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Show ; ' (Wr) a k in g Friend s Wi th Hetty Green jj Jobless Stenographer Strikes Up a Boarding House Acquaintance with the World's Wealthiest Woman and Succeeds in Getting from Her Plenty of Good Advice wbHe there was not anything motherly about bcr. still she was really the one 1 thought I knew Intimately, Inti-mately, and so, of course, came to like. She bus a heart and a big one. She must appear what she isn't In order to conduct bcr great business. She Is really a womanly woman deep down, and 1 got underneath tho wrinkles and behind the snappy eye to the truth. Km tne time came for me to ask about the job. I flgurefi everything was right, so one evening I took Hie centre of the stage and did tbe touch act. B!ng! "You are a nice girl and at! that, but I will not nssht yoa. I would not assist my own relative. I make It a rule to assist no one." It wus tfc neatest little nip In tbe bud you ever saw. No fuss over iny story of need; no smile to soften her Anal ice water wordw. She ctrtalnly knows how to say "No." Well, things were tbe game as usual the next morning. Same thin smile, same question about the market. snmo wise bits about money deals, eanvj ! I could do the same thing .Inst as well an3 only ps i fifty cent or less a suit. I'm sure." j That she bad a rather severe cold tbe followln; j day did not shake Mrs. Green's faith In her news j paper protectors. And would she a physician' She would not. Hot lemonade (made by one of tin waitresses) wits her medicine. Her tonst that sin always bad taken care of herself seemed a good om too. for Instead of taking to her bed .-he was a spr and cheerful the next morning as I ever bad n-cu hot There were two other subjects ovpr which she lice to boast as emphatically. One was a knowledge o law and tbe other the fact that !he had never bco "done" in. a deal. Poor With S8o,ooo,ooo. "I have studied law In all Its civil phases," she wonld declare. "I know where I stand always. Tbey can't beat me." Since then she 1ms lost a suit In cmrl. I can lm uglne her feelings. T am glad I did not sec her dl lOpTrietH. 1310. br N 1rk HrmM Cc. All r!ztU rtn4.) a LMOST the first person I . noticed at my table A In the. boarding house tbe evening of my Intro-f Intro-f duction there was a wrinkled "woman. bab- blly dressed, who ale as if she hid just found h square meal after a long search. No one tpokc to ber and she said nothing. She seemed to be. mbarraed. even a little frlgbteued, I passed ber ill tho dishes which came my way, but tbat was all I :hought 1 should do, being a newcomer. She Is some oor, friendless, penniless creature the good hearted landlady is taking pity on. I decided. Honest, I felt lorry for ber. I bad breakfast early next morning, soon after even o'clock. Two others were already at the table, ne a little school teacher to whom 1 had been Intro-luecd, Intro-luecd, and tbe other the wrinkled woman. When 1 took my seat tbe school teacher looked up from a icwspaper to smile a good morning. The other gave i quick glance at me, then resumed her meal, as IX In i great hurry to get It, done. "What Is the news this morning?" I asked, wishing :o make myself agreeable. "Yes," the older, woman spoke up suddenly, In a ibsrp. snappy voice. "How Is the mdrket?" I was almost flabbergasted. The person and tho juestlon were apparently so much at odds that It was ' ill I could do to keep still until she left tbe table. Then out it came, "Who In the world lsshe?" "Why. don't you know?" tbe school teacher rpplied. Sbc is Hetty Green, the richest woman in the world." "Honest?" I couldu't help exclaiming. -Honest!" She held up her right band. The very first thing I did was to write to mother, flic idea! netty Green aud I at the same table; she nc of the greatest financiers In the world and I a ste lographer looking for a Job! It was too good to be rue. I saw myself as the luckiest girl alive. Fortune ertalnly hod been good to me. In my mind there was not a doubt that Hetty Green was to be my atroness, was to pave for mo the road to success and (hen assist me to travel it. Certainly I wrote to nother. I would even have stopped the first police-nan police-nan I saw and told of my luck if I had not fenred irrcst. And tbe reply I got in tbe first possible mail was ilassy, too. Mother could hardly appreciate the idea if my being so fortunate, but she was quite as enthu-ilastic enthu-ilastic as I over tho opportunity at my elbow. "I've told Mrs. Alberts and Jenny, and they both lgree with me that you are to be congratulated," she urote. "The only thing I fear. May, is that you'll be-ornc be-ornc extravagant when you begin drawing your sal-iry. sal-iry. The people that you'll meet through her always nve been used to lots of money, and tbey cau afford unie things which 3-ou will not be ablo to. .Remecu-er .Remecu-er tbls, May." That 19 part of .mother' letter just about the line ( expected. And I agreed with her in some things. But my mind was made up to nt least have the kind it clothes I wanted. The noosier fashions I was a nodel for I would discard. They were quite Impos- Z IU fe' UjWft . :7Z.tt-!&2ZZ& W VrVVv WWjimMMk " SI ' smmi I Mr m i m - HI W ' lite W' N To Hear Hetty Green Talk on the Crimo ; j of Spending the Whole of One Hundred '1 ' I Dollars on a Single Dress Was an En tertainment W HETTY GREEN rowers and those whose notes and morlgages she bad to foreclose. Teople came from all over the United (ffj States to see her to try to borrow money. She would see many such every day. f$. She would describe sometimes tbe rage lnlo which ' some of thee callers ould work themselves when 0 she would refuse to do what they wanted. She was r, actually afraid of being done physical harm, Knows Clerks Jeer Her. S Probably on account of this same feat Mrs. Cireen if never carried a purse that is. so any nno could see it. Underneath au old fashioned overvklrt she wore a V. ba? fnstened with leatbor shoe laces, and in this she kept ber handkercbi.-f and ten or fifteen tonU. She was never knowu at the boarding aw to curry V more money than that. And the clerks at the bank! She called then? "smart Alecks'' and "nifty upstarls." and said she kue-n every time they would make fun of h. r behind her back. Tho Idea that .she ate ber little luncheon at her desk was something terrible to them. "All they thiuk about Is dressing up. Umph!" That was I the way be used to express her opinion of them. One morning she apparently had Just leaned ihat a relative had spent ?luO for a dress. Whv. the mar- ket page was almost forgotten! And th- little school teacher and I let our coffee get cold t0 hear Hetty Green talk on tho crime of spending the bole of one hundred dollars on a single dres was an entertain-ment entertain-ment you couldn't pay enough to hear I would not attempt lo quote her. She said loo much A waist and sbim-d skirt of some cheap black material, the skirt carelessly mended in several plucks, the style of the whole many years old; a smii;i black bonLct, worn and almost preen with at-e end Ktout shoes, the kind that It lakes a m..uutlj rible. And I would buy oh, what wouldn't I buy, rhom wouldn't I meet, where wouldn't I go! I made many plana In those first few days as Indiana has oets, If what I read in tbe New York nowspapere Is o. Honest, I never saw one at borne. Cultivating Mrs. Green. I don't think there Is auy use in beating around tho iusb, so I shall state very truthfully that I began wstematlcally to cultivate Mrs. Green. It was uo hardship for me to get breakfast early. I bad to be put looking for a position by eight, so I seldom missed eelng and talking with her before 6be went to her bank office. Alwoys her first question was "How's tbe market?" She did not seem to expect an answer, only to be aanded the market page. I never knew her to buy a newspaper for herself. The lit Uc school teacher was he victim, that Is, until I started to take the paper. I ivcnt farther, too. I boned up on market, finance, le. the man at our table who worked In a trust eompany helped me and In almost no time I was ible to answer "Professional? oily In a narrow market" mar-ket" or "Sterling exchange continues to decline" when ibe asked her usual question. Yon fcbonld have seen the expression on her face !he first time I came to tho front with my little ao-iwer. ao-iwer. Just as easy, right off the bat, like that! Hie . "looked at roe and looked und looked. Just as if I had landed ber the catsup Instead of the cream und or-lered or-lered her to pnt It In ber coffee Finally she said Umph!" That was all. But that night after dinner, when we bad all gone ip to tho parlor, she asked me to sit beside her. and be confided to me bow much money she had lent hat day to the big men in Wall street. I wrote to mother before I went to bed that at last I 'as In the "great one's" clo-st confidence. These breakfast and after dinner meetings and bats became the rule very soon. At 'tbe former I al riys managed to make myself agreeable without fivlng to talk much. The business of lendlne money od never appealed to me. Consequently I knew little r Mrs. Green's favorite her only breakfast subset. sub-set. But I was a good listener, and this seemed to atisfy her. I lparned at these morning sermons that It is ".-urlty" ".-urlty" and "Interest" which make tbe mare go. And Q order to get as much of both as you want all that neccs"-ary is "ready money." To bear ber tell it tie wonld soon believe that this ' ready money" is the 1st answer la Wall street. "X. Y. Z.'s going down," Mrs. Green would say. for Ustance. "And I know how much of It ihc It rowd has. They'll be rushing (o mo about two 'clock. They'll want ready money; they'll have lo jet It. too. or go under. I'll let them h;ir it. Ob. re. I'll lend tiem .. they want wheu they tfve. me n-hat pecurlty 1 want and enough Interest. I ll make (be lerm. You .y n)llt have money. I have what they want Of course I'll make the term." rf tea she would talk i.f "my bank." ;is wb,. miloi (. Al one time shu bad un irm cage biMt about ber vk. she told me. In order to protect br-r jrom bir- The Older Woman Spoke Up Suddenly in a Sharp, Snappy Voice. "How Is tho Market V rectly afterward. I also would have felt mlghtj bad, I'm sure. For lo spite of that ice water shower shu gave to me I could not help liking her. I think It was becaust I felt sorry for her. Jut as she said and as I myself had proved, everybody was after her money or her Influence. She was lonesome. She was poor with 10,(100,000. Tbat is the way I thought of her, aod I believe sbo knew It herself. Why was she t-o glad, apparently, to talk to me? Surely not because she Imagined I cared to learn high fiuauce. Tbe story about her that I had heard before I left Indiana tho one telling a 1 tout her refining to give a newsboy a doughnut because another boy was watching watch-ing her and would want one also came to have a new meaning to me. Even when sbo offered to one of tbe maids a street car transfer for a lip the only one Bhe ever was known to give at the boarding bouse I looked at It differently from tbe other boarders. They laughed. Just like br, said tbey. But I felt sorry for bcr. I believed she could not help herself. Her brain was so full of money, money and the saving of It that she could not do otherwise. She would not be content playing any other part. Finally I got a Job, one paying $12 a week. I told ber about It with much satisfaction. But she did not congratulate me. She did not say "I knew you had it in you to succeed," or anything like lL Instead she said: 'Y'ou'to got to leave here. You're not earning enough to pay so much for your keep. (She was paying pay-ing between $15 and $1S for ber board and room.) I'll tell you where to go. There's a hotel for working girls I know of. I lent the man the money to build 1L "There are washrooms there and sewing rooms. Make your own clothes and care for them. Get a roommate. H will cost jou only $1 a week then. Save $i of your $12. "Do not go out nights. Watch your company. Meet good people; they will help you to a better Job. I cau't do that. It Is against my rule. But lots of people will. "Do what I tell you and you'll get ou. Auybody can. The trouble Is most people don't know the value of five cepts. You b advised. Dou't figure iu dollars; dol-lars; figure In pennies, and save them." Well, I took her advice that is, so far as going to the place she recommended. I wlJI not go into do-tulls do-tulls as .to what I found there, but well, I stuck it out until I got to milking inure than ?l'J ier. I did not like to leave the boarding bouse, and cse-cially cse-cially Mrs. Green. 1 hail just come to think a whole lot of that little woman. "There is a great deal I mlghl learn about her yet, I feel sure. And the oior 1 know of her the better I like her. She said goodby Just like she would ask "How's the market?" but with less Interest In her tone of voice. "Save," was her final word. Then she hurried on! to bcr oQJcn to lend 3 million or two ... to nvr out. imagine a medium sized woman of years, whoso face Is deeply wrinkled. who,L. eves are small, .shifting, keen; whose hands are lurl-e and knotty, like a workluginau's. dressed as I ,dVe described, de-scribed, ami yon have Hetty Green. At the lime of my acoualutanco wlih ber she w;is In the city fr nn Indetlnlte stay. Things were topsy-turvy in Wall .street and she wax doing a land oilkc business. Mie had one pi.ve of bagc-ne m tJ.et boarding house, n was a small bnnd nl..hcl, onlr large enough to hold her nightdress, a comb and a paper of plnn. At dinner Mrs. tjre-eu WHS K,nerally in a more talkative talk-ative mood. is. ways appeared to be in a good humor and alwny hungry. I do not know wbl.-h she lik.-d bettor, talk or ten. She Invariably lor.k three t four cups of the one nnd f anybody started any fort of money talk. why. she was. rlrlit there if It the csip from headquarters every time. Just let son).- 1.111? mention a chorus girl. My.'buw bf-r eyes ns,-,i to snap n,uur little sborp lights and the lines about her mouth deepen! Snobbishness was another thine she particularly disliked. To see It In those in her debt was to see a id flag. It seemed to worry her that persons who borrowed her money used It In ways sne would not. It did uot make any difference bow good their security was nnd you may wajier It was extra good If they wro of the spender clats. She knew them, their business life, their home life and otherwise There was not a piece of scandal among the ,M0" as large as a quiet family argumeut she did not know and before anybody else. I used to get hours of it. The Earl of , for instance, the one who married mar-ried Miss T . She told me how he bad held up the wedding until nn extra $."oi,0O,i was added to his portion, and about how a little joker was put luto the contract without his knowledge. This was before th- recent news story which made public the fact that he hud lost the fortune when he lost his wife. Sho certainly hnd a source of Information that was relb ble. The Flat Refusal. My Impression of aiy uew friend was pretty well .formed bv this time. I wa alone, remember, and hurry to get to the office and work. That evening I remember It distinctly on account of the embarrassment embarrass-ment I felt at first Countess Leary was Mrs. Green's subject of discourse In the parlor. The weather that day had suddenly changed from mild to a chilling cold, a he wealthiest woman In the world bud even worn ber "furs" lo the dinner table. Nobody had noticed bhem, however. She showed them to me only four pieces of newspaper, one for tbe inside of her bonnet, one Inside her waist to cover her breast, the others In ber shoes. Thus the Countess Leary for a subject. "She Is my dearest friend." said Mrs. Green, "but she doesn't seem to take my advice. She's so extravagant. ex-travagant. And she gives so much away, needlessly and uselessly, too, 1 tell her. Why, all during the whiter It is her custom to give every man who u released from the Tombs two suits of nil wool underwear. under-wear. And she pays $4 a suit! "Time and time again I have asked br not to squander so much money that way. The men only pawn the suits as soon as tbey get tberu. And goodness good-ness kuows what tbey do with the money they get. |