MILLIONAIRES AND THEIR WAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2250, 15 April 1897, Page 49

MILLIONAIRES AND THEIR WAYS.

An idle millionaire of my acquaintance who had exhausted almost all the pleasures of life, and who made his personal comfort a religion, held with the tenacity of a Moslem fanatic, took to yaohting late in life. The yacht was extravagantly furnished. The pictures in the saloon, which were bought Through a weil-knowu London firm of dealers, cost upwards of £30,000. Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the owner of the yacht may be called, in thus encouraging art did not. forget himself. Though not a great sufferer from seasickness, on one occasion be had a fiighb crossing the Bay of Biscay, wher, the wind and the current being in opposite directions, the sea was choppy, and I knocked the yacht about to a considerable \ extent. Even though the vessel was hoveto, Lorenzo was a great deal braised, and vented his displeasure on his captain. That mariner, who waa c fine seaman and well accustomed to the whims and caprices of rich patron?, told his employer that the only possible way to avoid the distressing Bhcck of an agitated sea when the tide and wind were contrary was to throw oil upon the water to the windward of the yacht. Ne.\t; time a gale of wind began to blow this plan was tried. It was not a snecesn. Lorenzo, finding his sacred person subjected to fresh indignities by the movement of the boat, flew into a woree passion than before with his unlucky commander. When the storm had blown over and Lores za had regained his equanimity, the captain explained to him thafc the only effective method of protecting the yacht from "being swept by the seas in rough weather, and thus diminishing the pitching and tossing, was to arrange for the oil to be deposited on the sea 200 yds or SOOyda to .windward of fche yaoht herself. The only way this could ba done was by chartericg a vessel as tender to the yacht, specially litted with oil-tanks and taps for her whole length, and placing her under the oommand of a thoroughly competent seaman with instructions to smooth the troubled seas whenever it was necessary to do so. Lorenzo spent some £3600 in fitting a vessel with the necessary appliances, and be has added to his yacht's annual expenses nearly £4000 by providing that oil shall be cast on the water whenever the sea is rough. Even in his Mediterranean trips he ifr accompanied by the oil-tender to grease the wavts, but the device has only been resorted to on one occasion ; it must be added, however, with perfect success. In talking the matter over with Lorenzo, he denied that the oil was the chief motive in his mind in providing a tender to the yaohl'. The safety of his person, and the prudence of haviDg a vessel at hand more strongly built than the yacht, and with no other duty to perform than to attend the vessel in which Lorenzo entrusted his precious self, were the reasons he gave for providing it. A very wealthy Jewish gentleman, who recently amassed a great fortune rather from the credulity of the investing public than from the richness of the mines he presented to their notice, has built himself a country house in which he has adopted the odd device of providing four bedrooms for himself to meet the climatic and meteorological conditions of the year. Summer, autumn, winter, and spring are each considered in the fittirg-and adornment of theße four rooms. In the winter room, for example, the windows, which are small, are arranged on the Russian, plan, double, with cotton wool between them. The summer room ha? very large bow windows with hanging mats of fragrant cuscu3 grass fitted outside and moistened with a contincal cprsy of scented water. The rooms themselves are painted and decorated in accordance with the spirit of the seasons, and although the arrangement began as a hygienic fad, it must he admitted that the effect is charming ; and H the occupant- were a Jsvely girl instead of an elderly financier with a bulbous forehead who makes a noise when he eats his woup, no reasonable .objection could be raised by the sternest democrat. • Ifc need scarcely be said that the^gratlfication of the passion for horseflesh is constantly indulged in. A moneyed acquaintance who is occupied a)i day in the city and who has no time that he can call his own except Sundays and of cer dinner has spent a very large sum of money in fitting upstablea in connection with his town house of a pattern that Nero would have admired when he made his horse a consul. The stables thornselves', wilh the exception of the stalls and loose boxes, are fitted up exactly like the diniog or drawing room of a man of taste. Exquisite cleanliness is maintained by arrangements which need not be detailed. A long corridor communicates between the stables and the house, and it is a common thing for the owner to inspect one after the other half a dozen horses in his dining room ! while smoking a cigar after dinner. He says ■ that he finds the society of horses a relief j after the experiences of the Stock Exchange, ; and each of the animals brought into the \ dining room receives his pieca of sugar and i banana as naturally as if he were a Dandie Dinmont. Shod with indiarubber, the horses do no harm to the carpets. In the last century it was not uncommon for county squires to have their horses brought to their dining rocms after dinner, and the extravagance of my stockbrokirjg acquaintance in respect to his stable is at all events due not to the love of display but to a sincere delight in the society of animals. — Extract from "The Extravagances of a Millionaire " in the English Illustrated Magazine.