“But I don’t think it matters much what a girl does so long as she is
active, and doesn’t allow herself to stagnate. There’s nothing, to my
mind, so pathetic as a girl who thinks she can’t do anything, and is
of no use to the world. Why, it’s no wonder there are so many suicides
every day!”
She is consulted by her agents in regard to all her affairs. “I have
no time for society,” she said, “and indeed I do not care for it at
all. It is very well for those who like it,” she added, for she is a
tolerant critic.
Her life at Tarrytown is an ideal one. She runs down to the city at
frequent intervals, to attend to business affairs, for she manages all
her own property; but she lives at Lyndhurst. She entertains but few
visitors, and in turn visits but seldom.
I will not attempt to specify the numerous projects of charity that
have been given life and vigor by Miss Gould. I know her gifts in
recent years have passed the million-dollar mark.
Would you have an idea of her personality?
If so, think of a good young woman in your own town, who loves her
parents and her home; who is devoted to the church; who thinks of the
poor on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas; whose face is bright and manner
unaffected; whose dress is elegant in its simplicity; who takes an
interest in all things, from politics to religion; whom children love
and day-laborers greet by fervently lifting the hat; and who, if she
were graduated from a home seminary or college, would receive a bouquet
from every boy in town. If you can think of such a young woman, and
nearly every community has one, (and ninety-nine times out of a hundred
she is poor,) you have a fair idea of the impression made on a plain
man from a country town in Indiana by Miss Gould.
Helen Miller Gould is just at the threshold of her beautiful career.
What a promise is there in her life and work for the coming century!
She has given much of her fortune for the Hall of Fame on the campus
of the New York University, overlooking the Harlem River. It contains
tablets for the names of fifty distinguished Americans, and proud will
be the descendants of those whose names are inscribed thereon.
The human heart is the tablet upon which Miss Gould has inscribed
her name and her “Hall of Fame” is as broad and high as the Republic
itself.