Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/272

 *ure in going out to the fields on summer afternoons to lie under the trees and watch the haying. The far-off drone of the flying sickle came to his brain as a soporific balm, and the sight of the sun-worn toilers heaving away at the great, slow wagons and the distant songs of the reapers lulled him to slumber.

In Mr. Gould's stables there were fifteen or twenty carriages and conveyances of one kind or another, many of which were not used once a year. To get rid of malaria, Mr. Gould filled in over one hundred and twenty acres of swamp land. Mr. Merritt spent over $1,250,000 in improving the place and Mr. Gould spent about $1,500,000 in the same endeavor.

Mr. Gould was a great lover of art, and was continually purchasing statuary and paintings. Beyond the carriage archway leading to the outer hall of the Gould castle is a bust of Lafayette; on the other side is one of Washington. On the right of the inner hall is a bronze Ethiopian woman and a painting by Perrault. There are many marble busts and statues on onyx pedestals scattered throughout the house, most of which were purchased by Mr. Gould. In the picture gallery are innumerable rare paintings. Among them are "A Forest Scene," by Rousseau; "A River Scene," by Ziem; "Evening Antique Dance," by Corot; "A Girl," by Fleury; "A Storm on the Farm," by Jacque; "Priest and Cavalier," by Meissonier, and "Le Loup dans la berguerie," by Loustaunau.