The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1908-11-01
Special to Tho Tribune.

into book When Hawthorne wrote
"Blithedale Romance everybody
! recognized that, though he was not
reall5t IN the modern sense OF the word,
| ne had definite persons In nnind-mem-
bers Of the queer little colony of So
cialists who made Brook farm famous
in the annals Of American literary his
! tory. The genial 'Autoc rat' delighted
/ in little personal touches When Will
liam Dean Howells was still Bos-
which there was no doubt as to local
color, Only short time ago "The
Opal, by an anonymous author, as
! tonished society in the Hub and the
metropolis by. a recital of episodes
known actually to have taken place.
"Mrs. Jack" as she is more usually
! called, the wealthy Boston art collector
! whose name has rightly or wrongly. be-
| come associated with deeds extraor-
| dinary, fantastic and unexpected, has
been featured, though in a minor role,
in literary production. Mrs H A.
Mitchell Keays. western writer. author
. OF The Road 10 Damascus" "He
7 that Eateth Bread with Ne" and
| other works, who has been living in the
precincts OF Harvard university for
some time past, in her latest novel, 81
her characters "Mrs. Planter" Of
"Moorway Court The personality
has Immediately been recognized as
drawn from Mrs. Gardner Of FenwaY
| Court, JUST "a psople are already specu.
lating as TO what governor Of Masss-
chusetts was really meant in the charao,
terization Of the dasbing bachelor,
tress, Edith Borringdon,' may or may
not be regarded as Identical with Miss
Ethel Barrymore, and whether tEIleI
Sargent the playwright, had any ac-
tual prototype.
! II Boston, including its dominance by
one lady. IS aptly suggested when
Christina says facetiously, :" II IN. sure
1t doesn u mater how late we are at that
| old musicale
1T viii annoy Mrs. Planter dread
| fully, protested Mrs Warder. Going
| to Moorway Court to q function is a.
ways to me like going TO church at
! Saint Peters and being waited for at
| the door by the Pope. -
| And later when Christina urges upon
| the governor OF the state that he should
marry Mrs. Planter, she receives the
I reply: She s ten years older than !
arl-more.'
"a There II be ten years less of her
then, remarked Christina consolingly.
And then think, she looked profound,
you II have that place, and all her
heaos and heaps of money. and pic
lures, and statues. and"
! Just such wonderulent why some no
| table has not succeeded in marrying the
| most famous widow in North America
is so characteristic OF social specula-
tion in the New England capital! For
| no American woman, IL is safe 20 say,
has been moro in the public eye than
Mrs. Jack -; none is quite so well
! known throughout the length and
1 IS ha oil &c off
! surprising 70 find how few people have
a definite knowledge of her personality
( and ccomplishments. Thus four men
not long ago, each from a different city,
meeting at hotel. were asked what
they knew of Mrs. John L. Gardner of
"Who IS that3 Mrs. Jack9' On being
| told that that lady was meant. the man
from New York replied: "Why, sho
the lion-tamer, isn't she 2'
The Philadelphia said: ''Oh, she's
the woman with that big Venetian pal
ace.'
The man from Pittsburg remembered
that Mrs Gardner had bought Japa-
ncse ldmono over his wife 8 head at an
auction sale. and the citizen Of Chi
csgo recalled that she was q woman
who had a fine feeling for music and
a liberal purse opened frequently 10
the needs of impecunious performers.
!
or incident about personality that has
! impressed itself upon the public as few
women have been able. Since Isabella
! Stuart OF fine New York family was
married TO one Of the wealthiest and
most arstocratic of Bostonians she has
consistently lived up to q reputation
! for doing remarkable things. The
Gothamite s recollection of her lion
tanning was due 10 the circumstance OF
I her borrowing q good sized cub-She
1 never actually owned il. as some news
/ papers stated-which had been on ex
f. hibition in an animal show. It is
! fact that for some days the animal was
! installed in the Gardner mansion, where
| it ran things, including the servants,
/ pretty much as no pleased, and. ac-
| cording to the Tumor, ran some of them
so far that they never returned 10 the
mansion. The creature was merely an
exuberant little romper, like any other
! kitten, but servants and neighboTs
! failed 10 appreciate the fun. When,
| however, The newspapers discovered
| what Mrs Gardner was doing the in
| cidents of her playful gamboling with
his youthful majesty naturally made
! good copy.
! Apart from such occasional feats as
! lion tanning. Mrs. Gardner has been
| distinguished for years for her patron
! age of struggling musicians, painters
and sculptors, She was largely re-
sponsible. il is understood, for the So
eial prominence of Timorhee Adamow--
ski, for many years one OF the chief
performers Of the Boston Symphony
orchestra and now one OF the most
celebrated private teachers in America,
and Of George Proctor. the pianist. In
Giosue Zineali, needy Italian sculp-
tor of the North End. she once found
q man capable of doing better than or
dinary commercial work and made il
possible for him TO get his start in life.
Once at South End theater she no,
ticed a, musician cheapiy attired and
evidently poorly paid, whose perform
ance was such that he seemed capable
of higher things. On inquiry she dis
covered that this man had written
music, but that he had no money to
pay for printing il or setting it up. |
Through her help he became a success
ful teacher and recipient of royalties |
on many successful compositions.