The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05

new explanation was necessary. When
the plans for the house were made the
Huntingtous were Just buying the Ger
man Prince HatZfeldt for their daughter,
and it was said that the new house was
for the purpose OF making grand entry
into New \ ork society, which had hith.
erto refused the Huntingtons, despite
their millions. So the new explanation
revived this story, and supplemented it
with the statement that the Huntingtons
had failed TO get recognition, and, seeing
that the new house would only bring hui
miliatin, they had decided to give up
their attempts upon society, as ruled by
the Astors and planned by McAllister.
This was very satisfactory, and even
society people told 1t about and laughed
over the way the HuntIngtons had been
rebuked. The new house, with its mas
sive granite walls, so much like a penal
institution and so thoroughly concealing
from the public the splendOrs of the in-
terror, seemed a monument to social
failure, and nobody wondered that Hunt
ington was anxious TO get il off his hands.
But this socal-failure explanation was
as far from the truth as was the story OF
financial EN- barraSsment. The real reason
why Huntington never moved into his
house is so small that to most people IL
will seem ridiculous. II is likely that
Huntington himself would publicly deny
it, Just as we all deny those little weak
nesses which are nevertheless so power
full in all our lives. The great millionaire,
the strong man, the fearless Spectator,
refused to move into his new house be-
cause he feared that if he moved in, he
would die. 1t was the old superstition
that old men who grow rich build fine
houses for their own funerals. And al
most any architect will tell you that he
1. a in oct lrug h 10
tracts through this very superstition.
When Mr.. Huntington started his plans,
back in 1881, ne no doubt thought of this
superstition, but let it have little weight
with him He planned slowly and elabo-
rately. aud, when the contractors at last
got to work, they built slowly. and were
again and again delayed. He expected to
move in three Yeas ago, but 1T was only
last year that the house began get near
completion. In the mean time his health
had become less vigorous. His age and his
years of hard work and worry began to
tell upon him.
The superstition came back with re-
newed force, and he began 10 think great
deal about it, At last he became abso-
lutely convinced that, should he move in,
the first function to which his friends
would be invited would be his funeral.
Then he decided that he would not even
keep the house in the family; that he
would sell it and remove any possible
danger Of his having to occupy II. And
he will stick to his idea. He will never
live in the house, he will never fur
nish it. and If he lives twenty years and
the house remains unsold he will still be
of the same mind.
IL is always interesting but no longer
strange to lind these small superstitions
coming out in men who are supposed TO
be absolutely matter-of-fact. It is said
that Mr.. Huntington has another super
stition--that he will not ride in the eleva-
tor with colored person, because he
thinks il would mean bad luck in some
way: either that the elevator would fall
or some of his many involved enterprises
would 60 wrong.
There IS no man in New York Of whom
one would think superstition less proba-
BILE He is a particularly calculating,
practical person, as his whole career
shows, and as one could find out from
half an hours talk with him. But this
superstition of his, which has led him TO
sacrifice plan which was dear TO his
wife and daughter, and which must have
been of the highest importance TO him,
is one that is very often found
among rich people. IL is said that the
origin of 10 was in the fact that many
men, in their haste TO move into grand
new houses, have not waited for the
paint and plastering 10 dry, and have
thus caught their death. Whatever the
reason, it Is undoubtedly true that many
rich man has died Immediately after
building the house That was 10 be the
monument Of his good fortune. And Mr..
Huntington prefers not 10 be another ex-
ample, and will content himself with the
huge palace in California street, San
Francisco, and the country place at
Th-oRg's Neck, Westchester county.