The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-10-28
TEARS AMID LUXURIES
Mrs, Russell Sage Is Burden
ed by Her Fortune.
WEEPS NEARLY EVERY DAY

WCCFO NCHnII EVEhI VA 7
Is Weighed Down by the Problem
of How to Distribute $50, 900 900.
Has Already Given Away Fifteen
| Million Dollars.
A New York dispatch to the Chica-
! go Record-Herald says: Mrs. Russell
Sage has new velvet carpets in her
home, $50 Fifth aVenue-soft. rich
and beautiful, with deep, thick pile
into which the foot sinks.
Il am glad" said woman who
has known Mrs. Sage for years,
that she could have these velvet
carpets before she died. In all the
years of her married life down at
| the house at sos Fifth avenue she
had nothing but an ancient Brussels
carpet on her parlOr floor. 1t was
one she had when she first went to
keeping house, and had those great
set medallions in it that they used
to use for carpet patterns forty years
ago. The nap was worn off all over
it so that the brown warp showed
through.
Use Mating in ParlOr.
When it finally got so bad that
it was impossible to use it longer
mating was put down in the parlor,
as it long had been in the rest of
the house. She always used the old
hnr OF tvr hn he,
she was married, such as one saw in
country parlors forty years ago, and
there were great cracks in the par
lor walls of the house at Forty-sec-
ond street, which went for years
without fixing.
Mrs Sage suffered from NORTH
cation at such things, just as much
as any other woman would, and I'm
glad she's able to have the velvet
carpets for few years before she
dies. But they came too late to
give her much pleasure. After they
had all been put down and the furni-
ture was in place she walked through
the house observing and admiring
and then sat down and cried. She
said not a word in explanation, but
it was easy to understand She was
thinking of all the stinted years
when she might have enjoyed such
things, and now she had them when
she is too old to care much.
Wceps Nearly Every Day.
There scarcely is a day that Mrs.
Sage does not weep" continued this
old friend of hers. "She simply sits
and cries at the intolerable burden
of having 100000 on her should
ers, at the burden of distributing
that huge fortune in the way that
will do the most good. She is so
years old and has a New England
conscience She wants to do just
the right thing with it all, and it
requires an amount of thought and
study and imposed a feeling or re-
sponsibility that is hard on an old
woman who only wants quiet cor
ner to spend her few remaining
years in"
Curious stories can be encount-
cred among the old acquaintances of
Mrs Sage to show her limited COM
mand of money in the old days. She
was deeply interested in the Wo-
mans Hospital, but when one of the
board of managers asked her for a
contribution one day Mrs. Sage con-
| fessed that she could not give money.
Il can give you clothing and hos
Dital supplies" she said, for Mr..
Sage will pay bills that / run up but
| | can't give you cash"
Explains Lack of Cash.
! This explains Mrs. Sage's gener-
Osity at times and her apparent lack
of it at others when cash was need
ed, and she could not give and would
not explain why. Her lack of COM
mand of money went almost to in
credible extent at times. An old
member of the Emma Willard Alum
nae Association recalls an incident
at a meeting which took place at
/ Mrs. Sage's home years ago, with
Mrs. Sage presiding. The associa-
ton was obliged to count every pen
ny, and when some committee mem
Der made a request for some postage
stamps to send out in letters there
was discussion as to whether or not
the stamps should be sent. The
amount asked for was only IS cents
worth, but Mrs. Sage let the discus
sion go on till finally a self-support-
ing woman arose and said: please
don't let us waste any more time
over this. l will pay for the stamps. -
Allowance $50 a Week.
One woman who knew Mrs. Sage
well in the years when she lived at
500 Fifth avenue declares that she
never had more than $50 a week to
run that house and pay all her own
expenses. Some of her earliest ex-
penditures of money after she be-
came a widow are rather pathetic to
RECIPE FOR