The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-11-24

ton, in the winter. She is one Of the
most precious institutions OF the New
England metropolis Her summer home
Is just outside the fashionable part Of
| Newport Every year her birthday is
celebrated by the loyal Bostonese as If
she were a princess, and every year she
! becomes a more striking figure in the
world.
Richard WaEner's Widow.
Cosima. widow of Richard Wagner and
| daughter Of Franz List. belongs to the
! aristocracy of melody and harmony and
rhythm by virtue of her relation 10 these
two great musical figures. She is the
only survivor of the three women who
exercised noteworthy influence upon
Wagner. OF them some one has said:
THE first he married; the second he
/ loved. the third married him"
Fraulein Minna Planer-the woman he
married when he was twenty-three-liyed
until 1866. She was good woman with
limited horizon, who never dreamed that
She was the wife of genius. Cosima.
the woman who married him. was the
wife Of Won Buelow when she met Wag-
ner. She fell IN love with the apostle Of
the music Of the future and believed he
needed her. So did Won BuelOw. her hus-
band, who already had begun TO love an
other woman and needed COsima no long
eT. The desired marriage could not take
place as Yet. however. no matter how
complacent Herr Won Buelow might be-
| because Frau Nina was still alive. but
four years after her death Cosima and
Wagner were wed Won Buelow further
ing their union in every possible way.
! having secured annulment OF their mar
! Tiage meanwhile.
"The Woman He Loved"
Wagner was welded 70 Cosima when he
was fifty-seven. just as ne was finishing
his last and bitterest struggle. He had
met Nine Mathilde Wesendonk, the
woman he loved" when only forty. She
wrote poetry which he set 20 music: she
was the comforter Of his exile in Zurich;
she was with him when he wrote Iris
tan" and without her-"the Holy Ma
| thilde"-he probably could not have writ
ten it. Their love is said 10 have been
pure. but the husband seems not TO have
thought 80. When he by chance read
certain love letters that had passed be-
tween Wagner and Nine. Wesendonk. the
composer had 70 get out in a hurry
Wagner's first wife shared his meager
years and complained; Mathilde was VITA
him in exile and inspired: Cosima's
shrewd practical executive qualities
helped him win the substantial financial
rewards Of his great musical works long
before his death in 1883. To-day his heirs
receive 100000 a year. exclusive OF the
( 'Parsifal' returns thanks 10 Cosima.
She has upheld the Wagner banner in
continuing the Bayreuth festivals and in
fighting to keep "Parsifal' sacred for
BayreUth, America only having braved
her displeasure by giving the opera else
where 1t should be remembered, how
ever that Heinrich Conreid. who defled
Cosima herself, Of German, not American
birth.
Cosima Wagner is stately IN her old
age; tall. slender and with snowy hair,
which admirably sets off her long. SEN
sitive face" She has an air OF high
breeding which sometimes becomes i'm
| perious,' not TO say dictatoriaL
DR.. Walkers Extensive Nerve.
Nobody ever claimed that DR.. Mary L.
Walker was an arstOcrat Of any sort
whatever Most folk count her rs a
harmless crank and nothing more. But
It certainly has taken nerve a-plenty to
defy custom and the law. as she has done
for years, in wearing trousers, west. -
frock coat, stiff. standing collar. and plug
hat
That she had real courage she showed
amply during the civil war Her father
was a country doctor. practicing near Os-
wego, y. Y. When still in her teens she
began TO wear a costume consisting Of
baggy trousers and waist made in one
piece combined with a short skirt. She
wore long curls then also. She wore SINH
lar clothes when teaching school. but
when she went to college at Syracuse dis
carded the pants" as she insists upon
calling trousers. II was then that she
had her one love affair, as described by
herself for the newspapers a few years
ago. She says she refused a fellow stu
dent because another girl. whom he mar
ried subsequently, was in love with him.
Anyway she went 10 the front in 1862
after the civil war broke out, mot as a
nurse" she says Indignantly, but as a
surgeon. with the pay of a surgeon. 0"
She was first sent to Col Dan McCook's
command. and ne gave up his tent to her
but next day got rid Of her, mot want
ing woman around" by sending her
outside the lines to attend a mythical
sick woman. As he hoped. the Confed-
crates captured her. but on learning her
sex, sent her inside the Union lines unin-
jured.
Suceors Wounded Soldiers.
She persisted and was sent TO Burn
sides command, near Warrenton. Va.
where she found lot of sick and wound
ed soldiers in charge of a man surgeon.
who was worn out and needed rest. She
cared for them so well that much OF the
prejudice against her disappeared. She
served in General Thomas command in
Virginia anG elsewhere. often appearing
on the field. and was captured again bv
the Confederates, after having received
an ugly wound. remaining four months
IN Castle Thunder, Richmond, before be-
ing exchanged.
Returning to Washington, she set I'D