The record-union., 1895-02-02

room in the basement of the City Hall
was encumbered with casks of lemon
ade, urns for coffee, kegs of lager beer,
tureens OF picked oysters and trays of
sandwiches. large number of cleo
tors thus exchanged happy New Y ear
greetings, and seemingly testified to the
Mayors popularity.
one Ieutonic constituent in paving
greetings to the Mayor after generous
imbibings, L recall at this distance OF
Tune, was faln to boast OF The mum Der of
schooners OF beer he had launched into
his digestion. L ventured to politely hope
that his deep potations would not intoxi-
cate, when he sagely shook negatives out
OF his hairy head.
but it must have some effect.n T apain
ventured.
"Ovect, vot is dot"
When explained he laid his hand i'm
preSslVely upon his capaci0uS Waistband
and, with hoarse but hearty chackle.
retorted: Der lager makes me feel goot
and l sleeps WELL" Och habe sehr wohl
geschlaien.) L remember and quote it as
q pleasant denial of the popular charge
| that lager beer is an intoxicating liquor
as we'll as under any penal statutes using
the latter phrase. The only unfortunate
! incident OF the inaugural occasion was
the anger of naturalized Turk, who,
nnding hlmself eating a ham sandwich
instead or ore composed of beet, declared
he had been insulted, and left i'll high
dudgeon, declaring he would never again
vote the Iammany ticket
Ihe hrst year OF my Mayoralty pro-
! gressed smoothly, for the municipal ma
cAlnery was we'll wound, had been fully
| fabricated and remained IN excellent
working order. The Legislature at that
| time made up the tax levy or supply bill
| OF the city, and the civic authorizes had
only the responsibility as regarded it OF
| preferrlng estimates. Its annual appear
ance al Albany brought thither greedy
| LOBBY OF those who wished salaries raised
or places created, or schemes matured, or
doubtful claims legalized. The Leois-
| lature was really accountable for the
| munlclpal expenses, yet in popular eSti-
nation 1t was the Mayor and the corpora-
ton VINO became criticised for eXtraya-
gance.
At the end of my first official wear a
| question became mooted as to whether |
| was elected tor an uneXpirad or tull
term, and to save the question at the an
nual election 1t was deemed prudent to
print and vote ballot bearing nv name.
Horace Greeley, who, with all his grand
attalnments. ever possessed a mania tor
once, was the opponent, and was de-
1eated. 1t was Oh this occasion he pub
lished in his memorable Tribune this ep-
| lgram: New York must be delivered
from the thraldom of the Hall family. 1t
is wearled OF Iammany Hall, Mozart
Hail. all the political halls, Oakley Hall
and Alcohol" In ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF
his wit, my practical repartee was the
voting TO his paper share in the print
ing patronage Of the corporation, which,
IN the aggregate, was large, and fear ex-
travagant.
Among the many visitors whom, as
Mayor, l had the honor of entertaining
was the now recently deceased John
Walter of the London ITnteS. At de-
Jeuner that gave to him at the Man
haitian Club, William Henry Hurlbert-
without whose encyclopediacal knowl-
edge, fund OF repartee and conversational
readiness, as well as astronomical ac-
qulrementS, no New Ork breakfast or
dinner party was perfectly composed
was guest, and in the course of cross
table talk, and in his capacity OF editor,
remarked:
Walter, what, if anything, has particu-
larly impressed you with regard to our
newspapers?"
The avidity with which rumors are
started IN one quarter to be denied IN
another"
l also had the honor of entertaining an
eX-Lord Mayor of London, whose chief
encomlum OF the city was in remarking
the elasticity of the throngs in the New
ork streets, as differentiated from what
he admitted 10 be the discontented air of
the average London pedestrians and its
moving popuIace.
But my official embarrassment when
visitors especially from abroad-were to
be shown about the city, consisted in its
paucity Of sights. Boston had it's Fam
uell Han, Its historic Common, its Bum
ker Hill, and famous suburban uniyer-
slty institutions, and its mammoth Leg
lslature on exhibition; Philadelphia,
baltimore, Washington and ambitious
chicago Lad their respective excellent
Offering for sightseers. But, after the
Mayor OF New York had shown his
guests the Battery, the harbor the City
Hall, the Tribune tower or Central Park;
OF the city institutions of Penitentiary,
Insane Asylum and AImshouse on Black
wells Island, or the then unfinished
ugly architectural excrescence called the
Courthouse, or placed visitors in boxes
at opera or theater, they had practically
exhausted the metropolitan shows. |
am now referring to quarter of CEN
tury ago. Since then statutes have ac-
cumulated, while the Brooklyn bridge,
the Pulitzer and Bennett, Times and
Rec0rder press buildings, the beautiful
spires of upper Fifth Avenue, and the
nelghborlng residential palaces or hotels
and mercantile edihces OF commanding
hight or of artistic build, together with
the LennoX Library and METROPOLITAN
Museum OF Art, have all been added as
metropolitan sights, SO that any like
embarrassment will not annoy the Mayor
OF 1885.
a trad itional duty of this head of the
city government is to respond on all oc-
casions to the toast of New York City.n
And lnasmuch as the newspapers inva-
rlably report his speech, he is expected
on every occasion not to repeat himself
lear that during the eighty-seven differ
ent occasions when that toast was in-
trusted to Inc l was often compelled to
plaglarlZe upon my previous efforts. But
generally all atter-dinner occasions, with
fresh guests as listeners, can suggest
local topics peculiar to the moment.
And ought not ali banquet speeches to be
light, uDsubstantlal and pictorial, like
the confectionery center pieces that then
confront the evening orator? He must
beware OF sarcastic pleasantly. A dis
tinguished atter-dlnner speaker of New
York City is at present suffering under a
Jocutar suggestion raShly made at a ST.
Patrick's Day dinner, to the effect that
the way for Irish residents to best aid
home rule was to return en- masse to
the Emerald Isle.
L attended the annual dinner of the
New England Society during my first
term, and as bit of impulsive pleasantly,
combated the notion that the Pilgrim
Fathers landed first on Plymouth Rock,
and l quoted Bancroft's historic assertion
that the first boat from the Maytiower
landed on that part OF "a stern and rock
bound coast" now known to local maps
as False Pretense Bay. My remarks
greatly interested the newspapers, but the
New Englanders were dispIeased They
regarded me as knickerbocker bias
phemer for intimating that there were
false pretenses regarding Plymouth Rock
and Foreiathers' Day. Therefore, in con-
sequence, l was not invited to the Pill
grim feasts afterwards