Bella Moses was a builder at heart, drawn to physical construction over abstraction

Evidence

Bella, graying now and often spectacled, could have passed for one of these matrons, although her clothes were plainer than most. Like them, she made liberal financial contributions—Madison House could count on her for an annual donation of about $10,000. But unlike many of the matrons, Bella also began to show an active day-after-day interest in the development of the philanthropy to which she gave money—and as the years went by, the trustees and workers of Madison House became aware that her interest was really in one particular type of development. Bella’s concern was not captured by the more philosophical aspects of settlement-house work; she sat back quietly during discussions of lecture content or of the best methods of strengthening ties between immigrant parents and American-born children. But when the discussions turned to the laying out of basketball courts in the back yard of the House or the creation of a summer camp in the country for slum children, the slim little woman would lean forward and her fingers would begin to drum restlessly on the table and her soft voice would begin to inundate the other trustees with a flood of ideas. It was not long before the trustees came to realize that for a gray-haired housewife and mother, Bella Moses had a most unusual interest in physical construction. Behind her spectacles were the eyes of the builder. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 137

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Moses’ susceptibility to power’s corrupting effect was inherited from his mother — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 1068; Bella Moses’ construction instinct showed in concrete everyday design details — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 138