The Washington herald., 1909-11-07
NEW YORK THEN AND NOW
Contrasts in Social Status Shown in the Life of the Late
Mrs John Jay.
Mrs. John Jay.

In the recent death OF Mrs John Jay
there passed away one OF the most inter
est!ng figures in this city. a member Of
one OF its most distinguished families,
and one Of the few surviving links OF the
present New York 20 the ante-bellum city.
For years. in good or bad weather. she
drove regularly from her residence in
Stuyvesant square through Sixteenth
street to Fifth avenue. and thence 20
Central Park. then 10 make its round and
return. Her handsome old-fashioned
barouche, with its heavy leather springs,
with Its perfect appointments, with its
footman and coachman in the old family
liveries. and. not least, with its aristo-
cratic occupant invariably accompanied
by a member OF the family, could not
fail to impress any one who behed the
sight. particularly in these latter days
of automobiles. taxicabs. and other evil
dences OF a changed and changing city.
rays writer IN the New York Evening
Post
Indeed. It was a sight to make many
q man think OF the extraordinary evolu-
ton Of New York from the days when
tionists. ready TO risk his life and endure
Islander and abuse OF all kinds in behalf
OF human freedom, TO the present over
worked and restless society Of the i'm
periaI city. II was as II the old-fash-
toned euuipage made it's daily round with
a view 20 telling the people that not ev-
crying in New York was suggestive of
the nouveau richie: that with all the great
influx OF men and women from the entire
United States there remained class OF
old New Workers arlstocratic in their lin
cage and bearings in the best sense OF
the word.
"A writer in the Evening Post" says
the pleasant chronicler masked by the
sobrlquet Felix Oldboy." once suggest
ed the propriety Of founding a professor
ship OF New York at Columbia College
That was an admirable idea
The modern writer OF press letters OF
articles about the city knows only the
very recent Mrs. Potiphar and her friends
For him the old names Of the past have
no meaning Yet the KnickerbOcker race
IS not extinct. II sounds no trumpets
and creates no sensations. To It's charm
ed circle the golden eagle is no passport
OF admission"
Society of the old Days.
The New York society IN which Mrs
jays younger life was spent was the So
ciety OF a small, self-centered. and con
servative city. at once ceremonious and
intimate Even 10 the period OF the civi
war Schuylers. De Peysters, Winthrops
Primes, Clsrksons, Pierreponts. Ruther-
fords, Bayards. Hamiltons. McVickars
Setons, Van Horns, with the not over
numerous list that reflection would add
met again and again. and rarely with tn,
introduction Of a new element in tn,
graceful intercourse OF a day. The ole
Knickerbocker spirit" as has been aptly
said, demands blood and brains as TIT
standard Of admission. Wealth
was a most comfortable addition thereto
but was not a sine qua non"
Yet, for truths sake. third quality, q
least, should have been added to thi!
esoteric characterization OF requisites
that OF courtesy. Those were the day
when host or hostess conducted the de
parting guest 70 the door; when no WON
an was permitted, after dinner or dance
20 60 TO her carriage step unattended by
some cavalier; and when women In gen
eral were treated with that extreme def
erence that rising generations have los
as the small community has been engulf
ed In the metropolis. Those were tn
days. too. when young men OF position
were expected and accustomed TO pay fire
quent calls upon the women Of their cir
Gle, and when 10 make the round OF ever,
house upon New Years Day was an alb
solute necessity.
In entertaining, the note OF dignlie,
personal hospitality remained distinct
Rarely. some one. as a matter OF conve
nience, would give ball at Delmonico's
but as a rule the heads Of the familie
opened their own houses in their daugh
ters' honor Entertainments as a who'll
were simpler than now. but IL they b.
also called, as a whole, more elegant
those who remember them viii scaTcel,