Omaha daily bee., 1906-09-23
BY Edmund Russell.

by EQfnunQ Russell.
IF the frst missionaries had been pretty
women all heather lands would long
ago have been converted.
An editor said to me the other day
Every pretty woman who comes into
this Office wants to tell me about a rail-
road concession she has somewhere In
South America"
Marie Robinson Wright has done even
better; she his made them give her the
land from which she can make her own
concessions, with enough placer gold lying
around to pick up and pay for railroads
while they are being built. Long ago two
pretty women opened bank In wan
street.
wall street said;-"some OF us must
marry them"
1t took two millionnaires to close the
bank.
Then two homeiy women opened a bank
In Wall street.
The bank closed itself.
Neither case accomplished anything.
Now q pretty woman plays samier
game.
She routs by hank movement. Goes
down to Patagonia and gets a concession
to turn the Antarctic circle into roller
skating rink. Then comes back for the
business world 70 fall At her feet. Mill
Ions are hers. and without the usual con-
ditions.
The Peruvian government has given Mrs.
WriEht--of course, there Is no Mr.. Wright
a princessipality OF nifty thousand square
acres, or miles-T forget which. am sure
rhey only Intended to give her four or hvs
acres, or perhaps, a bottle of Peruvian
syrup; but she smiled at the old Incan
deputy who came 10 offer the contract, and
the ciphers kept pihng on till he had gwen
her half OF Peru. She conquered easier
than Pizarro.
Woman like she thought there might De
some concessions left In Bolivia where she
has Just returned from q thousand mile
mrleback trip. win not be ungAllant
enough TO suggest any over-eenerosty or
cirhers here. She must have smiled at the
mules and they forgot they were carrying
her where she oughtn't TO 80, for no pretty
wo nan had over made such an itinerary
Def Jre.
she uncoiied herself from the sofa OF the
Countess Castelmenardo's mansion, where
she was staying, and came 70 me over the
puma strewn floor. I had expected the
scrawny, scrotty woman who doesn't get
concessions, yet ! knew she had gotten
concessions, SO ought to have expected
what found.
She Is . dream of. woman. nearly SIX
feet high. with the grace of a serpent ana
the smile Of a child. II felt ciphers add
ing themselves to sverything" she saao'
She was sorry to have kept me waluns
ten minutes. told her I could nave
waited forty years The furniture was
old, the Van Buren, mahogany mixed WIN
twisted rush chairs from the philippines
in the form OF peacocks. Strange baskets
from the isles Of the Amazon, where
JOAQUIN Miller tells us Gods poet rs ST.
lsnos," were strewn round without any
apparent purpose, mixed with poisoned ar
rows and the skins of tropical birds.
The lady herself was swathed IN cling
ing shawls with long. trailing fringes that
caught IN ali the baskets as she passed
These shawla made her look even taller
and emphasizsd the lines "a her superb
figure, and there was some rather bar
baric embroidery above the fringes thai
rudely caught and held my glance while
was stAmmsring ciphers, and the worh
was completed by a great comb OF golden
tortoiseshell. as big as a pot in her ta"ny
blond hair.
Marie Robinson Wright, who came Of
an ante-bellum Southern family which
owned acres Of happy slaves, has visited
every South American republic and
shaken hands with every President ex.
cept Castro. who doesn't extend the glad
hand TO ''NOrtherners. Really she hal
won the friendship OF these hospitabls RnC
emotional people so often misrepresentee
In travellers' tales. She has crossed tbs
Andes Ave times at various points, hai
climbed perilous peaks, peeped into tn.
craters OF extinct volcanoes. has allowed
herself to be dropped into abysses II
buckets to explore endless mines. yet sh,
still remains q most feminine woman. Sh,
has been at the source OF the Amazon
without becoming an Amazoniani hal
talked to monkeys In their native tongues
without losing her soft Southern accent
She knows the Rio de Ia Plata from source
to crocodile strewH estuary. and yet cal
find her way TO the best drassmaksr A
the Rue de Ia PAX without a guide; hal
had many years OF tropic sunburn, fever
plague and mountain sickness" and stil
remains very pretty woman. riotins Il
health.
Mrs. Wright has recently been maxim
studies In Chill. Peru and Bolivia OF pecu
Ilar interest to business men and capital
lists. who are now turning with new al
tsntion to the teeminE natural resource
that almost stits each other in their tropi
cal luxurlance. She believes that our IN
dustrial alliance with these sister republic
might be greatly strengthened. as in Chill
for example. where the United States onl
ranks fourth, when II should stand first 1
International trade.
Particularly does Mrs. WRIGHT. a. an
toys with tan made Of turquoise bin