Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/576

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Women as Philanthropists
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CAROLINE EARLE WHITE

Was born in Philadelphia in 1833. Her father and mother were active opponents of slavery, and he wrote the (new) Constitution of Pennsylvania, and was a candidate for the Vice-Presidency in 1840 on the Anti-Slavery ticket. Mrs. White has devoted nearly her whole life to children and animals. She was one of the women who ably assisted Henry Bergh in the establishment of the Humane Society in New York, and was the founder of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; also of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, of that state; author of "Love in the Tropics," "A Modern Agrippa," "Letters from Spain and Norway," "An Ocean Mystery," and contributor to Harper's Magazine and the Forum; member of the Society of Colonial Dames.

HELEN MILLER GOULD.

Miss Gould was born in New York, June 20, 1868, daughter of the late Jay and Helen Day Gould; sister of George Jay, Edwin, Howard and Frank Jay Gould. She has been identified with philanthropic work for many years; has made many notable gifts, including: Library building, costing $310,000 to University City of New York, $100,000 to United States Government for war purposes, $10,000 to Rutgers College, $10,000 to Engineering School, University City of New York, $50,000 to the naval branch of the Brooklyn Young Men's Christian Association, and numerous other donations for educational and charitable purposes.

Miss Gould is indeed a unique figure—a wealthy woman, born into the New York smart set, she is yet puritanical, conscientious, modest, loyal, conservative, charitable and utterly indifferent to that phase of society which means a laborious career and a heart-burning competition.

Annually she gives in charity tens of thousands of dollars, and with her liberal inclination in this direction it is well that she is a trained business woman (she has had a good course in law) for each year demands come to her for over two million dollars. She has received requests for everything, from her autograph on a blank slip, to her signature on a thousand dollar check. In one week alone she had 1,303 appeals, amounting to $1,500,000.

One of her sweetest charities is the home for poor children at Lyndehurst, and another at Woodycrest, three miles out of Tarrytown, New York, where she cares for twenty-five little ones. To all these benefactions has she given greatly, and then the half has not been told.

MILDRED A. BONHAM.

Mrs. Bonham was born in Magnolia, Illinois, August, 1840. In 1847 her parents removed to Qregon, and in 1858 she married Judge B. F. Bonham, of Salem, Oregon. In 1885 Judge Bonham was made consul-general to British India, and the family removed to Calcutta. Her letters, under the pen name of "Mizpah," had wide circulation in the Oregon and California papers. She did some