Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1892 — OPHIR HILL FARM. [ARTICLE]

OPHIR HILL FARM.

The Beautiful Country Home ol Whitelaw Reid aud His Family. New York World. Whitelaw Reid, the Republican nominee for Vice President, is now at his country place, Ophir Farm, near White Plains, N. Y. Ophir is a veritable palace. It has risen from the ashes of the grand old structure built by Ben Holliday, of pony express fame, and burned down four years ago. One enters the eight-hundred-acre plot of greensward that surrounds Ophir Hall through a gate at the left of which stands a Gothic lodge almost covered by honeysuckle and woodbine. A macadamized driveway leads by a stable as big as two ordinary houses aud containing a lot of fine- roadsters. Their loose boxes would seem comfortable lodging places for many a poor wanderer. A way ever at- the left ia heard tbe tinkle of bells on a drove of sleek Jersey cattle. In the distance ars seen the shimmering waters of Long Island Sound.

Beyond the roadway and arched rows'of beech and nine the great gray granite towers of the Reid mansion burst upon the view. The big turreted structure suggests the baronial castles of feudal days. The building is square and has two wings, and looks as though it would accommodate fifty families. It is said to have been designed by the owner himself and is of the Norman style. Broad piazzas surround it on the front and three sides, and are lined with large urns containing rare plants. The doors of solid oak, with brass and iron mountings,are barred until the touch of an electric bell summons a servant. A marble stairway, seventy feet to the rear, is confronted on stepping upon the highly polished floor. Pilasters and monoliths of Numidian marble decorate the side walls. Venetian mosaics adorn the ceiling. On the left is *the drawing room, the doors of which were carved and gilded in France. Costly Persian and Turkish rugs deaden the sound of foots The walls are hung with silk'; The carved woodwork- of the style of Louis XV. The library is also beautifully appointed. .» . ■ ' The writing-room under the large tower is hung in polished leather, ipi secluded and particularly adopted to study. Above stairs there are a score of bed-chambers fully frescoed and tinted, and the furniture is of the Louis Quinze 'and other exquisite patterns. Venetian chandeliers, .with electric Or gas fixtures, add brilliancy to the appointments. The cost of the mansion, with furnishings, is said to have been about half a million dollars. When the Daughter of D. O. Mills, the millionaire, married on April 26,1881, to the brilliant editor of the New York Tribune, the match was regarded on every hand as most felicitoMS. Though several years her distinguished husband's junior, Wr. Reid, an only daughter, was b b t.i and education peculiarly fitted -ttMTiate-witb one whoeombined tue calling of the literaturer with the unremitting* work ot the successful ppliticiau. It was prophesied that her .married life with Mr. RPW would be singularly happy. It ( has been and is idealistic. Mr. Reid himself is never so happy. us wLen at home with his wife a id children, y > The two children aro Ogden and -Jean. Mngffer Ogden is a handsome, manly little fellow, the picture ol •kqalth and good nature. Jean is a love. 1 little maid of eight. J!?„ &