OCR Text |
Show CHANGED OUR MIND. Since early youth the editor of this gr,eat moral and religious semi has hod no other idea than that when he so desired he could corral the elusive cimcoleon, but until now content with half ra tions ond glory he has remained in the nowspaper business and forsaken the paths thati lead to "Pierce Great Arrows" and Wall street. Quite recently he 'heard the "call of the wild" and until the most recent issue of the Literary Digest was determined to hie himself to greener pastures and "make his millions." Now there is a doubt. Of what use would a mcasley million or a half-dozen half-dozen millions be when one in affluence has calls for amounts said to aggregate not less than $100,000,000 a year 7 The Literary Digest tells us thati Helen Gould, big-hearted and large-pursed Helen, received in one week requests running above $2,000,000. That's too much for us, , was too much for Helen, in fact and rather than be embarrassed or have our cor-diac cor-diac region wrenched by calls beyond our millions, we are almost al-most peisuaded to icrnain in the newsphpe" business and be eon-tent eon-tent with ";'ory," two 'compli-mentarir 'compli-mentarir ' wji'k, and the privilege privi-lege of " r jii the stage when the Govu:n r comes. Speaking of tTTo requests made of Miss Gould, the following information in-formation detailing the nature of the requests will undoubtedly provo of interest: "In the week referred to, Miss Gould received itiwo hundred ond thirty-one requests re-quests for money outright; of these, one hundred and forty left the amount to her good-will and discretion. They weren't particular. particu-lar. More than ninety wonted cosh loans. Sixteen didn't specify speci-fy any specific amount!; they just wanted to borrow. "Miss Gould was asked in that week for $5,000 to help form an ontisaloon league in Idaho. Sho received forty-three requests for aid for churches, twenty-seven for educational institutions, and twenty-six for libraries. More than thirty were for help for charitable' institutions. "One man proposed to sell Mis Gould Ms farm for $2,600, which he said he thoujrht was a' pretty good bargain for( her. Pour persons, presumably young women, wo-men, wanted Miss Gould to help them to buy H-rousseaus. Only one named the sum sbe expected. The others left that to Miss Gould. "Eleven persons wanted pianos, pia-nos, and twelve wanted MEss Gould to buy their inventions. One person wrote a long letter5 offering to give her the last chance to buy a ring for $1,200 which was worth four times that much, if a cent. A girl wanted to sell her a brooch for $500, and still another said she had a lovely Sevres vase Which Miss Gould "bein' it was her." might have for $500. A son filled wMi' filial love wanted to erect a monument to his father. He suggested that Miss Gould contribute $500 toward to-ward thal worthy end.4 "In the long list itliero was only on-ly one request for a musical instrument. in-strument. Somebody wanted an organ, but another person wanted money with which to print 2,000 hymnals. Following are some of the other wants: .Bibles, bicycles, bi-cycles, a farm and three cows, one invalid's chair, enough air pillows to supply a regiment of soldiers, one set of teeth, five sewing-machines, sewing-machines, and fifteen railway tickets. , "Five persons wanted Miss Gould either to buy their manuscript manu-script or help to sell them; one wanted assistance in getting out nn opera, and another help for an oratorio. One person pleaded for help that ho might open a photograph gallery. He said that with a gallery (opened and paid for -his road to fortune and happiness hap-piness was clear.. Another man said that if Miss Gould would pivc him n horse and a pedler's carli 'he would never ask for another an-other thing. "More than a huh'dred letters simply asked for aid any kind, money, clothes, false teeth, organs, or-gans, or anything else handy. Tliirty-four were frank in asking for old clothes, and three wanted watches. Seventeen only wanted to see Miss Gould Wo get her ad-vjce. ad-vjce. One asked for a house, so that he might marry his sweet-'lieart. sweet-'lieart. Another simply asked for i the concession to sell Miss Gould's picture for his own profit. One wanted a tip on railway stock. ' Seven simply wrote that they had named children after Miss Goufd, evidently going on the assumption that a word, to the wise ought to be enough. "As Ko the other wants, these were silk with which to do some quilting, five sewing-machiner, help to become a medical missionary, mission-ary, money to enter an old folks' home, money to help get a prisoner prison-er out of jail, assistance in selling sell-ing lace and embroidery, and a donation toward a patriotic league. |