The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-25
HETTY GREENS JOYS.
Woman Financier Is Free From Tram
 nneIs of Her Sex.

From the Chicago Tribune.
 An eastern newspaper devoted an en- tire page to a discussion by itself and a symposium of others views upon the question of Hetty Greens happiness or unhappiness The outcome of 1t all was the conviction that she is an unhappy woman because she lives friendless and alone: that she is mean because she wrangles with the grocer and washes her own clothing. and that she cannot be happy because she walks in "a vain
 shadow" and disquiets herself, heaps up
 riches, and cannot tell who will gather them.
 The value of this decision as to Hetty Greens happiness or unhappiness depends
 entirely upon the point of view. If sym
 poslum of multimillionaires should tell us
 Hetty Green is unhappy we should De
 bound to believe them, for they know all
 about it, but it is not safe to believe per
 sons who are not rich themselves when
 they say she is unhappy. It is much more
 likely that Hetty Is one of the happiest
 women in the world and knows more Of
 the fierce raptures of delight and of the joyous satisfaction that follow successful achievement than any other of her sex.
 There is no happiness in the world more
 complete or more intense than that Of the collector. The passion for collecting rages from youth to age and ranges from but tons to first editions. There are collectors
 of prints, etchings, coins, old china, au- tographs, butterflies, armor, stamps, post cards. book plates, rugs, carvings, Jades, crystals and innumerable other articles
 of ''bigotry and virtue" and there are no happier persons in the world. They are happy all the time and they are never
 ha ppier at one time than another. except when they find something the other col- lectors cannot
 Then their happiness rises to something like ecstacy, and the moments which they spend in silent communion with the new and rare treasures are perhaps the most blissful permitted to mortals in their
 present state Hetty Green belongs to the guild of collectors. She Is collecting money in it's various shapes She IS ab- sorbed in her work, as every real collector is. She cares nothing for matters outside of that work, though she now and then, when pressed too hard, takes satirical fling at them or makes some hard-headed, common-sense suggestion about them. Probably her highest delight Is when she achieves a rare stroke in collecting, and she has all the joy which comes from ab- solute satisfaction with success and from the absolute assurance also that nothing
 can disturb her collection. When the wealthy Jehoram, King of Judah, died, it
 was said "he departed without being de- l sired" This would probably not trouble ;, Hetty Green much so long as she has all
 she desires before she departs
 There are large sources of happiness In ;, the privileges which this great wealth brings to Hetty Green. She Is absolutely 1 free from the trammels of her sex She is l not the slave Of the dressmakers. If she | cares to 30 to the theatre she is not SO , licitous about her back hair. She does 1 not have to attend womens clubs. She Is I have to keep up appearances She is not | have to keep up appearancesh. She is not
 envious of her neighbours equipage. She ] cares not whit for emancipation, as she 1 is absolutely free, nor for the tyrant man,
 as none of the tyrants yet has been able l to get ahead of her. She does absolutely
 what she wishes without regard to any
 one, and is superior to all conventions. l She is the richest woman of her time,
 and every other woman of her time prob
 ably wishes she were as rich. Is there no happiness in all this? From Hetty i Greens standpoint there is no greater
 happiness, but from our standpoint and
 your standpoint. of course, she must be
 unhappy and we are unhappy because we l haven't as much.