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Vincent Astor Why No Other Girl in the World Interested Young Astor V INCENT ASTOR’S engagement to his next door neighbor and childhood sweetheart, Helen Dinsmore Huntington, seems to disprove the old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt,” and to prove the truth of that other old saying, "‘propinquity breeds love.” Certainly there has been no romance In the history of American fashionable society in which propin quity has played so large a part. It also explains why no other 'girl in the world ever interested-young Mr. Astor. And although astrology, whose predictions upon their mar riage appear further on, takes a somewhat different view, there •will be thousands of sensible persons who will see in this triumph of propinquity an earnest of continued happiness for the two and a bulwark against a repetition of the marital failures of Vincent Astor’s parents. It would seem that a youth and a maid, both healthy, both interested in the same things, and both brought •up under the same social and financial conditions, and knowing each other from childhood up, would have a better chance to live (V together happily than a pair who, perhaps, a year before their marriage, had not even yet known each other. Young Mr. Astor and Miss Huntington may have fewer surprises to offer each other—but then it is usually a surprise that tips over the mari tal bark. A boy and girl growing up together get a chance to know each other thoroughly. They know each other’s likes and dislikes, and they have grown tolerant of both. The girl cannot say after the ceremony: “Why, if I’d known you were that kind of a man I’d never have married you. Nor can the man. , Even the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents of Ithe two were friends and neighbors. The seeds of the romance were planted by William B. Dinsmore, the great-grandfather of the bride-to-be, and William B. Astor. grandfather of the future bridegroom, when they purchased adjoining estates on the banks of the Hudson. Divorce statistics prove unqualifiedly that marriages on short acquaintance, more often than not, prove disastrous. It has been proved, to the satisfaction of many students, that marriages be tween persons who have grown up together, or who have enjoyed several years of friendship, are more apt to prove happy than not. And why not? Take these two young people, who will marry 'early next Spring. From babyhood they have played together. In their childhood, when neither one would be interested in “put ting the best foot forward.” they were close companions. They quarrelled over childish matters, perhaps. But they always made up and were better friends than ever. At Christmas time they planned together for the benefit of the viliiage people of Staats- burgli and Rliinebeck. They gave presents and “treats” to the children of the villages, they made immature plans for a future when they should be “grown up.” Then, growing up, together they took a part in larger philanthropies, particularly in Holiday House, a home for work ing girls established by the late Colonel Astor; they spent one day a week at the home whenever they were both in residence at their country places. Urged by his naxt door neighbor, young Astor formed an athletic association in his village. He developed a baseball team and his neighbor became an ardent fan. But they still played together—nearly every day there were tennis games, in which there must have been some love games; they played golf, motored and rode horseback. There were family luncheons and dinners. In everv way these young people were placed so as to see all sides of' each other; they discovered their own and each other’s weaknesses and strength. They learned how to meet and sol\ e many problems which, had they confronted after a short acquaint- > ance. alight have led to a severed love. During her years at a fashionable boarding school, Helen and her neighbor were the same good friends. Her school girl friends became accustomed to seeing the tall, slender, young millionaire, for he never failed to call on the one weekly visiting 8y Last Spring, urged by his next door neighbor, young Astor decided to become a scientific farmer. He has laid out his Fern- eliffe farm on thoroughly scientific principles, such as are advo cated by the New York State Agricultural College, and in all this work his coadjutor has been Miss Huntington. All his life Vincent Astor saw so much of Miss Huntington that he had no time to get interested in any other girl. What the Stars Foretell By Professor SOTHNOS LETILLIER. T HE position in the heavens of the stars, the planets, the sun and the moon at the moment of our birth, determines what are we to be. The heavens are the book of Destiny on which, when we are born, fate writes with starry symbols all that is to happen to us in Ihis life. The science of reading the stars and translating these symbols is called astrology. Astrology is older than modern science. There are some surprising facts observable in the considers tion of the two horoscopes of Vincent Astor and his bride which the working out of the Karmic law has blended into one. They are two separate things that must be read as one. And herein is presented the real interest that attaches to the present analysis. Vincent is ruled by Venus, Helen by Mars a romantic combination, but transposed as regards the logical qualifications of positive and negative. The woman is the dominant factor, the man, the fiexive one. Mr Astor possesses the faculty that makes him bend to the exigencies of a situation, whether it be to his liking or not. Miss Huntington will shape those points of emergence to her own plans, bringing pressure to bear upon desire, and concen tration to the vantage to be attained. And herein lies the hope for happiness of the couple. lor frankly their two horoscopes do not “gibe” at all; they are at vide Miss Helen Dinsmore Huntington. Copyright, by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y Reproduced from the December Number of HARPER’S BAZAR, by Special Permission. And Their Very Peculiar Matrimonial Prospects loggerheads. The stars indicate that he can be sufficiently plastic for her to have no difficulty in ruling; if he is not, there will be serious trouble, for I fear the new Mrs. Astor is goinjf to be very much disappointed as regards domestic sentiment. The stars show her to be strong enough to make tile best of the situation if she will. But they do not say she will.. And the stars show very clearly where the trouble comes in. The law of propinquity is more in evidence in their mating than is the law of affinity. It Is thought by many that pro pinquity creates affinity, indeed that often they are one and the same. Astrology recognizes the true difference between propinquity and affinity, and the eternal stars testify to it. Propinquity does not necessarily mean affinity, and the mating that comes from the first alone can never be so full and complete as that governed by the second. Propinquity is habit; affinity is the resistless onrush of two natures that can only find real happiness in merging. The dictionary defines the first as “local nearness” and gives as an example, “watchful mammas calculating what precise degree of propinquity is safe or reasonable for their daughters.” Affinity is never quite safe or reasonable and supremely disdainful of “watching mammas.” One is tamed, domestic; the other smacks of Olympus. There is little affinity in these two horoscopes and herein, as I say, lies the danger. Miss Huntington should be Mr. Astor’s sister rather than his wife—and has been such in previous incarnations. Saturn is in her marriage house—and this, alas, leaves no doubt as regards the health of the husband and his lack of physical resistance to disease. From this point alone one must surmise widowhood sooner or later. The stars show clearly that the fafes will play an interesting game in this direction de spite all present anticipations for happiness and I much fear that history will be a domestic repetition in this respect. The shadow of destiny must necessarily sillhouette itself against the body of the family politic. Plainly ultimate separation is too clearly indicated. The marriage itself occurs under some astral contradiction —her Venus (the ruler of her marriage house), is in beno conjunction with Jupiter (the money arbiter), but is op] to Uranus. This latter has a maleficent significance later ' A similar solar combination passed over a year or so •' and must have brought to the bride affectional or other ■ plications. I might almost postulate an engagement, cv least an understanding, with another than Vincent at : time. Immediately following the marriage the stellar field ch i somewhat, with the nearby years as very satisfactory. The question of children Is resolved from the feminine horo scope, and the first testimony of this nature culminates in No vember of next year. A girl child will be born, but there i.-; grave doubt of Its living beyond the infantile period. Of pleasanter promise is another birth, two years thereafter, of an heir to the Astor millions. He will be a credit from the silken layette up to the mantle of John Jacob I, a royal personage in a democratic setting, for ere his manhood the socialistic instinct will have crept into his veins and made of him a soul kindred to the spirit of the age. There is just the possibility of a third child, but the exig encies of the union will scarcely have extended to that point. There is no diminution of the family wealth, at least in the next generation. Indeed, it will grow larger, though Mr. Astor will know what depreciation in real estate values means be tween two and three years hence, with a very decided curtail ment as regards accumulation beginning with 1917, when Ur anus will have reached far enough Into Aquarius, the sign of the New Dispensation, to call a positive halt to the present rule of money. I mean that on that date will begin the Social Revolution. The wife will pass through an ill condition between the Sum mers of 1915 and 1916, with Saturn very much in afflictive evi dence, and the domestic menage will be very much disturbed, with not a little danger of serious alienation of the two. The period does not warrant social activity, as she will meet con siderable effort to lessen her supremacy as a leader. This is. the first really evil condition that presents itself for her, an£ will induce in her not a little anxiety. She at no time affiliates very agreeably with her relatives by marriage, not being disposed to let any question of either right or might prevail against her ideas of exactly what is due her as the espoused of the head of the family; her tempera ment does not accord with concessions of that nature. She will not get along at all well with Mrs. Astor, her mother-in-law, and in this condition lies one of the strongest factors of the indicated marital shipwreck. An acutely sinister chapter in the stars shows an actual ship wreck in 1917, along the southern coast of the Mediterranean. As this indication occurs simultaneously in each chart, it is clear that the two will be travelling together at that time and will meet the danger together. No careful astrologer cares to deal excathedra with the prob lem of death, although often confronted with glaring testimon ies of that nature. Eventual separation is assured, but as I read the signs, not until a later date. And so it is not possible that they perish in this wreck. Yet there is very great peril and suffering, indeed. I do not like to write this—and there is always a chance for error—but the horoscopes show conclusively separation for the coming Mrs. Astor, either by death or man-made law. The’’’ show plainly, too, a subsequent marriage for her. But in the meantime this prospective union will have ful filled its necessary requirement in the lives of the two. What American Millionairess Spends W E are indebted to one of the Paris • fashion magazines for the news that American women of wealth spend a quarter of a million dollars a year on their clothes—and it requires many economies to pinch along even on that figure. The “chic” women among the millionairesses, says the French editor, will need at least the following items, costing not less than the sums set down: She may start with the morning tailor- mades, and she will want at least four of these, costing her altogether $640, for you can not get the kind of suit she will wear for less than $160 each. Then she requires at least two riding habits and a hunting costume, which will cost her $f>00, with the fancy vests and other fittings. A special costume for each sport is an ab solute necessity, for who would go yachting in a tennis suit, or play tennis in golf costume? Thus she spends at least a thousand dollars for the sporting costumes and rough wraps. This has only covered the morning, in the afternoon she will require a number of fancy tailor-mades, in cloth or silk, gowns for teas, meetings or tango parties, and special cos tumes for the trip South in Winter. The sjlk tailor-made will cost $250; a lace gown may cost her $756, and she will need at least fifty afternoon gowns a year at an average cost of $240 each, or a total of $12,000 for these alone. The evening gowns are still more delicate— and expensive. These very sheer folds of tulle, the rich brocades and embroideries are price less. They are worn perhaps twice, never more than three time,s—but they cost any where from a thousand dollars to three thou sand. and there must be many of them. The chapter of wraps is worst of all. A sable coat may cost $60,000. The fashionable woman wanted a coat of broad-tail last year; this year she must have one of ermine, which costs from six to twenty thousand dollars, ac Copyright, 1913, by the Star $250,000 a Year for Her Clothe Company. cording to quality. She may spend anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 for the furs alone, easily spend anywhere from $50,000 to $100,- 000 for the furs alone. But she must not forget her house dresses and gown's, made of all kinds of silks and laces. One robe may cost $250 or $300. Her dressing gown of China silk costs only $100, but altogether she will spend at least $8,000 for these home dresses.* » Dresses and furs have been provided, but she is not nearly through with her needs. She must have hats, and they are not cheap. The plainest of these for morning wear will cost thirty or forty dollars, and if she buys a hat with aigrettes or paradise plun.es it may cost her $500, or even $t,000. She will spend a6 least $30,000 for all the hats she will need during the four seasoivs and between seasons, to match each costume. What now about the lingerie? It is so fine ,that it washes to bits very quickly, but that Great Britain Rights Reserved. does not prevent her from spending $30 for a chemise, or a corset cover, and $40 for a nightgown. Her handkerchiefs are an Item in themselves, and all these together will cost her at least $60,000 per annum. Her corsets must be of all kinds and shapes for various uses. Who would wear the same corset for a tailor-made and for yachting, or for a house gown? She must spend not less than $800 to $1,000 each year for corsets and brassieres. And then come the stockings! Five dollars buys the poorest she will wear, and the em broidered and medallioned may run as high as $300 a pair. Then come the gloves, changed with every dress, bought by the dozens, worn once and thrown away. She will spend thousands on jabots, scarfs and ruchings. Her parasols, in every color, will cost as much as $250, when made of lace, and she must have all kinds. if cSb Men, e Dood o the j atrol ) dout e folio! ldgmel folloi fiatford by a of sij dted • every! i chairl I upon| ke up m. establf people •nded . 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