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THE SUN, NEWBERRY. S. C- FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1938 A 'lovely Exile" Thrilled—and Scandalized—U. S. 100 Years Ago She Claimed to Be a Descendant of the Man for Whom America Was Named, She Set Statesmen's Hearts A-Flutter and She Almost Succeeded in Obtaining American Citizenship and a Grant of Land Before Gossips' Tongues Began to Wag. Then ... I <d Western Newspaper Union. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON I N THE city of Ogdensburg, N. Y., stands a stately old three storied brick house embowered in a grove of the trees which give Ogdensburg the name of the “Maple City.” They call it the “Parrish Mansion” and from its wide verandas you look out over the blue waters of the St. Lawrence river. A surprise awaits surprise awaits you as »ou enter the house. The y alls of its rooms are cov ered with paintings—stirring, colorful scenes of the Old West: Indians chasing buffa lo or attacking stage-coaches and wagon trains; fur trad ers cordelling their boats up the Missouri; galloping cav alrymen charging across the plains or through an Indian village; cowboys roping long horn steers, “busting” bron cos or “shooting up” a one- street frontier cow town. Here and there stand bronze statues of men and horses vibrant with action. In cases along the Martin Van Bnren walls hang Indian scalp shirts, feathered war-bonnets, bows, ar rows, shields; frontiersmen’s fringed buckskin shirts and leg gings; army uniforms, carbines, revolvers, sabers. It’s an amaz ing bit of the Wild West trans- plated to this peaceful little city in upstate New York, but you un derstand why when they tell you that this is the Frederic Reming ton Memorial museum. This article, however, is not about this greatest of all painters of Western life. It will tell the story of a woman, one of the most romantic characters in American history, who once lived in this house and the memory of whom still lingers there in an up stairs room. For if you enter this room you will see her porta ble writing desk, exquisite with its delicate inlay work, some of the dainty toilet articles which she used and miniatures of her and of the man whose name is perpetuated in the “Parrish Man sion.” A Gossipy Chronicler. “A decided sensation was cre ated at Washington during the Van Buren administration by the appearance there of a handsome and well-educated Italian lady, who called herself America Ves pucci and claimed aescent from the navigator who gave his name to this continent.” So writes Ben: Per’ev Poore, a gossipy journal ist, whose two-volume work called “Perley’s Reminiscence of Sixty Years in the National Metropolis” was published half a century ago. In calling it “a de cided sensation,” this historian was writing somewhat less than accurately, as he was when he called her a “lady.” Also he omitted certain details concerning her, in deference to the mid-Victorian morality of the pe riod in which he wrote. Later historians, however, have not been hampered by such inhibi tions and from the evidence yrhich they have collected, the story of the lovely America (or Ameriga) Vespucci can be told as follows: It begins with a “boy-meets- girl” incident in the Italian city of Florence some time in the early 1830s. The boy was Ferdinand, Due d’Orleans, son of King Louis Philippe of France. The girl was America Vespucci. They imme diately fell in love and, of course, America said “yes” when Ferdi nand proposed. But the king of France had other plans for his son and forbade the marriage. ' But their love was not to be denied and when Ferdinand re turned to Paris, America accom panied him and lived with him without benefit of clergy. Within a short time, however, the love of the Due d’Orleans waned and America, too proud to return to her disapproving family in Flor ence, set out for the country which bore the name of her il lustrious explorer-ancestor. In saying that her arrival in Washington caused a “decided sensation,” Ben:Perley was guilty of understatement. Social life under the previous adminis tration of “Old Hickory” Jack- son had been inexpressibly crude. It was becoming more refined un der the administration of the “Duke of Kinderhook,” Martin Van Buren. The coming of a foreigner—and one so beautiful— who had been the toast of princes in Paris would lend it glamor. So Society in Washington welcomed America with open arms. Ex-President John Quincy Ad ams became a special friend of the beautiful Italian and even the “god-like” Daniel Webster was not immune to her charms. Pres ident Van Buren was so attentive to her that the gossips speculat ed upon the possibility of the wid- ower-President making her the First Lady of the Land. It soon became apparent that America wanted something else besides social position. She need ed an income. So she drew up a petition to congress asking, first, to be admitted to the rights of citizenship; and second, to be given “a comer of land” out of the public domain, on which to live. Senator Beaton presented the petition to the senate and it was immediately referred to the committee on public lands. The committee’s reply eulo gized the petitioner as “a young, dignified, and graceful lady, with a mind of the highest intellectual culture, and a heart beating with all of our own enthusiasm in the cause of America and human lib erty.” Then it went on to give the reasons why the petition could not be granted and commended the lovely Italienne to the gen erosity of the American people— “The name of America—our country’s name—should be hon ored, respected, and cherished in the person of the interesting exile from whose ancestor we derive the great and glorious title.” All of which was very flatter ing, indeed, but it didn’t pay America’s bills. She needed mon ey and she resorted to tears to get it. Thereupon, so Ben:Per- ley tells us, “a subscription was immediately opened by Mr. Haight, the sergeant-at-arms of the senate, and judges, congress men, and citizens vied with one another in their contributions.” America Returns. America accepted the subscrip tion gratefully and departed with it for Paris where she went to live with her sister, the Vicom- tesse Solen. Washington society heard nothing more of her for two years. It was busy with its own affairs under changing adminis trations. But some of her friends did not neglect to write to her that under a new administration her petition might now have a better chance of being granted. So she immediately sailed again for the Land of Promise. When she arrived in Boston, she found that city preparing to give a magnificent ball in cele bration of the visit of Prince de Joinville, a younger brother of her lover, the Due d’Orleans. Ac counts differ as to what followed. John Quincy Adams Ben:Perley, with his characteris tic delicacy, says that “it was whispered that Madame Vespucci had borne an unenviable reputa tion at Florence and Paris and had been induced by a pecuniary consideration to break off an in timacy with the Duke of Orleans” and because of this “the Prince de Joinville refused to recognize her, which virtually excluded her from reputable society.” Later historians, however, tell a different story. For instance, Carl Carmer, in his book, “Lis- America Vespucci ten for a Lonesome Drum,” says: “Ameriga Vespucci entered the ball-room at Faneuil hall on the arm of the prince himself. Bos ton saw and worshiped, and all might have gone well with her and her plans had not a guest recognized her as the former mis tress of the prince’s brother.” At any rate, it meant the end of her social ambitions. All of her snobbish American friends deserted her—all except one. That was John Van Buren, the son of Ex-President Van Buren, a hard-drinking, gambling spend thrift, who was known as “Prince John.” Evidently America decid ed that an American “prince” was better than nothing. So she went to live with him—again with out benefit of clergy. She Comes to Ogdensburg. It was through her association with John Van Buren that she came at last to Ogdensburg. Ac cording to local tradition Van Buren and America met George Parrish, a rich merchant of Og densburg, at a hotel in Evans Mills. Van Buren challenged Parish to a poker game. When he lost all his money, he put up as a final stake his last pos session—and lost her, too. So when George Parrish returned to Ogdensburg, America Vespucci accompanied him. One account says that Parrish was a Belgian; another that he was an Austrian. Whichever he was, he had carried to this coun try regal ideas. The house to which he brought America was a veritable castle, compared to the humbler Ogdensburg homes. Of course, “there was talk” among the Puritanical residents of Ogdensburg. They called her a “fancy lady” or ^he “Floren- tine Fancy.” But she didn’t care. All her social ambitions were in the past now. George Parrish gave her every luxury she de sired and she was happier than she had ever been before. So for 20 years the “interesting exile” enjoyed an idyllic life in her American castle with her mer chant prince. But, as Carmer records, “it ended with merciful suddenness. . . . One day George Parrish told her he must return to his lands in Europe. He was giving up his holdings in America—and her. She met his decision bravely, thanked him for his settlement of $3,000 a year, told him she would go again to live with her sister, the vicomtesse.” So back to Paris again went America Vespucci and there she remained until her death a few years later. She has become something of a legend in Ogdens burg, albeit one of the most inter esting in that interesting little city. The relics of this exotic for eigner strike a strange note in an art museum which perpetuates the memory of an artist so thor oughly and distinctly American as Frederic Remington was. HowdVer, as Carl Carmer says, “If in some ghostly state she has found a way to return across the ocean to her American home, I know she must be puzzled by all the rearing bronze bronchos, and the paintings of cowboys gal loping over the endless yellow desert. But I am quite sure she is not afraid.” The paradox of the Ogdensburg museum housing relics of two such widely different characters as the American painter and the Italian adventuress is no stran ger, however, than the paradox which gave the name of her an cestor to a continent which he did not discover. For while his tory gives credit to Christopher Columbus for discovering the two continents in the New world, nei- ther of them bears the appropri ate name of “Columbia.” In stead, both are named for an Ital ian explorer who never set foot on the soil of North America and did not visit South America until several years after Columbus had. He was Amerigo, or Amar- icus, Vespucci, born in Florae*, Italy, in March, 1492, who grew up to become a merchant «•> gaged in trade for the Fkuautina house of the Medici. When Columbus in 1498 made his third voyage across the At lantic and reached the mainland of South America, he sent back to Spain five ships laden with pearls and with them a chart of the new discoveries of this main land and its rich pearl fisheries. Bishop Fonse - who was in charge of all matters relating to the new discoveries, showed Co lumbus’ chart to a certain Alonso de Hojeda and gave him a li cense to go to South America to exploit its riches. With Hojeda sailed the merchant, Vespucci, who, incidentally, had supplied provisions for Columbus’ two pre vious voyages. The Hojeda-Vespucci expedi tion left Cadiz, Spain, in May, 1499, and landed on the coast of South America 200 leagues south of the Gulf of Paria, the center of the pearl fishing industry. Towards the close of 1500 Ves pucci was induced to transfer his Fashion Embarks on Wild Color Career in Fall Garb By CHERTE NICHOLAS C-: Hw? * . A Practical and Pretty At-Home Wearables YOU’LL be indoors more fromfl 1 now on—busy at your own fire- ' i side. So it’s time to make your-, I self some pretty new work clothes, i Here are some that combine com- j fort and practicality, and they ar* so easy to make that oven if this is your first sewing venture, you’ll J succeed beautifully The dress, you’ll notice, is a diagram design that even the inexperienced can finish in a few hours. Slenderizing House Dress. Everything about this dress is f. designed for working comfort. Tha i, waistline, although it looks slim } because it’s drawn in by darts, is | unhampering and easy. The skirt erigo Vespucci services to the king of Portugal, who, in 1501 sent him to explore farther this new southern conti nent. Vespucci’s three ships, crossing from Cape Verde, reached Cape St. Roque August 17 and proceeding southward, ar rived at Bahia on November 1 and at Rio de Janeiro January 1, 1502. They appear to have ad vanced as far south as latitude 32 degrees, although Vespucci maintains that they actually pro ceeded a good deal farther. Two accounts of these voyages were shortly afterwards issued by Vespucci. In the first he gave an account to his fellow-country man, Lorenzo Pietro de Medici, of these new regions he had vis ited which “we may rightly call a new world.” His second account, sent to the same person, he en titled “Mundus Novus.” In it he describes how in these southern parts they had “found a conti nent more densely peopled than Europe, Asia or Africa. We knew that land to be a continent and not an island both because of its long extension of coast and be- csfiise of its many inhabitants.” In 1504 Amerigo published a second account in the form of an Italian plaquette addressed to Fi eri Soderini, gonfalonier of Flor ence, who had been a schoolfel low of his, wherein his two voy ages are expanded into four. It has not been difficult, however, to note the many discrepancies in this account and to bring the details back to the two voyages. These booklets had a tremen dous vogue, and when compared with the labored attempt of Co lumbus to describe the site of the “Garden of Eden” and the "Earthly Paradise,” showed a much greater sense of what the public understood. It is not at all surprising, therefore, to un derstand what took place in 1507. It so happened that at St. Die in the Vosges mountains of France there was a little colle giate institution which was both a center of geographical learning and the owner of a new printing press, which was then something of a novelty in France. Two of its faculty members, Mathias Ringman and Martin Waldseemul- ler, were busy with a new edition of Ptolemy’s “Geographia.” Be fore publishing it, however, they printed an essay called “Cosmog- raphiae Introducto” or an “Intro ductory Geography,” to which they added Vespucci’s letter. In this essay, published in May, 1507, Waldseemuller wrote: “And the fourth part of the world hav ing been discovered by Ameri- cus, it may be called Amerige, that is, the land of Americus, or America.” The name came into general use, being applied first to the southern continent, and later to both continents. C'ASHION is about to go on a great color spree. For that matter the new clothes have already started out on a mad color career that promises to outcolor even the most Colorful seen for many a year. Not that this color orgy writes finis to the simple black foundation dress that provides such dramatic setting for stunning costume jewel ry and for accessories that splash color accents in vivid highlights. No indeed! The black dress with dashes of color is holding its own. The intriguing thing about the col- ' ors exploited this season is that they are distinctively out of the ordinary. The colors heard most about and seen dramatized throughout Paris collections are the purples and plums, the mauves and violets and fuchsia shades. In fact the entire gamut of violine shades is run. Comes next in the limelight the much talked of teal blue and fog blue and that rapturous blue made famous in the ever-beloved Blue Boy portrait painting. In fact, we are to enjoy a season of “blues” that are subtle and lovely beyond de scription. The suit of refined elegance which you see pictured to the right in the picture is made of an imported wool in an exquisite scarab blue tone. It is trimmed with sheared beaver, a fur which is very much in use this fall. Self bows tie at the collar and belt which is significant for much emphasis is given to tie-fastenings throughout current cost., .'e design. Two wide bands of shirred, match ing silk are set into the top part of the dress underneath. Wine dregs is a shade that is making special appeal with Ameri can women. There are also a num ber of fascinating greens in the present fashion spectrum, notably bronze, hunter, laurel and tapestry greens. Autumn rust and coppery tones are also going big. Coats are yielding to color to a surprising degree. Leading stores are devoting entire window displays to coats in purples and deep plum or wine-dreg tones. These are superb ly colorful and with opulent furs present about the handsomest ar ray of coats ere seen. As to the gorgeous plaid or striped wool coats so outstanding in the new fashion picture, the only way to re sist them is to close your eyes and flee their color glory. Better still, why not make up your mind to in dulge in a richly colorful plaid or striped (fashion favors both) wool coat at the very start. The striped coat centered in the group above reflects rich autumnal colors that take on an added note of luxury in a trim of luxuriant fur. The swank jacket suit pictured to the left abounds in color intrigue. The color formula adopted is blue spruce and dark brown. The dress, the trimming on the coat and the hat are of lightweight woolen in the subtle blue spruce. The short swag ger coat is brown in a new deep pile wool that looks velvety and soft. The velvety wool weaves are among the smartest shown this season and fashion is placing considerable em phasis on them. <D Western Newspaper Union. Fur Jacket Adds Chic to Costume For ultra chic on an autumn day the smartest formula calls for a dress of an alluring wool weave topped with a youthful and jaunty fur jacket. No-end versatility is ex pressed in these voguish fur-jacket costumes. A likable model includes a con servative black dress of handsome dull-finished velvety surfaced deep pile wool. With this milady wears a swank short skunk jacket. There is a huge gold jewelry piece at the throat end the belt of the dress is detailed in gold. A gray tweed coat dress is topped with a gray kidskin lumber jacket. A bolero of sheared beaver sur mounts a dress of brown cloque weave and so on. Even Trimmings Turn to Jewels The flair for jewelry display is reflected in the new jewelled trim mings that are worked about the necklines of many of the newest daytime dresses.®The latest mod els are arriving, bedecked with necklace effects that are jewel-ap- pliqued right on the very fabric it self. So realistically is this done to all appearance it seems like an actual necklace or perhaps huge pendant suspended from a chain. The idea is clever and presents no-end opportunity for ingenious de sign. Not only jewels but metal cabochons and locket effects and leaf motifs combine to add a decora tive note. Femininity Note The feminine lingerie effect is not limited to blouses and vestees but frequently characterizes the whole dress. Trends for Fall Day dresses for fall show a ten dency to wider flared skirts with accentuated hip lines. Drape Technique Much of costume design in the new fall fashions is based on a draped technique that is designed to slenderize the figure. Below in the picture is an example of adept draping in slate blue silk jersey which sort of intertwines the mate rial in a manner much approved by designers. Illustrated at the top is an unusual draping of royal blue acetate jersey against the black sheer of a sheathlike frock done in the latest bi-color manner. In every dress collection the bi-color them* is widely exploited. The ostrich trimmed tricorne and the doeskin gloves are royal blue. noil 1595* lt>!5 gives enough leeway to stoop and climb and stretch. The armholes are ample, the sleeves short and loose. This dress is easy to do up, too, because it fastens in the front, and can be laid out fiat on the board. Its utter simplicity, long lines and deep v-neck make you look slimmer than you are. Make it of calico, percale, linen or ging ham. Three Pretty Aprons. Any of the three of them will be mighty handy to have all fresh and ready, when you want to pre pare afternoon tea or a hasty pick-up supper for unexpected guests. Each of them protects the front of you efficiently, and looks so crisp, feminine and at tractive. Make several sets— you’ll want some for yourself, and also to put away for gifts. They’re so pretty for bridge prizes, and engagement remembrances. Any woman who ever so much as makes a cup of tea will love them. Choose batiste, dotted Swiss, lawa or dimity. The Patterns. 1615 is designed for sizes 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 and 50. Size 36 requires 4% yards of 35-inch material. Contrasting cuffs would take % yard. 1595 is designed for sizes 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46 and 48. Size 36 requires, for apron No. 1, 1% yards of 35-inch material and 6 yards of ricrac braid; for apron No. 2, 1V4 yards of 35-inch mate rial with 5% yards braid; for apron No. 3, 1% yards of 35-inch material, with 11 yards of braid. Fall and Winter Fashion Book. Tho new 32-page Fall and Win ter Pattern Book which shows photographs of the dresses being worn is now out. (One pattern and the Fall and Winter Pattern Book—25 cents.) You can order the book separately for 15 cents. Send your order to The Sewing Circle Pattern Dept., Room 1020, 211 W. Wacker Dr., Chicago, 111. Price of patterns, 15 cents (in coins) each. 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