90 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



life-long friend, an eminent lawyer practicing in New York 

 City. 



Amherst, Mass., October 7, 1898. 



Colonel Mason W. Tyler, 

 Plainfield, N. J. 



Dear Mason, — A boy — family name Goodell, Chris- 

 tian name John — accompanies this letter. Just out of the 

 Troy Polytechnic, but without experience. He is seeking a 

 place into which he can thrust his lever and turn the world 

 over. Civil-engineering his profession, railroading his de- 

 light. He is seeking for some railroad magnate who will 

 adopt an orphan, side-track him in some fat office where 

 he can try his little lever. Do you know any such people 

 to introduce him to? If you do, help him, and believe me 



Yours gratefully, 



H. H. Goodell. 



Although Goodell had little, if any, ambition to figure in 

 political life, he was faithful in the discharge of his civic 

 duties. He usually attended the caucus of his party, es- 

 pecially in his early days, and while he never sought office, 

 he was always ready to serve on committees where he 

 thought he could be of any assistance. But at the Republi- 

 can caucus held October 27, 1884, things were in some con- 

 fusion, to say the least, and he was nominated to represent 

 the then Fourth Hampshire District in the General Court, 

 not as "a dark horse," but as a man whose personal pop- 

 ularity was likely to unite conflicting interests and secure 

 victory for the party at the polls. He declined the honor 

 and refused positively to allow his name to be put in nomi- 



