The Progress., 1894-05-12

Mrs. HettY Green.


achieved the doubje-b arrcled reputa-
ton of being the richest and most &C.
centric woman in America. While
Mrs. Vanderbilt, Mrs. Aston and other
luminous representatives Of New York
miIIiOuaireGOm are trailing their vel
vet gowns over marble floors and wear
ing diamonds OF electric lustre, Mrs.
Hetty Green, the leader in lucre, lives
from pillar to post, in cheap boarding
houses, dresses in shabby, secondhand
clothes, does her own laundering and
practise5 other unique economies that
seem in extraordinary inc0ngruity to a
gIittering pile Of $60,000,000,
Mrs. Green is one of the shrewdest
fnanCiers of the age, and with the
money-getting, money-saving mania
abnormaIIy developed, has accumulate
ed her vast wealth by desperate grip
upon the Almighty Dollar. Business
is her life's Iaw-perSonal comfort is
unknown in her Unsuitable greed for
gain. She owns no home, to avoid pay
ing taxes but restlessly tramp5 with
her grip-Sack from one cheap boarding
house to another, in New York and
Chicago, where the greater portion Of
her time is Spent-Occupying the
smallest, dismalest rooms, and in her
meagre mode OF living spending only
pittanCe for the bare necessities OF
existence. She abhOr5 n0t0riety, and to
escape the opportunities of beggar5,
the curiosity Of newspaper reporters
and the Internal machines Of safe-rOb-
ber5, is her supreme desire.
Ia New York all of Mrs. Green's bus
mess is transacted ut an Office in the
Chemical Bank. There she works
early and late, eats her free lunch and
grOans over the hard times" Mrs.
Green is the posSes5or of a magnificent
collection Of diamonds that is stored
away in the bank vaults, and there.
too, she has a quantity OF very fine
silver. One of her pleaSanteSt diver
sions-a kind of holiday froIicing, as it
were-is to haul out this priceless plate
from its dark recesseS an0 exercise her
elbOw-greaso in shining it up
Mrs Green lives apart from her
family-a husband, son and daughter
her Bohemian habits rendering the
maintenance of home ties an imp0ssi-
bility. She is dead to all charitable
impulSeS-not nickle Of her burden
some wealth is spent for her own good
or the benefit Of unfortunate humanity.
The wholesome joys of life have been
ground dry as dust in moneys mill
Mrs. Hettv Green, aggressive, flint |
hearted-tires not in her hot pursuit Of
cold cash.
Such, briefly told, is the history of
Americas richest woman, who in her |
cherries, unICved LOT is an object of
positive pity even to an empty-pocket-
ed pencil-pusher. A few superAuous
millions exchanged for some of the
sunshine of the soul essential to bring
the pure peace Of contentment to her.
and how much richer Hetty Green |
would be.
We would not at all object to nego-
tiating a swap on these lines with the |
femae Cr9sus. A share of our abund-
ant cheerfuIness would give her what
she lacks to make life worth living. to
fill the heart with the philanthropy
that ennobtes wealth, while we, with
ptethOriC bank account and stock of
sunshine left, would be marvelously
welt-fXed. The Green millions.
snapped for temperamentat sunshine.
would put us in individual clover
would enable us to do big things"
for our profession. We would estab-
llou homes lor the veterans OF the press
grown aged and weary in long service:
we would start journals for the benefit
OF struggling, ambitious young writer's
crushed to earth under the weight of
manuscripts returned;' greatness
would be thrust upon us-om name
would be handed down in fame as the
newspaper magnate of North Louisiana
Sweet, sweet viston,-fooli8h, foolish
dream-for while we waste ink in the
unsubstantial architecture OF Chateaux
en- ESpagoe, the other woman" holds
the cash.
III
Gifted New Orleans Women