The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-04-08
FROM FACTORY GIRL
n PARAN STEVENS CLIMBED To
THE FRINGE OF wALEs's SET.
She Forced New York Society to Ac-
tator-An Cficial Matchmaker.
from New York Exchanges.

Mai 49, AeNOAS " NAO 4oo% I'LL -
years may be said to be the history of New
York society for that period. She came,
she saw, she conquered. Like Ward Nc
Allister, she died in the gay harness of the
world. Her last illness was contracted at
an important social function. and she died
in Fifth avenue, in the heart of the fash
ionable world, of which she had become a
leader.
As there can never be another Ward Nc
| Allister, so it is improbable that there will
ever he another like Mrs. Paran Stevens.
The energy, the persistence, the daring of
Mrs. Stevens are qualities of a by-gone
generation. She fought a battle alone and
single-handed against old traditions and
sentiments of New York. The victory she
won was the opening wedge for the crowds
of stranger who pushed in afterward. She
not only broke down the old fashionable
doors for herself, but held them ajar for
others, and was always ready to clear
space for new Corners.
No other woman ever dominated New
York society to so great an extent as Mrs.
Stevens, and through her power she has
taken many a girl up and pushed her from
the back into the front ranks of society.
She was a great matchmaker, and many
a marriage of the present day can be laid
to her doors. 1t is said that it was Mrs.
Stevens who made the match between~the
Count Castellane and Miss Anna Gould.
Mrs. Stevens was intimate with the Goulds,
and authority says that it was she who ad-
vised George Gould to buy the Vigilant and
race her in foreign waters as a stepping
stone into society, and 1t was she who gave
in London, whom Miss Gould visited for a
summer Report has 1t that it was Miss
Reid who introduced the Count to Miss
| gift Of $40, 600.
Mrs. Stevens was born in Lowell, Mass,
nearly seventy years ago, and, as Marietta
Reid, passed her girlhood in a factory in
that city. She was a most beautiful crea-
than her daughter, Mrs. Arthur Paget.
who: as Minnie Stevens. was, and is still.
Reid grew UP as most New England girls
who work for a living grow UP. The little
at the public school, and after work was
over for the day at the factory. She was
ane p the OF inc nft fba Ne vs,,1 england IN own.
ready to do her bidding. -
QUIT FACTORY LIFE.
firing of factory life, she went to Bos-
ton and there met her husband, the late
Paran Stevens, who at this time was en-
ployed in the fremont House. Mr.. Stevens
was d widower and had one daughter, who
at the present day is Mrs. John Malcher,
but who in those days. so the story goes,
held a position in the hotel.
Mr.. Stevens, who was old enough to be
her father, married the beautiful Lowell
girl, and it may be said that from this
marriage Mrs. Stevens's rise in the social
world commenced. In those days the old
fremont House was the fashionable hotel
in Boston, and its corridors were thrOnged
tMhe cit rne Of rf bosfonl bur also men 81 tbe c 9niy Vi
while its par1orS were oyerrun with the
wealth and fashion of the city. Mrs. Ste
vens came in contect with these people, at
tracted attention and won their admiration.
This hobnobbing with the fashionable world
of Boston, even ii it We're only in the par
lors of the fremont fired Mrs. Stevens with
the ambition and ardent desire to become
better educated. Accordingly, with that iron
perseverance which has followed her
through life. she setEE work and edu-
it was not long before she was regarded as
a brilliant woman.
There was no subject with which she was
not conversant and no topic of the day upon
which she could not converse with force and
assortment. She soon mastered foreign
languages so that she could both read and
write them fuently. So rapid was her prog
ress that the brightest minds Of Boston Wis
tied the fremont to chat with this little
Lowell woman of brilliant mind.
The fremont changed hands, and one day
loun wife fer, Of f' the pr O. lei r,ea Mrs :. St
sphere of social Importance increased. Again,
s NteI a 2 few years years M the P sdsyenS sfey moye took *
charge of the old Fifth-avenue Hotel. Here
also Mrs. Stevens attracted attention, and
then began her march into the territory of
society, fought every inch of the way with
a determination that has made her famous.
Mrs. Stevens had lived quietly in Boston
with her husband, where her two children,
Minnie and Harry, were born. Paran Ste
ee,ne 50 1nI Iaree that IA a about aI isss RRee0 ppandon ned
his Boston home and moved to this city.
His fortune was then estimated at 1000, 600;
or more. He was an exceedingly quiet and
amiable old gentleman, who attended strict
ly to business, never went into society and
had decided tastes only for fasf horses,
pictures and statuary,
SAW THE WORLD OF FASHION.
Not so with his handsome and ambitious
wife. Once installed in the fine, hand
some house, No. 244 Fifth avenue, Mrs.
Stevens saw the world of fashion roll by
her doors, and quickly decided to divert
the stream into her parlors.
This was a time when society was small
and conservative, and a handsome presence
and large fortune did not count for as much
as they do to-day. 1t was little by little
and step by step that Mrs. Stevens, a total
stranger. and without letters of introduc-
ton. established herself in New York. Her
tact and good judgm mt We're. irresistible.
r rene ns o and ' one fine day it was known
called at No. aH.
From, that time on Mrs. Stevens's position
was an assured one. All the resources of
the clever woman with unlimited means
were then employed to make the Fifth-ave~
nue. house one of the most attractive in the
city. The Sunday evening receptions, at
augurated. The famous gold and silver din
ner service was purchased and a series of
elaborate dinners were given. The fine
house at Newport was bought and improved
and duly christened the Villa Marietta,
after its fair chatelaine. Mrs. Stevens made
a point of being civil to foreigners, and
her houses soon became the rendezvous
of distinguished travellers. All the world
smiled on Mrs. Stevens and she beamed
on the world.
After ten years residence in New York
a new element of interest appeared in the
Stevens menage. This was the daughter,
Miss Minnie Stevens, who had by this time
developed into a rare and charming beauty.
She had grown up with the other young
ladies of the day-with Miss Consuelo
Yznaga. now the Duchess of Manchester;
with Miss Jennie Jerome. now Lady Ran
dolph Churchill; with Miss Barlow, the
Misses Candy, Miss Thayer and other fam
Gus beauties, who We're fnmortalized by
the late Lawrence Oliphant in his MacGilli-
cuddy papers.
If the Stevens house had been gay before.
it now resounded with reyelry by day and
night. All the ~eligihles and detrimentafs
Of the day crowded its drawing rooms and
made play for the heart and hand of the
beautiful heiress.
Then came q season of sorrow and retire
me1t. In 1872 Mr.. Paran Stevens died, full
of years and riches, leaving his property
two children. Tt was that trust which UNI
doubtedly elnbittered the closing years of
Mrs. Stevens's life.
To a woman of her independent spirit
the management of her husbands estate
seemed not only a right, but a necessity.
She soon became involved in htigations with
- x-.-E 1T nr4eA A-t 49,.