Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-08
NEW YORK'S MADE LAND.
NOW POPULOUS STREETS ONCE
WATER COURSES

held by P1leS-A Society Rosebud " hO
Danced Herself to Death-A Letter
Whose Sting was Real.
Correspondents Of the Morning Ne,os
NEW YORK. Feb. 5.-About 15 years
ago Gen. Viele, the present President OF
the Park Board, published map showing
the ancient water courses OF Manhattan
Island. IN addition to being in parts a
net work of lines representing old water
ways the map was dotted all along the
river fronts, and, occasionally, far inland.
and the dots represented made land. Ac-
cOrding to this authority there are COM
paratiVely few blocks in New York in
which there was not formerly water in
one form or another. The map is sus-
tanned by the fact that many buildings in
the very heart of the city are erected on
piles. The Hotel Brunswick on Madison
square, for example, and CYRUS W.
Fields house, with many of its neighbOrs
on Gramercy Park, have their foundations
on plies. The water course in whose bed
is the site of the Hotel Brunswick for
merly ran down what is now Fifth avenue,
crossed Washington Park, and, finally.
taking a westerly direction, found its
Minetta creek, and its name is still pre-
served in Minetta lane. Many of the
structures along the creeks course, in
Guiding the Brevoort House, that resort
of the Britsher. have piles for their
foundation. e.
Gen. Viele maintained that no habita-
ton built over a water course could be
healthy, and his map was to warn people
not to live in any Of the several hundred
houses whose cellars were ant to be moist.
His followers sWOre by his map, and time
was when a man would not choose a
house or even a lodging anywhere near
the lines and dots of the map.
OF late years the lines and dots have
ceased to be such bugbears. The correct
ness Of the map has been imprached, or,
at any rate, its deductions have been
gainsaid. No less an authority than Prof.
Chandler, for instance, says that the map,
even if correct, merely depicts what did
exist, and not what does. The water
courses no longer exist fer the re lson that
the sewers now dram the island, and
Minetta creek, for example, reaches the
Hudson underground in sewers in place
of ruuning along the line of Fifth avenue.
FACTS, HOWEVER, ARE STUBBORN
THINGS,
and the facts of the case which have re-
called the map to my memory seem to
sustain Gen.N iele. Richard Grant White,
the well-knOwn writer on Shakespeare
and things English, is now cOnvaIescing
from a severe attack of typhoid fever.
which made him its victim not long after
his moving into the Folsom flats on
Stuyvesant Park. Now this building was
formerly the private residence CT the man
after whom it was named, which ne
abandoned after losing two children and
very nearly losing his wife from diseases
which sprang from unsanitary surround
ings. Although thus taught to consider
the house death trap, Mr.. Folsom could
not afford to let it lie idle, and after, it is
to be charitably presumed, lettering the
drainage as much as possible, he altered
it into flats. The house, however, is built
on made ground, and in spite Of the at
tempts which nave been made to drain it's
site the walls of the cellar are percepti-
Dly damp to the touch in the driest
weather. Mr.. White was undoubtedly
rendered i'll by the same causes which
brought Mrs. Folsom to deaths door and
killed her two children. Gen. Viele GER
taiDly in this case is proved to be correct,
and the deductions from it we'll founded.
Grant White, by the way, is a queer
bundle Of contradictions. No more
staunch supporter of American modes
and manners exists than he. He is nOth-
ing if not American when Erglishmen
attack our language or literature, and
yet he affects English ways as much as
the Yeriest angl0maniaC. Being a big,
burly man, with mutton-chop waiskers.
he has the appearance of Britisher, and
nothing delights him so much as being
mistaken for one. In fact, he is quite
mortified If not considered one by those
who cont know him, unless he has belied
himself. He cells of a London shOpman
with whom he got into conversation to-
wards the end of a Tong visit in England,
CHASING him, as a matter of course, as an
American. Mr.. White asked the fellow
how he knew that, and the reply was that
it was perfectly palpable. MIR. White
tells the story with manifest chagrIu.
A CIRCUMSTANCES CONNECTED WITH THE
SUDDEN DEATH
of Miss Baylies last week illustrates the
tyranny of fashion. She arose on Monday
morning feeling quite as well as usual,
and was about the house like the rest OF
the family until comparatively late in tie
day. What seemed to be q Geld developed
itself towards evening, and she summon
ed physician, not so much to get him to
prescribe for her, as to ask his opinion
about going to the Bradley Martin ball
that evening. The physician considered
her symptoms those of cold, and said
that she could not 90 to the ball unless
she wore high-necked gown. Rather
than appear II the reverse of the prevail
ing fashion Miss Baylies gave up the bali.
She was dead before it was over! She
became violently i'll about II 2. m, Just
as the guests were assembling, and she
died four hours afterwards while thew
were still dancing. So little was thought
of her Illness before it assumed a fatal
form that her own brother Is said to have
gone to the ball. and apparently ne was
enjoying himself there when she was dy-
ing.
Various causes are assigned for the
poor GRIPS death. She was but 20-un-
timely taking off. Bright's disease is
said to have been the real cause, but
Glanced herself to DEATH is the general
verdict. This may seem too uncharita bic
to repeat, and it should be added that
Miss Baylies was something more than
fashionable woman. She was
charitable and benevolent, and it was per-
haps what the Unco guild may consider
her attempt to serve heaven and man.
mon that caused her to exhaust herself
by overwork and shorten her life.
TO Go BACK TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES
which brought about this reference to
Miss Baylies, the fact that a young and
lovely girl, at heart not disposed towards
worldliness, although her lines were cast
in worldly places, would rather not ap-
pear in public in the evening at all than
to appear unfashi0nably attired, espee-
tally when it is remembered what fash
iOnably in this connection means, shows
to what lengths custom will carry the
best disposed. Gowns, as you know, are
worn lower in the neck nova
days than ever before. At ball or even
ing reception modest girls appear with
their necks immodestly exposed, while it
is like going to the Black Crook or some
kindred spectacle to see young married
women in full evening dress, or rather
This morally poisonous
fashion, however, sometimes carries
it's own antidOte, so far as the spectators
are concerned. The old cats, as dOwa-
gers are irTeverently termed, carry the
custom to even a greater extreme than
younger women, and the spectacle of
their withered charms is often nauseating
enough to sicken one with the display OF
the debutanteS. With a a3eneRtO nlogi on
every side, even Don Juan would care
little for the sight of Donna Julia's
''shapely silver shOulders"-to tack a
S winburnean ALTERATION to ByrOn's
heroine.
IT WAS Al MRS. BRADLEY MARTINS
BALL
that accident brought about an embar-
RAISING cOntretemps. A gilded youth and
a daughter of fashion, "who never speak
as they pass by" happened to be brought