Part 3 (1/2)
James Leary bore the palm in New York as the fashi+onable hatter, and his shop was on Broadway under the Astor House As was usual then with his craft, he kept individual blocks for those of his customers who had heads of unusual dimensions In his sho he sometimes exhibited a block of reuished trio, Daniel Webster, General Jaustus Davis Miss Anna Leary of Newport, his daughter and a devout Roman Catholic, received the title of Countess from the Pope
The most prominent hostelry in New York before the days of the Astor House was the City Hotel on lower Broadway I have been infors to representatives of the Boreel family, descendants of the first John Jacob Astor Another, but of a later period, was the Ainally the town house of John C Vanden Heuvel, a member of one of New York's most exclusive families Upon Mr Vanden Heuvel's death this house passed into the possession of his son-in-law, John C Haed it into a hotel Its proprietor was Willia and favorably known as a hotel proprietor At this sae of the only hotel at West Point, and it was named after hi Cozzens's _regi and attractive manner Mr Vanden Heuvel's country residence was in the vicinity of Ninetieth Street overlooking the Hudson River His other daughters were Susan Annette, who married Mr Thomas S
Gibbes of South Carolina, and Justine, who became the wife of Gouverneur S Bibby, a cousin of my husband
As I first remember Union Square it was in the outskirts of the city
Several handsome houses had a few years previously been erected there by James F Penniman, the son-in-law of Mr Sae fortune by the manufacture and sale of oil and candles
Miss Lydia Kane, a sister of the elder De Lancey Kane and a noted wit of the day, upon a certain occasion was showing so these houses was asked by who the one in which the Pennimans themselves lived, ”is occupied by one of the _illuminati_ of the city”
Robert L Stuart and his brother Alexander were proprietors of a large candy store on the corner of Chambers and Greenwich Streets, under the firm name of R L & A Stuart Their establishment was a favorite resort of the children of the day, ere as much addicted to sweets as are their more recent successors ”Broken candy” was a specialty of this firm, and was sold at a very low price Alexander Stuart frequently waited upon customers, and as a child I have often chattered with him over the counter He never ton on the North River, and Fulton on the east side Thewas always done by the e basket During the season s out as they went along; and during the summer months hot corn, carried in closed receptacles made for the purpose, was sold by colored men, whose cries could be heard in every part of the city
Mrs Isaac Sayre's bakery was an important shop for all housewives, and her horeat deood, and it is an interesting fact that it was she who introduced cake in boxes for weddings Her shop survived for an extraordinary number of years and, as far as I know, may still exist and be kept by some of her descendants
I must not orace, when there are no longer any old woe wore a cap ht s under her chin Most older woray hairs, and i their appearance false fronts were purchased, over which caps orn I well recall that some of the most prorotesque fashi+on Baldheaded s provided the ree announcements were decidedly informal When the proper time arrived for the world to be taken into the confidence of a young couple, they walked upon Broadway are was i days by ers in my memory Mr Rives had just been appointed to his second mission to France, and with his as upon the eve of sailing for his new post of duty I reuests whouests of honor were Mr and Mrs James A Hamilton He was a son of Alexander Hamilton, and was at the time United States District Attorney in New York It seeuests should have escaped myfancy and I have never forgotten it As I recall that occasion I can see her handsoe fluffy pink cap This Mr
and Mrs Hamilton were the parents of Alexander Hahter of Maturin Livingston, and who, by the way, as I reraceful dancers and noted belles of her day
Thoreat financier of the Revolution, wasfriend He was an able _raconteur_, and I recallto his early life, a portion of which had been spent in Paris at its celebrated Polytechnic School One incident connected with his career is especially interesting When the sordid Louis Philippe, then the Duke of Orleans, andering in this country, teaching in his native tongue ”the young idea how to shoot,” he was the guest for a ti, a Scotchua, New York, was about to sail for France, Mr Morris gave him a letter of introduction to the Duke Upon his arrival in Havre after a lengthy voyage he found much to his surprise that Louis Philippe was comfortably seated upon the throne of France Under these altered conditions he hesitated to present his letter, but after ; and it is a pleasing commentary upon human nature to add that he elcootten the hospitality he had received in America, and especially the many favors extended by the Morris fahter of Colonel John Kane, and she was beautiful even in her declining years She also possessed the wit so characteristic of the Kanes, who, by the ere of Celtic origin, being descended from John Kane who came from Ireland in 1752
She was the aunt of the first De Lancey Kane, who hter of John Jacob Astor Their daughter, Emily Morris, made frequent visits to our house She was renowned for both beauty and wit I re several verses addressed to her, the only lines of which I recall are as follows:
That calh her pulses beat by book
Another intimate friend of my father was Frederick de Peyster, who at a later day became President of the New York Historical Society He habitually took Sunday tea with us, and always received a elcome froreat favorite He was devoted to children, and delighted our young hearts by occasional presents of game-chickens which at once became family pets
In 1823 and 1824 my father's sympathies were deeply enlisted in behalf of the Greeks in their struggles for independence from the Turkish rule
It will be remembered that this was the cause to which Byron devoted his last energies The public sentih pitch of excites were held not only for the purpose of lending e funds for their assistance A those to whohly proh a lawyer he did not practice his profession, but devoted hio county He ealthy and generous, a good liver and an eloquent political speaker He served one terarded as a e of nearly seventy The distinguished New York lawyer, John Duer, hter Anne, by whom he had thirteen children, one of who, a nephew of Washi+ngton Irving and at one tihton, Staten Island Mr Bunner's letter in response to my father's appeal is not devoid of interest, and is as follows:
OSWEGO, 12 Jan'y 1824
My dear Sir,
Though I have not written to you yet you were not so soon forgotten Nor can you so easily be erased froht seem to imply In truth few persons have impressed my mind with a deeper sentiment of respect than yourself; you have that of open and frank in your character which if not in s that I shall ret if my habitual indolence can lose me such a friend Your request in favor of the Greeks will be hard to comply with If I can be a contributor in a humble way to their success by my exertions here they shall not want theusta res domi_ may press too heavily upon us to permit of an effectual benevolence If you wanted five hundred h with sinewy ar adventurers ould travel upon a bushel of corn and a gallon of whiskey per man from the extreme point of the world to Constantinople we could furnish you with them, but I doubt whether they could raise the ut of Gibraltar upwards The effort however shall be made and if we can not shew ourselves rich ill at least h Greece touches few Yankee settlers thro theto free thee is sure to find warm hearts in every native of the wilderness We admire your noble efforts and if we do not imitate you it is because our purses are as empty as a Boetian's skull is thick We know so little of what is _really_ projecting in the cabinets of Europe that we are obliged to believe implicitly in newspaper reports, and we are perhaps foolish in hoping that the Holy Alliance intends to take the Spanish part of the New World under their protection In such an event our backwoods with the activity of squirrels to the assistance of the regenerated Spaniards and perhaps _there_ we ht more effectually the battle for universal Freedom than either at Therht strike a blow that would break up the deep foundations of despotic power so as that neither art or force could again collect and cement the scattered elements
We are too distant froth and e can do thro money and sympathy is little in comparison e could if they were so near as that we ht in addition pour out the tide of an armed northern population to sweep their shores and overcome the tyrants like one of their pestilential winds
Nevertheless, sympathy is a wonderful power and the sympathy of a free nation like our oill not lose its ly on this It is a more refined and rational kind of chivalry--this interest and activity in the fate of nations struggling to break the oppressor's rod, and it should be encouraged even where it is not directed so as to give it all adequate force They ould chill it, ould reason about the why and the wherefore ought to recollect that such things can not be called forth by the art of man--they must burst spontaneously from his nature and be directed by his wisdom for the benefit of his kind We are all here real Radical Deh soo back, but on--on--on though certain ofthe penny fee In truth this is the difference between real conviction and the calculating policy which takes sides according to what it conceives the vantage ground A converted politician is as obstinate in his belief as one born in the faith Theaspect of the political heavens The one plays a game--the other sees as much of reality (or thinks he sees) in politicks as he does in his domestic affairs and is as earnest in the one as the other
Salve--[Greek: Kai Chaire]
R BUNNER
8 o'clock
I have had a fullfor your Greeks--and foundthro the _Country_--We have set the Parsons to work and one shi+lling a head will ive you 4 or 5 hundred dollars