The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-30
NEW hooks.
Rrier Reviews or Important and Interesting
New Publications.


Round" n pamphlet by Alfred Bishop Mason
and Mary Murdoch Mason. published In tho
"ITalf Moon Series " for the New York CITY His
tory Club CG. y. Putnam's Sonsl. When Wash
inRton took q house in Franklin square, In
1889, complaint was made that he had gone
too far out OF town, and it Is still true to-
day that IL IA President were 10 take up his
abode there he would be open to the
charge OF having established himself in an
extraordinary locality. Still, when Washington
went to live in Franklin square the famous
Walton house, which had two doorways upon
the s rect and eight windows across its genor'
Gus front. had already been standing tncro for
thirty.sevcn years. Mr.. Walton. by the way.
wns called "Boss" W ltou. md, though 1t is
not recorded that no was ever the head OF a
political party. it is certain that he commanded
unusual and desirable privileges. He had a
beaut fully carved staircase, his grounds cx'
tended to the East River, his silver dinner SER
vice was notorious, aud his wealth was such that
he was cited in tho British Parliament as
n reason why the stamp tax should be imposed
upon the American colonists. The pamphlet
supposcs Washington starting out from his
Franklin square house on n pleasant day and
taking n fourtecn.mile circulatory drive. Tho
Washington domicile was at 8 Cherry street,
q situation that. IL the Brooklyn Bridge had
been in existence at the time, would have
enabled the President 10 watch with the almost
convenience the operations of the distinguished
succession OF bridge jumpers. Unfortunately
the golden opportunities of one century are
not always at the command Of the people
OF another. II they were, Washington
might also have heard from his doorstep
tho pleasant sounds attending the manufacture
OF the Bcadlc dime novels and the Police Go=ettc.
The house of the first President had as many
street doors rs the Walton house, and it's sec
ond story was poorer by only three windows.
The five windows that It possessed were sufi-
cient to make 1t opulent in the matter Of sun
shine, and there Is no good reason to suppose
that " Boss Walton was an object Of envy to
his distinguished neighbor. In the course of
years the Washington house became a music
store and a bank. Then, the pamphlet tells us.
lit fell to bascr uses" This phrase Is not e-
plained; it may have become The Sailors JOY"
and been either a boarding house or a dance
hall. 1t lasted until 1856. when it was torn
down, and the only bit of il now known to exist
has been made into a chair for the President OF
the New York Historical Society. AS for the
Walton house, with its Incompatible glory OF
eight windows front. "it became a tenement
and stood in its shame until 1881" when it fol-
lowed the Washington house to the limbo of
mere memory though we must trust that some.
body obtained and has preserved its door posts
and its chief Staircase, for they were well worth
suN INK. L IL = Z iuerTy SITcCU inc HTSt american
flag of the present style was made by Mrs. Reid
in her drawing room" and illuminating gas was
first used in this country at : Cherry street, in
the no Sc OF Samuel Leggett, President OF the
New York Cos Light Company. A few blocks
eastward. at the corner of jefferson street. stood
the house OF Col. Rutgers, where Lafayette was
entertained in splendid fashion in 1924. Some
say that it was at this spot that Nathan Halo
was hanged in 1776. though it also declared vari-
Ously that he was hanged in City Hall square and
on Beekman Hill. at the foot of East Fifty-hrst
street. When Washington lived in Cherry
street the city. the pamphlet tells us. was a dull
and dirty little town. There was in II no bath
room, no ice in the summer, no omnibus. 1t did
not contain a match or a latchkey. and nobody
wore a mustache. OF every one hundred
Inhabitants. seven were slaves. Pearl street
was so narrow that sidewalks were forbidden in
1t, and 1t was a law that people going north
should make way for people coming south. Pigs
were allowed in the streets. which was perhaps
reasonable, inasmuch q. it was also permitted
TO throw garbage into them. There were dis
turbing souls. however, whose aspirations do
not seem to have been satisfied by the fact OF tho
pigs. In 1883 the Daily Advertiser addressed
the High Constable. Awake. thou sleeper"
It said to him. LET US have clean
streets In this our peaceful scat Of the
happiest empire in the universe, so that
our national rulers and their supporters
may with convenience and decency celebrate
a merry Christmas and happy New Year" For
many years. however, the pigs continued to do
nearly all the STRENGTHENING business. All the
wood used in store or house in New York was
sawed and split in the street after delivery, SO
that Washington. on his fourteen.mile drive,
beheld plenty OF muscular exercise. There were
street lamps in the town, but they were often
left unlighted. and the inhabitants considered
them as ornamental rather than useful. TOO
many trees for health" the pamphlet says.
Provocations have their time, and in 1889 1t
cost $25 TO plant n tree south Of Cath
arine street. All the footpads, accord
ing to the New York newspapers, came
from Philadelphia. but this undou teddy was
merely the expression and protest of q small
community envious OF one greater. Tammany
Hall was founded in 1889. by William Mooney,
an upholsterer, and at its inception its pro-
jcctors specified and extoiled the smile of
charity. the chain of friendship, the fame of
liberty" 1t cost 33 cents to send a letter from
New York to Savannah. The one theatre in
town was in John street. 1t had been shut up
at the suggestion OF the Continental Congress,
but was reopcned at the time of the British &C.
Cupation, and in 1889 tickets for 1t were sold at
the box Office and at Gainess book store, the
sign OF the Bible. in Hanover square. Wash
tngton went. and it is recorded that he laughed
at The Clandestine Marriage" Whenever he
entered the theatre The band played the "Presi-
dents March composed by the leader. Mr..
Pfyles, and known. under the words written to
the air by Judge HOpkinson In 1901, as Hail.
Columbian There was only one public lecture
in New York in 1899. 1t was delivered In Aaron
Aorson's tavern, "by n man more than thirty
years an atheist" and was on the subject Of
The Divinity OF Jesus Christ" Tickets to the
lecture were 20 coats. There were less than
nall a GoLon private carriages In New
YORK In 1859, ard there was no such thing as
rubber o%yers!oe. Shopkecpers advertised for
the ladies such matters as "nmeus. corlurets.
call'nancos. casserillias, durants, dutils. dowlas.
fearnausht., forcntines, honey-comb thicksetts,
halToihes. lutcstrinSs. mOreeps. osnaburgs, pla-
t!llas. ratt.netts. rDmH!ls. r!bdeilres, shalloons,
tn6oFcens, tammies, ticklcnburgs. velverets
and wcldborcs.' Tailors offered men. as fashion
able colors, bats wing, mouse'c ear, and