The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1911-12-15
NEWS OF YESTERDAY
One Woman That Great Wealth
Did Not Spoil.
Mrs. Leland Stanford, Her Husband'o
Chief Counselor, Received Social
Distinctions Simply and With
Unaffected Demeanor.
BY e. }. EDWARDS.

BY e. J.. EDWARDS.
The late Leland Stanford. governor
of California in 1861. the original
p~lanner Of the Central Pacific rail
road. the builder Of owe 500 miles OF
that railroad at the rate of two miles
a day, the promoter who drove the
final spike of the Central Pacific at
Promontory Point. Utah. In 1863.
United States senator from 1885 un-
til his death in 1893. and the creator
of the Leland Stanford university
with an endowment Of $50. 600. 900.
sometimes in speaking of his career
and its great triumphs would say to
his friends:
II owe it all, first. to the training
in early boyhood which | received
from my mother. and second. to my
wife, with whom I formed an ac-
quaintance that ripened into betrothal
when ] was a young man on a farm
near Albany, N. Y. and she a school
girl at Albany"
In all OF Leland stanford's career
in California. whittier he vent after
LILO OlICA experiment az 0"ySs -
Wisconsin. largely because he was en-
couraged to do SO by the young wom-
an who became his wife, his chief
counselor, the one person in whom he
placed implicit confidence. was that
wife. 1t was she who encouraged him
to p%ersevere while others pronounced
the Pacific railroad project a chimera,
saying that it was impossible to carry
a railroad oyer the Rocky mountains.
When wealth came and Governor
Stanford had become distinguished
for public services. Mrs. Stanford re-
manned the same ~unassuming. unos-
,tentatious m that she was in the
days when her husband and herself
were beginning their careers. She
was fully competent to maintain all OF
the social dignities and prophecies
which were incumbent upon her hus-
band as governor and afterward a.
United States senator, but she cared
very little for what is called social
life, and her chief delight was in her
domestic circle. surrounded by a few
friends who cared for her rather than
for her fortune and the position OF
her husband.
Shortly after Leland Stanford went
to Washington as United States SEN
| ator. Mrs. Stanford received almost in
Vulnerable social tributes. The great
wealth OF her husband, his disttn-
,guished career in public life and bis
prominence as the originator of the
Central Pacific railroad all served TO
make her more conspicuous than the
wives OF any but two or three Of the
senators. But how simply and with
what unaffected demeanor she receive
| ed these social distinctions n anec-
!dote will illustrate.
Shortly after her arrival in Wash
ington with her husband a committees.
whose members we're among The
Iproudest and most distinguished %
women in Washington associated with
~Ioficial life, called upon Mrs. Stan
ford. They laid before her the pros
~Ipectus for a great charity ball. They
told her that 1t was the hope to raise
by means of the ball a larger amounA
,of money for the particular philan-
|thropy they had in view than had ever
before been earned by an entertain
ment for charity: and they added
that they sought permission to ado
Mrs. S%tanford's name to the list "a
| lpatronesses, all of whom, they as
isured her, were to he ladies Of high
official distinction.
Mrs. Stanford looked over the list
l4She discovered in it the names of al
most every woman Of social promi-
| nence in Washington. To be a patron
ess of that entertainment was to wear
the badge Of the national capitals so
,cial aristocracy.. But Mrs. Stanford,
turning to the ladies. said:
II thank you for your Kindness II
asking me to become a ~patroness a
this charity ball. But I ought to saJl
Ito you that l am a very plain womsni
II have never cared very much about
balls or that kind Of thing. I shou11
mot care about that kind of pleasure
now. It would not interest me. BuS
II nm greatly interested In your
philanthropy and I will ask you, In
stead of accepting my name as
~tpatroness. to accept something slsel
which ! will low give you"
She went to her desk in an adjoan1
ltng ON. understanding upon q
IlsNp Of paper and gave tho alp to thsll
ladies. When they looked ut the WRIT
ing, they saw that was q check fee'
i've hundred dollars. en-
Copyright. 1871: by H.. J.. Edwards. ~
Rights Reservsd.)
In Nc Hurry.
~. rnatv (meaninRly1-l don't