The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1922-08-02
FALL One BY ONE:
How Time Brings Changes in a
City's Landmarks.
Famous Old Washington squa, 0, in
Now York, la Good Example.
Onoe Place Of Execution.

It 10 swoot to dance 10 Yiolins
Whom love and lifo are fair
To dance to autes. to dance to lutos
10 delicate ana rare:
Hut IT Ia not sWeet with nimble foot
TO dance upon--tbe cir.
-Oscar Wilde. Ballad Of Reading aaol.'
A city grows. Landmarks which
have defied time fall before wrecSers
and landmarks Of the future take their
places. The tales whispered ebont
them are lost In the crush Of rivering
hammers, In the rumble OF u5way
trains. In tho roar OF truck engines
and the shouts OF truck drivers.
Often time works to change COM
pleteiy not only the physical aspect OF
locality, but also It's spirit.
Washington square. says New
York Sun writer. is name to conjure
with, more. Of course, In cities and
towns far from New York than within
the limits Of the greater city. Wher-
ever aspiring and hopefully artistic
youth congregate, In every city In
every state, eyes are turned toward
the radical artistic groups with which
the square and It's environs are nevi-
tably associated. And feet have way
Of following eyes
Countless thousands come every
year from Iowa and Missouri, from
Arkansas and Texas. to spend a few
weeks In tho metropolis; perhaps to
stay, IL the city Is welcoming.
They so, after the Woolworth tower,
stralght to Greenwich Village. They
drink bohemian tea In eagerly artistic
places; they dance to the strains Of
violins In the hands Of unpublished
poets. They dance and are thrilled.
Most of them--perhapY even some
New Yorkers-whO Glance to violns"
not. 1t Is to be feared, "tO flutes, to
lutes"-are missing thrill iustifably
theirs.
On gray morning hundred years
ago a trembling negro girl was led up
the steps Of gibbet. Whether the
girl, Rose Butler, had committed the
murder for which she died cannot he
said Probably, not to do our ances-
tors injustice, she deserved her fate.
At any rate she paid the penalty ut
Is not sweet with nimble feet to dance
upon the air."
The sibbet upon which Rose Butler
ana Others died was set up at the
point where now the Fifth avenue
bnSscs sweep into Washington square
to discharge their loads of sightsnars,
many OF them to dance In the !.ore
comnodious of the village tea q ps.
BGt there was no WaShi ..on
square In those days. Instead, she
space It now covers was part O.. the
palN,er field in which those too .,oor
to be given the luxury Of tombs; mes
were buried. Hundreds OF paupyr FL.
neralS passed through lanes that are
now famous streets Of New I.,vli's
Quarter Latin" vending their way
. to The public burying ground.
Even In those days the district was
taking on a more fashionable aspect,
however. Monument lane Cor Green
wtch lnne) passed on one side az the
cemetery and it was at the lnsiai ence
or those who rode over the fashion.
able drive In still more fashionable
carriages that the field was aban toned
as cemetery in 1923 after 2e years
Of service to the city.
Washington arch has replaced the
gibbet as the laughter OF gayety has
replaced the silence Of tile palper
aeld; rs polished wood has rcraced
the air as q dance floor. And rilne
changes thrills as 1t changes Land
scapes.