The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-10-21
PAUPER WOMAN LIVES
ALONE IN BIG PALACE
Unhappy, Though She Gets the Best
of Care and kindnesses Are
ShoWered on Her.

| Kansas City, Mo-, Saturday.-Yes, it's
pretty and grand here, and the matron
and everybody are good to me; but, OH
I'm SO lonely among all these empty
rooms and big halls. wish had some
company here or could go to some lit
tie country place where it wouldn't be SO
kind of awesome.
1t was thus that Mrs. Isidore Hatfield
spoke a few days ago of her solitary life
in the splendid Margaret Klock Armour
! Memorial Home for Aged Couples in
! Kansas City Mo. Mrs. Hatfield may we'll
feel lonely, for she is the sole inmate of
magnificent building that raises its I'M
posing gables from among stately trees
| that shade an estate several acres In
| extent. A matron and a corps of SER
wants labor to supply the wants and
| make comfortable the mistress Of all this
grandeur, and it would seem that the In
mate of such a charitable institution
| should be happy. But she is not for the
big empty rooms frighten her, and she
longs for friends and associates.
1t was not the original intention that
! the Margaret Klock Armour Home should
be the exclusive refuge of Mrs. Hatfield
! This condition of affairs is due to the
| peculiar regulations under which it was
| decreed the institution should be main
| tanned. Mrs Margaret Klock Armour Is
! the widow of S. B. Armour, brother OF
the late Phil Armour of Chicago.
Several years before Mr.. Armour's death
| he and his wife, while discussing what
| they could do in the way of establishing
a permanent charity, decided upon a
home for aged couples Mr.. Armour con-
tributed $4,000 to give the home a start,
and after his death, in 1899. his widow
| 1nnnlll1RAd 40 oh A1xr tvh IN r
ever other additional sum was necessary
to complete the institution.
| The home was built and furnished with
all the elegance and comfort woman of
| taste could devise The dedication was
the occasion for a ceremony in which the
leading people of the city took part. A
| matron was secured. servants were en-
| ployed and the massive doors of the re-
treat for aged couples were thrown open.
But the aged couples came not, and the
reason was not farsto seek Mr. and Mrs.
Armour, in their desire to endow a home
that would be unlike other charitable in
situations, decreed. first of all, that only
couples should be admitted These cou-
pies, it was provided must be not less
than sixty-fve years old; and, although
the home was designated as a charitable
institution the entrance fee was fixed at
5000 for each couple.
1t was this last provision that has kept
the Margaret Klock Armour Memorial
Home empty. AS few couples who wish
to spend their declining years in a home
have 5000 to pay for the privilege the
spacious halls echoed for months to the
tread of only the matron and the servant
At last Isidore Hatfield and his wife
bought an entrance to the home and
reigned supreme until year ago when
Mr. Hatfield died. Since that time no
other couples have come to live in the
big house among the trees, and Mrs Hat
field has been the desolate mistress of a
magnificence that pals upon and fright
ems her.