A tour around New York, and My summer acre; being the recreations of MrFelix Oldboy . n of the laws of perspective; the shab- 226 A TOUR AROUND NEW YORK by old mirrors that reached from ceiling to floor, andthat still told the glory of the brave men and fairwomen whose forms once flashed before them ; the broad stair-cases guard-ed by tall ma-hogany bal-ustrades, allblack \v i t hage, up whichswept thebelles of co-lonial NewYork, passingfair, in gownsof India-silk, satinpetticoats, high-heeled shoes, patch-es and powder,under escort of gen-tlemen who wereelegant in velvet ofall colors, brocade
A tour around New York, and My summer acre; being the recreations of MrFelix Oldboy . n of the laws of perspective; the shab- 226 A TOUR AROUND NEW YORK by old mirrors that reached from ceiling to floor, andthat still told the glory of the brave men and fairwomen whose forms once flashed before them ; the broad stair-cases guard-ed by tall ma-hogany bal-ustrades, allblack \v i t hage, up whichswept thebelles of co-lonial NewYork, passingfair, in gownsof India-silk, satinpetticoats, high-heeled shoes, patch-es and powder,under escort of gen-tlemen who wereelegant in velvet ofall colors, brocadedwaistcoats, laceneck-cloths, silken stockings, and diamond buckles, butwho were ever ready to draw the rapier in defence ofhonor—it seems a pity, I say, that these should van-ish under the touch of the auctioneers hammer. Yet,perhaps, it is better so; better that the old home-stead should be torn down by an unknown vandalthan it should linger to its decay in stage after stageof helpless, hopeless ruin. Certainly if the old man-sion on the Battery that was consecrated in history. APTHORPE MANSION, BLOOMINGDALE A TOUR AROUND NEW YORK 227 by Washingtons presence is razed by the same handthat rears a monument to the most despicable ofEnglish spies, it might be well to prevent a repetitionof the sacrilege by levelling all our existing colonialmonuments to the ground. Welcome the hammer ofthe auctioneer sooner than the touch of the speculat-or in patriotism, or the slow lapse into architecturalsenility which would turn the banqueting-hall of EarlCornwallis into a hen-roost. One Sunday afternoon I visited the old ApthorpeMansion that used to face the Hudson River and theBloomingdale Road, but now is hemmed in by Ninthand Tenth avenues at Ninety-first Street, and isthreatened on all sides by the bewildering touch ofimprovement. The full glory of the warm April sunlay upon the old place. Yet, though it was a centreof desolation, there was a remnant of individual maj-esty in the dwell
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnewyorknybuildingsst
