River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-03-16

the widows of our military and naval heroes.
Conspicuous among the number are the two
surviving widows Of presidents, Mrs Mary
Lord Harrison and Mrs. Grover Cleveland.
Mrs. Cleveland spends most of her time In the
family home at Princeton or at her farm IN
New Hampshire, though she has OF late de-
voted no little time to residence in Switzer'
land, where her children are being educated.
Mrs. Harrison, likewise spends much time
abroad, though she maintains home in 1ndi-
annapolis and INDUCES in occasional lengthy
vacations in a log house in the Adirondacks.
OF the widows of the nations warriors
probably the public hears most frequently OF
Mrs Phil Sheridan, widow of the famous cav
airy leader, although Mrs. Logan and Mrs
Pickett, the latter the widow OF the Confeder-
ate chieftain who led the desperate charge at
Gettysburg, have been more or less In the
public eye owing to their literary work and
their careers on the lecture platform. Mrs.
Sheridan, alike to both these other widows,
resides at the national capital and an anecdote
is told Of Mrs Sheridan to the effect that she
silenced some gossip which speculated as to
her remarriage by the remark, Il would rather
be the widow Of Phil Sheridan than the wife
of any man alive"
And speaking of the remarriage of widows,
it may be added that one of the circumstances
that renders these widowed women of wealth
interesting to many people is the possibility
of remarxiage-an ever-present incentive to
speculation, even though the object of such
public curiosity may have not the slightest
intention Of again entering the bonds OF mat
rimony And that this solicitude is by no
means restricted to disinterested observers or
confined to the United States is eloquently at
tested by the attentions which eligible mem
bers of the nobility of Europe have showered
upon Mrs Potter Palmer, Mrs Jack" Gard-
ner Mrs. Marshall Field and-most courted Of
all-Mrs. Nonnie Worthington Stewart Leeds,
the dazzlingly wealthy as well as dazzlingly
beautiful young widow Of a multimilliona1re
who garnered the golden harvest of the tins
plate industry and sundry railroads.
Almost all the wealthy American widows
seem to have penchant for spending more or
less of their time in Europe and there are 9TH
ers who live there continuously, returning but
seldom to their native land, and then only
for visits. In this class are the widows of for
eign diplomats who receive pensions from the
governments served by their late husbands.
conspicuous example is afforded by Baroness
Sternburg-the former Miss Langham, Ken
lucky beauty, who as the result Of genuine
romance that began as case of love at first
sight on transatlantic liner, married Baron
Speck Won Sternburg, a very capable German
diplomat, who lost his life as the result of dis
ease contracted while serving his government
in India.
In the field Of art many American widows
such as Mrs st. Gaudens, are factors, if not
by virtue of their own talents at least GUS
todians Of the masterpieces left by their de-
ceased husbands, and the same is true in the
spheres of literature and public life where the
collection of the papers of an eminent man or
the publication Of his memoirs has frequently
devolved upon the widow. In the financial
world wealthy widows, by sheer force of their
monetary possessions WELD an influence rec
ognized by all men of affairs. The most no
table example, of course, is that afforded by
Mrs Hetty Green, who controls one OF the
wea1thiest and most powerful of the New York
banks.