txt: eleanor
She was a debutante. A distinguised daughter who fell for the land.
What's an aristocrat to do with a bunch of wild hills, and tattered trees?
I never thought I'd see her hands get dirty.
Now look at the way she cares for the seedlings, and tills the soil with her silver spoon.
Eleanor Houston Smith was Henry's granddaughter. She lived from 1910 until 1987. She had many special opportunities as a result of her grandfather's great wealth, and her formative years were spent traveling, and attending balls and other colorful social events. In 1930 a ball was given in Eleanor's honor for which the ballroom at the Bellevue (Philadelphia's preeminent hotel) was "transformed into a veritable garden of flowers. On either side of the stage, which was massed with pink flowers, were Japanese bridges over miniature waterfalls, and the spaces beneath the boxes had been turned into charming little gardens, six on each side of the room." Perhaps it was this experience that inspired Eleanor, later in life, to turn her attention to the preservation and improvement of the land. In 1967, she and her sister, Margaret Houston Meigs, donated 500 acres of inherited land for the Schuylkill Nature Center.
Contosta, David R. A Philadelphia Family. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988.
http://www.freeporthistoricalsociety.org/houstonandsmith.htm