New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-23
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

last DAYS OF KNIcKERBoCKER IN IA NEw co r0h "
by ABRAM c. DAYTON loino' PIP -'
The reading in this unpretending little voiumo is
nc neasant AZ long chat with an ola trie',u ~ -"
afternoon of summer particularly IL ,he o.u ~. -.
hanners 70 he downright example of solid aVolr-
auno;s Of genuine Krickerbockcr growth. we
know men of this stamp who were boys WIZ" "o
were bows middle-aged men when the stoop came
70 our shoulders upon which the bleak horsehish .,
the poet contIived TO spring suddenly an"
whose hair was whitened by the same "iu'oi
os onr own. We have an impression tnat
Mr. DAYTON was one of these elderly youths ~.
wears older than ourselves, but younger IN HIS
Irovv,eace of old Ncw-York IN that he was saunter-
ing through foreign universities wmio we W. WV.
doing sums upon the blackboard in our p"'nS
schools We remember one of those seminaI'cS "
learning in Houston-st., between Norioin an
Fssex-sts and the facetiOusly grim ne"
for wbo never spoiled child. not even "'
bov Inv SHARING the rod He was as ueNou' 60
Uever in the Injunction of King Soionon ID
80 oil master Bower, who was saiu "
80, ocratted his translation. rou III
bo,d 70 the high school ABOVE "n'i0
oil the scholars were cherubs MI Da!'o''
had no such smarting "reminiscences OF school nio ID
the hand that grips this gray goose-quilI no ~''
too good hoy to play hockey anu account ~:
his absence by forged note of excuse from Ills
mother He never played baseball up and down
the lots between Second and Third-sts ana + ir0'
o,d sccond-aves where the slaughter houses "ero,
ord certainly never hung about the great doors vi
these cory abbatoirs anywhere east OF the bo"eIS'
md saw the bullocks slung mp and KNOCKED On '"0
head There was a horrible fascination about H.
"Bnt. och it hardened a within,
And petrfed the feeling
Master Abram Whom the irreverent caileu az,
ne they did much greater Abraham OH. "o'p
,,o,er flew his kite from the hOuSetop, ana never
cut the string of smaller boys klte' gTaoDcu '"'
Irvine hauled il in and ran away around ,he coi'i,
md hid in the back yard. Not he. Nor 'hu III anu
n mack of mi>chievOus lads run halt-naKeo Oh oa'
nrlav afternoon. and take a swim at Sandy O'D-
- ,rbicb was inst below where Stuyvesant Park
now ia. Impossible. And of course he never claimed
20 ba q Park shooter" in marble time, and scrap-
Nd off with all the marbles and clancy alleys
N the ring on the plea that they were GROUND
rent No. sir Abram c. Dayton respected 'he zen
commandments and had healthy horror OF Olu
Hays" 800 wi.
Ono characteristic feature of street.-The In hnlcK-
orhockerdom did not we think, sufficiently impress
itself upon the youthful ana manly recollecuon oi
Mr. DAYTON 1t was comprised IN one woro-s"ino'
Every poor family, in every poor part OF Tue oi9'
had pig of its own, or litter OF pigs WIZ" US
noter ar p,tcr.f amilias They roamed about IN
droves. feeding upon what they could ina, s'oheu
nv bows and girls alike gruntng and squealing ana
hr,;rc each other like the transformed victims OF
Circe. They were more plentiful in New-Iork ior'y
veors AGO than cats are to-day But not so obstrep-
erous as the cat. for they had homes in the alley
,rovs and stables and rear yards and they repaired
20 these homes at nightfall and were domestlca'eu
there with the horse, the hens and the chHueI'
Nor was this merely in Delancey-st., or hvlngton
st. or CannOn-st. they infested BleeckeT-St.' "lcu
was the height of fashion. and Bondst, where
mon top-ofty ladders lived the elite ana the oed"
monde. the Wards, the Astors and the future Van
derbilt the sire of whom was peddlIng ''mush-mll-
ions at camp meetings and who was not ashamed
80 to do as indeed why should he be The old-time
gentry of New-YOrk lineal descendants OF Peter
Stuvvesant and other notable Dutchmen rose 10
their high places, and the esteem IN which they
wore held. by hard work To them labor was hon
orable as it is to the kings of the world and the
great commanders of men. There is no Brahmin
caste in the New World, in spite of the belief OF the
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. There are
Kashatrias who are sort of Siamese twins united
ny the rpature of charity and law; there are Nals-
vac raisers of cattle and cutvatOrs of the SOIL and
there are Sudras who are Patrick, and Blddy, and
Harry CLAY, and Ann Samantha, and your long
tailed All Sing Not a Brahman from the Battery
IN the High Bridge Only children of Tubal Cain, OF
builders of Argonauts, rope-makers, brick-layers'
Celtic contractors, and other hardy yeomen, Eng
lish Scotch Irish, French, German and Danish
strains of blood not forgetting the strong current
that is always setting westward from Palestine.
When Mr.. William Cullen Bryant, young law
yer of thirty or thereabout. came from Cumming
ton and Great Darlington, Mass, to New-YOrk t.
better his fortunes by becoming the Editor of TIL
Erenjaq Post the city practically ended south OF
Canal-st. though it extended in spots upOr
the rocky banks of both rivers. ThC
east bank Of the Hudson was precipitous
and wooded for miles, except where these little set
Elements were made. The great men of the period
were editors actors authors, booksellers and cler
gymcn. The most famous authors were Mr. Wash
ington Irving, Mr.. James FcnimOre Cooper, Mr.
Fitz Greene Halleck, MIR. Robert c. Sands and Mr.
Bryant himself: the most celebrated actors were
Kean. Cooper. Booth Hamblin and Young Forrest,
whose warmest friend was Mr.. William Lcggett
of The Post The most able editors were Leggett
and BRYANT. Sands Lang and Webb. There were
many old booksellers scattered along Broadway
Nassau-St and Chatham and Franklin Square
There was Mahon Day, of Pearl-st, who supplied
tho children of the world with pretty little
illustrated books; Collins another Quaker
whose speciality was Bibles, hymn books and
other lore Eastman. who published periodicals.
works of travel, anything that he thought would
sell; and-not to enumerate further-there was the
young and growing firm of J. & j. Harper Brothers
who were practical printers on Clifl-st The cleric
force was strong in Trinity. the old John Street
Meeting house. the Brick Church, and, away NJ
town, In Grace Church. of which the redoubt
able corpulcnt Brown was sexton and undertaken
All the known land some of the unknown forms
of Christianity fourished and decayed The great
medical man was DIR. Francis, who was &C
quanted with everybody, and who thought very
highly of Dr. Francis with whose boisterous vanity
Ia did arna 10 he In the Ieast acnuainted