Mrs. Ralph Thomas is the daughter of the famous American financier and railway magnate, the late Jay Gould. He it was who left a fortune estimated at fourteen million pounds to be divided between his six children, of whom Miss Helen Gould was the third. She astonished her friends by marrying, when she was thirty-two years of age, Mr. Ralph Thomas, and has devoted practically the whole of her life to charity. While her parents were alive, she spent her time working among the poor of New York, and after her father's death, in 1892, Miss Gould plunged into the study of law in order to enable her to manage her own affairs. She is credited with acting as her own agent and broker in all her more important charities and business matters. She cares little for society or publicity, preferring to do good by stealth. One of her greatest joys is to fill her country houses with poor cripples. As a result of her wide benevolence to the American forces during the American - Spanish War, she received a gold medal from Congress, the official badge from the veterans of the Civil War, and numerous souvenirs and other recognitions from nearly every patriotic organisation in the Stat no. 4 (continued). The empress of Russia

Miss Helen Gould