually presides at
the teatable, dispensing the cups that
cheer with the grace and dignity of a
matron of the old school of manners to
which she belongs. Her once bonny
brown hair is now silver white and ar
ranged with tasteful simplicity, parted
in the middle, drawn in wavy masses OF
banded Madonna wise on each side, and
coiled in a loose, fluffy Psyche knot in
the back. Her complexion is fair and
rosy, her small ears are pink tipped like
her slender white fingers. Her blue eyes
sparkle, her lips sweetly smiling. Her
conversation is sadly bright and charm
ing, and the slight shade of sorrow that
occasionally fits over her fine face only
enhances it's attractiveness.
She is emphatically domestic wom-
an, looking well to the ways of her
household, but her literary tastes and ac
quirements occasionally draw her into
the private field of parlor and platform
entertainments. Whenever she reads
her own we'll thought out, well written
essays she is listened to with the rapt at
tention which her powers command by
her many appreciative and warmly at
tached friends.
EMILY VERDERY BATTEY.