CHAPTER III

BUT one theatre was open in the city, the Park, built in 1798, standing at 23 Park Row, and running back to Theatre Alley, which extends from Ann to Beekman Street. There was one smaller in Anthony Street, near Broadway, which had been opened in 1814, but now was unoccupied, and later was the site of Christ Church. Concerning further means of amusement, it may be noted here that at this date bull­ and bear­baiting was practiced as neither unlawful nor improper. The first theatre in New York was opened in 1750 in Kip (Nassau) Street, between John Street and Maiden Lane. In 1761 a theatre was built on the lower side of Beekman Street, near Nassau, in which during that year "Hamlet" was presented for the first time in America. This house was wrecked during a riot over the Stamp Act in 1765 In 1767 the John Street Theatre, on the north side near Broadway, was opened; in 1776 the Montague Garden on Broadway between Chambers and Barclay streets; and in 1785 two new theatres were opened, one in William Street and one in lower Greenwich Street; doors open at 5.15, and curtain raised at 6 P. M.

At the Park the hour of opening was half­past six, the performance beginning at half­past seven. It was universally the custom to give two pieces of performance, generally a tragedy and a comedy; and sometimes three pieces were given, and between the pieces a comic song, a pas seul or pas de deux by danseuses. The pit, now termed parquet, was provided with board benches without cushions, and occupied exclusively by men and boys; the boxes were enclosed in the rear, the entrance to them through a locked door jealously guarded by a keeper. There was an advantage in this which fully compensated any inconvenience attendant upon it, inasmuch as the rear wall of the box reflected sounds from the stage; from which cause, added to the circumstance that the interiors of the buildings were less ornate than at a later day, the voices on the stage were much more audible than with the open seats. This arrangement left a wide space for lobby or foyer, in which it was customary for the male portion of the audience during the acts to promenade. In the second tier there was a moderate restaurant, and in the third tier a bar. In this theatre there was a very perfect whispering gallery; the peculiar face and arching of the proscenium enabled a sound delivered on one side in the third tier to be distinctly audible on the opposite side. Upon this becoming known it was availed of by humorists, to the dismay and annoyance of many who were ignorant of it. In the third tier of theatres before this time, and for many years after, the class of females erroneously termed demi­monde were permitted to be present, and on several occasions parties who had better have been absent, being seated in the end­box, and near the arch, were dismayed at hearing a voice near to them advising them to go home and attend to their families, etc. Prior to the closing of the theatre for the summer recess, it was the custom to set apart one night's performance, known as "ticket night," for the benefit of the employees of the house.

Not a few citizens yet living find pleasure in reviving in their conversation the glories of "the old Park." No doubt its scenery and appointments were primitive, compared with the elaborate provision made for modern theatres, as a result of the singular development of scenic art which has appeared in recent years. Excepting only its spacious stage-forty by seventy feet-the Park lacked nearly everything in the way of physical appliances that are considered necessary in­our theatres; but it is probably within reason to maintain that in the quality of its acting and of its audiences it remains unapproached, and that no theatre of the present period holds the primacy, or even supremacy, which it enjoyed without challenge. Even the present generation will understand this supremacy of a stage that witnessed-to select only a few names from the stock company, and stars that shone at intervals-the performances of Mrs. Wheatly, Mrs. Vernon (for many years afterward at Wallack's, and still "freshly remembered"), Mrs. Sefton, Miss Ellen Tree, Miss Fanny Kemble, Miss Charlotte Cushman, Miss Emma Wheatly (Mrs. Mason), Miss Clara Fisher (Mrs. Maeder), Edmund and Charles Kean, Charles Kemble, Junius Brutus Booth, Edwin Forrest, James Wallack (father of John Lester Wallack), Harry and Tom Placide, George Vandenhoff, William Wheatly, Tyrone Power, Cooke, Young, and Cooper. Mrs. Wheatly, so long and so well known to this theatre, daughter of an officer in the British Army, accomplished actress and universal favorite both on and off the stage, made her first appearance at the Park in 1805. She retired soon after, but reappeared in 1815, and continued her public career until 1848.

Kinlock Stuart, residing at 40 Barclay Street in 1800, and for some years thereafter, failed in his business, and in 1807 his wife began, in a very humble way, the manufacture of candies, preserves, etc., at 271 Greenwich Street, the partial site of the present buildings that composed the sugar refinery of the late R. L. & A. Stuart. Her business, from the purity of her manufactures, had so increased in 1831 that it was assumed by her sons, who soon after enjoyed a world­wide reputation and amassed great fortunes. Alex. Stuart continued residence in his house in Chambers Street until his death, and was the last downtown resident of substance and position

Francis Guerin had opened in 1815, at 120 Broadway, a shop for confectionery, supplemented by coffee, chocolate, pastry, liqueurs, etc.; and, subsequently extending his premises to an adjoining room, he furnished and provided it for the convenience of ladies' luncheon. American ladies, however, in view of the early dinner­hour of the period and the vicinity of their residences to the scene of their shopping or promenading, had not yet felt the need of such a convenience. As the area of houses extended farther uptown, and the dinner­hour became later, the need of such a resort caused it to be so well patronized that the proprietor was rewarded with a very handsome competency; he was the pioneer in this line of catering to the public in New York. Restaurants, other than in a room or cellar, and principally on the river fronts, where few and coarse victuals were served, were unknown.

The popular and the largest dry goods stores were those of Jotham Smith, 223 Broadway (all on one floor), on part of the site of the present Astor House (it was but one story in height); King & Mead, at 175, and Vandervoort & Flandin, at 111 Broadway.

Charles Berrault, an emigre from St. Domingo after the insurrection there, being compelled to sustain himself and family, opened a dancing­school in 1814 at 300 Greenwich Street. He was for many years one of the two leading teachers of dancing in this city. He afterward removed to 31 Cortlandt Street, and in 1822 to 146 Fulton Street, in the Ross Building.

The first establishment for the repair and construction of steam­engines and boilers was that of Robert McQueen, a Scotch millwright, who in 1806, in connection with a Mr. Sturtevant, operated an air furnace on the corner of Barley and Cross streets (Centre).

James P. Allaire, who had commenced business as a brass­founder in the year 1813 in the upper part of Cherry Street, No. 434, had so extended his business under the patronage of Robert Fulton and the elder Gibbons, that he became the leading manufacturer of steam­engines, boilers, etc. The famous name of the Allaire Works was to be seen on a vast number of engines, especially on steamboats, at a time comparatively recent.

Of the change in social, domestic, and business customs and conveniences, from 1816 to the present day, none but one who has experienced it can give a proper estimate. At the earlier date, bathrooms were totally wanting in private houses and hotels, and there was but one public bath, that of Stoppani, in Chambers Street. Illuminating gas for the streets had been read of as a possible practicability. Clubs, street stages and cars, Sunday concerts, steamboat excursions, newspaper venders, and "Extras," street shoe­blacks, kindling­wood, expresses, organ­grinders, messenger boys, bananas, oranges-other than those from abroad-dates, grape­fruit, roasted chestnuts, photographs, telegraphs, railways, chiffoniers, drop­letter boxes, cabs, hansoms, sewing­machines, type­writing, eye­glasses-other than spectacles-and cigarettes were alike unknown; opposed to which we escaped the presence of " shysters,,' tramps, and the practice of " straw bail " in our courts, illustrated posters, and organ­grinders; but we had pure milk, a legitimate drama, and a more clearly defined line between man and gentleman, woman and lady ("salesladies", was an appellation wholly unknown), and a greater regard for social honor and business integrity.

The spectacles worn by those who required them were of a very different design and construction from that of this period. Thus: the side pieces were in two lengths, one sliding partly within the other, and retained in position, when used, by their pressure against the sides of the head. Light steel frames, resting over the ears, spring bows, and pince­nez, secured with a ribbon or chain, were not known until about 1840, and not in general use until many years later.

The absurdities of billiard, shaving, and oyster "parlors," hair­cutting, tailor, boot­making, and fashion "emporiums," "anatomical" hair­cutting and boot­making, or "gentlemen's and ladies' dining­rooms," on West or South Street, in the condemned pilot­house of an old steamer, were unknown. I, in candor, however, may have to acknowledge to one or two "merchant" tailors, but not like too many of a late day, occupying small and confined apartments, with a very narrow scope of custom, restricted more to mending than making. Pipesmoking (other than in common clay pipes by laborers) was also unknown.

For spirituous drinks, in most cases, but three cents per glass was charged; for ale, two or three cents; tobacco was three cents a paper; the habit of chewing tobacco was then far more common than now. Imported Havana cigars of the best quality could be bought for three cents, or five for a shilling (12-1/2 cents), and, strange as it may now appear, young men carried them in their hats, for it is to be borne in mind that cigar­cases were a rarity, and that within hats there was purse­like diaphragm lining, well designed to retain a handful of cigars, a handkerchief, or a pair of gloves.

The fractional currency, in this and all the States at this period, was very generally the Spanish coins of 25, 12-1/2, and 6-1/4 cents, and they were denominated in the several States as follows: In New England, Kentucky, and Tennessee the dollar was divided into six shillings, and the coins were termed quarters, ninepence, and fourpence ha'penny. In this State, Ohio, and Michigan the dollar was divided into eight shillings, and the coins were termed sixpence, one shilling, and two shillings, according to value. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland the dollar was divided into seven shillings and sixpence, and the divisions were termed quarters, elevens, and fips; in South Carolina and Georgia, into four shillings and eightpence, and the divisions were known as quarters, bits, and picayunes. In consequence of the derangement of the currency by the war with Great Britain, and the failure of many country banks, provisions were scarce and dear: milk, 12-1/2 cents per quart; flour, $15 per barrel; and, a year later, butter, beef, lard, pork, and potatoes were imported from Belfast.

Perhaps I should here remark that there was a numerous class of caterers to the juvenile or junior tastes of the public that has wholly retired from operation. Their specialty was to disperse mead, spruce beer, cakes, and ginger pop; their locale was almost universally designated by a sign, on which, for the mead and beer, was delineated a bottle with a stream of liquor pouring from it into a tumbler at its side, with a uniformity of outline and of curve that would have done credit to a geometrical draughtsman. The ginger pop was designated In a very different manner, being totally devoid of any illustration of convenience or economy inasmuch as two men were portrayed as fulfilling the regulations of a duel, being placed opposite to each other and each extending a bottle, from which emanated a stream of liquor propelling a cork, which was as the bullet of a pistol.

New York at this date contained but two billiard. rooms, one in the Washington Hall, the other in the Cafe Francais in Warren Street near Broadway. American whiskey was not known as a general drink, and mint juleps were only heard of as a mixture said to be taken by people in the Southern States as a preventive against malaria. Rhine wines were unfamiliar, and the use of champagne in either public or private houses was very rare.

The employment of ice for any purpose but for making ice­cream was unknown. Families used an enclosed structure called a "safe," with woven wire sides and ends, admitting air and excluding flies (Croton­bugs did not then exist), and on these alone they depended for preservation of meats, milk, etc. Even the ice­cream (water ices were unheard of) was furnished only by Mrs. Usher, in Broadway, where the New York Hotel lately stood; and by John H. Contoit of the New York Garden, in 1801 at 39 Greenwich Street, in 1802 at 253 Broadway, and in 1806, and for many years after, at 355 Broadway, between Leonard and Franklin streets. The customary accommodations of these resorts were confined to rows of open apartments, termed boxes, white­washed or greenpainted, with a plain bare table running through their centre, with a bare board seat on each side, capable of seating two persons, lighted, that is, essayed to be, by a dimly burning wick, floating in oil on a stand outside the entrance; colored waiters with their labelled numbers displayed in front, expressing, emphasizing, and displaying themselves in a manner known only to their race, and a

bill­of­fare comprising ice cream (vanilla, lemon, or straw berry, if in season), pound cake and lemonade, with the exception that, at Contoit's you could be served with a glass of veritable claret, and, if I recollect right, one of cognac too. Milk was borne in tin cans suspended from the carriers, shoulders,-frequently women,-and was supplied from cows within the city limits or contiguous shores of Long Island and New Jersey. As there were no railroads or night passages of river steamboats, no other sources existed from which milk could be obtained. Milk wagons, "Orange County" milk and milk bottles, and freshened or fortified milk, were equally unknown. There were many cows which roamed the streets in the day and were stabled at night. The slaughtering of animals for the markets was wholly done by individual butchers on their premises in different parts of the city, the blood and offal being carried to the river and deposited there. Gentlemen went to market, and in default of express companies, messengers, etc., often carried home a turkey, chicken, or a leg of lamb. The public authorities gave annually a prize to the farmer who submitted to them the best sample of butter of his production.

Canned vegetables and fruits were also unknown; hence, when their season passed they passed, and as railways and interstate steamboat lines did not exist, we did not receive the early fruits of the South or the game of the North and West. A grocer's store of the time was as unlike one of this day as if it was that of another line of business, there being a display neither of bottled nor canned articles, fancy cakes, biscuits, etc., in boxes. There were only two leading grocers of the Park & Tilford grade of a later period-Richard Buloid at 129 Broadway and James Geery at 119 Mulberry, corner of Bayard Street, who was widely known for the excellence of his teas. Mr. Richard Williamson, one of this class, appeared later (1825, at 85 Maiden Lane).

The drive for gentlemen and others who drove out of an afternoon was limited on the East side to Cato's (Fifty-Fourth Street and Second Avenue), a well­known resort, -see page 63,-where imported Havanas were sold, five for a shilling (12-1/2 cents), and pure brandy at sixpence (6-1/4 cents) per glass-and for many years previous, and later, even down to 1830. Love Lane, before mentioned, was the resort on Saturday afternoons of cartmen, fish and oyster venders, etc., where their horses and those of others of a like grade were raced for such entrance stakes or wagers as were mutually agreed upon. The public race­course was on Hempstead Plains, and known as the New Market. The principal or noted restaurants were De Cousse's, in Reade Street, under Washington Hall; Ainslie's in Broadway, between Duane and Anthony

streets; and Lovejoy's, Broadway, corner of Anthony Street (Worth). Sunday excursions on steamboats, etc., were unknown. It was only at a later day, or about 1820, that the "Green" and river walk at Hoboken became a general afternoon resort.

The Turtle Club, afterward known as the Hoboken Turtle Club, was in existence; notices of its meetings were announced as dividends of twenty or twenty­five per cent., and termed spoon exercise. Also the Krout Club, which later was presided over by a Grand Krout, who once in a year was declared to have nodded, thereby indicating his assent to a meeting, which was opened at nine in the morning, and continued until late at night; at the dinner, smoked geese, "ringlets,, (sausages), and sour­crout were the pieces of resistance. The symbol of the place of meeting was a cabbage on a pole. Members of the club were termed cabbage­heads, and a death or absence was termed wilting.

On the eve of Fourth of July, or Independence Day, booths were erected around the City Hall Park, and roast pig, eggnog, cider, and spruce beer were temptingly displayed. On the following day the militia formed at the Battery, paraded up Broadway to the City Hall, where it was reviewed by the Mayor and Aldermen, and after executing a feu de joie was dismissed. The various civic societies met, formed in line, and marched through some of the principal streets; the Tammany Society, by right of seniority, being assigned to the head of the column. Evacuation Day, or the anniversary of the evacuation of the city by the British, was very generally observed at this time. Horse, foot, and artillery, together with the veterans of the war, paraded. Salutes were fired in the morning, and public dinners occupied the evening. My readers are aware that this day never passes now without at least some slight observance in New York, and many of them will remember the elaborate preparations made

for celebration of the Centennial Anniversary in 1883, and the furious storm of that day, which ruined a pageant that, with fine weather, would have been the most superb ever witnessed by the city up to that time.

The chief fuel of the time, and for many years after, was wood, sold by the load from the vessels that brought it to the city, each load measured by a City inspector. It was in full length (four feet), delivered in the street in front of buildings or residences, where it was sawed by wood sawyers (colored) in two lengths only, and occasionally split. Steam sawing and splitting mills were not introduced until very many years after, and if wood­yards existed, I do not recollect one. Coal was very little in use for domestic purposes except in parlor grates; in this vicinity it was commercially termed Liverpool or Newcastle, from the names of the ports from which it was shipped, and as it all came from abroad was generally known as "sea coal", a title which it bore long after the mines of Virginia and Maryland were opened, and which is heard in the speech of old­fashioned persons even to this day. Anthracite was virtually unknown. Some of it had been mined in Rhode Island under management of the Rhode Island Coal Co. of 42 Wall and 47 Canal streets, which distributed samples of it among a few of our well­known citizens to test and report thereon. One of them, Martin S. Wilkins, of 53 White Street, upon being applied to for his response replied:

"I am willing to certify that, under favorable circumstances this coal is capable of ignition, and I am willing further to certify that, if Rhode Island is underlaid with such coal, then, at the general conflagration which our ministers predict, it will be the last place to burn."

Furnaces, hall­stoves, and the air­tight stoves for bedrooms were absent from the houses of the period; and in severe weather the best of these houses were much less comfortable than many stables of this day. Warming pans for beds were all but a necessity for elderly persons, bedrooms being so cold that washing in the morning often could be done only after first breaking the ice in the pitcher. The facilities for procuring a light for fire at the present time are so widely different from and so much more convenient than methods at that time, that the question has been very frequently asked, How did we put up with such inconvenience? The only reliable artificial method was that of the construction of a tinder­box, filled with tinder of well­scorched rag, a flint, and a suitable piece of steel; or by the rapid operation of a steel wheel, rotated by drawing a long cord previously wound around its axis; to the face of this was applied a flint, the sparks elicited by it falling upon the tinder, to which, when ignited, a sulphur or bituminous match, as it was termed, was applied and lighted. The French phosphoric matches, borne in a case with a vial of a phosphoric mixture and twenty­five matches, price fifty cents, were altogether unreliable. As a consequence of the difficulty attendant upon these inconvenient methods, when a light was required at night, as in the rooms of sick persons, city fire­engine houses, etc., tapers in oil were maintained lighted.

The doors of domestic bedrooms were seldom locked at night by the occupants, and the entrances to dwellings in the summer season were held to be sufficiently secured, in the daytime, by the closing of an outer blind­door. House­bells were but very little used; in a few cases there were bells for the street­door and the parlors, but generally the street­door was furnished with a knocker, and bedrooms were wholly without bells. The very convenient custom of residents having their names on an engraved plate on their front­doors was in general observance; it is to be regretted that it has been abandoned. Domestic service at this period and long afterward, or until the introduction of illuminating gas, hot­air furnaces, and

Croton water, and the construction of street sewers, was much more onerous than at this time. Oil lamps required trimming and filling; candlesticks, the fronts of gratefenders, and frequently the shovel and tongs of brass, were to be cleaned; wood and coal to be brought from the cellar to all the fires, and the absence of hall­stoves rendered fires necessary in all sitting­rooms. All water required for the kitchen, or bedrooms, or for baths, was drawn from the nearest street­pump, and all refuse water and slops were carried out to the street and emptied into the gutter; the brass ornaments on the iron railings of the stoop, the door­plate, and the knocker, called for cleaning; added to which, the street, for half its width in front of each dwelling, was to be swept twice a week. A prudent person would hesitate before asking a third of the like services of a domestic of late years. A full beard, or even an imperial or goatee, was unknown, except when a native of an Eastern country would appear with the former, and as such an exhibition was a rarity, the wearer would be an object of general attention, even to being followed by a number of boys.

The city at this time offered but few and restricted attractions to a foreigner, but from the convenience consequent upon its restricted area, the simple wants of its citizens, and the dependence upon the comforts of home enlivened by evening visits and gatherings then truly social, it was a very desirable place of residence; more so than it ever can be again, except to those who profit by its metropolitan character. In the absence of clubhouses, theatres, and other places of amusement, and of late dinners, the houses of New York were more strictly homes than at present. Evening visiting was general, and in the winter season quilting parties and entertainments with hickory nuts, apples, new cider, and doughnuts, were the custom, occasionally varied by whiskeypunch-not that of the present day, sweetened with a questionable sugar, and with a slice of lemon­peel, but both sweetened and soured with currant or guava jelly. Cards were much used; and the elders played whist while the younger part of the company indulged in round games. In evening gatherings confined to the young, doughnuts, crullers, apples, hickory nuts, and cider were also served, and the boiling and pulling of molasses candy were accepted elements of fun and frolic. The family tables were very simply supplied, and the hours of meals were regular; breakfast at eight, dinner, which very generally consisted of but one course, at from two to three, and supper at from six to seven o'clock. On the first or parlor floors of the houses were two pantries, in which the table china, glasses, and company tea­set were placed, together with the fruit preserves, which had been made by the mistress in person at the kitchen fire There were then no canned fruits, etc., and so imperative was the duty upon all provident housekeepers to make these preserves for the coming season and year that such of the few as were visiting in the country were accustomed to hurry to the city early in September to provide them, as well as the required sausages and head­cheese. In all dining­rooms there was a sideboard, a large piece of furniture in which were held the knives, forks, spoons, etc., of the table; it also was the repository of liquors of various kinds, and at all evening visits, guests, without exception, were invited to partake of a friendly or a parting glass, usually of brandy.

It was not considered at all necessary that the counters of banks and bankers should be shut in by wire nets or iron gratings, since sneak­thieves and the like were seldom heard of. (clerks never ventured to wear their hats within the precincts of their employment, neither did they or other young men of the day fail to remove them on entering an office or dwelling, heu mutatus. The duties of the junior clerk of that time were very different from those of the present day, both in character and extent. He was required to sweep the offices, to go to the Post­office, both for letters and to post them (there was but one office; stations and lamp­post boxes were unknown), and, in many employments, he swept the sidewalk and the street to half its width, in front of the store in which he was employed. Readers of the present day may be surprised to be told that at the period noted, and for many years after, blotting­paper, as a convenience in writing, was measurably unknown. Metallic sand, writing sand as it was termed, was used for absorbing ink, and a sand­box was nearly as requisite to a writing­desk as a pen and ink. Copying presses did not exist, and as a consequence the junior clerk in a counting house had not only to copy all outgoing letters, but, in case of those sent abroad, he had to make duplicates to be sent by the next packet; but offices were opened before nine o'clock in the morning, and kept open until dark; and on packet days, until the correspondence was finished, however late. A carpeted office was a rarity, while its furniture was of a very plain character. In illustration of the sentiments then entertained regarding what was deemed unnecessary expense in offices, and the evil effects of such extravagance, so late as 1826 a member of an importing house in this city called at the office of a house that had just failed, regarding the condition of his claim against it. On his return he reported to his senior partner that he was not surprised at the failure, as he found a large open coal fire in their

office, when it was so hot he had to ask to have the window opened, and the floor was carpeted; such extravagance as that could but, in his opinion, lead to bankruptcy. So great is the difference between the earlier portion of the century and these its closing days, when the highest luxury of business appointments is often vaunted as a sign of prosperity, and, it may almost be said, appealed to as a basis of credit.

There was a feature in social requirements of that day, prejudices as some would say, that was as decided as it may be incredible to many persons of the present time, and it is one so wholly opposed to existing practices that I would not endanger the estimate of my veracity by referring to it, but that I have frequently mentioned it when in presence of persons of a like age with mine, and in every instance my statement has been endorsed, viz.: no man who was known to smoke a cigar in the streets or at his office in business hours, could have procured a discount at any bank in the city. There was but one Exchange and that at the Tontine Coffee House (see page 48); the hour of meeting was 1 PM and the general dinner­hour of merchants and professional men was from two to three; after which they returned to their counting­rooms or offices and remained until the close of daylight.

The windows of stores and shops were closed tightly at night by shutters, and as the street oil­lamps were very infrequent, the streets were so very indifferently lighted, compared to the present illumination by electricity, gas­lamps, and the gas­lights in stores with unobstructed open plate­glass windows, that they would not now be held to be lighted at all; and besides, during the period of a quarter and a three­quarter moon, the lamps were not lighted, whether the moon was obscured or not, as the lighting of them was determined by the almanac.

At this time the apprentice system was in full operation; boys desiring to acquire a trade were apprenticed to the employer until they were twenty­one years of age, and in most cases, as of old, they resided in the house of the employer and consequently were subjected to his discipline, not only in deportment but as to hours of retiring and other habits of life. Workmen, that is, all artisans and laborers, whether men or apprentices, were employed and paid according to the work performed by them, and the estimate of their capacity. Employers engaged or discharged whomsoever they saw fit to, and although there were not any societies that assumed to fix the wages of workmen, the rate of wages for the different grades of work and classes of workmen was well known and as well observed and conceded. Thus, an idle, irregular, and unmarried man, who would be frequently absent when most wanted, was not paid an equal amount with a steady man with a family to provide for.

A young gentleman of this city, son of a well­known and respectable resident, returned from brief travel in Europe with his upper lip adorned with a moustache. This was the very first display of one by an American in this city, and it was so observedly singular and exceptional that it occasioned much comment and criticism. So great was this departure from the custom of our people that it was not until 1836, and then only by progressive invasion upon the general prejudice, that such exhibitions, as they were termed, were at all assented to; even so late as 1850, I have heard moustaches termed "monstrous" by persons of taste, culture, and sober judgment.

The law of imprisonment for debt was in force at this time, and the jail for this non­criminal class becoming overcrowded, certain of them were allowed freedom within fixed limits outside of the jail, or " jail liberties,', as they were termed, which were then confined to the territory below Anthony on the north and west sides and somewhere about its adjoining street on the east side; notices of the limits being painted on the corners.

Church service, even, has undergone a marked change. At 9 A.M. on a Sunday, the church bells were rung, probably for the purpose of reminding the citizens of the day, and again at 10 and 10.30 and at 2 and 7 P.M. for the afternoon and evening services. The choirs, with the exception of that of Grace Church, where Miss Ellen Gillingham sang, were composed of volunteers from the congregation, led by a preceptor, or, as in the Episcopal Churches, by the clerk. In the Presbyterian and other Reformed Churches the length of the morning prayer and of the sermon was a terror to juveniles, and irksome to all others, however much they feigned to think otherwise; even the doxologies to a psalm partook of the general extension. Sunday dinners in families very generally were but cold collations. The streets were measurably void of passing vehicles, yet, that the church services might not be disturbed, it was ordered that during the hours of Divine worship chains should be placed across the streets bounding a church. This ordinance, how ever, was so generally opposed that, about the year 1828, it was universally disregarded.

Men's and boys, clothing and the manner of procuring it was very different from the modes of this time. The street dress of gentlemen consisted of a blue coat with gilt buttons, white or buff waistcoat with gold buttons (I retain a set), knee­breeches of buckskin, buckles, and top boots. Spencers, or cloth jackets, in cold weather were often worn over coats, and for outer wear "box­coats" as they were termed, that is, great­coats with from one to seven or more capes buttoned on. Wellington boots (introduced and so termed after the Battle of Waterloo), cut high with tassels at the tops, prevailed; they were worn outside of the pantaloons. Shirt collars were very full, false collars and wristbands or cuffs were unimagined; black or white cravats, none other- not the ribbons, etc., of this day-but stiffened with a "pudding" of wool, horse­hair, or hog's bristles; to the bosoms of the shirts were attached low down pleated frills. Black clothing was never worn except for mourning or by clergymen.

The full dress of gentlemen was dark dress coat with rolling collar running down low in front, short­waisted white waistcoat, frilled bosom to shirt, knee­breeches with gold buckles, black silk stockings and pumps; watchchain and seal displayed pendent from a fob in the breeches.

The walking dress of ladies, and for some years after, was essentially alike to the illustration here given, with the variation of Leghorn bonnets or flats, as they were termed, which were imported, one entire with an additional crown or body piece, in order that by cutting off one­half the rim of the full one with the loose crownpiece sewed to it, two full bonnets were made. long ribbons were tied in a bow, hanging down from the waist behind, near the ground; and on the forehead many wore at the sides false hair, fashioned alike to short drapery and termed frizettes, and all wore high and broad tortoise­shell combs. Fur muffs were of the full dimensions

of a ten­gallon keg, and were frequently used in shopping as receptacles, as well as for the hands.

Boys' clothing was made by seamstresses from the discarded garments of father or elder brothers; their mittens for cold weather were knitted by the female members of the house, and as to military or like uniforms they were confined solely to the scholars of two French schools.

In the outer adornment of both men and women, the custom and fashion of the day were materially at variance with that of the present here illustrated as to men, and as to women I am regretfully at a loss for a description; but I know that one article of their underwear, now held to be indispensable was not worn by ladies at all until many years after. There were at this time but two "slop" tailors, as they were termed, and they in Cherry Street; that is, stores where one could purchase an outfit of garments, designed for the convenience of seamen, boatmen, and longshoremen. The descendant of one of these dealers now occupies a leading position in the clothing business in the upper part of Broadway. Clothiers or "merchant tailors" were unknown; as men in all parts of the country, excepting those who dealt with the slop tailors referred to, obtained their clothing directly from tailors, the absurd prefix of "merchant" was then wanting.

Children's sports were conducted with a measure of simplicity far removed from the elaborate provision of the " sporting goods " shops which are now considered necessary. If a base­ball was required, the boy of 1816 founded it with a bit of cork, or, if he were singularly fortunate, with some shreds of india­rubber; then it was wound with yarn from a ravelled stocking, and some feminine member of his family covered it with patches from a soiled glove. Our skates were a primitive instrument, compared with those of a later period. The blades were very thin, and generally of iron, involving the frequent filing of the gutters to keep them sufficiently sharp for safety; there were heel and toe straps, without screws for the heel of the shoe; and as a result, we had to draw all the straps so tight, to maintain the skates in position, that the necessary circulation of the blood in our feet was arrested, and we were frequently tortured with pain and cold. The modern effective mechanical appliances by which they are now fastened with a single motion were not introduced until very many years later. For a base­ball bat, if anything better than a casual flat or round stick was required, negotiation had to be entered into with some wood­turner to induce him to lay aside his regular work to produce one. Then, if the boy could manage to be present at the time of the important operation, he witnessed it with absorbed interest and bore away with him the new creation with gratifying feelings of pride and possession. Yet we did play ball, skate, etc., and enjoyed ourselves; although in the absence of stages

or any means of public conveyance, we walked from below Canal Street, the then limit of the city, to Stuyvesant's meadow, the Sunfish pond, or Cedar Creek, and were satisfied.

Christmas was very slightly observed as a general holiday at the time of which I write, and Christmas shopping and Christmas presents, except those of " Santa Claus " for children, scarcely existed. New Year's Day was the popular winter holiday, the very old custom of paying New Year's visits being universal, as indeed it continued to be until perhaps twenty years ago (1874), There is no old New Yorker who does not regret the abandonment of this time­honored custom, however much it may be required by changed conditions; especially by the extension of the town and resulting enlargement of men's acquaintance and visiting lists.

Notable events in this year were the completion of Macomb's Dam, at the site of the present bridge, which soon became a justly favorite spot for fishing, the opening of Eighth and Ninth avenues and First and Thirteenth streets, the extension of Hudson Street from Laight Street to Greenwich Avenue, and of Franklin Street. In this year was organized, under the presidency of Cadwallader D. Colden, the Manumission Society to advance the freedom of slaves at the South. On July 5 there was frost in many localities of the island.

At No. 80 William Street a Frenchman of the name of Francis Adonis, who displayed a sign reading, "Hairdresser from Paris," and whose customers were principally French refugees, had been a notorious character, from the circumstance that from the time of his advent here until the restoration of a Bourbon in the person of Louis XVIII. he, when in public, bore his hat under one arm, in pursuance of a declaration that he would never wear one until a Bourbon was restored to the French

throne. He claimed to have been the hair­dresser of Louis XVI.

Columbia College, instituted 1753 and located in an area bounded by Murray, Church, the south line of Robinson Street (Park Place) not then opened through and Chapel (College Place). was removed in 1857 to corner of Madison Avenue and Forty­ninth Street.

The students of the college, prior to its removal, alike to the students of other colleges, did not entertain or practice gymnastics as an element of college education. Of those of Columbia I write advisedly-they were not members of a boat club, base­ball, or foot­ball team.

On Saturday afternoons, in the fall of the year, a few students would meet in the " hollow " on the Battery, and play an irregular game of football, generally without

teams or "sides," as they were then termed; a mere desultory engagement.

As this "hollow " was the locale of base­ball, "marbles," etc., and as it has long since been obliterated, and in its existence was the favorite resort of schoolboys and all others living in the lower part of the city, it is worthy of record. Thus: it was very nearly the entire area bounded by Whitehall and State Streets, the sea wall line, and a line about two hundred feet to the west; it was of an uniform grade, fully five feet below that of the street, it was nearly as uniform in depth, and as regular in its boundary as a dish.

The American Museum of John Scudder, first opened in 1810 at 21 Chatham Street, removed in this year to the west end of the building of the New York Institution, on Chambers Street.

The block bounded by Centre, Leonard, Elm, and Franklin streets was occupied by the city, and known as the Corporation Yard, where the fire­engine and ladder trucks were built and equipped, and light work was done connected with repairs of public buildings, coffins for paupers, etc. The American Bible Society was organized in May of this year, and its first publication was issued, in 1819, from No. 20 Slote Lane (not nonexisting). David Bruce, from Scotland in 1793, first introduced stereotyping. Later, he was the senior member of the firm of David & George Bruce.

At this period there were but ten wards in the city. Arson was punishable with death. Slavery existed, both slaves and their "times" were advertised in daily papers.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Benjamin Moore, second Bishop of New York, died in February of this year, being succeeded in office by his coadjutor, John Henry Hobart, who displayed distinguished ability in his administration during the next fifteen years.

The names of the following streets were changed previous to the date of these reminiscences, but were frequently referred to under their original names.

OLD Crown, Dock,

Duke, . Dyes, Fair,

Liberty Street

Pearl, between Broad and Hanover Square.

South William , Dey..

Fulton, between Broad­ way and Cliff

George, . . Spruce.

King George, William, between Frank

fort and Pearl.

King, . . . Pine.

Little Queen

Magazine,

Partition,

Queen,

NEW

South, between Whitehall

and Old Slip.

Cedar.

Part of Pearl.

Fulton, between Broad

way and North River.

Princess, . Beaver, between Broad

and William

. Pearl, between Wall and Broadway

Park Place

James.

Robinson,

St. James,