The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-11-12

r W ETTY ROWLAND ROBINSON
III GREEN, without question
n ~ the wealthiest woman in the
United States, of whom moro has
been written and less is known than
probably of any living woman Of equal
prominence, whose income is roundly
measured at several dollars a minute,
who eschews publicity, despises fall
ure, and loathes a lawyer, will celebrate
her SEVENTEEN anniversary on Nov. Il.
AS it will fall on a Tuesday, she will
pass the day, just as she does every
weekday when in New York, at the
Chemical National bank. a
Besides rounding out her three score
and ten years Of life, it will also mark
her fortieth year as a business woman,
during which period she is reported to
have added fully $5o,0O0,0o0 to the
100000 nest egg left behind by her
father in 1885.
During several conversations the
writer has had with this extraordinary
woman she has never borne any likeness
to the verbal and pencil carfcatures
that have appeared from time to time il
the public prints. Nor was she other
than a vivid, virile personality, with
friendly blue eyes and plenty of sym
pathy with humanity, as she sat at her
desk the other day in the rear Of the
bank.
~ really. have nothing to say-noth-
ing of any particular INTEREST," re-
marked Mrs Green, "further than to
be thankful for my continued health
ard interest in general affairs. know
of but very few people who are buster
than myself or who are better trained to
combine business with pleasure. I sup
pose that is the secret Of my-my foun-
tain of YOUTH She smiled. "But,
you see, one Of the rules Of my life is
never to worry uselessly about things.
I am Just as ready as ever to stand up
for nv rights, and I do the best I can
every day as I go along. But after
having done a thing, my policy is to
let it drop and take up something else.
The result is that business never dis
turbs me after business hours; never
makes me lose any sleep, in other
words''
Her bright, CHEEKY expression and
clear complexion were convincing cor
roboration of the words. A time-worn
walnut desk, which recently accompan-
led it's owner to her present headquar-
ters, appears slightly out Of place in the
new Chemical banking room, but not
so the great woman fnancier. Her
mouth, though determined, has moth
erly lines about it, and strong char
acter shines forth from every feature.
BY feminine rule and line Hetty
Green, in her SEVENTEEN year, is tall,
with strong frame, hair still plentiful
but now deeply frosted, plump but capa
Bile hands, and a manner emphatic and
forceful without being obtrusively So
She has soft voice and a matronly
figure, but when she leans back in he1
chair and squares her face in earnest
conversation or crosses her knee anc
T. points her finger in denunciation at ar
imaginary enemy, she does all these
things just as a heavy, muscular mai
would do them.
Occasionally, in her hurried earnest
ness, final "g' is missing. Other
wise her vocabulary is one of blunt An
glo-Saxon directness-simple words gen
orally of one or two syllables; withou
any. furbelows. Her neat dress of plail
black was replica of those you will
find on benign elderly mothers in score
q of rural towns. The skirt was of sateel
and upon her head she wore crepe vel
twisted about her hair in such a way a
to suggest the Castilian mode. On
noticeable characteristic was the entir
absence Of affectation-no suggestion
of thickness, hardness, or suspicion.
Adding to her prescription Of youth
fulness, she says that she is a Quaker
ess, and that her father early implante
in her a habit Of self control. He use