The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-10
ST. PAUL'S OLD TREE is GONE
LAST WORD FROM THE IJO-YEAR-
OLD SYCAMORE.

Many Things 10 HAs Seen and Many Changes,
bua. lt Adds. NO Chnngo lm Human
ways ana Passions Thu Burial NJ Mont
SOmery and the Service for Washington.
No living Ney Yorker can remember
when there was not a large sycamore tree
growing in the northwest corner Of st.
Paul's churchyard. Not until a few days
ago. that is. for just as its last October
leaves were falling It was cut down.
What was one of the biggest and oldest
trees on Manhattan Island. $50 years old. ac-
COrding to Prof. II. f. Rood. who made a
careful and sympathetic study OF its year
rings and other signs Of age; 200 years old
declared the man who cut it down. He
was not sympathetic. but emphatic.
Two hundred years old IL It was a dayi"
he declared.
Tn noble old fellow was sacrificed be-
cause il was not in good health. according
TO the opinion OF the authorities who gave
the wOOdman orders not to spare that tree.
To the observer who studied the solid blocks
OF the tree after il was felled and cut into
short lengths-each length looking as
sturdy as a butchers block-the Telling OF
the tree because some Of its tOpmost
branches were whitening seemed as rea-
sonable as il would be to cut of a mans
mead because his hair was turning gray or
thinning out. Z.
As Prof. Rood justly remarked. That
fine old tree could tell a charming tale Of its
long and honorable life; the tumult OF i've
wars (the professor is a deuce of a chap on
history; the change OF the fashionable folk
to the present conditions, OF the burials of
great men and once beautiful women be-
meath its shade; Of later years, when in
mellow tenderness i has looked down upon
young lovers at noon. stealing part Of Their
lunch hour TO be with each other"
Now. il that isn't enough to send a tender
reporter over to st. Pauls for further copy
what on earth can one want?
All good reporters when they go out on an
! assignment with a historical slant search
for original sources. None OF your Offhand.
impudent guesses AT things. OF easy crib
bling from second hand authorities. The
original ia the thing.
so it was TO the length Of the trunk cut
from nearest the stump that the reporter
addressed himself.
well. old chap. how are you taking this?"
oh, | feel all cut up about il. naturally;
but I am looking forward with some GU
riosity as TO my future. l may say my
futures for part Of me will go into historical
museums n part be made up into sou
venirs. / suppose"
Now as to your age?"
That's a tender point with me or rather
it was. More old fogies than You could
count used to poke umbrellas and things
into my ribs and say they hoped they would
live to see me cut up so they could count
my rings and'tell my age.
As 10 that, we count time differently
from you. so / couldn't give you my < in
terms you would understand. But il may
help you TO figure it out to know that I was
a pretty sturdy sapling when st Paul's
Chapel cornerstone was laid in 1894. az you
date things. l was big enough moi to be
much damaged by the masons, who were
working on the church until 1893. I've
grown ever since then, and that's growing
some"
Prof. Rood says that you must AVE
seen some great dOings-he Cidn't. he
couldn't use the word 'd~Oings'-in your
long and honorable life"
The four feet thick section laughed until
il nearly rolled over on the grave Of an early
Knickerbocker citizen before 1t replied,
We'll. the professor will have his say.
He says to me one day when he was steal
ing part u his lunch hour-but we'll saw
that out.
"Of course I've seen some grand times
here. Grand! The best Of all was when
| was a youngish chap. along in what you'd
call 1889. George Washington. Chancellor
! Livingston, Alex Hamilton and a lot of
men came 20 my chapel for the religious
| ceremonies following the Inauguration Of
Mr.. Washington as the first President of the
| United States II civil ceremonies had
already taken place down in Wall street.
Il had a great personal interest in that,
for back in 1870 l heard the people who
loafed around me talk Of Gen. Montgomery's
assault on Quebec, where he gave up his
| life for the cause which was crowned by
the inauguration Of Washington.
y the way. MontgOmery's tomb is
| right in the front wall Of the chapel. His
body was brought here from Quebec in
1918, and il was a proud day for New York.
You may not recall the fact. but Mont
Romery represented Duchess county in
the Colonial Assembly shortly before he
was Allied.
Il speak Of that only because he was
the first bishman ! knew to be in what
you might call New York State politics.
1rish2 Sure he was. Born near Feltrim,
Ireland. in 1880. I've often heard that said
by men sitting under my shade, smoking
short pipes.
"And speaking Of Irishmen. You must
have noticed that after Richard Mont
ROtleTY y lIt TWO UlDFt COHHIICuDlh IlOuu-
ments in my yard are those to Irishmen.
Over there to the south Of the chapel is
the granite monument to Thomas Adds
Emmett, the patriot Of 1898. and here,
on the north side, the monument to DIR.
William J. MacNevin. John DiXey. an
Irish sculptor, rests here too.
People will jest even in a churchyard,
and I've heard some say that st. Paul's
shows that all the good New York Irishmen
are dead, while others would say you had
90 come 10 81. Paul's TO see how early il
became true that great New Workers were
Irish.
"But let us talk Of more cheerful things
thar tombs. There is one matter which
has made me smile often. I've heard in
late years about he great amusement
places uptown, Of the gay after theatre
supper parties and twattle Of such sort.
AWhy, back in 1899 Castle Garden, when
Col. Richard French was its manager,
would often hold audiences Of IL, 700 people.
And gay suppersl | was kept wax four
nights in the fall OF 1850 by the supper
parties right across the street from me in
the Aston House. Those were the nights
when Jenny Lind sang in Castle Garden.
Just one thing more in that line: one
seat for Jenny Lind's first concert sold for
S22S. What2 Why. from all i have heard in
late years New York to-day isn't a bit gayer
or more ~extravagant than IL was fifty or