The herald., 1895-02-24

with it, wardrobe included To the eco
nomically inclined woman $500 year
would seem quite a fabulous amount for
clothes and the trifies of every day life.
But pin money to the tune of $50, 600
year-$5000 a month, or $1,000 a week
barely supplies the needs of some of the
fashionable women of New York. There
are two score women in the metropolis
who have that much, and a great deal
more, to spend upon purely feminine
wants, and they spend it so well that Oft
entimes they have something unpaid at
the end of the year.
Others get rid of their money more
satisfactorily. These are the women who
accomplish. good in a charitable way,
spending literally upon the floor of the
tenements and cheering the sick in the
hospitals with dainties which only a
well-filled purse can procure.
Mrs. Theodore Havemeyer, wife of one
OF the Sugar Trust kings, possibly spends
more money than y other woman in
New York, although her husband is not
as wealthy as large number of other
men. In addition to having what is
generally credited to be the prettiest house
in town, Mrs. Havemeyer maintains it on
a most elaborate scale.
Aside from these expenses, says an in
innate friend OF the lady, she disposes of
$4,000, and perhaps $65,000, year on
purely persona. --Atters. The fashionable
modistes, furriers and milliners, and all
classes of tradespeople who have dealings
with the swaggger set would rather see
Mrs. Havemeyer enter their places of
business than a dozen ordinary rich
women.
She has the reputation of having never
been known to ask the price of any article
in store. If she fancies it she says
Send it home.' Those are golden words
to the shopkeeper. 1t is not only small
things that she buys in this way. She
purchased $500 fur opera cloak without
knowing or asking the price and footed
the bill without question. None OF
the tradesmen impose upon Mrs. Have
meyer because of this popularity.
Her custom is too valuable to jeopardize
| it by overcharging.
| Mrs. Havemeyer is fond of flowers. She
buys lavshly, and has spent as much as
$500 for a great basket of orchids. She
also shows great ingenuity in devising
| schemes for spending so that her friends
will benefit by it. Last Christmas she
had Santa Claus party at which there
were IS guests. There was dancing, and
a Christmas tree hung with rs gifts, every
one being a trinket of gold. Some of
these were set with Jewels, and this little
| fad did not cost Mrs. Havemeyer much
less than $500
| Mrs. Fred Vanderbilt goes less into So
| ciety than any OF the wives of the Wander
| bilt men. She enjoys pin money to the
tune of S50,000 year; comparatively little
| of it is spent upon herself or in frivolous
| things.
Mrs. Fred Vanderbilt is a woman who
does vast amount Of good in the cause
| OF charity. Unlike other rich women,
she does not conduct her philanthropy
through agents. She does the work her
self, and she has the healthy satisfaction
OF knowing that it is well done.
| Three afternoons in the week, when she
is in town, and while her friends are
| fitting from one fashionable function to
another, Mrs. Vanderbilt drives about the
tenement house districts, with a COM
panion, visiting the homes OF the poor
and giving literally when u really deserv
ing case has been encountered.
Mrs. Willie X. Vanderbilt, whose
troubles with her husband have occupied
the attention of the two continents for
the past six months, is one of the heaviest
sepnders among the fashionable women
OF the day. 1t is believed that Mrs. Willie
X. spends fully S100s00o a year on trihes.
1t was her terrific extravaganza which
| widened the breach between her and her
husband. Mr.. Vanderbilt has a fortune
of $s0000, 600 and an income of "a, 900. 900
Il year. He spends more than any other
| millionaire in the country.
AS an example of Mrs. Vanderbilts
qualities as spender, the final straw that
| broke the camei's back-otherwise Mr..
! Nanderbilt's good nature-the following
!, is a timely illustrations: 1t occurred
when she and her husband were at the
! Continental hotel, in Paris, Just before
they separated. Mrs. Vanderbilt did not
like he apartments or the furnishings, so
she engaged an entire floor of the big
hotel, and then to the surprise of all Paris
had it completely refurnshed at her own
cost. As she was going to remain in
Paris only six weeks, this was regarded
| as one of the greatest pieces of extrava-
| gance in the history of the French capital.
The furnishings of the floor cost in the
neighborhood of 175, 900 francs, and the
weekly hotel bill OF the Vanderbilt party
amounted to 15, 000 francs.
When the troubles OF the Willie X Van
derbits were being compromised Mrs.
Vanderbilt asked for an allowance of $780,
| 600 year.
Mrs. John Jacob Astor spends about
forty thousand a year in pin money.
! Mrs. Astor has great fondness for dia-
mond iewelry; she possibly possesses the
greatest number of diamond trinkets of
| any woman in New York society. She
| makes regular tours OF all the great Jew
elry establishments of the city in search
| of unique designs in diamonds. She can
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