His education, as we have said, was more of a business character. Hence we see him, after spending a little time as clerk in a country store, engaged in measuring the distances and assisting in plotting the maps of Ulster and Scoharie Counties. We should not forget to mention that his first business venture was with a mouse-trap which he had constructed and brought to the city of New York for the purpose of placing it among the curiosities and useful exhibits of the Crystal Palace. This venture seems, in some respects, to have been unfortunate ; for, while on his way, as he was admiring the wonders of the city, a thief stole the trap. The offender, however, was caught and on his arraignment before the Police Court it was recorded that the mouse-trap had taken larger game-- it had caught a thief.

"At an early age -- before he was twenty -- he left his native town to engage in a large business in Pennsylvania-- managing the financial affairs of a tannery, said at that time to be the largest in the country, if not in the world."

Mr. Gould's life story, as told by himself before the Senate Labor Committee in New York, in September, 1883, was as follows : Having stated that he was born in Roxbury, N. Y^., on May 27, 1836, he said he assisted his sisters in tending the cattle and one day he said to his father he would like to go to school. The father replied that he was too young, " but," said the witness, "I was determined to secure an education, as I was then fourteen years of age. At last," said the witness, with a smile, " I fell in with a blacksmith, and as I could write a good hand, I told him I could keep his books.