Famous American Belles of the Nineteenth CenturyPeacock, Virginia Tatnall
History
Famous American Belles of the Nineteenth Century
Peacock, Virginia Tatnall
Women -- United States -- Biography
The toast which is more celebrated than any of her other equally clever
utterances was offered at a supper at the Springs, given in honor of
herself and another famous Richmond belle, Mary Triplett, the late Mrs.
Philip Haxall. Miss Triplett had been asked to propose a toast and had
declined. Mattie Ould, however, rose without hesitation, lifted her
glass, inclined her graceful head towards Miss Triplett, and in her
clear musical voice, said, "Here's to beauty, grace, and wit, which
united make a Triplett." There was, indeed, a peculiar enchantment
about all she did and said that seemed never to have belonged to any
one else. Her dancing infused a new charm into the atmosphere of a
ball-room, and as a horsewoman she possessed a skill and grace that few
could rival.
Her horse once ran away with her in Richmond, just as the groom mounted
her and before she had put her foot in the stirrup. It dashed off at
top speed, running several squares through the residence district of
the city, and then turned into a business street, where it rushed madly
into a hack. The hackman, however, had seen it coming, and realizing
that he could not get out of its way, he stood up, and throwing his
arm around the rider's waist, he lifted her from the saddle as the
horse crashed into the hack, partly demolishing it, and fell. A great
crowd witnessed the rescue, and cheered lustily for the courageous
old hackman. When Mattie Ould was recognized, however, the enthusiasm
assumed a more substantial form, and the hands of many men went
generously into their pockets. He was never forgotten, and as long as
Mattie Ould lived she provided for him and his family, some of the many
who had loved her keeping up the good work after she was gone.
Though she was the object of the ardent devotion of many men, she did
not marry until she had passed her twenty-fifth year. It was rumored
that she was engaged to a friend of her father's, a man many years her
senior, and the indignation with which her father received the news
of her marriage to Oliver Schoolcraft substantiated in many minds the
report of the former engagement.
Her marriage occurred at the end of the summer of 1876, which she
had spent with her grandmother at the White Sulphur Springs. Thither
Schoolcraft, one of the wealthiest of the younger set of men who
adorned Richmond life, had followed her, taking with him his own
valuable horses and traps, with which adjuncts he was ever at her
disposal. They drove over to Salem one day, and were quietly married
there that evening, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John A. McCall; one
of Miss Ould's brothers and several of her friends witnessing the
ceremony. As no preparation had been made for her marriage, she wore,
instead of the conventional white satin, a simple gown of white
organdy, set off with bands of black velvet.
[Illustration: Mary Triplett
(Mrs. Philip Haxall)
From photograph by Roseti]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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