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NAHIONS WEALTHY WIDOWS EALTHY American widows have come in recent years to to play a most important part in several important divisions of the world's affairs. It is not, either, merely here in the United States that these mon eyed women are making their influence felt. On the con trary, their influence has pro ven fully as potent in many circles abroad-so much so, indeed, that the good people of Europe have been compelled to sit up and take notice of the American widows as a class well worthy to rank with any subdivision of society abroad (not even excepting the nobil ity), if the comparison be made on the basis of gowns or millinery or jewelry or any of the other standards by which the feminine world sets such store. Here in the United States it would be diffl cult to name a sphere in which the wealthy widows have not been exerting tremendous influence of late years. Even in politics they have not waited upon the victory of the suf frage cause to enable them to take a hand. For the present, to be sure, their influence is indirect, but it is none the less tangible, as witness the power of the salon maintained by that brilliant woman, Mrs. Hitt, widow of the late chairman of the foreign relations commit. tee of the house of representatives and the backing which Senator Beveridge of Indiana has had through the fact that his wife is the kinswoman of Mrs. Marshall Field, widow of the Chicago merchant. Socially there is no question as to the tre' mendous power of the American widow. To realize it one has only to stop to reflect how the polite world is dominated by the hospittli ties of such well-to-do widows as Mrs. L. Z. Leiter, widow of the Chicago multi-millionaire and mother of the late Lady Curzon, late vicereine of India; Mrs. George M. Pullman, widow of the car builder; Mrs. Thom as F. Walsh, widow of the "Mining King;" Mrs. Mary Scott Townsend, widow of A ' lhe Pennsylvania coal and oil magnate, and 1!rs. M. A. Hanna, widow of the late United htates senator from Ohio. Mrs. Hanna's life since the death of her iusband, we may here digress to explain, has Ilustrated how great is the latitude of life ºpen to the modern wealthy widow in con rast to the circumscribed existence of the av ,rage widow of a prominent official of a cen ury ago, who, upon the death of her husband, was wont to retire to his plantation or country seat and live in the utmost quietude if not in tctual seclusion. After the death of her hus ,and Mrs. Hanna lived for a time in a fash onable hotel in Washington. Then she built ý large house and occupied it for a time, later Lisposing of it to a prominent army officer. Jext she had a special apartment arranged to ter order in one of the largest of the new ho els in New York, even providing a special Itchen for "Maggie," her "jewel" of a cook. 'hen desiring a change, she hit upon the idea f her present program of life, which calls for n extended sojourn in Europe each spring nd summer and a winter residence in Wash agtcn, where she has two apartments of 14 ooms each in a fashionable apartment house. Mrs. Hanna's 28-room apartment might eem a pretty pretentious residential establish sent for a lone woman to maintain, but it is carcely a circumstance to the enormous four tory mansion erected at the national capital Oy Mrs. Slater, another wealthy widow, who is he sole occupant of this palace save for the .8 servants who minister to her needs. Vealthy widows, it may be added, have not hirked the responsibilities of house building. ndeed, on the contrary, it seems to be one of heir fads. Mrs. Leiter, in addition to her own houses, has lately been building a sum aer "cottage" costing hundreds of thousands if dollars on the North Shore of Massachu etts near the summer home of President Taft. Irs. Hay, widow of the late secretary of tate, has built a magnificent mansion in Cleve and; Mrs. Pullman and Mrs. Marshall Field ave ordered new homes from plans which hey had a hand in making; Mrs. Hitt has built a splendid home since the death of her husband and the wealthy Mrs. Wyeth of Phila delphia had her nephew-architect carry out her ideas of a distinctive home. In point of achievement, however, unques tionably the greatest of all the house build ers in the coterie of wealthy widows is Mrs. Albert Clifford Barney, who inherited one fortune from her father, a Cincinnati pio neer, and married another. Mrs. Barney is of a most artistic temperament and is indeed an artist of no mean ability in both oils and water colors. She spends much time in Paris, where she and two of her daughters, who de vote themselves respectively to painting and sculpture, are much in their element. When she is in this country Mrs. Barney divides her time and her boundless energy between the staging of Greek plays and other amateur the atricals of a most ambitious character and the designing and building of houses for love of it. These unique habitations that she creates Mrs. Barney sells or rents, and be it said to her credit that she is a clever enough business woman to make her art profitable in dollars and cents as well as in personal satisfaction. In the field of philanthropy American wid ows have of late years accomplished so much good as to make these bereaved ones as a class the most respected and most admired contingent of American multimillionairedom. The generosity of Mrs. Phoebe Hearst in good works has insured her a place for all time in our real hall of fame and Mrs. Harriman's gift of a splendid park to the state of New York bids fair to be but the first of a series of no table benefactions. Mrs. Russell Sage is an other woman who in a comparatively brief widowhood has helped the needy in many ways, and the late Mrs. Gardner Hubbard, widow of the man who reaped the greatest financial rewards from the invention of the telephone, was lavish during her lifetime in good works. There is one group of widows in the Unit. ed States in the members of which-for all that they are most of them living very qui etly-the public is bound to take a keen inter est. This group is made up of the widows of former high officials of the nation, including 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 a home in Indi anapolis and indulges in occasional lengthy vacations in a log house in the Adirondacks. Of the widows of the nation's warriors probably the public hears most frequently of Mrs. Phil Sheridan, widow of the famous cav alry 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, "I 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 'wmen of wealth interesting to many people is the possibility of remarriage-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 hat rimony. And that this solicitude is by no means restricted to disinterested observers or confined to the United States is eloquently ft tested by the attentions which eligible meih bers. of the nobility of Europe have showered upon Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. "Jack" Gardi 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 multimillionaire who garnered the golden harvest of the tin plate industry and sundry railroads. Almost all the wealthy American widows seem to have a penchant for spending more or less of their time in Europe and there are oth 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. A conspicuous example is afforded by" Baroness Sternburg-the former Miss Langham, a Ken tucky beauty, who as the result of a genuine romance that began as a case of love at first sight on a transatlantic liner, married Baron Speck von Sternbuig, 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 widos d, such as Mrs. St. Gaudens, are factors, if not by virtue of their own talents at least as cus 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, wield 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 wealthiest and most powerful of the New Yo.? banks. F" 4 ^qyý r~ Iii r s ý ` ýF ý fi ··: ý 4' weej r i ý`i J s ý4 ;ý S9 F.°# 37 . ýý16'F.S..s' oOv c-3ýT~cCsEN.BUR( 'G W~~ /ALL~da N FPSWCETTf? .4M 4vJ Z2 e "p..Z zv' Voncw :~L ~ -I:~I i ~~i~d~B8Bl~l~i l rid: ,:~ \::;.:3a:· ·~ ·~~'ii~ --~·;·-.·· li~i~i ":." ·.·-~.,ii::~:"·'~::·Idr ''1:i: IP· :~;-·:~ ;I- ~c·;'j- i i:a:::·~"' ·"' :~i·l:·i ,Soi:c·~:··j.·=;:·::~·;··;;:: .·C· P~~L~·" ~ti~r p~ cf,~e~7~Z~~ ~4~~t~z~t~ s ~i"·~"' CCURRENT WRECKS A BRIDGE TWenty-Seven Big. Timbers Are Cul , Through in One Day by Aid of Electricity. One of the most ingenious uses to whiOk electricity was ever put was in '.t.e wrenifg of a bridge over the Wa bachihn Indiana. T' bridge had been purchased by the c sty authorities, who intended to replace it by a steel structure erect t, he old piers and abutments. owner. agreed to remdove the bd i i80, days. b ief difficulty lay in the short upon for the removal of te e. Several wreckers to whom Smter was submitted declared tt . would be impossible within 30 Sp.ull down the old bridge with Sfjur the piers. Structure might be blown up t e but the explosion d stroy the piers. Were it eat would crack and injure of the bridge. The 30 d an extension of one was. at his wits' end, e:6 upon an electrician not to blow. up the is~ bridge, but to burn it apart. His pro posal was gladly accepted. Each span of the bridge was com posed of nine chords of three timbers each. The 27 sills were to be cut simultaneously, so that the span would drop between the piers into the river. The cutting was to be accomplished by burning through the wood with loops of iron resistance made red-hot by the passage of the electric current. Fifty-four resistance loops were heated to wreck each span, and the spans were wrecked one at a time. Sufficient current was used to heat the iron wires cherry red. The result was exactly the same with every span. Be tween the turning on of the current and the fall of the span an hour and 40 minutes elapsed. Then the mass of timbers fell into the water well in side the piers, so that they were unin Jured. The cut made by the hot wire was sharp and clean, and the wood was not charred more than an inch from the place of fracture. Thy current was first turned on at about five o'clock in the morning, and at two in the afternoon the last span crashed down to the river bed. Scientific American. A BALL FOR BABY It ever love is stitched into a gift it goes into the one that celebrates baby's first birthday. One of the pret tiest presents, which will give the little one great joy, is a large edition of those `balls which the happy mothers of today delighted to fashion as children with two circles of card board perforated in the center. Instead of making the circles an inch or two in diameter, make them full six inches in size, and use pink and white or pale blue and white wool of a very fleecy type. Tie the wool through the perforation in the card board and then proceed to fill up th hole by drawing the wool through and through over the cardboard until no more will pass. Cut it and tie it be tween the two circles and remove these by tearing them away. The ball should be sewn on to nar row satin ribbon, blue or pink, as the case may be, and to this ribbon should be attached a quantity of little gold or silver bells, which will jingle merrily when the ball is swung to and fro by the ribbons. RENEWS ANTIQUE WASHSTAND Long Islander Sells Piece of Furniture for Fifty Cents and Buys It Back for $20. An elderly Long Islander once at tended an auction of old furniture. Among the articles for which bids were asked was a: heavy marble topped washstand. The Long Island er bid ten cents for it, and as he was the only one who spoke the wash stand was knocked down to him rather to his dismay, as he had to have it conveyed to his distant home. For several years this ten-cent antique was an occupant of the barn, its mar ble top being removed and the interior of the stand serving as a receptacle for cans of paint. One day a clerk from a furniture store in the neighborhood called at the Long Islander's and accidentally caught sight of the unappreciated washstand. He made some inquiries concerning it, and eventually pur chased it for 50 cents. The clerk took his purchase to the store, gave it a thorough renovating and it became a handsome piece of hardwood furnl ture, the marble top adding the fin ishing touch. Not long after this transformation the elderly Long Islander and his wife visited the fta niture store, and when the wife sew itat beautifully pollsaed antique washstand she fell in love with it, for it just filled her ideal. Her husband seemed to have a suspicion of the truth, and endeavored to distract her attention. But the affair ended by the woman purchasing the stand for $20, and it is now one of her most highly prized possessions. Bell Must Be Tuned. The general impression is that the tone of a bell is largely a matter of accident, but this is not so. A bell must be tuned the same as a piano or any other musical instrument. Ev ery bell has five sounds, which must blend together in perfect harmony, and this is accommplished by shav ing down certain parts until the de sired harmony is secured. In the event of shaving too deep the bell is not injured, but the tuning operation is prolonged, as other parts must be operated on and cut away to a corre sponding degree. Just the Thing. Figg-What are you having carved on the photographer's tombstone? Fogg-Taken from life. - Bosto Transcript. MAILSACK CLEARS SUSPECT OF THEFE FOR THIRTY YEARS CLERK HAD BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR MONEY LOSS. BLAMED BY THE INSPECTORS Bag Repairer Finds Registry Envelope Caught by Corners at Bottom of Old Sack Where it Was Held While Sender Cried Thief. Peoria, Ill.-Rev. Charles Burdette, brother of "Bob" Burdette, the humor ist, has been vindicated after 30 years of any blame in connection with the disappearance of $3,500 from a regis tered letter package sent out by the Peoria postoffice of which he was reg istry clerk. The $3,500 disappeared after it was put in 12 registered letters by John Comstock, a wealthy resident. The evidence was all against young Bur dette and after the frst investigation had been made Comstock demanded that Gen. B. W. Magee, veteran of the Civil war and postmaster at Peoria, immediately discharge the registry clerk. "Can't do anything for you," said the old general. "I've known Charles since he was able to walk. I knew all his folk. They are honest and the boy is honest. They are friends of mine and I won't discharge Charlie.' Then Comstock carried the matter to Washington and an inspector came down from Chicago to make a full re port. "Charlie" told him how Conistock appeared at the registry window with the names of 12 men to whom he was sending money and asked that the let. ters be registered. Comstock had asked him to watch him put the money in the envelopes, which he did. He also told the inspector he had placed the 12 envelopes in one large one and had put this large envelope at the bottom of a mail sack, in ac. cordance with the custom at that time, with the registry book on top of the registered mail. On top of this he placed the regular mail. The railway mail clerk, who had sent the registry book back with these Start of the III-Fated Letters. Start of the Ill-Pated Letters.. 12 letters unreceipted for, was investi. gated. He said they were not in the mail sack and Burdette said they were. The inspector made his report and It was unfavorable to Burdette. When the report had been considered at Washington a letter came to General Magee advising him of what the in spector had reported and suggesting that the best thing to do under the circumstances was to discharge young Burdette. General Magee wrote to Washing. ton: "This boy is all real and I am not going to brand him by discharging him." And Burdette continued as reg istry clerk. Burdette was working to get money to study for the ministry and when he was ordained as a minister was as signed as a missionary in Assam, In dia. In far away India Burdette made good as a missionary and after 20 years' service came back to the United States and accepted a call to an eastern church. He now has a pastorate at Springfield, Mass. Into the repair shop at San Fran cisco a few days ago an old battered sack was sent to be patched. It was a veteran and to repair it meant prac tically to make a new sack. The first man to inspect the sack decided it needed a new bottom and, with a knife, he ripped the leather bot tom off. Then he saw above it a big manila envelope, caught by the cor ners, which served practically as a false bottom. He opened the envelope and found it to contain the 12 Com stock letters and the missing $3,500. The manila envelope was not much different in color from the leather. Sharp eyes had been peering into this mail bag each time it was emptied for 30 years without discovering the treasure. Turning the mail bag up side down and shaking it had no of fect on the envelope, for it was held firmly against the leather under which its corners had slipped. l4~ Rheumatism Advice Gives Prominent Doctor's Best Prescription--is Easily Mixed. "Get one ounce of syrup of Sarsapa rilla compound and one ounce of Torts compound. Then get half a pint of goon whisky and put the other two ingredi ents into it. Take a tablespoonful of this mixture before each meal and at bed time. Shake the bottle before us ing." This is not new in this city as many of the worse cases of, rheumatism and back-ache have been cured by it. Good results come the first day. Any druggist has these ingredients on hand or will quickly get them from his wholesale house. Any one can mix them. Home and School. Home and school are two different spheres and have of necessity differ ent duties to perform and different work to accomplish in the training and teaching of the child. But unless the ideals are the same and unless there is a systematic attitude of mind be tween parents and teachers, tile best result cannot be achieved and the child must suffer.-Mrs. E. L. Frank lin, Secretary Parents' National Edu cational Union, England. The Tragedy That Wasn't. He raised the shining knife; his face was dark. The woman before him shrank back a step. The knife fell. plunged into the flesh, again, and once again. Then the woman spoke thickly: "Three's plenty; they're such big chops."-Judge. Taylor's Cherokee Remedy of Sweet Gum and Mullen is Nature's great remedy Cures Coughs. Colds, Croup and Whooping Cough and all throat and lung troubles. At druggists, 25c. 50C and $1.00 per bottle. Domestic Amenities. Father-I think the baby looks like you. Mother-Yes, it shuts its eyes to an awful lot. Do You Use Eye Salve? Apply only fromn Aseptic Tubs to Prevent Infection. Murine Eye Salve In Tubes-New Size X2c. Murine Eye Liquid 25c-50c. Eye Books in each Pkg. The Practlcav Agriculturist. Adam sniffed at the book farmer. "I don't behleve n spraying apple trees," he snorted. Irse. Winslow's Soothing Syrup for Children teethling, softens the gums, reduces infiamma Ston, allays pain,cures wind colic, 25c .bottle. All Depends. '"Want a good anecdote about a statesman ?" "Was he re-elected ?" Constipation causes and aggravates many serious diseases. It is thproughly cured by Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Pellets. The favor. ite family laxative. To render your neighbor a service willingly shows the generosity of your character; to preserve silence over ttR the grandeur of your soul.-Putlseu4 PILE C . IB'f TO 14Rt rs. TEurdra .tjm will regn4 mzon It PYASO Bleaeing or Protnriug Piles in 't 14 dis. A man who thinks his work is woert dollars a minute will spend an horu looking for a dime he dropped in room. Constipation Vanishes Forever Prompt Relief--Pmaenat Cwe CARTER'S LITTLE LIVER PILLS nr faiL. Purely veget. able--It Iux but gently on the ver. TTLE stope IVWER cmre indi. Genlaatie masi ignature HUNT'S LIGHTNING OIL THE LINIMENT FOR RHEUMATISM NEURALGIA ALL ACHES AND PAINS s'd. by A B. A lcbards Mediceo Co., Shtma,, To ,s. PARKER'S HAIR BALSAM inm a si to i ts Yothf~ub Colorl. Memphis DirectoPPry Csirmtionp dI s urnished. ar fii DIJSEACKS NhW DIOVERY CoMPa semphisr Diretoris ALL VARIETIS. GET OUBarber College CAROLINA SEED CORN yletlded 7bunsahelsothe acre; on land culiated years, with propern ees of fertilizr, will safely art BfObushelstoacre can be raised; this corn is mos prolldo known, and seed is carefully selected; corn, club boys and our farmers ought not miesthlsop portunity to get pure seed;12.60 per bushel,$1.50 per ibuahel, It per peck; above seed was raised at our: toekfarm and is our own product; best of referenel can b.wgiven. KEok's stock farm: J. R. KRck Oo. olper. i S. Secon. Memphbis, Teen. 5 bu. Iotld