The Washington herald., 1914-03-22
AstorHuntington Wedding Scheduled for April 80
COSBY LITTLE CUPID HOLDS coNrAs The OLD HUDSON
Taxi? Oh, No! Omnibus Will Do for Brde-tobe
Millionaire S Prospective Wife
Saves Pennies for Trous-
seau, While He Works
Hard Daily-Life, at Fern
clife to Be Simple.

OAhe pace up tne HCdson, the marridBe
Of the head Of one OF the greatest Ameri-
can houses. Vincent Astor, and Helen
Dinsncre Huntington. daughter Of an
other line which has long been prominent
in American affairs.
The recent arrival from Europe Of the
mother of the bridegroom-to-be, Mrs.
Ava Willing Astor. the re-fitting Of the
famous yacht Mona, and announcement
of the wedding so shortly before the date
set todHy are concentrating the atten-
ton Of society folk upon the young
couple
Through the winter there was much
mystery about their plans. Many limited
at secret wedding. 1t was thought the
Mona was to be used for q mysterious
purpose.
This idea was fostered largely by the
simple tastes of the young couple. The
bride-to-be has extracted from her be-
trothed a promise that they will spend
most Of their lives on the beautiful banks
Of the Hudson. where she was brought
up and where Astor's 5oOo-acre Fern
cliffe estate lies. She is not unsociable.
nor at all ignorant of ball rooms, thea
ters and ''doings-" but she cares not .
whit for the formal side of society.
To BE Country Ceremony.
The wedding will be a country cere-
mansion on the Huntington estate, or in
the little country church nearby.
Young Astor has not been very we'll
this winter. He has suffered from pneu-
monia and bronchitis. It will be remem-
bered that his mother almost despaired
of his life when he was eight years old,
and when she hurried him of to st.
Moritz.
From the life Miss Huntington has led
1 = ha n
her husband will spend much time in the
open. The tall, blonde girl of twenty
was brought up almost entirely on the
Dig Huntington and Dinsmore places
along the Hudson, which were once held
by her grandfather. William B. Dins-
more late president of the Adams Ex-
press Company. She went to school in
Dobbs Ferry, which isn't a great dis
tance from her home, and she has spent
some winters in New York City.
Her first quarrel with Vincent came att
the age of nine-he being then eleven
She had planted an oak tree when three
years old with the aid of her grand
parents. Mr.. and Mrs. Robert p. Hunt
mGton. The tree had grown for six
Years and she proudly took her little Wis
itor from up the road out to look at
H. Astor remarked with a critical eyel
1t would take some years for the tree to !
be big enough to climb in. The visit
ended abruptly right there. but the next
day Vincent sought and obtained pardon |
over the telephone.
"HOneymoon ship" Nc!
At the time the Staten Island Ship
building Company began to rip out the
httings Of the Noma. il was naturally
surmised that the swift little craft was
to make a pre-nuptial cruise across the
Atlantic, through the Mediterranean and |
up the Nile with the young couple and !
their mothers. This would have been !
following the course taken by the late |
Col. John Jacob Astor on his honeymoon !
trip which ended with the sinking of the
Inflated Titanic. But young AstOr said |
No TO both these reports and set the |
Gossips still further speculating.
III Astor does not use the Noma he has |
many other means of slipping out of |
the country. There are. first his numer- |
Gus high-pOwered automobiles. Then he |
has crack hydroplane that does thirty |
five miles an hour, and II he carries |
out his plans, he will soon own a hy-
droaerOplane. Being an expert mechanic, |
he usually spurns the assistance of a 4
professional chauffeur.
But the Noma's engines have been pre-
pared for a long cruise. Entirely new |
boilers have been installed. Capt. Dan |
gan, Of the Noma, has been instructed |
by Mr.. AstOr to fly no pennants when |
the yacht leaves the shipyards and steals |
up the Hudson to Rhineclif.
VIII Keep In Limelight.
The landing is only a few miles dis |
tant from Ferncliffe and from Hope |
land House, the graceful and stately |
Huntington mansion on the estate Of the |
late William b. Dinsmore, who was the |
grandfather of Miss Huntington. Alto
gether it is pretty safe to assert that
''Astor'' will be often in the headlines
the next few months and that New York
newspaper reporters will have several
merry little chases to amuse them.
Meanwhile, Astor is working hard TO
make money TO get married, just like an
ordinary young man He has run up
three or four new apartment houses,
several loft buildings Of fine character
and a unique bachelor chambers enter
prise just of Times Square, which is
modelled on the famous Albany of Lon
don. He gets down to business in the
Astor estate offices at No q West
Twenty-sixth street regularly at half
past nine or ten o'clock every morning,
and he stays there until what is to be
done is done. When it is necessary he
is to be found there evenings also, al
though the Astor money-making machine
is running very smoothly under his d.
rection and that of the able counsellors
he inherited from his father.
Saves Money for Trousseau.
II the tale bearers are to be believed,
Miss Huntington isn't wasting her PEN
nies these days, despite the fact that her
family has been in the millionaire class
many decades. 1t is related that she
come out of the Carlton House recently
and walked Forty-seventh street toward
Fifth avenue. She was gowned for
fashionable wedding she was to attend
that afternoon but first she was going
to visit her fiance. just then laid up with
a cold. Past taxi after taxi walked the
future mistress of the Astor house until
she arrived at the corner of the avenue
Here she waited patiently until an omni-
bus came along. 1t was a cold day and
the interior was pretty crowded, but she
managed to wedge in. The taxi fare
could not legally have been over fifty I
cents, but Miss Huntington. despite her
fine attire. preferred the other mode Of
conveyance. There was forty cents more