Show YOUNG GIRLS or Of TODAY AR ARC TOO T DECLARES HETTY IE TY R REEN N BY HENRY A. A HARWOOD HABWOOD Young girls of ot today are too ex ex- They think too much about clothes and they dont don't have enough to do If It they had some useful work to occupy occupy occupy oc oc- cupy their thoughts they would not run to such extravagance So spoke Mrs Hetty Green Gree the worlds world's greatest woman financier as from her herr corner in the Chemical Nay Na National bank she watched the tho tide of girls young youn and old oM in summer r finery turning turning toward Brooklyn bridge and ana anti Coney Cone Con Island eland I 1 speak from experience Perhaps you dont don't know it but but I was quite a abelle belle alls when I was vas young g. g But I lout outgrew out out- grew all that sort sort of thing Those r rainbow silks and metal fingers are na notto not notto t to my taste I used to wear those thus things I used to have more fixings fixing s and trimmings 6 on me than there thero is o oa on ona ona n a Christmas tree I have havo mOre more sense now She Sho tugged restlessly at the strings string s sf which in a careless listless sort o of f way were holding her tiny bonnet o oher on n her head She Sho spoke in a hoarse almost almost al most inaudible voice and the mos most t careful concentration was necessary in i n following her remarks In one ono hanshe land hand handshe d she held a a. worn much small black bag With the other she was constantly doing doing doing do do- ing something tug tugging ng at her capor cap pulling or rollin rolling her bonnet strings bonnet strings o or r emphasizing her remarks by jerking jerkin the e l lapel apel of my coat No No I dont don't like the society an and I seldom seldom sel eel dom go p out Last season I went to on one e reception given iven in my honor One reason reason reason rea rea- son why Im I'm so tired today that I ca can n hard hardly talk alk to you is that my daughter Sylvia is going away to one of of thos those e swell places I will be busy for a week weal her yet getting ready The strings bonnet-strings received receive a n particularly par vicious tug this time wind which said quite plainly that daughter Sylvia Sylvia Syl via was going to visit the tho social elect dice i with her mothers mother's consent but not nott he her r blessing Society Is Idle So Society ety hasn't enough to do to keep P it out of mischief Those so called fashionable fash fash- tenable women spend all their time tim e these days smoking cigar cigarettes an and nd d drinking pale tea and strong whisky Every Everyone one of them ought to be down dow here working and they would be better better bet ter off Her Her voice chan changed ed to an odd combination com corn of indignation and humor The airs some of those people pu put t on amuse me mel Before they got tl their r money some somo of them made pants pants' for fo r their children out of their husbands husbands' old trousers and now they drive about abou I in their own carriages and hold their r noses up in the air as if the dust Wa was s too good for then them They do not kno know w r how to use their money yet They ar arnot are not accustomed to to- it it We had money i in n our family for four generations 0 Oh h they can cant cant can't t teach me me anything abou about that tha She laughed laughed and and her laughter is d decidedly decidedly de de- tided ch characteristic tic wholly u al It It starts as a a queer little litle cackle o as hard to describe as as to imitate an and od d it becomes a little cynical a little humorous and a 3 little infectious an and e g altogether unique My aunt had money you know know she went wet on and of course when sh she a died every niece and nephew and an d brother and sister that w was s alive an anable and d able td walk was there when she died She laughed again that queer infectious infectious inlet laugh of hersI hersI hers liers I was there too she continued but they did not know it The roo room m was dark and I was dressed in black bloc k and had a veil over my face It w was as hot in there with all those relatives relative s so r T went over by the piano near a window to get pet geta a 3 a breath reath of fresh ai air c I was leaning over over the to top of the piano pian and I guess I must have have looked like a bundle of wraps and cloaks to the them m Well some of the cousins and nice nieces es came came up and were talking about th the aunt that had just died and about the t ho money that the dear sweet lad lady mu must st have left them Then one ladr 0 of of the them spoke up But wait till Hetty dies die s then we shall get pet a lot She paused in her reminiscences to laugh until anti tears came t to her eyes apes an and d then she added grimly But Hetty is living yet To To describe the real Hett Hetty Greena Green is ie isa a 3 dual task To describe ter ncr her clothes clothe s 's and her personal appearance or rather rates r her face separately is to create t two distinct personages It can best be undertaken un un- u n as a description of the woman wom won an behind the clothes for even a me mere re man recognizes the fact that cloth clothes es and the woman are somehow a part of each other Her raiment bears the stamp of shabbiness that is neither accidental accident l nor assumed It is a part of the woman womans woman's wom- wom an ans an's s 's character perhaps for econom economic is seasons reasons perhaps because she he is more content arrayed jn to this fashion Her faded little bonnet bonn t might easily have antedated the Civil war Her shirtwaist shirtwaist shirtwaist shirt shirt- waist of black cotton with white polka polk a dots was not only made for a woman o oan of fa f an entirely different size but it was a trifle short on buttons This defect defer t was hidden more or less by a cape e so o ravelled at the edges that every time tim e the breeze stirred stIrred the canvas limn lining g was visible to the naked eye In fact her attire had reached the point where any housewife might well have hesitated hesitated hesi hesi- toted to offer them to a solf self respecting g washerwoman washer But bear in mind that this is the e I Hetty Green that you and I and thousands thousands thou sands of other men and women rub elbows el bows with on Broadway or on the ferr ferry r running to Hoboken Woman Behind the tho Clothes I The real rail Hetty Green is the woman woma n behind bellind the clothes clothes Her face when n studied at close range tells tella a different tr t tale from the one detailed by her he r clothes Her eyes eves are arc blue sparkling g and luminous They hay look right through throng gh h you t those hose eyes which co could ld hurt if yo you u t were vulnerable heal if you were ue e wounded Her mouth is almost masculine mason line and her chin is strong yet feminine feminine feminine femi femi- nine in its lines Her entire face is a a. peculiar mixture of unnatural n ac ac- acquired strength and womanliness The matronly expression and that the t other othor look so so indescribable when see seen n on the face of a woman seemed t to o chase each Other back and forth bar back ok k and forth as her comments on on n life a as s she sees it changed from grave gave to gay from humor to scathing criticism Sh She has the look of one who started out t to tobe tobe o be a mother and was tripped trippe up b by Y Fate Pate Her skin is as pink as a baby's and hardly a wrinkle confirms her seventy seventy seventy sev sev- enty years of struggle Nowhere in her face faro could you read the shrew or fire eater just womanhood and mother mother- hood matri ed with the alloy acquired by her fight for what she d deems ems her rights ts If side she h has s it comes to 10 the surface surface only when those thoe ri rights are endangered especially when men men try to rob her her She spoke of f such experiences freely her For instance she told of a time when a Massachusetts insurance company tried to beat her out of 2000 She would not be beaten She hired lawyers lawyers lawyers law law- to defend her rights Her friends told her it would ost her a good deal more than the 2000 before she sha got pot riff riff- through with it but that made no dif dif- ference I do not care what it costs coats she said to them I am n not t going to let et those robbers beat me out of what beto be be- lon longs to me Nor did she Well JWell H Well when it came to trial she said the courtroom was crowded There were a a lot of poor people who had been cheated out put of money by that tha t company and the were all aU backing me and the they were all there in court Murt Th The la lawyer for the g got t up and said saida a a lot o of things and ana every everyone one o of f them was a lie Then and id sh she e fe laughed then t then I 1 bent way way over like this and she went through the who whole g performance I I got my head down below be be- low the top of the bench in front o of f me me as if I were picking up something g from the floor and I called out s severy so every one ono in the courtroom could hear Perjurer youre you're a perjurer She laughed afresh at the memory of it Courtroom in a a. Panic The Tho courtroom was nearly in a panic The Judge rapped for order and the Sheriff and the bailiff came cam e running up and down dawn the aisles looking look look- ing in for the person creep who made the th o noise and all aU the people got of up an and d were were lookin looking here there and and every verY where Then Then I looked around just li this and said to the persons who were e sitting back of me Who ho made that noise noise She laughed gloriously Over eve over r that Then she continued in ina a a different different differ differ- ent cut tone I I won won the case I 1 was in the ri right ht so of course I won but after the tria trial those poor dear people held a sort of o f reception for me in in the corridor The Theall They all gathered around me and told m me e how glad they were that I 1 had won From the tone of Hetty Greens Green's voice vie e it t might be jud judged ed that she was chronicling chron chin the happiest moment o of h her rl life e. e Public demonstrations in her favor favo r have not been common She cherishes s their memory I I 1 stood on the stairs and made a a. little speech to them I told them the that t if the company ever tried to rob a poor pot r woman again just let me know 1 I would come no matter where I wa was e and fight for them And keeping a word is a a. Hetty Green principle the outcropping o of her Quaker er blood Oh I dont don't fight w without hout cause I I could tell you some tales if wanted I to o about these bi big scoundrels and how they rob and steal but that is is' not my quarrel I shall not interfere I 1 only i is fight when they try to r rob b me Why it is a sin to allow any n one to rob you vou youl That is wh why I fight There is a a peculiar mixture of diluted democracy and pure aristocracy in Hetty Greens Green's make Sometimes the two clash For instance she spoke with scorn of a most estimable woman widow of a great financier who wanted her to join her er in helping an asylum i Kett Hetty at Green laughed in superior fashion fash fash- ion at the ign ignorance rance of mean the well well mean mean ing jag old lady who did not know how to usher use her A money moment later ao a party of o sightseers entered the bank and nd with ith the the most democratic curiosity she left to inquire of the doorman who who the tourists were and from what town with the they hailed When she came back with that scorn peculiarly her own she women plunged into criticisms of of overdressed overdressed women and listless society belles who she sIe declared ought to be down town hammering typewriters typewriters for the tho 11 and picking up mort mortgages at good in in- terest Her years of work and association with men have created in her mind considerable considerable considerable con con- contempt for the species She referred to certain prominent men in a a. careless half-contemptuous half fashion that would fairly wither any pedestal of their own re rearing rin Her Love for Her lIer Son But in the matter of men Hetty Green has one weak spot and that is her love for her sons son The The big one of Texas where h he is running a railroad railroad rail rail- road presented to him by his adoring mother He is doing nicely down there she said I took out exultantly him of oi the club and put him down there But for a certain light in her eyes you might have thought Mr Green was a trunk or a ba bag o or golf sticks which had been shipped to to Texas Texas offhand The They i itell tell me be he is the most popular man in in Texas Texas It is a pity pity pitT he is a Republican He He would was suggested have a good chance at the Governorship if he wera were were a Democrat I dont don't want him to be Governor and he wont won't be What would happen if I needed him in New York in a hurry I could not ask the Governor of Texas to come up here and attend to tomy tomy tomy my business Anyway Any vay I told him to stay Republican We have been Ro Republicans Republicans' for years back and I dont don't want want anything lse in the family And there you have th the hum human n side of Hetty Green the woman woman behind the clothes the mother in whom every primeval instinct still lives however rarely they may come to the surface And as we parted ared she leaned forward and said earnest earnestly Remember this this young man I have havea a son just like if you Just remember how you would would feel if m my son were to say bad ad things about your our mother If the alloy has has sometimes cropped up very close close to the surface in this picture pen-picture of Hett Hetty Green if sharp tier thorn like n points have have pro protruded traded at just the instant when the writer was trying to picture the womanliness of of Hett Hetty Green bear in mind that such is the thereal the thereal real reU t Hetty Green Green Green-an an indescribable combination of natural womanliness and acquired hardness To understand her you must look behind the timeworn timeworn timeworn time- time worn bonnet into the eyes of the woman |