The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-09-11
Lnds Mr.. Hetty Green in their

Will be a good thing for thinking peo-
pie. 1t will exercise their intellect.
Now suppose Mr.: Hetty Green came
in and saw Mrs Green's small change.
What if he looked with greedy eyes
upon it?
Some men are so vigorously consti-
tuted that they can withstand any
thing but temptation. Mr.. Balzac, late
Of France, discovered this phase of hu-
man nature. Suppose Mr.. Hetty Green
stuffed that million in his pocket and
walked QUIT
There is no need of conjuring in
your imagination what would be the
first result. Allowing that Mrs. Green
survived heart disease and apoplexy,
what would be her next tactical pro-
erosion? Could she have the law on
Mr.. Hetty Green? Could she call in
the Bellows Falls police and lay her
husband by the heels? If he wouldn't
give up, could she have the police put
him through the third degree, or would
she hire some one not afraid Of Joe
ChOate to rake him across the griddle
of civil procedure?
Under the old common law Mrs. Het-
ty Green could not do a thing but
gnash her teeth in private. But spe-
cial statutes now cover the case. The
wife's property rights are vested in
herself. 1t is her money. The law
states this distinctly and to the point.
IN New DIX, was the regal Oplu-
ion Of Judge McAdam, Mrs. Hetty
Green or any other woman could hold
her husband responsible in the eyes CT
the law for any personal or other
property Of hers taken without her con-
sent"
So even the law conspires to the
unf1aVOred existence Of Mr.. Hetty
Green, elbow TO elbow with $4,000 900.
This, of course, is no reflection on Mr..
Hetty Green. No one has ever accused
him Of taking millions his wife care
lessly left about
ON HER DRESSING TABLE
or piano. Neither is 1t known that
he ever appropriated any millions Of
hers left elsewhere-say on the front
stOoD or in the back yard. To bring
1t down to the level of every day, it is
not animated that he ever took even
so cents she had carelessly left about.
To tell the truth, Mrs Hetty Green
never gives any one the chance TO
pick up any Of her money. They can
tell you that, too, in Wall street, al
though she is not so particular about
other peoples money when Wall street
is concerned. Mrs. Hetty Green, it
may be said, is a trif1e careful about
her money, although no dressmaker
would ever accuse her Of the habit, as
far as her gowns are concerned. She
spends great deal on clothes-as
much, sometimes, as $14.6S a year.
But to return to Below Falls. It is
long jump, to be sure, but Mrs. Het-
ty Green does not mind. Neither does
MIR. Hetty Green, apparently. He has
got over caring about anything. He
is seventy-seven years DID, and out 6f
training in the vanites Of this world.
His chief interest in life is the news
papers.
The Hetty Greens live in the old
Hall mansion, bought generations ago
by Nathaniel Tucker, Mr.. Hetty
Green's grandfather. Recently it was
greatly improved by a new chimney.
The old chimney had been threaten
ing for nine or ten years to fall down
and hit some one on the head SO, after
thinking It over three or four years,
Mrs. Hetty Green decided to have it
repaired. She superintended the work,
and was glad when it was done. So
were the men who did it.
There have been no social gayeties
at the Hetty Greens this summer.
The most recent one was six years ago,
when Mrs. Hetty Green gave a tea
party. They are still talking about it
at Bellows Falls. Mr.. Hetty Green,
prOpably, has long since given up ret
rospection concerning that brilliant af-
fair Every one went to it, not so
much for the tea, but for other reasons.
Today, in Bellows Falls, they take
a stranger first to see the soldiers
monument and the new bank and the
court house. Then they lead him in
frort Of the Hetty Green home. This,
their most important sight, they save
to the last. 1t is worthy of the climax.
If the stranger is fortunate, he may
see the Hetty Greens-Mrs. Miss and
Mr.. Mrs. Hetty Green is frequently
seen on the street. Lately she has
INTRODUCED A PET,
fuzzy terrier eight inches high. st.
Demands, Great Danes and similar
| dogs eat a great deal. A fuzzy terrier
eight inches high is not a rabid, rag
ing creature at it's food.
On pleasant days Bellows Falls in
this way enjoys the spectacle Of a hum
million dollar woman taking the
air with a three-dollar dog. The bond
between them is a piece Of string, for
otherwise the dog might run down a
rat-hole and get lost. At home the
dog lives in the house, because Mr.
Hetty Green is believed to encourage
his wife's delights. He gets a salary
from her, the folks say, and one may
| even live in the same house with an
eight-irch terrier, provided the salary
makes up the discrepancy in size.
But, according to the best informa-
! L.
terrier could draw Mr.. Hetty Green's
| salary and not Qverstrain itself. Still,
! it sufIices to buy morning papers, and
| with these Mr.. Hetty Green is content
! You can see him sitting on the porch,
| Immersed in the mornings news, and
with no more interest in the quota
tons of bonds and shares than the
ordinary man takes in a hair-oil adj
Vertisement. While he sits there hear
ing in the cold, unimpaSsiOned print
the echoes of the past world throbbing
about his rural quiet, Mrs. Hetty goes
down to the butchers and bakers and
to the grOceryman.
The tradespeople rarely do with Mr..
| HetAT Green. They know Mrs. Hetty
! Green Only-or rather, they think
! they do. Sometimes they wonder
whether they are not mistaken. A
woman who deals in millions must look
on a shoulder Of mutton or a veal
outlet as the Olympic gods, after a
draught of ambroslal nectar, might
sniff a snuff from a skin of Libyan
| wine.
But the same determination that
Mrs. Hetty displays in buying a block
of c. B. &, O. is visible in the way
she takes to herself a pint Of sugar
beets or a box of August huckleber-
ries. If the beets are 6 cents at one
! place and at another fourteen blocks
down the street, she takes the other
kind, and profits by the exercise A
| slight summer entertainment for the
mountains and seaside is the diverting
problem: "How long would it take to
| earn 81 900 000, 900 buying 6-cent beets
| for five cents?'
No one ever accused Mrs. Hetty
Green of prodigality.