The herald., 1895-03-24
HOW THEY GOT
INTOTHE FOUR HUNDRED
AND STAID THERE

a
You must have wealth to do your share
of the heavy spending. you must have
health to keep up with the never-endlng
round of amusements, and you must he u
jolly good fellow, else they will have none
of you. Above all you must have so
cial sponsor, kind of fairy god-mother
to strike the barred doors and give the
password, and failing her. your other
qualifications will avail you nothing
Would you believe it, that fifteen years
ago the great and powerful Vanderbilt
family. with more than $500 900, 900 at
their disposal, were numbered among the
outsiders? Mrs. Willie X. Vanderbilt, who
is now so delightfully."- exclusive that She
has only one hundred and fifty of the
bowling swels on her visiting list. sighed
in vain for an invitation to the Patriarch
ball. then, as now, the social court of
America But when William II. Wander.
bilt, the father of Cornelius. Willie X,
Fred and George, got ready to enter So
ciety, he opened the way in magnificent
fashion and landed his family in the front
ranks, where they have been ever since.
Every one remembers the gorgeous Van
derbilt costume ball, which reads like a
fairy tale now, in this year of marvellous
entertaining
Diamonds, rubics, emeralds and pearls
decked the hosts and the guests, and
cleaned in the draperies and hangings of
the palatial house. All society was bid
den TO the feast, and all society donned
its best bib and tucker and straightway
came, and the Vanderbilt entrance into
the most exclusive circles by what was
afterward to be the Four Hundred was a
thing accomplished.
1t is interesting to note those who most
vigorously opposed the Nanderbilts, Civ
ing as their reason that the aristocracy OF
this New World should not be based upon
dollars, but combination of blue blood,
with of course, some money. There were
the Astors whose dear old grandfather
came over from a little town-Waldorf. in
Germany-and peddled pelts and furs to
such advantage that today the Astor fam
ily has $3.50. 900, 900 of increasing wealth.
producing properties.
There were the exclusive Livingstons.
who were so proud of their name and of
dating back to Colonial days when their
honest old ancestor. Philip Livingston, in
1873 sold sugar loaves and pounds of tea,
and made out neat bills for the same in
pounds, shillings and pence. William and
John De Peyster in 1856 not only sold
cloth and buckram and buttons and
thread. but charged good round prices for
the same.
Nicholas Stuyvesant sold handkerchiefs
and caps. and Peter Goelet dealt in
states, knitting needles and steel knee
buckles, which must have been proiita-
bic business, as the old mans descend
ants. Robert and Ogden Goelet are many
times millionaires. Frederick Rhinelan-
der, whose descendants now own castles
on the Rhine, as well as palaces in New
York sold cups and sauccrs and teapots
(spelt "pott). while William sold yards of
red and yellow calico. James Roosevelt
was grocer and Cornelius Roosevelt sold
such plebean things as lampback, lin
seed oil and wndow-glass Jonathan
Fish was wegher and weighed tons of
logwood, but this was back in 1863. The
list is made from an old package OF re-
ceipted bills belonging TO the last century.
They are authentic. and all the names are
high up in the book of American Peerage
today
This proves beyond all question that
social prominence is founded upon wealth,
and the fortunes of the knickerbockers
was made in the same substantial manner
and hy the same hard strokes that the
Vanderbilts, Austin Corbin, Gould and
the more recent millionaires dealt in max
ing theirs.
A number of the most delightful society
leaders recognize the fact that the Colonial
Danes and other American aristocrats
who trace straight back to Colonial days
usually find that the origin OF their state
lv name and princey fortune can be found
! in some neat, clean, little milk and butter
or calico and thread store, and these wise
men and wiser women welcome great
many delightful people into their circle
of friends and eventually into their great
| lv-to- be-dcsired position, a component of
New York swell society.
Society is greatly indebted to Mrs.
Paran Stevens for having the independ-
ence to make friends of whom she pleases,
and OF introducing her new friends to the
extremely conservative society people,
who are so glad to know and to make
much of the newcomers after Mrs. Stevens
! has, as it were, vouched for them. This
! Jolly. good tempered godmother met the
Goulds in England last summer and
found them delightful to know, good
looking. happy and altogether agreeable,
and she had an enjoyable time on their
Yacht Atlanta and when she came to
! New York in the autumn she returned
the hospitalities. and not only made Mr..
and Mrs. George Gould have a Jolly good
time at her marble palace on Fifth
avenue, but also made them the fashion.
Not three years ago Jay Gould gave a
grand reception for his daughter Helen
Could: the list of invited guests contained
the ma mes of all the -Four Hundred, be-
sides very large list of personal friends
who were not of the fashionable set. Not
one of the society people came, and here,
not three years afterward and two OF
those years spent in mourning. and the
most exclusive and aristocratic scions of
the Knickerbocke are out in full force
at the Castellane-Gould wedding, and
Mrs George Gould told an intimate
friend the other day that she had had re-
quests for invitations from society people
whom she had never seen Mrs. Stevens
must be hattered to think that in less
than year she can if she so wills, not
only introduce a family into society, but
put them in the position where they can
assume the leadership if they choose