The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-06
HER SOCIAL AMBITION
TALE OF A WOMAN WHO Sue
cEEDED IN LIFE
Left Widow She Took Her Children
to Europe and Began Campaign to
Place Them in High Society-Lesson
Contained in Her Career

A book entitled 1.-THE Highroad, pub
lished anonymously not long ago, is full
of deep insight into human nature.
1t is the confession of a worldly wise
ambitious mother who is determined
her children shah be known as mem
bers Of the best society and obtain a
position among the nobility. The wom-
an herself comes of the plainest South
ern stock and marries man of equally
humble birth in Virginia and has three
| daughters and a son. Her husband is a
merchant in a small way and his wife
spends all the time she can obtain
away from her babies in reading nov
els of high life in England.
She revels in the titles, descriptions
of old country houses and mentally
makes up her mind that some day she
will see them. Her husband has ac-
quired considerable wild land and is
doing a fairly prosperous business
when he dies suddenly, leaving her
with an income sufficient for a quiet
manner of living But my lady now
has her chance and she makes the most
of it. Her husbands life insurance
amounts to $4,000 and with this and
her income she starts for Europe. She
puts the children in a fashionable
0S4AOOl anu litclAOS Tic acquaintance I'll
some of the people of a German town
who may be useful to her. There is
one prominent, man in the place who is
famous the world over and through
him obtains introductions which serve
her well in the future.
To make long story short, she Gre
ates the impression wherever she goes
that she is woman of great wealth
and position in her own country and
Ipforc cy11nlU RI her oCfafoc OF homo
until even her children believe in them.
She buys portraits of a sweet-faced
old couple who are dubbed grandfather
and mother and she leaves no stone
unturned to accomplish her ends. This
remarkable woman lied and schemed,
compromised herself, got into debt and
lived in a maze of intrigue for years
and finally married her three daughters
well-a3 the world calls well-and
brought all her plans to successful
issue. She. tells frankly of how she
studied the people she came in contact
with, how she humored and catered to
titled persons and of how she fortified
herself in every way against discov-
cry. She does not try to hide the fact
that she was not a nice woman, and
once or twice when her own son sheer
ed at her cold hand clasped her heart
and she wondered whether it had all
been worth while.
But on the whole she gives one to
understand that she thought it had
paid. The last chapters of the book
tell of how she conquered New York
society as she had done that of Europe
and England and by the same methods.
She throws her son in the company of
fascinating. unprincipled woman, who
nearly ruins him, and she is a great
success in this country as she has
been in other places. When we leave
| her the wild land has suddenly devel-
oped COAL. and she becomes as really
rich as She had led people to believe
| she was before.
But that woman is not dead yet. For
there is not much doubt that the story
is a true one and that she really did
all. that she claims. And if she is living
and there is any justice in this world,
any retribution for evil doing here as
we'll as hereafter, that mother who
moved her children as if they were
| chessmen took no thought of their
souls or their minds and sacrificed
everything, even her own reputation, to
place them in a certain social set, will
have to suffer for her actions. Some of
the New York smart set whom she re-
| fers to are easily recognizable, and it
is quite evident that the story she tells
| is genuine. 1t is terrible showing for
| a supposedly Christian woman in this
age, and is evidence of the moral
wreckage made by an overweening So
cial ambition. She married one of her
daughters to a title, the others to men
prominent in the social world. They
! live the lives of the fast set to which
| they belong. Some day that mother
will be made to answer for their souls,
and whatever their fate, by her own
! confession she is directly responsible.
They were mere puppets in her hands,
and the only thing for which she cared
was their worldly success. 1t would
| be we'll for all women who are ambi-
| tious for their children to read this
book, if for nothing else than to find
| out what not to do.