The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1898-01-21

He& tOldl uelkuL IrOM the IOulQArlOnS to
the top Of the dynamo Ia 20 feet inches,
COO pounds.
The field yoke, that is, the outside rim,
splits vertically for the insertion of the
field coils. The revolving portion, the
armature, is constructed on u cast-iron
spider, the periphery being built up of
large sheet steel ,punch1ings, which con-
tain the clots and windings. The wind
ings of the field coils are Of heavy square
section wire, wound BY a lathe. This
machine runs at 116 revolutions per min
ute and develops an alternating current
| of 24OO volts, and has sufficient capacity
to carry 10000 sixteen-candle-p power
ECCENTRIC MRS. AVER.
BY the death of Mrs. J. C. Aver, the
American colony at the French capital
loses a conspicuous and interesting fig
| ure. She was one of the best-known
women in Paris. Her great wealth, her
lavish expenditures, her brilliant enter
tainments and her gowns and jewels were
talked about everywhere.
The millions made in patent medicines,
and her own determination and energy,
| gained for Mrs. Aver the position in So
cety which was the height Of her ambi-
ton, but it was only after long fight.
Usts' ANuSASu a., 1Au1(ulcu anu
ligned, but she never faltered. And she
was really good woman, one of the
| most charitable and generous in the
| world, and those who said i'll of her were
| those who had benefited from her bounty.
Her many eccentricitles and vanities
were harmless enough, while her virtues
benefited all of those who came in con-
| tact with her. She was ever ready to
| aid the struggling American artists and
singers who went to Paris to study. Her
purse and her sympathy We're never APP
pealed to in vain, and often she sought
those whom she believed to be worthy
She was a liberal patron of art, and
PAID enormous sums for pictures.
The story of Mrs. Ayers rise in So
cial fame, as given in the New York
culiarly American. She was born in
| Midway, Mass, on December Is, 1926,
and she had therefore passed her seven
ty-frst year Her maiden name was JO-
| sephine Mellin Southwick. Her father
was Quaker and large manufacturer
Her mother was a sister of the founders
of the II. 3. Claflin company. Her par
infant.
She knew James c. Aver as a child.
He was clerk in drug store who had
saved a little money and who started
in business for himself He manufac-
tured cough mixture and advertised it
III the local newspapers. He was the
pioneer in the patent medicine business,
Aver preparations were known the coun-
try over. When James G. Aver died,
i'll 1879, he left fortune of $4,000, 600.
Mrs. Aver always had taste for So
ciety. In this country she never secured
any recognition. She had villa at New
port about fifteen years ago, and later
took cottage at Bar Harbor.
She was always fond of jewels, and
when wealth poured in upon her she be-
gan to buy them literally. She delighted
tent of wearing low-necked gown and a
diamond necklace in the morning.
She made sensation in this country on
one or two occasions by appearing at
entertainments in a Directoire costume,
including the long, fower-decked staff.
Mrs. Aver first went to Paris about
1880, and except two or three summers
spent in this country she has remained
there ever since, making infrequent and
very short visits to New York For years
she had large suite of apartments in the
Hotel Continental.
From the beginning she attracted at
tention by her expenditures. She had
retinue of servants. She employed den
fist, who visited her daily. She had a
physician to look after the members of
the family, while she herself consulted
specialists, to whom she gave enormous
fees.
The milliners and shopkeepers from
one city to the other regarded her as their
best customer. She was feeced right and
left, but she never objected. She would
buy $500 worth of gloves at time, and
there gloves cost not more than a third
as much as they do in New York.
She established a kind of salon in the
steadily assaulted the houses of those
whose positions were established. For
long time the exclusives would have none
of her, but gradually she made her way.
Her wealth and her entertainments bat
tered down barrier after barrier.
Of course there was deal of talk about
Mrs. Aver getting married again. AT one
time no fewer than three princes were as
pirants for her hand. More than one duel
was limited at. Prince Dalgarouky is
Pole of distinguished appearance, who has
an income of 500 month and reputa-
ton as a gamester. Prince Giedroyc is a
Russian, brother of the late Emperor of
Russia's morganatic wife. He was fat
and reasonably rich. Prince Valori is a
Spaniard.
Valori offered to introduce Mrs. Aver
to the Spanish pretender, Don Carlos, and
secure her social position of the first
rank if she would marry him. Mrs. Aver
declined.
Indeed, she was not moved much by
the glamour of the title of prince, Cor in
Paris princes are almost as common as
generals in the South.
About six years ago Mrs. Aver had
secured social position which warranted
her in leasing the mansion of the Due de
Mouchy, one Of the finest and most ex
pensive to maintain in Paris 1t is No.
10 Rue Constantine. near the 1nvalides,
in the Quarter st. German.
1t was completely refurnished at an
enormous expense and Mrs. Aver ill.,
stalled herself in it with retinue of
servants. She bought magnificent car
riages and splendid horses.
Mrs. Aver entertained lavishly, more
extensively, perhaps, than anyone else
in Paris.
As the years went on she dressed more
gorgeously and wore more jewels than
she was pointed out, and the shopkeepers
worshiped her. Mrs. Aver did much TO
give the Parisians the idea that Ameri-
cans have inexhaustible supplies of
money and that they are willing to throw
it away.
She did everything possible to hide the
effect of time. She passed hours each
day in the hands of the masseuse, the
hairdresser, the dentist, the physician,
and the great number of persons whose
business it is to repel age. She wore the
most youthful gowns, and her entertain
ments became more and more spectacular.
Mrs. Aver never entertained people in
her great house. There was no room,
for the reason that every apartment was
filled with her old gowns on dressmakers'
dummies. She never threw away gown
that she had worn, but always preserved
it carefully as if she purposed wearing it
again.
Nobody knows how many costumes
Mrs. Aver wore each year-more than any
woman in Paris, it is said-and so the
immense hotel was taken up with the
gowns.
When Mrs. Pearson, Mrs. Ayers
daughter, visited her in Paris last year,
it was necessary to arrange a sleeping