had been a frequent attendant at the Rev. Dr. Paxton's church and at the Presbyterian church at Irvington-on-the-Hudson, near his country place. An old friend of the family said that when a very young man Jay Gould became converted at a Methodist revival meeting. This gentleman said:
"When Jay Gould was a young man he was converted in a Methodist church at Roxbury, Delaware county, N. Y. The Rev. Mr. Dutcher, father of Rev. E. C. Dutcher, now pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Nyack, Newark conference, was pastor in charge of the Roxbury church. The elder Mr. Dutcher was holding a series of revival meetings. The little Delaware county church was crowded night after night.
"At one of the meetings, after a specially earnest appeal by the venerable preacher, young Gould went forward to the altar and professed conversion. He subsequently connected himself with the Presbyterians. The late Rev. Dr. Jacob West, then corresponding secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Dutch Reformed church, preached a number of times in the Roxbury Reformed church. Gould always attended, and the Rev. Dr. West frequently said Gould was always a remarkably attentive listener."
Mr. Gould's name was discussed most prominently in connection with church work last February, when he gave his check for $10,000 to the Rev. Dr. John Hall. The circumstances aroused much comment and considerable unfavorable criticism.
