The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-17
TRAINED FOR AN
ENORMOUS TASK
Mary Hartman Viii Carry Out
Fathers Nish
ADMINISTERING ESTATE
American Girl with Pluck and Ability
Falls Heir to the Responsibility
of Managing Fortune Worth
100000, 900.

fTODn the OlGNeldnQ tid11 I)edlCAs
If you were on the sunlt side of thirty,
at the very age when woman Yields
her greatest fascination and power,
backed by wealth, reared to luxury and
the pursuit of pleasure, and il suddenly
fate laid at your feet fortune of $780,
100000 to manage, what would you do?
Go right on pursuing more extravagant
pleasures plunging more deeply into lux
ury seeking new social worlds to con-
quer?
Perhaps, but not if you were a girl
like she whom fate has thus recently
enveloped with a mantle of enormous
wealth. for she is a rear American girl,
springing from good, old-fashioned Amer
lean stock, believing firmly in her duty
to the individual and the community,
and fully alive to her grave responsible
| tiles.
Such a girl is Mary Hartman, Who it
is believed, shares with her dead fathers
closest men friends and advisers the
secret of carrying out the late financiers
wishes.
Edward Fl. Hartman left his mighty
fortune, real and personal, unbroken by
SO much tiny bequest to his wife.
! who was Mary Averill of Rochester, N.
| Y 1t is hers to give or to hold, hers to
divide or to retain intact, hers to lose or
to increase. But to woman of Mrs.
Harrimans temperament, distinctly fem
mime; above all things a devoted wife
and mother, the burden of managing
such fortune would prove beyond her
strength, especially in her first hours of
grief, for a happier coupe than Mr.. and
Mrs. Hartman was seldom seen.
The Russell Sage fortune is managed
by syndicate or committee, working
under Mrs. Sage's directions to carry out
every wish of the one-time wizard of
Wall street The Hartman fortune
promises to be managed in very much
the same way, but by individuals ap-
pointed by the widow.
Has Five Children.
Mrs. Harrimans closest friend and adj
| wiser, Judge Robert s. Lovett, has al
ready been elected Mr.. Harriman's sue
cessor as president of the Union Pacific.
The eldest son, Walter Averill Hartman,
just out of college, is studying practical
railroading in order to safeguard the
family's enormous railroad holdings.
Cornelia, the eldest daughter, is married
to Robert L. Gerry, and is a gentle,
womanly type, willing to leave all bust
ness responsibilities resting upon the
shoulders of her husband, a son of Com
modore Elbridge T. Gerry. Miss Carol,
the fourth child is just out of her teens,
! her debut in society deferred by her
! fathers unfortunate death, while Roland,
the fifth child, is preparing for college.
This leaves the second daughter. Mary
as the real rock of strength upon which
the mother will lean in carrying out her
husbands wishes. And Mary Hartman
will turn her back on social conquests,
on the pleasures which wealth can buy,
! on her many civic and philantbropic in
terests. to help her mother carry the bur-
! den and administer the expenditure of a
fortune of upward Of $60000,000.
This girl, who will touch in a dozen
| ways the fortunes of the family is of
medium height, admirable carriage, with
determination written in every line of
face and figure. She has clear olive
complexion, regular but not striking fea-
! lures dark brown hair and eyes a trife
lighter. In speech she Is incisiVe, often
abrupt. She reaches conclusions quickly
and often makes mistakes which she is
slow to admit, but quick to undo, dis
playing resourcefulness rather than great
caution, a fault which time, with great
responsibility, will eliminate. On the
other hand she is intensely practical
and business-like, always just and fair.
She has inherited much of her fathers
indomitable spirit and marvellous capaci-
ty for securing results, while her sisters
have the more domestic and social traits
of their mother.
Saved Her Husband Worry.
Mrs Hartman was regarded by all who
knew her as an ideal wife, helping her
husband by saving his nervous strength
and sparing him all petty domestic an
noyances. In the administration of
household and social affairs it has always
hot
turned for practical help. 1t was Mary
who audited accounts and cut down bills
and o. KID statements for the dead
financier's final inspection and payment.
In the last hard fight for the life of hus-
band and father it was Mary's resource
fulness and practical ability which never
failed the brave wife. And now it g
Mary whose will and executive ability
have taken the helm in the mountain re-
treat OF the Hartman family.
Aside from the enormous railroad hold
ings of the family, which in time will
be handled by the eldest son, and for
whose management Mr.. Hartman made
ample provision there are huge blacks
of stock, the dividends of which must
be looked after real estate rentals which
must be collected. to say nothing OF an
Inheritance tax amounting to not less
than sl,OO0000. which must be paid.
Mary Hartman has been trained well
Tor ner TASK. Hers has DSel cSScHtidiiy
an outdoor life which accounts for her
perfect health, her fine eye, her fine COM
pexion, as well as her steady hand.
Not Slave to Society.
When the uarrimans entered the social
arena of New York Mary Hartman won
! through her very Indifference to the
-Four Hundred" What she enjoyed in
| the social whirl she selected and did,
| but she never became a slave to its de-
| mands She first attracted attention by
| her fine horsemanship. At Tuxedo, N.
| y, which is near the Arden estate, Miss
| Hartman never failed to capture rib
| bon for her mount. At Southampton,
! Long Island, where the Harrimans gener-
| ally spent their summers, she never failed
| to carry off some honors in the riding and
| hunting set. AS a member of the Orange
| County Hunt she has covered the rough
est territory that ever cursed or blessed
! hunting club in this country.
| Miss Hartman was also one of the
| first women whips in the coaching set,
] and every spring is seen handling the
J reins over four horses on the regular
| runs to Arrowhead Inn or Washington
| Heights She was trained to drive by
| the famous English whip, Morris q.
| Hewlett, and she is member of the
Ladies' Coaching Club.
During her western trips with her
father she took special delight in riding
unbroken broncos of which she never