New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-10-27
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
OLD NETWORK.

IN OLD NETWORK. BY Thomas So. a. ' {,arnHr
illustrated; limo. PIP. 80 Ne"-fork; harper
& Bros.
Nobody has studied New-York more sympathet-
callv than Mr. Janver If he has not like Nalen-
fine had the chance 20 see the city grow up ana
10 draw on his own memory Tor MS antiquarian
information he has the faculty of projecting himself
into the old time. and actually bringing 70 MS
readers sight as well understanding. Mr. Jan
vier is a good antiquarian. but he is more than an
ANTIQUARIAN He is a s;cry-teler and he is quite as
clever in making OF tr'.e story living thhg a'
IN exciting interest in the Pigments OF his magma
tions In the first part of the volume ne treats Oh
the evolution OF NewYork from the building OF
the first s:ockade the completion OF the Erie
Canal which finally settled its supremacy. already
we'll established, owing 10 the great territory which
from its harbor could be reached by inland waters
He takes his readers back with him and they grow
up with the time and at each stage must ieei as
sured that they are genuine NEWCOMERS 1t re-
oures no fight Of imagination to understand the
stolid Commissioners OF 1907 laying out city plan
that did its best to sacrifice the natural beauty OF
the island. That is exactly what modern farN
Commissioner would DO. They laid out the town
in rectanges almost exactly as it is to-day, only
they did not see the need of large parks tfor Cen
trail Park was the creation of later day., because
the civ was so narrow and water was on all
sides They solved their problem In the duiiest way
The opportunity TO create DeautHu ''''
simply was wasted and thrown away having 10
with a region well wooded, broken u! anu
diversified by watercourses-where the very con-
tours Of the land suggested curving roads ana us
UNEQUAL surface reservations for beautys sake
aone-these worthy men decided that the Iores'S
should be cut away. the hills leveled the hoho"S
filled in, the streams buried; and upon the nat hu'
face thus created they clapped down ruler ana
completed their Boeotan programme by creating
city in which all right angles ana sraisn'
lines" Even then they laid 1t out the wrong way
and left their descendants the sensation OF cfa"
ing through krotholes by giving them the IeaS'
street room in the direction of the greatest trafc'
Mr. Janvier is even more happy in dealing win
Greenwich it and is. 1t is the part OF 'he
city where. If anywhere. the atmosphere OF the oIu
American is left. where there is little mel
lowness that is not undignifed ruin frahKy uh-
fashionable humbleness which has no suggestion
Of squaor The chapter Down Love Lane Is an
example Of what keen eyes can see even IN 'he
solid blocks of a seemingly ready-made town MT.
Janver walks through the streets and searches out
courts and alleys pointing out here narrow space.
there a house built askew, and again low
wooden building wedged between brick ones
These signs nothing taken separately Out
put together by him they tell stories of oif roads
some known to have existed. others which ieit no
record and have been forgotten. Mr.. Janvier from
the Battery to Harlem shows in every place and
time the rare faculty of catching the proper tone
Just as New-York has grown, 1t is growing. The
work of the antiquary is not ended The process
Janvier in a most interesting chapter, points out
that the city to-day is following exactly the same
methods of growth ia the Northern part OF Man
haitian Island as fifty years ago 1t did along Love
Lane Wedged in between the encroaching masses
of brick and stone, hidden in the rear OF blocks.
are here an old mansion and there patched-up
cabin which a little time ago were skirted by
country road. How those buildings came there
will in a few years be forgotten by everybody but
the student local archaeology. Then their story
will come with fresh interest TO people under whose
very eyes Times glorihcation of the commonplace
has gone on. 1T is important that these changes
should be recorded. The city has so far been eA-
tremely fortunate In contemporary historians. ana
what has taken place is as we'll known as could
be expected. But ii is greatly TO be feared that
with the more than ever rapid growth to the
northward much that might be OF interest Will be
forgotten Every plot has It's history quite as IN
dsyidual and as well worth preserving as the story
Oh Lispenard's Meadows and the filling OF the Col
l1ct Pond The watching Of this new growth IS
Nell worth the local historians time Mr. jan
Aer has good claim to gratitude for his charming
Aketches of the old time; he has even greater
llam for giving suggestion TO New-forkers,
who would have their city something more IMAM
a place to live n and make money In. who would
preserve its good traditions and develop its civic
pride