The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-02-13
A WIZARD OF FINANCE.
HABITS AND CHARACTERISTICS
OF JAY GOULD.


=
John +. Mccain, the private seere-
tary of Russell Sage, has an article on
Jay Gould in the New York Epoch, The
noted tinancier is fifty-fou years old, and
is described by the writer as ''very
modest and unassuming,' with voice
"as low and sweet as Annie Laurie's
was" Further extracts from the article
are as appended;
AS boy, up in Roxbury, Delaware
County, Mr.. Gould used to run around
bare-footed and help his sisters to milk
his fathers twenty cows, after driving
them in from pasture. But he really
started in life as book-keeper to black
smith. From that he became clerk in
n country store. Then he started out as
a surveyor, but his employer was cheat,
and left young Gould literally Sin the
woods" where he had ''good cry"
and little prayer. The first money he
ever earned was for making moon
mark" for farmer, an hour after the cry
and prayer. 1t was just 81. From that
time on, he made money almost as fast as
he could count it, until he bought from
Commodore Garrison the control of the
Missouri Pacific, which was then 2S7
miles long. He bought it '.for fun"
he has since said. Those 2S7 miles have
up to this writing developed into 10, 900
miles.
Mr.. Gould thinks that no man ought
to be failure; if any man is, he says,
then there is something rotten behind
him, either II post or an ancestor. He
does not think that there can ever be an
aristocracy of wealth in this country.
He thinks more of the self-make man
than of the ready made one. He thinks
that your employe may be your sons
employer, in time. He believes, from
sun-up to shutdown, in school houses.
Education is protection, he thinks. He
is as tenacious as a blooded bulldog.
Everyone that has tried to injure him has
got hurt. He rarely touches wine, and
never tobacco. He can get along with
as small an amount of sleep as ever could
the one and only Napoleon. He is a
great reader. He reads all the great
novelists and poets, but he prefers auto.
biographies and lives of great men. He
is one of the hardest workers in the
world. He is one Of the most generous
of men, too. The smallest boy in his of.
flee receives 800 from him at Christmas
time, and have known him to give one
of his clerks five times that amount
One day saw on my desk in Mr.. Rus
sell Sage's office piece of brown wrap
ping paper on which was written: ED
win Gould, Merry Christmas, 1887
From papa; fifteen bonds at $1,000
EACH" That was something like a
Christmas present, now.
Through all the years when his office
was adjoining Mr.. Sage's, not one clerk
or boy in it ever paid one penny for
lunch. Lunch was sent in every work
ing day for all hands. Not much for a
rich man to do, you may say! Still. he
needn't have done it. remember, also,
a fellow named Tommy Sheridan, lit
tie, red headed, consumptive chap, who
was dying longer than anyone l ever
knew. Well, up to the day of his death,
Mr.. Gould paid him fine salary, for do
ing absolutely nothing, and, after Tom
my's death, money from Mr.. Gould went
10 Tommy's family for a long time.
Nobody ever was loyal to Mr.. Gould
without being amply rewarded. No
body was ever disloyal to him without
regretting it. He is thoroughly human
man--capable of loving, capable of hat
ing. Mr.. Gould, more than any other
ten men, has been the builder of the
West Any man who has ever worked
for and near Nj Gould, will swear by.
and fight for, him. | nave never heard
! him use an oath, nor an offensive express
sion. | believe him to be as clean
minded as a good woman. He idolizes
his children He Norshiped his wife.
He is more like an elder brother to his
chicks than father They have every
thing they want-few things they do not
wa for. There are five of them: George,
Edwin, Frank, Harold and Miss Helen.
No children ever had better mother
than they had. Until they were old
enough to know right from wrong in
print, they were not allowed to read any
thing till Mrs. Gould had inspected it.
Mrs. Gould was as generous as her hus-
band, too, and in the same quiet way.
She dreaded seeing her name in the
papers. For years MIR. Gould has lived
at the corner of Forty seventh street and
Fifth avenue in the winter. In the
summer he is either on his yacht, in
Europe, or up at Irvington. He bought
bis place up there in 1880, for 5000, 900,
and it is worth 81, 900, 900 to-day. 1t
has twenty rooms above the basement, is
5000 feet from the Hudson, has an art
gallery the depth of the house, lawn of
ninety-ti acres, and road leading to
the entrance a quarter of mile long.
There are sheep, COWS, horses and blooded
fowl upon the estate, dollhouse, con-
servatory, and an army of gardeners.
The conservatory is 900 feet long by $50
wide, and is valued at quarter of a mil
lion.
Mr. Gould rarely looks at the one he
is listening to. suppose he thinks it
isn't worth while, after he flashes one
penetrating look at the average man.
But if he talks to you he generally keeps
his bright brown eyes upon you. He is
splendid listener, apparently. But |
should never advise man to fiatter him
self that Mr.. Gould's thoughts aren't
occasionally miles away when he is talk
ing with him. Mr.. Gould goes regularly
to DIR. Paxton's church in Forty second
street Mr.. Gould paid $500 for his
pew, $500 more than the next highest
bidders bid
Mr.. Gould rarely takes any notice of
the bitter things written of him. He can
write as well himself as anyone who has
ever written about him. He said, years
ago, that he was accused of things he
had never done, and abused for the
| doings of others. He tries to be on good
terms with all the people he meets. He
is anything but quarrelsome man; but,
unfortunately" he says, II am not
sociable." He is not sport, as Keene,
Osborne. Woerishoeffer, Bloodgood and
dozens of other Wall street men were.
| He is fonder of the library than of the
| Casino. He prefers the home to the