WOES OF GREAT WEALTH.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10408, 23 July 1912, Page 3

WOES OF GREAT WEALTH.

MR ASTOR'S] LOVE-LETTERS.

Mr William Vincent. Astor, son of Colonel Jjnn Jacob Astor, tbs Titanic victim, will come of age in November next, also the master of estate valhQd at £2,000,000, anil is is probably for the latter reason that daring tho past month he bad receiving letters—-most c£ them “love” letters— by the rpj l 6 epistolary efforts bay? ranged from scarlet-hued missives at passion to sober effusions with advice as to the best manner of spending money, la she latter instances the writer baa always beau willing to imisolate h3zns?if upon the altar of selfsacrifice give h3a persofsal aid, regardless of hardship, in the proper distribution of the Aster wealth.

Old women and young, fat and thin, bvaaen and demure, pretty and plain, have all bean included ia this amorous correspondence, and many and varied excuses are given for the liberty taken in writing, but the writer has generally bean captivated by the photographs of Mr Astor printed in a paper, and could not resist the temptation to write and tell him of her love at first eight, etc, Young Mr Astor, who is a shy and retiring voath, has been exceedingly provoked at the latterwriting. and since the story has leaked oat his friends are having a lot of fan at his expense, Most of the love-sick writers enclose photographs, and bag the favour of his In return. Two women sput photos of a leading actress, bat forgot to erase the printed name. Not only is Mr Aster bothered by hundreds of these billets doux, bat he is constantly' called to the telephone on one pretest or another, only to find some fair admirer at the other end of the wire, and many have waited outside the Astor estate offices in'New York and buttonholed the young roan as soon as ha jumped out of Ills motor-oar, Mr Astor’s lovo-letters_ tell nf suddanly-con-osived love—-love for the young man, of coarse, apart from She money he baa or expects to get. Some have been struck by hia face and manly figure, others by his manner and character as described In the newspapers. Many have ignored the cause of their abrupt passion, and told him Instead how good they could be to him.

The styles of the writers are many and varied. Aucassin to Niaolette, or Abelard to Hsloise, never dared the flights attempted in some of the letters that pile np weekly for Mr Astor. The sp’rifi of the missives varies from bursts of Sappnio passion to the directness of Mary O. Burke. Some of the writers are reserved almost to the point of cold ness, others feared that faintheartednes would get them nothing, so they leaped into endearments In the first line. All snob letters Mr Astor has ordered to be tied Into bundles and burned weekly. He has received many letters from inventors, churches, schools, and libraries, and profession beggars, and it has ' been suggested that ha 1 Should use the great fortune he will shortly inherit for anything from financing a patent bung-atarssr to methods of bridging the Behring Strait In tho matter of love-letters, Mr Astor seoma to have usurped the uiace of OcloaelJiGreen, soa of Mrs Hatty Green, who some years ago was declared to be locking forga wife, and as a result has been bombarded by applicants ever since.