The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-23
the double doorways. 1t is five WIN


All kinds of tales were current about
the Manor House. 1t was said to have
tunnels and trap doors and a wei
wherein was boarded a secret treasure
! There was certainly a secret closet in
the southwest parlor. The Dutch don-
BILE door, brought over from Holland
for an early dame of the Phillipse fam
lily, can still be seen swinging at tba
south entrance. Antique paneIine ON
the walls and decorated ceilings remain
much as they were in Washington's
time. The huge open fireplace in Mis-
tress Mary's parlor, where the youne
Virginia colonel came to WOO, NAV VET
be seen, with its bright blue tiles
There is bust of George Washington
in the Council Chamber.
AT the outbreak of the Revolution
the Manor House was the dwelling
place of two sisters, Susanna and MarV
Phillipse. Susanna married Beverly,
Robinson, and her sister, Mary. came
up to New York city often to~visit
Here she attracted great attention. and
Phillipse Manor began to be a center
of gay society. British officers in rich
uniforms and colonial American youths
came up the river to visit the spark
ling Flower of the Manor"
Col. Washington, "a gentleman of
Virginia" paid court to Mary, and the
southwest parlor is said by tradition
to be the one where George asked her
to be his wife. This room has been
disturbed very little from its early con-
dition. 1t is said that Mary would have
yielded to the young Colonei's impor-
tunity had it not been for Mrs. Robin
sons influence. Sister Susanna per-
suaded the sister that one of King
Georges officers would prove a better
match that a young Colonial. Final
ly the young matron carried off her
signing sister to a round of gaiety in
New York, which ended in Mary's en-
Sagement to a redcoat, Maj. Morris of
England.
The wedding was held in Yonkers
The rector of Trinity Church, New York
came up the river to marry them. The
marriage was solemnized in the draw
ing room in the southeast end of Phil
lipse Manor. The bride and bride
groom stood under a canopy of GRIM
son silk, with the Phillipse family
crest emblaZoned in gold. Tradition
says that the wedding feast was dis
turbed by the apparition of a tall In
dian in scarlet blanket, who opened
the door upon the startled revelers and
uttered prophecy, boding, and disap-
peared into the woods and night
Soon after the battle of Lexington
began the War for Independence, and
before long His EXcellency, Command
er-in-Chief of the American forces
made PhillipSe Manor his headquarters
He signed orders of campaign in Mis-
tress Mary's little parlors, where he
once had suffered defeat.
Phillipse Manor House was confs-
Gated in 1873, and the Committee of
Forfeiture sold the property six years
later. The village of Yonkers purchas-
cd he in,
it as City Hall in 1872. Few changes
were made, but it was found necessary
TO remodel the upper floors of the north
wing, to arrange for the Council
Chamber. Chairs for city officials were
made from the displaced beams.
Tradition has much to say of Phil
lipse Manor. Its colonial bedrooms
have electric lights put in, but COM
paratively few changes have been
made in this interesting show place.
Some social wiseacres of London are
prophesying that bare shoulders at
daylight functions will not be the
mode during the reign of Alexandra.
Even in the earlier years of her
reign Queen Victoria was short and
fat. In those days she cared more
about her personal appearance than
she did later,( and she knew that a
becoming to her than a high collar.
SO decolletage was the rule at court
functions during Victoris's reign, and
many women shivered dismally
through drawing rooms and took home
cold as a souvenir OF the function.
Queen Alexandra, tall slender, and
blessed with a throat long enough for
a choker collar, is not averse to decol-
letage, but she favors the high bodice
At the opening of Parliament she wore
high bodice, blazing with jewels un-
der her mantle of velvet and ermine
and the Eumor has been running
around that permission to wear the
high court bodice will be given
Many an elderly woman, clinging to
social responsibility in spite of rheu-
matism, would welcome the change
but it is doubtful whether even the
thinnest of the younger women would
avail themselves of the permission.
English women have, perhaps from the
habit gained through court require
ment. become so welded to the low
bodice that English decolletage is
proverb, and that in spite of the fact
that few English women have beautl-
full necl1s and shoulders.
1t was Bret Harte who eyed dismal
ly a collection of English women ana
when asked his opinion of them sign
ed and said they were much ike IN
ferior photographs. over exposed ana
under developed"
The one secret that women know how
to keep is, according to unkind CRITICS
that of their age. They will tell ev-
erything else that is intrusted to thei
keeping, but never even in a moIhenC
of expansive indiscretion, will they De
induced to reveal the number OF then
years. OF course, this isn't always true;
Many feminines tell their ages ana
those of their women friends with az
much freedom as their brothers wouIu
give the. same intelligence concerhlns
themselves, but one elderly lady Who
recently died was, in the matter OF -
cretiveness, a marvel of her acqualh'
ances.
No one except her own brothers any
sisters knew her age. Her huspdnu
did not, though she was married mn
thirty years or more. When the ndI
riage licenses had to be bought ~,
bride vouchsafed the Information tnn III.
she was more than 49," That was az, a.
so the hard-hearted best man put n'
down as rs years Of age. ,,,r
In the years that followed she new
spoke of her birthdays. once, when sle
was asked " she was born In june .rse
replied that she didn't remember ~
natal days OF others In the family Ma
celebrated. but hers never. Sne Wo,id
talk wen on any subject In the NI1o-
but ages: on this one she was d0
luteiy dumb. tn
Before she expired she made ti1
gle request OF her husband. I,s,.
don't allow any dates 10 appear w
obituary notices or on my touna'"
she asked. n don't like dates, and