MEMOIRS OF A MILLIONAIRE BY LUCIA TRUE AMES AUTHOR OF “GREAT THOUGHTS FOR LITTLE THINKERS” [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY =The Riverside Press, Cambridge= 1889 Copyright, 1889, BY LUCIA TRUE AMES. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. Dedicated TO MY ONLY BROTHER, CHARLES H. AMES. Written for all men and women to whom the privilege of American citizenship has been vouchsafed, and to whom the stewardship of wealth has been entrusted. [Illustration] EDITOR’S PREFACE. Since the recent death of the noble woman whose name has become a household word all over our land, and whose memoirs form the subject of this volume, I have been repeatedly importuned to give to the public some account of her remarkable life. It is too soon yet to present an adequate biography, and for such a task I should consider myself entirely unfitted. I have, however, endeavored, though somewhat hastily, to put together such material, chiefly selections from newspaper reports, letters, and diaries, as shall throw light upon the numerous projects that were the outcome of her thought and generosity, and which in certain ways are unparalleled in the annals of those whose wealth has been devoted to the cause of humanity. Cut off in the full ripeness of early womanhood, her work was nevertheless accomplished, and millions shall in the ages to come reap perennial harvests from the seed which in one short year her wisdom and foresight sowed far and wide. The world at large will know somewhat of her work; but only to those who knew her best, to whom she revealed the warmth and intensity of her strong nature, can the full beauty of her life be known. The constant, subtle charm of her manner, now gracious and dignified, now unconsciously naive and simple, only a master could portray. I must content myself, therefore, with giving, in simplest words, but a few of the many reminiscences that memory brings back of those moments which may serve to make clear the thoughts and purposes that were the mainspring of all her action, and which made her what she was, the noblest woman I have ever known.