The National tribune., 1907-10-24

The beautiful and youthful widow of
Cornelius Vanderbilt and her five chill
dren have been very much in the pub
lie eye of late. In August last Miss
Gladys, the youngest of these, became
OF age, and received the large fortune
left her by her father. Following quick
ly on the heels of this interesting event
came the announcement of her engage
ment to a member of one of the Oldest
most distinguished noble families q
Hungary. Since then the papers have
been full OF the social doings of Miss
Gladys and her fiancee, of the reconcile
alton of the eldest boy, Cornelius, Jr--
with the other members of the family.
of the supposed disapproval of Alfred
and Reginald of their sisters choice OF
husband. and of the engagement Of
Mrs. Vanderbilt herself to some titled
foreigner. How much truth there may
be in these stories it is impossible to
tell. That Miss Gladys is to marry
Count Szechenyi. however, there is
probably no doubt, since no contradfc-
ton of the announcement of her en-
gagement has yet been made by any
member of the family. She is said TO
be a very sweet, simple, unassuming
GIRL not beauty by any means, but OF
winning personality, caring very little
for dress and extremely popular among
her young friends. While she was al
school she was the editor of the little
school paper, which would seem to in
dictate that she must have tastes and
abilities a little above those of most
society girls. She has a sweet voice,
which has been carefully cultivated by
the best teachers the famous opera
singer, Jean de Reszke, being among
the number. Count Szechenyi. whom
she is to marry shortly, belongs as has
been stated. to most distinguished
Hungarian family, proud and aristo-
cratic in the extreme. Probably no per-
son in the world, unless it is a Chinese
mandarin.s feels more keenly the i'm
mense distance which separates him
from the common people than an Hun
garian nobleman. Count SZechenyi's an
cestors have all been very much in evil
denee state affairs, as diplomats, SOL
diers, statesmen, he himself being at
the present time member of the Hun
garian House of Lords He is, however,
comparatively poor. and one cannot
help thinking that Miss Gladys's tidy
little fortune of S15,000,000 did not
tend to make her less charming in his
eyes. or less desirable as a part. 1t is
said that while as the wife of the Count
Miss Gladys will be received at court
at Budapest, she cannot be at Vienna,
unless the Emperor makes her case spe-
cial and dispenses with the usual proof
of nobility of 16 ancestors. Shades OF
Vanderbilt, respectable grocer, If de-
parted spirits do keep in touch with
earthly affairs they must smile often
times To such an extent does this
aristoeratic feeling prevail IN Vienna
that even if the Emperor does decree
that she shall be received at court, it is
feared she may find herself rather un-
pleasantly placed If she resides in Vien-
ma So few of the marriages of our
wealthy American girls with titled for
eigners have proved happy-indeed.
r. liz
that one wonders that such alliances
continue TO be made. but human nature
learns very little from the unhappy ex-
periences of others. To be an actual
Countess or. Duchess or anything else
that puts her in that charmed removed
aristocratic class of the nobility is more
than most girls can resist, and tho they
are perfectly. we'll aware that they are
married on account of their money.
seem content TO have It So
The smoking habit is rapidly increas-
ing among the women of England and
this country. OF course, the women of
Spain, Russia, the far East and other
countries have always smoked, but un-
til quite recently it has been very un-
usual to see a cigaret between the lips
of an Anglo-Saxon woman. In Eng
land the habit has become so pro-
nocnced that special ears are now pro-
mated by a sign hung on the outside
bearing the words Ladies' Smoking"
In sthis kcoantry a large part of our
fashionable women smoke, and others
also who do not belong to that class.
Many of the swell women have their
cigarets made especially for them, with
the monograms stamped in gold on
each wrapper. These wrappers are
made of the finest macerated and laid
corn shuck, and are positively without
odor in the burning. Such cigarets are
every one made by hand, and sell for
50 a. packet The smoking habit is by
no means confined to Older women,
but many young girls are addicted TO
1t. On calling at the house of a friend
not long ago a lady was surprised, and
Ii must be confessed rather shocked, TO
have the sweet, young daughter of the
house greet her father, who came into
the room during the call, with, Hello.
papa; did you bring home my cigar
ets?'
There is something almos: pathetic
in Miss Phoebe w. Couzins breaking
away from the cause with which she
has been identified for so many years.
Miss CouZins was a young. handsome.
unusually clever woman when she took
up the fight for Woman's Rights, and
was one of the bright particular stars
of their conventions for a long period
of time. She now reluctantly admits
that Woman Suffrage is an unmistake-
able failure, and that in the States
where women have been given the bal
lot public life has been deworalized
rather than uplifted by the experiment
That women are out of place in poll
tics she confesses is true. and she gives
as reasons for this the facts that they
haven't the necessary nervous force for
public life. and that they cannot be i'm
personal in such matters, but persist In
mixing up principles and personalities.
A woman's fanaticism in religion is also
another reason why she is not fit to be
trusted with public affairs. A popular
clergyman could probably control the
vote of every woman in his entire con-
gregation. and this same feeling would
lead women to attempt to impose their
religious views on a community il they
had the power of the ballot Miss Cou-
zins has at last come to the conclusion
that the vast majority of American
women do not care to vote, and that
even where the women have been en-
franchised there is much Indifference
evinced by them with regard to politi-
cal questions. In Colorado the results
have not been helpful TO the cause of
Woman's Rights. The women in that
State have either voted just as their