'Blue-Blooded Newport's “White Elephant"
i
W£TMO#£
MANS/ON
YV/LL/AM
G.LOEW
QELLEVt/E_y AVE//UE
I"Tȣ3/ll/H<y
CHARLES B.
WLLHOOSE
SULUVAN
HOME
MRS. HAROLD
BROWN
I The Diagram Above Show* the Position* of the Munificent Home*
Along T iltionaire*’ Row—Bellevue Avenue—in Relation to the
Sullivan Shack, Indicated by Arrow.
EWPORT, Rhode Island, is
usually go busy being breath
lessly exclusive during the, brief
weeks of Ihe Summer “season” that
•-ten the town can’t get around to
iaking stock of itself. Not long ago
it paused to check, up—and was
horrified.
Because right on Bellevue Avenue,
« .street so fashionable you feel badly
talking in it without a shoe-shine,
right in the middle of a row of im
posing mansions was—a white elephant!
Not a real flesh-and-blood jungle
Ienixen, of course; these are seen there
!>niy when the rum fleet
srtchors twelve miles out
with a fresh consignment. fflMp
old, and it never was very
spick looking:, alongside the
neighboring magnificence
of millionaires’ estates.
But there it squats, a
white elephant in Newport.
Many visitors are amazed
to run suddenly upon this
unpretentious, pleeian
home in such surroundings.
They demand to know how it
got there, why the bejeweled
matrons who pass by it
every day on the way
home don’t see to its
removal. .
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VA/R&Y PAY#£ M/rdfr
AVENUE
—— >ni
Drama of the
W Haughty
society •
Nabobs
Versus a
Humble
Cottage
Uppar Rif hi: Mrl. Harry
Ptyna Whitnoy, Who»«
F.itit* Front* Balltvuo Ati
In the Center of the Pace, Ringed Around With the Outline of a "White Elephant,” It a Photograph of Timothy Snllivan't Humble and Rather Decrepit Home, a
Former Gardeners Lodge on Fashionable Bellevue Avenue. Near the Lodge Are Palatial Hornet of Which the Three Shown Here Are Outstanding Example!.
They Are, From Left to Right, "The Billino,' Home of C. B. Hillhoute; “Flower Cottage,” Belonging to G. Andrew Moriarty, and "Chateau'-sur-Mer,” the
Summer Hume of Mitt Maude Wetmore, President of the National Woman’t Republican Club.
‘•400 ’ BRIGHT LIGHT
i Recent Photo of Mr*. Vincent A*tor,
Vho Mutt Pe*» the “Eyeiore” Cotltage
o Reach Her Handiorae Nearby E*tate.
Jut the white elephant that is * ven
nore annoying to the sensibilities of
ultra-ultra folk. Something that’s an
eyesore and hard to get rid of.
Timothy Sullivan’s cottage would
scarcely pass muster even on a less
blue-blooded thoroughfare. It is a
mite of a cottage, ramshackle, weather
beaten, deeply shadowed by tall beech
trees. It’s distinctly run-down. It's
Ten years ago the great Biutn
estate was split up and sold at auction.
Timothy and Julia Sullivan, by some
oversight on the part of the sellers
who made sure that everything else
went to “the right people,’’ got hold of
the former gardener’* cottage. They
bought it at a bargain, too; for a
:'o» thousand dollars they acquired the
corner lot facing Bellevue Avenue and
moved in.
Julia had run a variety stofe in
town and saved her money. The hew
thoijsands she’d accumulated went into
the purchase of the cottage and the
land. None was left over for improve
Engineering Training
Fits This Machine Age
FRANK L. DAME
ST all the experience you can
■ Be loyal to the crowd of
you’ll have an excellent chance of ris
ing .he i into an executive place.”
Thai'.- Frank L. Dame’a word to
young Vae t ; and Mr. Dame’s word is
important, because he’s president, db
rector ami member of the executive
committee of the North American
Company, the $575,000,000 public
utilities concern whose office is in New
York City.
"My first job was a humble one,”
he says. “My principal duties were to
squirt oil an cranks that splashed it
back on me. I had to exercise great
care to keep the engines cool by regu
lating inlet and discharge valves as
babbitt metal became hot or cooled off.
“Later I was given a construction
assignment to install engines; and 1
was given that advancement because 1
had kept the old shop from accidents
which nad frequently occurred while
other youths were responsible for the
care of the engines.”
This was in 1899, in the testing
toon of the Westinghouse Electric
Company in Pittsburgh, Pa.
people you work for and
—Says F. L. Dame
The thin?: Mr. Dame emphasizes in
the counsel he here gives to youngster
starting on their quest for wealth and
high place is the choice of a good em
ployer. “Pick him out. get a job
there if it's possible, and stick!’’ He
advises.
“Don't expect advancement too
quickly, but value more highly the
gaining of experience that will be
worth thousand* of dollars to yon in
after life as an executive. From 1891
to 191Z, while I held many different
titles and did various kinds of work,
I was practically all of that time work
ing for the same crowd.”
The holdings of the North American
Company are scattered from Dallas,
Texas to Milwaukee, from St. Louis to
San Francisco, from Kentucky to the
State of Washington, in all the prin
cipal cities of the West and far West.
“When I became president of the
Company the authorised capital stock
was increased from $30,000,000 to
nearly $60,000,000. We now rank as
one of the country’* largest enter
prises. I get a thrill whenever 1 real
ize that. *
“What are my views on education?”
he repeated iu answer to a question.
“I believe that since civilization is so
largely a vast machine at present, en
gineering is the best training to be
had. And I consider the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, my own alma
mater, the best of the engineering col
leges. It is, 1 think, a good place for
my own sons to get the sort of educa
tion that will fit them to meet the prob
lems of this era.”
Mr. Dame believe* a slew, persistent
bettering at the gates of success is the
surest way in the long run. He’s not
an advocate of short cuts.
“Get your experience and exercise
judgment. That is the best way to get
along that 1 know of. Having had to
face, during an active life with public
utilities, almost every kind of situation,
I confront those arising now confidently
and with the belief that solutions may
be found through the use of quiet com
mon sense. Few people are bom
leaders of men. That’s a quality that
must be developed Eke so many others.”
menu, ror new paint, tor barbenng
tiie grass and hedges and shrubbery.
At first no one paid much attention
-to the little home and the two middle
aged people who lived there. Surely,
everyone believed, it was a
part of some lai-ger parcel. ’ The lieh
owner would tear it riowu jn 4vp- time.
But the Sullivans weft- nolljph, and
the cottage remained year after year.
Both of them*regretted not being able
to fix the place up a bit. fivSdnesr
knows, it needed repairs- However:
.with an income that was barelv suffi
cient for really necessary things, this
was out of the question.
Ten years went by. The beech trees
climbed far up over the cottage,
showered it With shade. Honeysuckle
vines clambered about the porch.
Then* quite suddenly, Newport became
aware of the white elephant on its
hands. Why, it was impossible—right
on Bellevue Avenue!
Timothy, bent and gray-haired, had
just wheeled in from the stteet a cart
iiHed with fuel wood when a man came
up to the door. The man bore an
official - looking document. Timothy
peered at the proffered paper uncei
tainly.
What he read was a cpinmunicaiion
from the Newport board of heal'h,
which ordered him either to fix the
place up or get out. It was, the'
board had ruled, unfit for human
habitation.
There had evidently been consider
able agitation.
And influential agitation it vas.
Mias Maud Wet mo re, daughter of
former United States Senator (icorge
Peabody Wetmore, was leading the
fight to oust the Sullivans, lock, stock
and barrel, “Chateau-sur-Mer," the
resplendent, feudally magnificent Wet
more home, was located just up the
avenue. Miss Wetmore is president
of the National Women's Republican
Club.
Rumor connected other potent .New
porters with the board of health
The ABC's of General Knowledge
Divorce Proves That Children
Yre the Keys to Happine
I his Nnahsis of 11st- Children \I1 <
the 179.397 l>i' orces Granted in
i oiled Slate* During 192(> S1ioh» 'll..
Thov \re llie Most Imporlant I He
lor* in llie Sueecssand I Yrmanenee
of Marriage.
"uurc*-. Bureau of Mir (au»ii«, 1920
Chari bv FUELING FOSTER
More Thau 60 fo of All Divorces
f
Are Granled lo Couples Without
Children. The Desire for Divorce
Diminishes as the Home Is Blessed
With Them!
Having!
No children
One child ....
Two children .
Three children
Poor children .
Five children ,
Six children ,.
Seven children
Fight children
Nine nr more children
Not reporting on children
Number of
Divorce*
102.8M
35.481
16,777
6,971
3.008
1.326
608
283
1 II
103
11.835
Per
57.3
t»7
11
3.9
1.7
0.7
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.1
6.6
179,397 100.0
Hk ft.Ofr not reporting on cliiltlien id'lfd to
the 37.3‘i) »l ihf lop of the column brine thoee
without children to more then OO^e
Owyrluht, 1.9M. luUio&Uoiul failure ttmlc*. inc. Qrtat MiUaIh lU.a.tM
dictum—-which really was quite justi
liable, people say, in view of the de
plorable state of disrepair into which
the Sullivan cottage has fallen. There’s
Charles B. Hillhousc, whose palatial
'Ihe Billino” estate is separated from
the tumble-down house by Howe Ave
nue. He's said to have been interested.
And adjoining the cottage are the
wide lawns of Mrs. Harold BroWn's
big home, one of the showplaces of
the resort town. She mustn’t have
been any too overjoyed by the cottage.
Moreover, directly opposite is the ar
tistic "Flower Bungalow" of Mrs. G.
Andrew Moriarty, of Boston. In ad
dition the ornate homes of Mr«. Her
map Oclrichs, Harry Payne Whitney,
Mrs. 0. H. P. Belmont, August Bel
mont and Vincent Astor ale but a
stone's throw away.
So Timothy and Julia Sullivan must
dress their cottage up or get out. They
must “make it habitable,’’ although
both profess to be very well satisfied
with it as it is. At present neither is
able to say just what will be done.
They want to stay—but the board of
health’s ultimatum Is running out day
by day. And repairs cost money.
All Newport has paused in it* diver
sions to wonder what is to become of
the town’s white elephant.
By CmjmWGtffaMrMl
Transformation
(On theRivzrbank)!
0
' “A ruatla under the utm , . . and I run to your aid*.’*
\ TO longer do 1 know myself
I \ So great is the transformation
Yon have caused.
This timid hand on your arm,
This supple will.
These words of mine
That stumble on themseht .
Were f oreign as torrid idle >
Before your coming.
Alone and arrogant
l walked in the light
And alone in the soundless dark.
And boldly I fastened nty windows
Against the lowering storms,
P
iy/HY teas 1 never afretdt
\X/ There was no one to tell my
* v fear to,
Xo one to care if my strength should
fail
Or if wild winds swept my home.
You came,
t«cZ my firmness melted into wax.
What talisman touched met
A rustle under the eaves
Or a flurry of rain—
And 1 run, I run to your side, <
Dear, I am thankful you love me
thus,
For now I know gentleness only, <
And only if you were to leave me
Should I ever know how to be bald.