The age-herald., 1901-11-24
New York. November 2

I frankly confess my inability to fathom
 the mystery. I have asked all the women
 I know-and I say with some pride that
 I know none who cannot possess a trunk
 full of diamonds if they choose-if they have seen the Hope diamond, if they
 know for whom it was bought here, and
 who has possessed k or will possess it:
 I can learn nothing positively. I am
 sorry to admit that I did not believe
 women were so lacking of that jewel
 called Truth, before my experience in
 chasing the great Hope diamond. Many
 of them tell me they have seen it, but
 dare not say who owns it. know they
 are telling false stories" as little girl
 said to me one day when she heard her
 mother relating an imaginary experience. Now, I will say positively who has not
 got it. To begin with Mrs. William
 Aster; she has not seen it and does not
 want it. Young Mrs. Jack" Astor has
 not even heard of it. She thinks it Cape diamond because she did hear years ago that there was a Cape of Good Hope. Mrs. Hermann Oelrichs and Mrs. Corne- Illus Vanderbilt, Jr., have 1t not and sigh
  she has not got 1t yet. Mark the em- phasis on the yet" But how about my dear little bride from Providence? Has young John got it? Who says 1t is Christmas present? This stone was chief crown jewel in 1868, when Louis XIV was the first gentleman and chief gallant in France. Well, there is some thing in common when you think of Louis and John Rockefeller; they were both pious. The greatest interest Is vested in the ownership of the diamond It will be a secret until Christmas. The woman who secures this diamond becomes an historic parsonage.
 English women in need of funds go to selling goods. They make buildings which have the merits of .spiritualistic seance, as they bring you face to face with de- parted ancestors or they make hats which cause their buyers to sigh for London fog. It is not so with our high born American girls, who, having em- parked on the ship or matrimony bump on the reefs of divorce, or with laSSies compelled to earn penny-I detest the word honest before penny, as find 1t does not uuy any more than dishonest one-by work of some sort or other. They go on the stage and check it out; l mean show themselves.
 Now, there is Miss Elsie Wolfe. She was the bane of my life at one time l hate private theatricals. yet to private theatricals I had to go. Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt was in those days working her way up the social stairs, ana some of the steps lay through the amateur per form ances of the Union League Theatre. Miss Elsie used to be star-just little twinkling star in a milky way of fash ionable stars-and I used to see her foucing about as my Lady Teazle. By the way, the two Gwynne sisters-Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt's sisters-played sometimes. They were quite talented
 particularly the fat one. She was TO- mantle, too. She married Fearing Gill, and as Gill had been an advance agent
 for a show, I expected to see her in a Broadway house with magnificent clothes and scenery, just as l saw Miss Clem- mons before Howard Gould got her a1s
 to himself in the holy bonds of matrimo- ny. They say the fat Miss Gwynne, after
 she became Mrs. Gill, was suppressed. Her husband being influenced by his brother-in-law, Cornelius to give up the
 stage and take to literature. Well, to come back to Miss de Wohe, she shines
 today as star at the opening of the season. All the women are raving about her clothes.
 
 Oh. yes. the stage is great place. It reminds me of what Fisk said of a cem- etery when he refused to subscribe for a fence. Those who are out don't want
 to get in, and those who are in can't get out" To this rule, however there are exceptions, as, for instance, Miss Edith KingLon, who left Daly's to become
 a leader of fashion when she married
 George Gould. Of course. she did not f0
 body ever thought the Gould 8 would get Into the drawing-room. Also Miss Clemmons, who became the beautiful charming and charitable Mrs. Howard Gould. Society obtained two recruits from the stage: and the stage obtained recruits from society. Mrs. Wilmerding after somewhat stormy experience in matrimony in the hands of money sharks, and in sanitarium, landed rig-.t side up on the stage Also Mrs. -loodgood, Mrs. Leslie Carter and Mrs. Potter What book these women could write. Suppose it had a chapter or two by 4-rs. Langtry. And now they say Mrs. Fred Gebhard l has some idea of becoming star. Well, why not?
 | went to the horse show. think there were some horses. If so, I did not see | them. All I saw was people. Some of my horsey friends talked horse at times; but as a rule they lapsed into talking automobiles. I nodced the women of | the smart set gave as much attention to hats and gowns as they did to the | ring. I like the horse shows. They bring l people together, you know. There Is only one thing that is not pleasant and 1t is that every season brings forth the new | crop of buds" Young girls are sweet, lovely. attractive and lovable but one | feels gray or bald-neaded when their mamas appear with them as matrons and you happen to remember those ma mas on the day they were married or | perhaps, before. For instance, there was | Mrs Newbold Edgar, with her sweet lit- | tie daughter, Miss Julia L. Edgar. Gra- | cious. 1t seems but yesterday when she | was Miss Agnes Strachan in the big, | old brick house on Waverly place. What
 hot day 1t was when she was married, and how cold and refreshing the cham | pagne was. And Miss Fannie Iselin, | daughter of MT. c. Oliver Iselin Her | mother was Miss Fannie Farmer. Do | you remember the party on Fifth avenue l when the fire engines rattled up the ave-
 nue and we all slipped on our coats and
 wraps and went to the fire? How we saw
 the f1remen fight the blaze with the ici- cles hanging from hose and ladder, and then went back to the Iselin's, had sup per and danced ever so late? What a jolly party 1t was. Oh, yes; these horse | shows are like dOuches of cold watar