The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-10-11

In the New York of Mr.. Floyd-Jones's
time the Are department was still vol
unteer: he was assistant foreman Of At
lantic Hose Company No. Of Brooklyn,
which LAY" in High street near Fulton
and he commanded the company at the
burning OF Barnum's Museum. Church
street downtown was "colored,' the
heart of the Tenderloin. Shops were
beginning to appear north or Canal
street. II was a busy, busting, rough
and ready, free and easy young metrop-
oils; no mollycoddle.
without the slightest pretension to
literary arrangement and finish Mr..
F1oyd-Jones traverses the well trod ter
ritory of New York's Old Boys seeking
to denature the acid of too fugacious
years; not mere praisers of time past
because 1t is past, nor idle singers of an
empty day, hut bearers Of gifts with
value from the retired" generation to
the one now running the business OF the
town. They get out the ore for the
history smelters, and the crude" stun
has a quality not in the refined" When
they show you "a large man with a red
moustache and side whiskers' on his
daily walk down he two shilling side"
y
structure in Prince street. nod and
whisper John Jacob Aston" or point
out Peter Cooper ridins downtown in
a one horse coupe. wearing spectacles
with side az well as front glasses and
carrying under his arm an inflated rub
Der ring cushion, then you are getting
something that does not displace but
edifyingly supplements your knowledge
.f oil NIL aI % h. I.xII all.
In this Broadway procession Tom Hyer.
pride Of the prize ring" rubs elbows
with old Brown, the fat and pompous
sexton Of Grace Church. also UNDER
taker. caterer and major domo for
fashionable weddings. and Of Sundays
head or grand" usher. Old DIR. Towns
end. all in white and with white UNI
brella is outdone by an Hcsculapian
unnamed but as quack. clad in velvet
of black with rufiled shirt front,
shorts cooked hat and silver buckled
shoon. advertising himself by cccen-
tricity of garb. What n far but not
faint forerunner OF Babylon at Hudson
mouth was the town whose streets re-
sounded with horrid din of riot. draft or
IN. p" of gang fights not BcCkerized
Of drilling troops; with the cries OF the
"stroh" man and of him who dispensed
charco'. Charco' while as yet the
sweepers of street crossings and of
chimneys had not gone TO rest with
their fathers with the place OF them. not
in the sun" knowing them no more
when Forrest trod the boards and Char
lotte Cushman WAS queen Of the drama.
while the merriest or MINISTRIES wooed
and won the easy yet capricious favor
or the violent vulgar herd; when Bar
mum burned and when Bill Poole.
second rater," gave a Know Nothing
whipping to the redoubtabe Morrissey
on the Amos street tnow West Tenth
street, pier and Morrissey spared at
Hoyme's Theatre in the Bowery with
The Benicia Boy. Heenan. compeer and
some say conqueror of terrible Tom
Sayres; when all successful men owned
irotters and trotted them too--oe
which Mr.. Floyd-Jones has much to
say, and with every appearance. to the
eye uncritical in this speciality. Of COM
petent record and estimation: when the
ladies'. Grecian bent. made all the
streets ridiculous or with crinoline cut
street car capacities in half: and so on.
In this book it is all dished up again.
ola podrida. with the customary palate
tickling seasoners, chaos well spiced
dates, names and other facts" not re-
lentessly 'verified"-and tucked away
in an appendix devoted to sporting DAYS
in Long Island. the best bit in the
pleasing mess. an extracted article on
"Mermen and Mermaids." from the
American Turf Register aud SPORTING
Magazine Of May. 1870
In and about tina. year some New York
gentlemen fond of shooting and fishing
used TO go for a weeks sport at Scio on
the South Shore, where one Jim Smith
had a tavern on the Brooklyn Babylon
turnpike. The railroad ran only to
Hicksville, whence passengers proceeded
by stage to Jerusalem South (SeafordD
South Oyster Bay and Babylon. Arriv-
ing at supper time, after gin and tansy
| appe;izers old Jim would regale his
guests with broiled yellowleg snipe or
plover, trout, stewed cells out OF the
bay. fresh home made bread wheat or
rye) and butter. and the latest news of
the shooting grounds az 20 snipe. duck
and goose. Before daybreak the gun
ners would be skifiing It oven the hay
or speeding by salboat to Fire Island
Famous baymen. guides, were Uncle
John Verify. Obadiah. commonly Diah
Verify; John Abb Parmenus (Venus)
Raynor and Raynor Rock.
-. Cypress" Of the magazine named
| above. William Post Halves. lawyer
sportsman and writer on politics and
sport (died 1922, reported the baymen's
yarns told about the evening fire In
their hut When the norman story wa 9
| told there were present Oliver Paul. a
Hickste Quaker; Ned Locus whose
| uncle was porter in the Pearl Street
Bank; one Daniel incoenominate. and
Peter Probasco. Peter imbibed snored
| and woke up at intervals To "have his
doubts of the narrator's veracity.
Cypress: 'Zoph, can't you get IN
something? What was that Venus said
| about mermaids? Were there ever an,
mermaids about here?"
Zoph: Cant say; cant say, for m,
part. but I've heard folks tell there
used TO be lots on EN-"
Daniel breaks in: "Sarten, sarten. nc
doubt ] know that in tn time o. my
grit gr'ndfth'r 1.-THE baymen had M
use for vowelsl they used to he prtt,
constable plenty, TIL old man had a
smart tussel with a he mermaid mer.
man, | sh'd say-one day"
Let's have H." cry ALL Lets have
drink first" dominant voice. som,
| hal tln,