The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-19


she went upon the stage and soon de-
veloped into the reigning stage beauty.
As an actress she never amounted to
a row of pins. bat was warranted to
draw thousands into the house by
nightly standing in the front row of
a burlesque or Operetta.
For fifteen years she was his COM
panion, and when. in 1870, he died. he
left her everything he possessed. But
before il came to that the extra ordi-
nary couple led most eccentric exis-
tence. The NabOb, who had bought
himself the greatest beauty in Paris
for "a plaything~ became nearly blind.
But still San Donate insisted upon pur-
suing the career of d man of fashion.
He pleased 70 assume that no one knew
OF his misfortunes. and continued to
go to first nights, to the races, to the
salons, where his inseparable compan-
ion was tolerated. for Ernestine was
always at his side. guiding his steps
and prompting his speech by whisper
ing TO him the names OF persons and
the character of incidents they met
with His mind also gave way in the
course of years
On April %. 1870. San Donate died.
and Ernestine became mistress of his
millions.
While the settlement of the late San
Donates estate was slowly proceeding,
Ernestine hunted for a treasure house
conforming 10 her ideas of both state
y
Neuilly, being for sale, met her require
ments She bought it at very low
price, and without delay entered upon
the changes and improvements al
ready described.
BY the time the Observation-Disclosures
was ready, Ernestine had set her
finances in order. Retaining for her
maintenance real estate and stocks 10
/ the value of 1000, coo francs G, 600 600
dOilarS), she invested the bulk of her
ar.fxy - .
600 dollars). in precious stones. pearls
and gold, disposed of her Paris resi-
dence, and finally terminated her career
/ in the capital by selling the greater
part of the contents of her house at
public auction. after reSerVing for her
own use the most indispensable fur
niture only. Her last act was to Sc
lect staff OF servants from NeuiIIy
old and tried men and women, doubly
bound to faithfulnesS by the promise of
substantial reward after madame's
death.
Having thus settled her accounts
with the world, -Ernestine returned to
/ her stronghold, never to go abroad
again until carried out by the under
takers men. The rest of her life
| thirty long years, she spent exclusive
ly in the society of the idols of wealth
she had always worshiped and a few
animal friends.
Strange to say, Ernestine's passion
Tor jewels ran to quantity rather than
quality. OF course. commanding the
fortunes of very rich men, she never
/ tolerated limitations or flaws, but as a
matter of personal preference, she
would rather have a handful of ten
or tWelVe-carat stones than one weigh
ing fifty or sixty On the same prin-
clple. her collection of rubies,. emeralds,
SapphlreS and pearls were brought to-
gether, the size being of no account as
long as the cutting, color and light eff
1ects were good As to gold, she pos
sessed round million in fine pieces
/ of all denominations and countries
though of nuniSmatics she knew moth
ing and cared less, and never paid a
sou above the face value
This mass of gold filed the biggest
safe in Ernestine,s fortified retreat;
next to 1T was the diamond strong box,
with it's contents displayed on trays ac-
cording to weight and color Smaller
safes held her collections of turquoises,
emeralds, sapphires, rubies and opals,
while masses of Semi-preciOus stones,
cats-eyes, mOonstones, amethysts and
lhpsislaZuli filled numerous drawers in
metal case having plate glass in front
and at the sides.
Twice a day Ernestine took a Jewel
bath, in the afternoon, when the sun
was brightly shining through the dome
and late in the evening by the light of
a few wax candles that accentuated
, rather than diffused the prevailing
darkness, but above all she liked the
jewel bath by moonlight. To her legal
! representatives she often said that
nothing quite came up TO the joyous
ecstacy of immersing ones body in a
flood of jewels sparkling in the dark
like million stars rejecting Lvna's
silver rays.
The bath itself was arranged as fol-
lows: On the great Persian rug in the
center of the room Ernestine spread
her gold, a solid layer first, then heaps
and mountains of it. Next the sacks
and trays containing the various pre-
cious and semi-precious stones were
placed in the receptacleS from which
they were to flow, or within reach of
the bather'S hand. Kneeling in gold
tossing the coins recklessIy with her
pink toes, or treading them underfOOt
with an air of disdain, she reached for
a. vase to shower a stream of diamonds
over her naked shoulders. She crowned
herself by arranging the biggest stones
systematically in her hair, formed
them into crests and fancy pictures,
Strewed one of her arms with a pro-
fusion of chips in imitation of a dia
mond encrusted Indian idol that she
had seen, built towers of ''crystallized
carbon" and lowered them again by
the shot from a toy gun, loaded with
priceless rubieS.
One of her favorite pastimes was to
arrange jets d'eau of sapphires and
opalS, or to lie under a miniature Nj
stones which, she thought, insured
long life, health and prosperity. At
ter all. there was method in her mad
ness. Ernestine believed firmly in the
sympathetic powers Of the gems she
adored. and for that reason never
failed to take a shOW1r'' of turQuOises,
of which she possessed a glorious col
lection. The Persian g-nl. 80. uI,l--
know, stands for success, and Ernes-
tine never tired drawing her arms
through a heap of them or of taking
handouts to press against her face and
brow.
Pearls mean tears she exclaimed;
Il viii have a good cry over my lost
youth, the failures ana diSappOintments
of my professional career" And over
her head she emptied a bowl of pearls.
Quaint mechanical devices of her
own invention allowed ETnestine to in
dulge in sapphire falls and topaz
''cataracts," the latter being particu-
larly desirable at night, for supersti-
tion has it that the topaz prevents bad
dreams The jewel bath proved GER
tainly a preventive against insomnia,
for the labor and care involved were
prodigious as Ernestine never went
to bed until every one of the stones.
pearls and chips. every gold piece, big
and small, was back in its proper place.
counted over twice and checked off,
according to her lists. Sometimes it
took hours to perform this work, hours
before the great yaWning doors of the