The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-02-09
The Rise of Mrs. Bradley-Martin.

New York, Feb a-This is the most frivo-
lous town on the face Of the earth Here
it is. the middle Of the severest and most
distressfuI winter in the memory Of living
man. The suffering Of the poor IN this
city has been beyond utterance and be-
yond belief
Does this hideous spectacle Of human
niartydom fill the eye and mind OF Mr.. and
Mrs. New York? BY no means What
then? Nothing more Tor less-now that
the infamous Seeley dinner is a thing OF the
past-than that other social functions, the
Bradley Martin fancy dress ball.
They tell dreadful stories of the apathy
of the Hindus in the presence of the horrors
| of the bubonic plague, but I will engage
| to match the worst of them at almost any
| street corner, in any club or any barroom
| (Which is the poor mans club IN New
| York. Wherever two or three are gathered
together they turn their backs on the grim
spirit of death that IS always lowering near
and talk with keenest interest of the cos
tunes that such and such a member Of the
four hundred is TO wear next Wednesday
night at the big house in Twentieth street,
wherein King Motley and Queen Fashion
! with their numerous company are to play
a one-night engagement.
The Bradley-Martin are a popular fanai-
| ly and this recent publicity thrust upon
them by DR.. Rainsfard seems rather to
have added TO their popularity than other
| wise. They belong TO that rather large and
influential class OF New Workers who do
rot live in New York. They have. TO be
sure. an immense house in West Twentieth
street near Fifth avenue, quarter of the
town once very fashionable, but now cir
cunscr.bed by rapid encroachment of
| trade. No one thinks of building a new
house in the neighborhood, but few of the
old families stin cling to their old houses
| there. Not that the Bradley-Nartins are
an old family-quite the contrary. Martin
| himself is of a very respectable Albany
house, but he was unknown IN New York
| until about twenty-five years ago. when he
| came down to be the late Colonel Elliott F.
Shepard's best man at the latter's wedding
| Both the young men were at that time on
the sLaf of Governor Fenton. The coloneF5
! bride was Miss Margaret Louise Wander
| Tilt Her bridesmaid and bosom friend was
| Nellie Sherman, who met Mart1 for the
| first time at this wedding. Two months
| later he married her and thus founded the
house of Bradley Martin.
| the Shermans were not, strictly speak
ing, in society at that time. Neither, for
that matter, were the Vanderbilts, the
third generation of money" which. &C
cording to the formula of the late Ward
| McAllister, is necessary for the evolution
| OF gentlefoIks, not having arrived.
| Martin had a grandfather, to be sure, but
he was at best an Albanian patrco His
pretty wife had very rich father, but for
the purposes Of society no grandfather at
| ha,. fosh
some ten years after her marriage that
she acquired the means to develop her ge-
| MUS for social conquest.
| Isaac H. Sherman left fortune of $1,000
| 900, gained in the business of exporting bar
| rei slaves. He was not a cooper, as has
| been said with malice) since this ball be-
came the leading topic of the day, but his
| father was before him. He was an astuts
| and highly succ assful merchant and he was
/ also a student, a thinker and a patriot.
| President Lincoln often sought his counsel
and would have rewarded him with high
ofice, but Sherman loved his books and
/ his shop too much to desert them. He was
a model citizen, if any one, living or dead.
deserves that title, but he had no taste or
gift for society. They still tell the story ot
him that when he furnished his big house
he had woven into his lace curtains and
| tapestry his initials-"I. Fl. Sand then
wondered why people laughed.
Like wise woman, Mrs. Bradley Martin
| began her campaign upon New York So
ciety by eXpatriating herself, her husband,
her children and her millions to Europe.
The effete social fabric of that con-
| tinent offers no such opposition TO Ameri-
can dollars as does the restricted circle OF
member is too solicitous about his or her
own tenure to take any chances with new
comers.
Thus it befell that when Mrs Bradley
Martin appeared as the hostess OF the neat
est shooting box in all Inverness-shire and
Mr.. Bradley Martin was able TO offer the
very best stag shooting in that or any other
shire in Scotland they found themselves
in position to choose their guests from the
pick of the English nobility. and Ameri-
cans, spending the autumn abroad. who In
New York had not thought best TO know
| those people, has cause to repent them
of their exclusiveness on this side of the
Atlantic.
The net result is most briefly told in the
accounts Of the wedding three years ago at
Grace church, New York. of Miss Cornelia
Martin to the Right Honorable, the Earl
of Craven. Nobody in New York had ever
heard of Miss Martin. Indeed. the child
was rot quite IS when she was married and
there was great deal Of talk which musr
have been unpleasant to Mrs Martin II she
heard it. as. through the we'll meant Of
fees of kind friends. she doubtless did.
But IL there were any serious results from
this gossip It certainly was not for long,
and 1t did not appear upon the Martins
visiting list. They are distinctly in IT.
now and tickets to the big ball next We'd
nesday are at a high premium. A we'll
born but somewhat faded gentleman Of my
acquaintance offered yesterday 10 sell me
his for the merely nominal sum OF so.
Having made other and much less expen-
sive arrangements. / did not avail myseIf
of the opportunity. but l am by no means
sure that I did not let slip bargain.
have heard some queer stories OF needy
guests and speculative gentlemen who.
though not invited, will certainly be at the
ball, if not in person al least in proxy. The
police may overlook them. and. after all.
what does il matter where everybody wears
a mask? MAC LAVISH.
RA~nln~ . Things SNparnte