People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1894 — GENEROSITY EXEMPLIFIED. [ARTICLE]

GENEROSITY EXEMPLIFIED.

The Prodigal Liberality of the American Duchess of Marlborough. It is said that the most prodigal giver in England at Christmas-time to rich and poor hospitals and almhouses, as well as to relatives and friends, is the American Duchess of Marlborough, formerly Mrs. Louis Hamersley, of New York city, who is spending her first husband’s millions very liberally in the country of her second spouse. It is not the custom in England to sacrifice so lavishly on the altar of Santa Claus and the Christ-Kind as it is here and in Germany, and the duchess’s generous gifts called forth much surprise and observation. At Hamland, where she was living at that time, she was known as the fairy godmother, as she had a gigantic Christmas tree for the children of the parish, laden with toys, pictures and sugar plums, as well as more substantial gifts of food and clothing. She had also Christmas tea parties for old men and women, at Which, after a substantial feast, tea and tobacco were presented in large packages to each of the beneficiaries. The duchess has recently taken Deepdene, one of the most beautiful estates in England, on a lease of twenty-one years, thus indicating that she will never return as a permanent resident to her native land. That the poor of the neighborhood will have reason to hail her coming with delight, the generous spirit that she has shown during her residence in England puts beyond a doubt.—Harper’s Bazar.