The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-20
WHEN THE SUN" MOVED.
That IL, Half q Century Ago. Into
Tammany Hall.


To THE EDITOR or The SuN-sir. May
tho eternal god Energy speed THE Sun
In Its new quarters as II has here
tofore Qujckened THE Sun from the
time 1t moved Into h old Tammany
Hall up to the present.
May THE Sun long continue to scin-
tillate as 10 Its wont.
May we, the public. never lack its
news that is so, It's clear cut and logical
editorials which compel us to reflect
and consider, its brilliant paragraphs
alive with fire. Of penetrating wit and
keen sarcasm. which fay to the back
bone sham. fraud and incompetence, gas
bagism and conceit, and all else which
Is not what IL seems or pretcnds to be,
and which provoke the quiet chuckle (:
and may we never suffer the loss OF that
literary style which Is THE SUNS very
own. and has caused II to be set In
first place at home and, peculiarly,
abroad.
I well remember that old Tammany
Hall when II was being altered for the
purpose of THE SUN. was a small
boy Of the East Side. born on the East
Side when It was a somewhat different
East Side from II Is to-day. l
remember watching with boyish interest
the rebricking Of the vaul arches under
the sidewalk Of the old building.
At that time. on the opposite corner
In front Of French's hotel. there was a
stand kept by y fat Irishwoman. She
sold Irish moss n regularly each year
for . few weeks in the fall she sold
an apple the like OF which I have never
seen since. II was fiat top and bottom,
as IL she had sat on II. and as big
around ~ q saucer streaked red and
green. and tart. am tasting that
apple now--in my mind. Likewise,
great apple pie. which you could have
In u lunch shed abutting on the iron
fence Of City Hall Park opposite Print
ing House Square. A deep dish pie, the
naky crust ~bubbling on top from the
internal exuberance. and when cut a
Juice rich In cinnamon and sugar gushed
forth, the apples were quartered and
tiny chunks (not slices) Of lemon were
in,erspersed between. Yum. yum, that
was apple pie. Commercialized bomb
proof pies were then unknown.
The Park extended to opposite st.
Paul's and the Aston House, and there
was then no ugly. gloomy Post office In
the park tthe Post Office was then In the
Middle Dutch Church on Nassau street,
but n sparkling fountain and ref. shing
g~reenery. Tweed's court house had rot
Yet arisen.
I notice Lovejoy's restaurant still In
he depths on Park Row. 1t was there
then In my boyhood on the Beekman
street corner. He displayed a little
verse on his sign l remember but the
last lire, Lov Inc Joy await you"
After a critical inspection OF the out
side OF divers restaurants for the boys
hrst restaurant meal the little verse
drew him into LovcJoy's. For the first
time free from the customary home re-
straints. he partook heartily of fried
clans and freely OF ice water and was
In bed for a week after. Then an Eng
lishman opened a meat pie shop on
Ann street right below where Barnum's
museum used to be. l saw both this
and the succeeding one on Broadway
near Spring street burn down. He sold
toothsome pork pies. mutton n oyster
pies. and did a thriving trade with US
office boys and apprentices. until after
u while TIE report spread forth hat
he cultivated pups for slaughter and
piety. This was a veri,able o
from thenceforth he WAS boycotted. his
trade languished. and Notwithstanding
desperate efforts TO mend matters, he
was forced to put up his shutters.
And then came that fool erection, the
Loew bridge at broadway and Fulton
street, and that conception of "A bed
lam.te, the Gathering car that went up
and down Broadway between Bowling
Green and the city Hall Park on trial
TIPS IbI some ntHlUS. IL ran on llS
tracks. took them UP in the rear after
II had passed over them and ridiculously
somersaulted them In front for the next
move. You could hear IL coming half
"A mile away. There was the man who
sat and exposed MS fat calves and
peddled mems garters. He Ii there yet.
or is IL his grandson?
And there was Smith & McNell's. OPP
posite Washington Market. where | have
tasted everything odd and strange that
came into New York. At least once
coon. 'possum, bear. skate, caribou.
mountain sheep. and among many
ether odd and unusua viands. a dlsi
that YOU could not get now II you went
into the most elaborate and resourceful
place In town and planked down "A thou
sane dollars in gold for n plate ! mean
buffalo hump, of course.
In my green youth I one time sub
mitted to Mr.. Dana an invention of mine
for "A narrow folding column IN the
centre Of the newspaper page, so that
you could fold your paper without crcas-
ing the reading columns ! also urged
that this narrow column would be sought
after for display ads" and ! claim
to have then first conceived that term.
Mr.. Dana explained to me that II
seemed abstractly good. but was diaboli-
cal in practice, that the Introduction OF
such a column would involve such "A
radical revolution in the makeup of
THE Sun that II simply couldn't be con-
sidered. He was decisive and remorse-
less, as ! then thought. OF course, he
didn't shake my faith In the least, Who
ever did cause an inventor To backslide
on his own? And II still remains un-
shaken.
Troops Of other "reminiscences bound
In upon me, but-blessed good luck to