The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-27
SOCIETY IN OLDNEW YORK.
PHASES TBRoUGH FHICH IT MAS
PASSED ~ ITs EYOLU TION.

Men nud womeu Famous In the EARLY
History OF New York-Somo OF the
Entertainments md Fashions or Former
Observation-Disclosures OF Ola New York.
The Sun on every Sunday contains a headline
What Is Going On in Society" The line
implies that the last word represented an
acknowledged fact In worldly events, and rs
fully as would the words stocks" or " wheat"
Yet the question what constitutes Society still
puzzles Londoners as we'll rs New Workers..
Recently this appeared in q newspapers:
I'm Washington yesterday Miss Vivian Sar-
toris was formally introduced to society by her
grandmother. MA. Ulysses s. Grant"
It's perusAa would force many a reader TO ask
what, or perhaps who, was the society to which
tho young lady WINS introduced ? The announce
mont meant that yesterday the Young lady was
outside of the pale of society. but that to-day
sho was indicted into 1t. Daily wo hear that
Miss None penny is in society and that Miss
Skimpey is not. Whom, therefore, we come to
consider New York society in the past or at the
present and its evolution. the natural question
at the outset becomes, What Is it which has
evolved7
In the good old plain days OF Noah Webster
the word society" had not attained the prom
inence in language which to-day 1t occupies;
and therefore Noah is not to blame for having
bluntly defined society as consisting of =" persons
living in the same neighborhood who fire.
quently meet In each others company in order
to have fellowship" Had this Noah lived to
behold q modern Ararat, and from its heights
surveyed what newspapers and gossips term
society he might have defined 1t to be "a self
constituted aggregation of wealthy men and
of fashionable women who interchange GER
emonial visits, and Invitations to reputable
merrymakings given by each other under rules
of dress and of etiquette mutually agreed upon
more by implication than by express direction"
Modern society considered as q phrase may be
considered as describing exclusive fellow
ship'-to adopt Noah's word-created by Web
ster and fashion.
Society taken in that sense cannot be said to
have existed under New York's Dutch ances-
tors. and perhaps never to have had lot and sta
ton in New York life before the colonial time
of its English Governors. During the Revolu-
ton New York society scarcely numbered four
hundred members, and was entirely dominated
by Tory influences. New York city then. like
the Havana of to-day, was the friend of the
mother country; and then sympathizers with
rebellion, IL entering society. were compelled
to conceal their prejudlces and patriotism.
But when Yeoman Van Arsdale, climbing
tho Flagstaff at the Battery on Nov.
25. 1852. in order to replace the Eng
lish with the American flag. looked over
the ofinR of the bay aud saw the British ships
tackinG through tho Narrows. Tory society
ceased Its supremacy. and Whig society, led by
the Hamiltons, the Jays. the Duere. the Schuy-
lers, and the Clintons of the period began an
unfettered existence and assumed social control
Of whatever wealth remained to New York and
OF its regard for fashion.
That late drbtttr elegdntfdrunh, Ward McAllis-
ter. was accustomed to date the beginnings of
New York society from among the twentics.
when John Quincy Adams was President, and
the courtly Philip Hone as Mayor was giving
municipal entertainments at his mansion on
Broadway opposite the present Post Office.
Society during the twenties, thirtles, and for
ties was little tainted with European tastes and
methods in its intercourse and feeling, but was
moro thoroughly Observation-Disclosures or native
and to the manner BORN The few society
magnates who dared the tedious ocean passage
in the Black Ball or Goodhue packet line tn Liv-
erpool returned more patriotic than when they
embarked. Society in New York had not yet
evolved into any initiative methods OF London
and Paris. Society during those years deigned
TO take marked interest in political affairs and
had its marked representatives in the Common
Council. serving without salary. but taking
pleasure in the weekly tea room in the City
Hail: for be it understood that Mayor Strong
and job Hedges by no means instituted either
the municipal teapot or the brew that CHEERS
but not inebriates" within the sacred pre-
cincts of the marble civic building which
the architectural genius of John McComb
constructed. During those years. also. New
York society was free from clioues and con-
tent.cns of would-be leaders. male or feminine.
nuG from pride OF wealth or its undue aspira-
ticns. amid much envy and social iealouslcs.
There was then a charming entente c~or,iidlc. In
tel!ect- although in poverty-was fully on a par
in Erestships with lineage and riches. The day
for millionaires was far away. and he who had
atenth Of o million dollars was regarded as a
rich man. tempting the envy Of his fellows. Lux
ury was in its metropolitan infancy then. Few
indeed were the families exposed to the possibil-
flies OF a Burden robbery. Thick-soled shoes
and stuffs-and never silks or satIns-wore seen
on thorouGhfures among feminine pedestrians.
Luncheons were not yet in vogue. The German
cotillon during the twenties and thirtirs WAS
utterly unknown. and the polka and schottisches
only first visited New York during the forties,
melting the metropolitan poet. Park Benjamin,
ST., to n lyric beginning:
Polka, polka, pray how came you so,
I've asked ten handles. and the ten didn't know.
The q~nadrille and the waltz, then recently
s@.tirizsd by Lord Byron, Allied out the pro
City Hotel assemblies, or at those In
Masonic Hall near Broadway and Pearl
subsequent Apollo and Euterpe Assembly
Rooms on Broadway, near Canal, Nor did New
gard as vulgar and in had form" the Viz
F sHiII. reel o5 that koan IN t tines pas had g,dD kn NJ VI the
studious Tom Jefferson. Mr.. Charles Kings
Amerfcdn-the rival OF the Poet Bryant's other
evening newspaper, the Post was to be con-
suited for accounts of society doings. but It
never invaded in so doing the common law
right of privacy.
Among the names most frequently occurring
in the accounts of freauenters OF the entertain
ments were Austin, and Of another family
branch who were stickiers for the letter e. in
Austen, Auchincloss. Allen. Aymar. Atterhury,
Aspinwall. Anthem. Anthony, Anderson. Adee,
Agnew, Benckard. Bergman. Beekman. Bah
cock, Rrevoort, Bradish Br!nckerhon, Bishop,
Curtis. Cutting. Cruger. Colt, Clurksop. Colgate,
Delafeld; Duer. Douglas. De Rham. De Witt.
PPelano, pehow. De Cord9ya, De Forest, Emmett,
rest OF the social alphabet would be Gal