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 returned duly, with the corners of the leaves not 
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lEx ICthrtB 
 
 SEYMOUR DURST 
 
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 Except a loaned book." 
 
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]STEW TOEK 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 INSTITUTIONS 
 
 1609-1873. 
 
 THE BRIGHT SIDE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 A LIBRARY OF INFORMATION, 
 
 Pertaining to the great Metropolis, past and present, with Historic Sketches 
 of its Churches, Schools, Public Buildings, Parks and Cemeteries 
 of its Police, Fire, Health and Quarantine Departments 
 of its Prisons, Hospitals, Homes, Asylums, Dis- 
 pensaries and Morgue and all Municipal 
 and private Charitable Institutions. 
 
 BY REV. J. F. RICHMOND, 
 
 (riVE TEARS CITY MISSIONARY IK NEW YORK.) 
 JLLUSTRATED WITH UPWARDS OF 200 ^NGRAYINGS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 E. B. TREAT, 8 5 BROADWAY, 
 
 A. L. BANCROFT & CO., SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
 RANDALL & FISH, DETROIT, MICH. 
 1 8 7 3. 
 [Revised Edition.] 
 
The Present Edition (Seventh) has been carefully revised and 
 brought down to the present time, and embodies all essential correc- 
 tions as contained in the late reports of the various institutions. 
 
 The distinctive features of this work, and its value over other sim- 
 ilar attempts, are — that it is not a Scrap Book of Newspaper Sketches 
 and Clippings ; it is not composed of Sights and Secrets of doubtful 
 propriety in their character and influence; it does not portray in 
 glaring contrast the Sunshine and Shadow of the good, bad, and indif- 
 ferent, or the Mysteries and Miseries, which are brought out by Day- 
 light and by Gaslight, by various authors and publishers — but a book 
 of solid historic facts and touching incidents, gathered from the most 
 reliable and trustworthy sources by the personal efforts of the author, 
 and as such it bears the hearty indorsement of our best authorities. 
 [See descriptive circular.] 
 
 The Publisher. 
 
 Septembek, 1873. 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 ZE_ IB. TREAT, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 r 
 
 ns.3 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 " It is too late in the history of the world," one has said, " for an 
 author to apologize for publishing a book hence few are now guilty 
 of such affectation. Nevertheless, the causes that led to a produc- 
 tion, the manner of its preparation, and the object sought in its 
 publication, are often matters of interest and profit to a thoughtful 
 reader. The volume now offered to the public is not the result 
 of an empty desire to make a book, but to furnish in a concise yet 
 sufficiently extended form for ordinary use a history of the American 
 metropolis, with the origin, objects, growth, and present condition of 
 its numerous institutions. Many excellent works bearing on this 
 subject have been issued during the last twenty years by various 
 publishers and authors, and by the separate corporations, varying 
 in size from the large quarto to the thirty-cent guide-book. Some 
 of these have traced minutely the early history of the island, others 
 have sought to exhibit New York as it is, some have traced the 
 history of the churches or of a single institution, and one has traced 
 the career of most of the societies devoted to private charities. As 
 no one of them has, however, attempted to cover the whole subject, 
 a small library of these books has been indispensable to one wishing 
 to be tolerably conversant with the history of New York and its 
 institutions. 
 
 The author has often felt the need of a comprehensive volume, 
 giving information in relation to the prisons, dispensaries, the 
 municipal institutions, the cemeteries, hospitals, schools, the parks, 
 markets, quarantine, etc., etc. While informing himself on these 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 subjects, he was induced to write a series of articles, describing the 
 islands in New York harbor and many of the institutions, which 
 were published in one of the monthlies of the city. The brief his- 
 tories of a few of the institutions given proved highly satisfactory 
 to some of the managers, and at their suggestion he at length 
 decided to undertake the preparation of this work. 
 
 In examining the several institutions, the author has endeavored 
 to dismiss all denominational prejudice, and present honestly the 
 history and merits of each. He has in every place looked for some- 
 thing commendable, and almost invariably found it. The two hun- 
 dred institutions of New York, many of which are colossal enter- 
 prises, are highly creditable to the humanity and benevolence of our 
 people. The author does not endorse the idea so often advanced, 
 that u we have too many charitable institutions" nor does he believe 
 that they could or should be greatly consolidated. Institutions, 
 Hke armies, may be too large for successful management. Many of 
 ours are already as large as they ever should be, and the younger 
 and smaller ones, if well conducted, are certain to rapidly increase 
 in magnitude. "We believe every denomination should provide its 
 homes for the aged, and found asylums for its orphans. "We have 
 contemplated with high satisfaction the march of events in this 
 direction. 
 
 It has not been our purpose to present any new theory for 
 the establishment or management of an institution. An imperfect 
 system has often proved eminently successful under judicious 
 administration, while the most perfect has repeatedly failed through 
 mismanagement. Hence, abstract discussions of theories or systems 
 are of uncertain value. No one can wade through many hundred 
 published reports of the institutions, as we have done, without being 
 impressed with the fact that in the minds of all these managers there 
 is a manifest desire for progress and great efficiency. "While the his- 
 tory of our institutions discloses the fact that provision is made for 
 every class of unfortunates, and that the benevolence of the people 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 is rapidly increasing, it exhibits, also, most noticeably the recog- 
 nized power of mind and of moral instrumentalities. Brute force 
 no longer reigns. Public justice is no longer a revenge, but an ex- 
 pedient for the safety of community, and the reformation of the 
 criminal. Sixty years ago truant youth were hurled into a prison, 
 where, under the tuition of mature criminals, they soon became 
 hopelessly corrupted. Now, in a Refuge or an Asylum — a school 
 with a sanctuary — they are impressed with ideas and moral motives, 
 and soon rise to usefulness. The blind and the deaf-mute are 
 educated, asylums rise for the reformation of fallen women and the 
 inebriate, while the halls of the hospital and the prison resound 
 with the ministrations of religion. The most advanced in evil are 
 still considered within the reach, and susceptible of, moral influence, 
 and for whose recovery scores are willing to toil. 
 
 For much valuable information in the preparation of this work, 
 the author cheerfully acknowledges his obligation to " A Picture of 
 New York in 1848," " Valentine's History of New York," Apple- 
 tons' u American Cyclopedia," the (l Gazetteer of the State of New 
 York," the " Manuals of the Common Council," the " Charities of 
 New York," " Half-Century with Juvenile Delinquents," (( Public 
 Education in the City of New York," c< Watson's Annals of New 
 York," Miss Booth's " History of the City of New York," and to the 
 printed reports of the several institutions whose histories are briefly 
 presented. Also to the managers, superintendents, chaplains, and 
 physicians of the institutions, who, with a few exceptions, have 
 manifested an interest in his undertaking, and promptly furnished 
 such information as was within their reach. The author has gath- 
 ered his statistics from the most reliable sources, and trusts they 
 will be found very generally correct. Of the labor and difficulty in 
 preparing a work of this kind in a great city of strangers, where 
 things are changing with kaleidoscopic rapidity, few have any con- 
 ception who have not undertaken it. 
 
 Of the style, he has only to say that he has labored to present 
 
X 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 the largest amount of matter in the smallest space ; and has sought 
 to minister to the understanding, rather than the imagination. In 
 tracing the early history of the island, and the colonial history, he 
 has sought to select, and so group the principal events, as to make 
 them readily found, and easily remembered. He has not sought to 
 unduly encumber the volume with the names of officers, or with 
 unimportant statistics. It has been his aim to present a portable 
 book, richly illustrated, within the reach of all; containing all the 
 information that the masses care to read, of the development of the 
 city, the origin and work of its institutions ; in fine, a comprehensive 
 work and guide, acceptable alike to the citizen and the stranger. 
 How far he has succeeded he leaves for others to judge. 
 
 The volume has been prepared amid the duties of a laborious 
 pastorate. During the last seven years he has visited, as occasion 
 has offered, each of the institutions described, and to many of them 
 he has been called to offer consolation to the suffering. The 
 reports, statistics, and other items, have been thus collected, and 
 any missing facts supplied, when possible, through correspondence. 
 The chapters have mostly been written nights, after conducting an 
 evening service. The labor of its preparation, notwithstanding the 
 numberless perplexities such an undertaking involves, has been a 
 pleasant and profitable one — and he can only wish the reader a simi- 
 lar experience in its perusal. Hoping the fruits of these snatches 
 of time and toil may be made to minister in some degree to the 
 intelligence and good of the people, we send this volume forth on 
 its mission to the world. 
 
 J. F. RICHMOND. 
 
 New York, September, 1813. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 PACT 
 
 Early History op Manhattan 17 
 
 The Great Metropolis 17 
 
 Original Settlers of Manhattan 19 
 
 The Advent of the White Man 21 
 
 The First Grave 22 
 
 Hudson explores the River 23 
 
 Founding of the Dutch Dynasty 25 
 
 Peter Minuits, the First Governor 26 
 
 Wouter Van Twiller 26 
 
 William Keift 27 
 
 Peter Stuyvesant, the Last of the Dutch Governors 28 
 
 The Surrender of the Dutch Dynasty 30 
 
 Manners and Customs 32 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 English Colonial History 36 
 
 Successful Administration of Colonel Nicols 36 
 
 Recapture of Manhattan by the Dutch 37 
 
 The Career and Tragic End of Leisler, the People's Choice. 39 
 
 Captain Kidd, the New York Pirate 46 
 
 Rip Van Dam 52 
 
 The Trial and Triumph of Liberty 54 
 
 The Negro Plot of 1741 60 
 
 Triumph of the Anglo-Saxon 65 
 
 Troublous Times Approaching 68 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Important Incidents of the Revolution, and later His- 
 tory of New York , 72 
 
xii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FAGF 
 
 New York Government at Sea 72 
 
 Plot to Assassinate Washington 73 
 
 Shocking Barbarity of English Officers 74 
 
 Hale and Andre, the Two Spies 80 
 
 Arnold in New York 84 
 
 British Evacuation 89 
 
 The Burr and Hamilton Tragedy of 1804 90 
 
 Robert Fulton, and the " Clermont " 96 
 
 Public Improvements of 1825. 98 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 New York As It Is 101 
 
 1. Description of the Island 101 
 
 2. Population at Different Periods 103 
 
 3. Streets and Avenues of New York 105 
 
 The Plan, the Pavements, and the Modes of Travel. 
 
 Wall Street. 
 
 Broad Street. 
 
 Broadway. 
 
 Fifth Avenue. 
 
 The Boulevard. 
 
 4. The Architecture 114 
 
 Hotels. Astor House, Fifth Avenue, St. Nicholas, Grand 
 
 Central. 
 Cooper Institute. 
 Academy of Design. 
 Theaters. 
 
 The Astor Library. 
 American Bible House. 
 Publishing Houses. 
 The Park Bank. 
 Life Insurance Buildings. 
 The City Hall. 
 
 The New York Court House. 
 The New York Post Office. 
 
 Stores. Stewart's, Claflin's, Lord & Taylor's, Tiffany's, etc 
 
 5. Business in New York 131 
 
 Causes of Business Failure. 
 Business in Real Estate. 
 Classes of Rich Men. 
 Politicians. 
 
CONTENTS. Xiii 
 
 PASB 
 
 Speculators and Stock Gamblers. 
 Success of Great Men. 
 6. The Churches of New York 142 
 
 Reformed Dutch. 
 
 Protestant Episcopal. 
 
 Lutheran, 
 
 Presbyterian. 
 
 Baptist 
 
 Methodist 
 
 Jews. 
 
 Roman Catholics. 
 
 Other Denominations and Missionary Societies. 
 
 7. Parks and Squares 158 
 
 8. How New York is supplied with "Water 166 
 
 9. The Schools and Colleges of New York 169 
 
 10. Public Security 180 
 
 Metropolitan Police Department. 
 Metropolitan Fire Department. 
 The Health Department. 
 Quarantine Department. 
 Maritime Defences. 
 •United States Navy Yard. 
 
 11. New York in Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. 198 
 
 12. The Libraries, Monuments, and Markets of New York. 206 
 
 13. The Cemeteries of New York 214 
 
 The Early Cemeteries. 
 
 New York Bay. 
 
 Greenwood. 
 
 Cypress Hills. 
 
 Evergreen. 
 
 Calvary. 
 
 Wood Lawn. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Institutions of Manhattan Island and Westchester Co. 281 
 
 Asylums 281 
 
 1. New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb 281 
 
 2. Institution for the Improved Instruction of the Deaf 
 
 and Dumb 287 
 
 3. The New York Institution for the Blind 289 
 
 4. Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane 294 
 
 5. The New York Orphan Asylum 299 
 
xiv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 6. The Colored Orphan Asylum 302 
 
 7. Orphan Home and Asylum of the Protestant Episcopal 
 
 Church in New York 305 
 
 8. The Sheltering Arms 308 
 
 9. The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum 312 
 
 10. New York Asylum for Lying-in Women 315 
 
 11. New York Magdalen Benevolent Asylum 317 
 
 12. Society for Half-Orphan and Destitute Children 321 
 
 13. The Leake and Watts Orphan House 325 
 
 14. The New York Juvenile Asylum 328 
 
 15. The House of Mercy (Protestant Episcopal) 333 
 
 16. Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society.... 336 
 
 17. House of the Good Shepherd 339 
 
 18. St. Barnabas House 341 
 
 19. The Institution of Mercy (Roman Catholic) 344 
 
 20. Orphan Asylum of St. Vincent De Paul 347 
 
 21. Society for Destitute Roman Catholic Children 349 
 
 22. New York Foundling Asylum (Roman Catholic) 354 
 
 23. The Shepherd's Fold 356 
 
 24. Woman's Aid Society and Presbyterian Home for 
 
 Training Young Girls 357 
 
 25. St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum 359 
 
 Hospitals and Infirmaries 360 
 
 1. The Roosevelt Hospital 360 
 
 2. The Presbyterian Hospital 364 
 
 3. St. Luke's Hospital 367 
 
 4. New York Hospital 371 
 
 5. The Hospital of St. Francis 374 
 
 6. St. Vincent Hospital 375 
 
 7. German Hospital and Dispensary 379 
 
 8. Mount Sinai Hospital 382 
 
 9. Bellevue Hospital 386 
 
 10. The Nursery and Child's Hospital 389 
 
 11. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary 394 
 
 12. The Woman's Hospital of the State of New York. . . 399 
 
 13. Institution for the Ruptured and Crippled 403 
 
 14. House of Rest for Consumptives 408 
 
 15. New York Infirmary for Women and Children 410 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 FAGT8 
 
 16. New York Medical College and Hospital for Women.. 413 
 
 17. The Hahnemann Hospital 415 
 
 18. The Stranger's Hospital 417 
 
 19. The New York Ophthalmic Hospital 419 
 
 20. The New York Aural Institute 419 
 
 21. Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital 421 
 
 Homes 423 
 
 1. Association for the Relief of Respectable Aged Indi- 
 
 gent Females 423 
 
 2. Ladies' Union Aid Society of the M. E. Church 426 
 
 3. American Female Guardian Society and Home for the 
 
 Friendless 430 
 
 4. The Home for Incurables 434 
 
 5. Samaritan Home for the Aged 436 
 
 6. The Colored Home 439 
 
 7. The St. Luke's Home 442 
 
 8. The Presbyterian Home 446 
 
 9. Union Home and School for Children of our Volunteer 
 
 Soldiers and Sailors 449 
 
 10. The Female Christian Home 452 
 
 11. The Home for Friendless Women 453 
 
 12. Women's Prison Association of New York (The L T. 
 
 Hopper Home) 457 
 
 13. Roman Catholic Home for the Aged 461 
 
 14. Chapin Home for the Aged and Infirm 462 
 
 15. Baptist Home for the Aged 463 
 
 16. Home for Aged Hebrews 464 
 
 17. Ladies' Christian Union, or Young Woman's Home. . 467 
 
 18. Hotel for Working Women (A. T. Stewart's) 470 
 
 19. The Water Street Home for Women 471 
 
 Missions, Industrial Schools, and Miscellaneous Societies 477 
 
 1. The Five Points Mission 477 
 
 2. The Five Points House of Industry 483 
 
 3. Woman's Boarding House 486 
 
 4. The Howard Mission and Home for Little Wanderers. 488 
 
 5. The Midnight Mission 492 
 
 6. Wilson's Industrial School 484 
 
 7. The New York House and School of Industry 497 
 
xvi 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 8. The Children's Aid Society 499 
 
 9. Society for the Employment and Relief of Poor Women. 504 
 
 10. New York Association for Improving the Condition of 
 
 the Poor 505 
 
 11. Young Men's Christian Association 508 
 
 12. New York Prison Association 511 
 
 Prisons and Dispensaries 514 
 
 1. The City Prisons 514 
 
 2. The New York Medical Dispensaries 519 
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 Institutions of Blackwell's Island 523 
 
 1. The Islands and the Authorities 523 
 
 2. The Hospitals of Blackwell's Island 527 
 
 3. The New York Penitentiary 531 
 
 4. The New York Almshouse 536 
 
 5. The New York Workhouse 541 
 
 6. The New York Lunatic Asylum 545 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Institutions of Ward's Island 551 
 
 1. The Buildings of the Commissioners of Emigration. .. 551 
 
 2. The New York Inebriate Asylum 557 
 
 CHAPTER Till. 
 Institutions of Randall's Island x . 562 
 
 1. The New York Nurseries 562 
 
 ( Buildings for the Healthy Children. 
 
 < Infant Hospital. 
 
 ( Idiot School and Asylum. 
 
 2. Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents 568 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Institutions on Hart Island 572 
 
 The Industrial School, and the School-Ship "Mercury".. 672 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 New York Institutions on Staten Island 578 
 
 1. Sailors' Snug Harbor 578 
 
 2. Seamen's Fund and Retreat 682 
 
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 EARLY HISTORY OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 THE GREAT METROPOLIS ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF MANHATTAN — ■ 
 
 THE ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN THE FIRST GRAVE — HUDSON 
 
 EXPLORES THE RIVER FOUNDING OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY PETER 
 
 MINUITS, THE FIRST GOVERNOR WOUTER VAN TWILLER WILLIAM 
 
 KEIFT PETER STUYVESANT, THE LAST OF THE DUTCH GOVER- 
 NORS THE SURRENDER OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY MANNERS AND 
 
 CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE GREAT METROPOLIS. 
 
 EW YORK is the most populous,, 
 wealthy, and splendid dty on the 
 American continent. Its location, cli- 
 mate, surroundings, and connections have all 
 been favorable to its growth and greatness. 
 It stands on the little island called by the 
 Indians Manhattan, but Brooklyn, Williams- 
 burgh, Greene Point, Jersey City, Hoboken, Yon- 
 :ers,and Tarry town, are but its suburbs, containing 
 the residences of its laborers, clerks, and merchant 
 princes. Among the earliest localities to feel the 
 tread of the European stranger, it has through all 
 its history been deservedly popular as a landing depot, and 
 now receives fully five-sevenths of all entering the country.. 
 About five thousand vessels annually enter its bay, which is suf - 
 2 
 
18 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ficiently broad and deep to anchor the collected navies of the 
 world. Its imports and exports are more than fifty per cent 
 of the whole United States, and amount to five hundred mil- 
 lion dollars per annum ; while the aggregate trade of the city 
 reaches nearly four thousand millions. Nearly three hundred 
 railroad trains make daily communication with its suburbs. 
 The taxable property of the island reported at less than half 
 its value reaches nearly a thousand millions, and the annual 
 tax about twenty-five millions. New York is the great store- 
 house of the nation's wealth, the centre of its financial oper- 
 ations, and of its political, industrial, economic, scientific, 
 educational, benevolent, and religious enterprises. New York 
 furnishes most of the newspapers, periodicals, books, pictures, 
 models of statuary, architecture, machinery, and handicraft, 
 for the numerous great States clustered around it, and for 
 the broad Canadas. There is poverty in New York, deep and 
 squalid ; but it is offset by wealth, countless and dazzling. 
 There is ignorance here, profound and astonishing ; but there 
 is learning also, brilliant and extensive as can be found on 
 the globe. There are sinners in New York, black and guilty, 
 as ever disgraced the world ; but there are saints also, spot- 
 less and benevolent, as ever adorned the Church of God. 
 All extremes meet in this great metropolis. Here are the 
 denizens of every land, the babblings of every tongue, the 
 productions of every clime, the inventions of every craft, and 
 the ripened fruit of every desire. At a single glance can be 
 seen, as in a vast mirror, pictures of age and infancy, beauty 
 and deformity, industry and indolence, wealth and beggary, 
 vice and sanctity. 
 
 New York, with its immense libraries, art galleries, daily 
 press, literary associations and lectures, its benevolent institu- 
 tions, and architectural wonders, is one of the richest fields of 
 human culture in the known world. There is on every hand 
 something to interest, please, and profit everybody, of what- 
 ever country, talent, or temperament. It is a luxury to tarry 
 in New York, though it be but for a month, a week, or a day, 
 
ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 19 
 
 to listen to the rumble of its wheels, the whistle of its en- 
 gines, the clicking of its telegraphs, the voice of its orators, 
 the chime of its bells, the strains of its music, and the roar 
 of its artillery. Whose mind is not enlarged as he contem- 
 plates the progress of its growth, the rush of its improve- 
 ments, and the majestic sweep of its commerce? Who can 
 stand upon its elevated observatories and closely contemplate 
 its leagues of solid masonry, everywhere thronged with im- 
 mortals as important and hopeful as himself, without such 
 emotions as he never experienced before? Who can press 
 through the whirl of its daily activities, without thinking of 
 eternity ; through its neglected sinks, without thinking of 
 pandemonium ; or its cultivated parks, without thinking of 
 paradise ? All do not live in New York, nor can they ; yet 
 every thoughtful American should visit it, snuff its ocean 
 breezes, contemplate its massive piles, peep into its institu- 
 tions, and gather inspiration from the rush of its activities. 
 For any who wish to visit it, or who do not, this book has 
 been written. To obtain a correct and adequate knowledge 
 of New York, let us begin at the foundation. 
 
 ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 OE many ages Manhattan lay buried 
 in these western solitudes, separated 
 by a wide and stormy ocean from all 
 the bustling activities of the civilized 
 world. During a long period it is 
 now known to have been the favorite 
 resort of the Indians of the Hudson 
 river country who gathered here in 
 vast numbers, built their rustic vil- 
 
 lages, and spent the summer months in fishing, baking clams, 
 and hunting. Centuries before civilization found its way to 
 
20 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 these shores, the broad bay now whitened with the sails of a 
 hundred nations was dotted with the canoes of an ingenious 
 race, whose history is now too nearly obliterated. Their lands 
 they owned in common, the only divisions being between the 
 different tribes. Their habitations were constructed of sap- 
 lings and bark, with no windows, floors, or chimneys. Their 
 villages were located on spots of ground naturally clear of 
 wood, and contained from twenty to several hundred fam- 
 ilies, which in time of war they surrounded with a fence or 
 stockade. To agriculture they gave no attention, save the 
 planting of Indian corn, beans, peas, and pumpkins. Both 
 sexes were exceedingly fond of display in dress, illustrating 
 the old saying, that " man in robes or in rags is a proud 
 little animal." The Indian women wore long, black hair, 
 plaited and rolled up behind, where it was fastened with a 
 band. Their petticoats were ornamented with exquisite taste 
 and skill, and would bring a fine sum in our day. This gar- 
 ment hung from a belt or waist-girdle made of dressed deer- 
 skin, highly ornamented with Indian money called sewant. 
 Pendants hung upon their foreheads, necks, and arms, and 
 handsomely trimmed moccasins adorned their feet. 
 
 The men were no less attentive to dress. Upon their 
 shoulders they hung a mantle of deer-skin, with the fur next 
 their bodies, while the outside of the garment displayed a va- 
 riety of designs in paint. The edges of the mantle were 
 trimmed with swinging points of fine workmanship. Their 
 heads* were variously ornamented ; some wearing feathers, 
 and others different articles of a showy character. Their 
 necks and arms displayed ornaments of elaborate workman- 
 ship. They painted themselves in a variety of colors accord- 
 ing to their peculiar tastes, rendering their appearance gro- 
 tesque and frightful. They were tall and slender, had black 
 or brown eyes, snow-white teeth, a cinnamon complexion, and 
 were fleet and sprightly. They had no care but to provide 
 for present subsistence and secure pleasure. They were very 
 superstitious, believing in dreams, signs, and various omens. 
 
THE ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN. 
 
 21 
 
 They had crude notions of the Great Spirit and the Spirit 
 Land. When one died they placed his body in a grave in a 
 sitting posture, shielding it from contact with the earth by a 
 covering of boughs, and from the wild beasts by a burden of 
 stone and earth. By his side in the grave was also placed his 
 implements of war and pleasure, some money and food to 
 serve him on his journey to the Spirit Land. The science of 
 war was his greatest accomplishment, and to die without any 
 display of weakness or fear, his highest virtue. Oratory was 
 considerably cultivated among them. When first discovered 
 their mariners and habits contrasted so strangely with every- 
 thing in Europe, that they were supposed to possess few, if in- 
 deed any, of the affections and higher emotions of humanity, 
 but to be more closely allied to the lower orders of creation. 
 Time has, however, shown their native regard for integrity and 
 honor, and under the appliances of mental and moral culture, 
 the Indian head and heart have proved capable of high at- 
 tainments. 
 
 THE ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN. 
 
 gfHE wants of the race had fairly out- 
 gj grown the capacities of the East, An 
 accession of new ideas was demanded; 
 human liberty could not be realized 
 amid the crushing despotisms of the Old World, 
 and benevolence, the divinest grace of the soul, 
 languished for want of a broader theatre on 
 which to work out and exhibit its sublime de- 
 velopments. Divine Providence opened the 
 gates to this western world. Varrazzani, a 
 Florentine in the employ of the French Govern- 
 ment in the sixteenth century (1525), is believed to have been 
 the first white man who sailed through the Narrows, and 
 looked upon the placid waters of the New York bay and its 
 green islands. In 1609 Henry Hudson, an intrepid English 
 
22 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 navigator in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, 
 sailed from Europe in search of a northwest passage to the 
 East Indies. The vessel in which he sailed was a yacht, 
 called the " Half Moon," of about eighty tons burthen, and 
 would be considered a very diminutive thing for an explorer 
 in our day, when canal boats carry three hundred and fifty 
 tons. His crew consisted of fifteen or twenty sailors, partly 
 of Dutch and partly of English birth. He traversed the 
 American coast from Newfoundland to the Chesapeake bay, 
 and then turned again northward to explore more carefully 
 the country thus passed. On the 2d of September he rounded 
 Sandy Hook, and on the 4th he anchored near the Jersey 
 shore in the south bay. As the waters swarmed with fish, a 
 boat was lowered to catch some, and the crew is believed to 
 have landed on the foam-fringed beach of Coney Island, and 
 to have been the first white men who ever set foot on the soil 
 of the Empire State. 
 
 It is not wonderful that Hudson forgot his mission, and be- 
 came enchanted with the gorgeous scenery everywhere spread 
 out before him. Majestic forests, that had slumbered on 
 through the solitudes of the ages, waved on the shores; the 
 little hills were crowned with grass and a variety of fragrant 
 flowers ; the waters swarmed with finny tribes, while birds of 
 strange plumage and song flitted through the air. A hither- 
 to unknown race, with strange manners and showy trappings, 
 came to his ship in their canoes with corn and other vegeta- 
 bles, for which they received from the generous commodore 
 axes and shoes, which they hung about their necks for orna- 
 ments. 
 
 THE FIRST GRAVE. 
 
 Hudson continued at his anchorage about a week, and on 
 the 6th of the month dispatched a boat to explore the harbor. 
 The little crew passed through the Narrows and took a view 
 of the green hills of Manhattan, after which it sailed out to- 
 ward Newark bay. On their return an unfortunate collision 
 
HUDSON EXPLORES THE RIVER. 
 
 23 
 
 occurred between the party and the natives, and an English 
 sailor named John Coleman was struck in the neck by an ar- 
 row and killed. Two others were wounded. Coleman had 
 long been associated with Hudson on the seas, and his death 
 was greatly regretted. It is probable that the sailors were 
 the first aggressors. A grave was dug on Sandy Hook, and 
 on the 9th of September he was mournfully interred, and 
 the spot has since been known as Coleman's Point. 
 
 HUDSON EXPLORES THE RIVER. 
 
 On the 11th of September Hudson sailed through the Nar- 
 rows, and after anchoring one day in the New York bay pro- 
 ceeded up the river to the present site of Albany, hoping to 
 find the long-sought passage to the East Indies. Unwilling 
 to believe he had reached the head of navigation, he de- 
 spatched a party to sound the river higher up. They pro- 
 ceeded eight or nine leagues, and finding but seven feet of 
 water they returned with the unwelcome intelligence. The 
 voyage up the river, though a disappointment, was a pleasant 
 excursion. The rocky Palisades, lofty Highlands, and the 
 majestic curves of the sweeping silver current, appear to have 
 lingered long in the minds of these bold adventurers. The 
 natives gave them a friendly reception, spreading before them 
 the best the country afforded. 
 
 The country was indeed rich. Hudson declared that in 
 one Indian village he saw a quantity of corn and beans suf- 
 ficient to fill three ships, and that the neighboring fields were 
 burdened with luxuriant crops. 
 
 Two unfortunate occurrences in this voyage tarnish the 
 character of Hudson and his crew. They communicated to 
 the red man the fatal, intoxicating bowl. Sailors must always 
 have a revel while on shore, and one occurred during their 
 stay at Albany — the first on the banks of that beautiful 
 river. Secondly, he had rudely captured while at Sandy 
 Hook two natives, whom he designed to carry with him to 
 Holland. Both escaped on his passage up the river, or at 
 
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 their drunken carousal, and with manly courage collected 
 their forces to resent this breach of faith on his return. A 
 fleet of well-filled canoes at Spuyten Duyvil attacked and at- 
 tempted to board the vessel. A musket shot from the ship 
 killed one native and scattered the rest. Opposite Washing- 
 ton Heights the attack was renewed as the vessel floated down 
 
 THE 
 
 HALF MOON" AS0KND1NO HUDSON BIVBR. 
 
 the stream. Another volley of musketry stretched nine more 
 in the cold embrace of death, after winch fcey desuted 
 The thunder of the white man's weapon, and the deadly 
 plunge of his missile, was more than they could unders tend 
 A little caution and moderation would have saved these stems 
 ^ that otherwise brilliant record of ^^^J^ 
 tor On the 4th of < >ctoher Hudson set sail for Holland, to 
 make known the facts of his wonderful discovery. 
 
FOUNDING OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. 
 
 25 
 
 FOUNDING OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. 
 
 'UDSON had scarcely made known the 
 5S|| results of his voyage in Holland, ere 
 KM trading vessels were fitted out by the 
 enterprising merchants, and despatched to 
 these shores to reap the golden harvest held 
 out in the valuable fur trade. These experi- 
 ments were highly successful, and agents 
 were stationed here to continue the business 
 during the absence of the ships. These agents established 
 their headquarters on the southern point of Manhattan Island. 
 The " United New Netherland Company," composed of a 
 number of merchants, was chartered in 1614, for a brief 
 period, and in 1621 the " West India Company,'' larger and 
 richer than the former, was permanently incorporated. This 
 great company was invested with nearly all the prerogatives 
 of a general government. They were allowed to appoint 
 their own governors, settle the ends and forms of administra- 
 tive justice, make treaties, enact laws, and were granted the 
 exclusive control of trade on the whole American coast. In 
 1623 a stanch vessel (the " New Netherland," which continued 
 her trips regularly for more than thirty years) brought over 
 thirty families to begin a colony These were landed at Al- 
 bany, and a settlement began. Two years later (1625) another 
 company came over in two ships, bringing horses, cattle, 
 sheep, swine, agricultural implements, and seed grain, and be- 
 gan a settlement on Manhattan. The first fort was erected in 
 1615 by the traders, and stood in the rear of the present Trinity 
 church, on the bank of the river, the tides then reaching 
 where the western wall of the churchyard now stands. In 
 1751 some workmen digging in the bank in the rear of the 
 church, discovered a stone wall which was afterwards ascer- 
 tained to be the remains of the long-forgotten fort. In 1623 
 a new fort, a block-house, was constructed a little south of 
 
26 
 
 NEW YOKK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 what is now the Bowling Green, which served the matter of 
 defence for ten years. 
 
 PETER MINUITS, THE FIRST GOVERNOR. 
 
 The affairs of the colony having become sufficiently impor- 
 tant to require the presence of a director-general, Peter 
 Minuits, of Westphalia, was appointed in 1624, and immedi- 
 ately assumed the reins of government. To conciliate the 
 Indians he purchased the entire island of Manhattan for 
 twenty-four dollars. The Governor established his residence 
 in the block-house, around which he erected strong palisades 
 The imports into the colony in 1624 amounted to $10,654, 
 and the exports, wholly of skins and furs, amounted to $11,000 
 In 1631, the last year of his administration, the imports wen. 
 $23,000, and the exports $27,204. During the administra- 
 tion of Minuits the rival claims to territory between the 
 English and the Dutch were started, but no adjustment was 
 reached. Minuits, having been recalled by the company, v^as 
 in April, 1633, succeeded by 
 
 WOUTER VAN TWILLER. 
 
 Yan Twiller was a relative of Mr. Yan Rensselj.t r, one of 
 the principal directors of the company, and whose descendants 
 have been extensive landholders in America. It was this 
 relationship that secured him his appointment, he having 
 been previously but a clerk for the company. In person he 
 is described as close-jointed, short, and exceedingly corpulent. 
 As some one has said, " He looked as if Dame Nature had 
 designed him for a giant, but changed her mind." His ad- 
 ministration was marked by the rebuilding of the fort on a 
 greatly enlarged scale ; by the purchase from the Indians of 
 "Nut" (now Governor's) Island; also two in the East river 
 above Hurl Gate, now known as Ward's and Randall's 
 Islands. Everardus Bogardus, the first clergyman of Man 
 
WILLIAM KEITTj THE THIRD GOVEENOE. 27 
 
 hattan whose name has come down to us, is believed to have 
 come over in the ship with the Governor. During this reign 
 the first church edifice was erected. It was a wooden struc- 
 ture, and stood on Pearl street, near Broad. Adam Eoeland- 
 sen, the first schoolmaster, was introduced about the same 
 time. The town was but a hamlet of thatched buildings at 
 that period. Hundreds of painted savages still roamed over 
 the island, pursuing game through the tangled woodlands, 
 and grew their vegetables in its mellow deposits. A steady 
 trade with them was continued, in which they exchanged 
 their furs and vegetables, receiving too often gin, rum, or 
 glass beads in return. Indeed, one has well said, " The kind- 
 hearted Dutchmen had conceived a great friendship for their 
 savage neighbors, on account of their being pleasant men to 
 trade with, and little skilled in the art of making a bargain." 
 
 WILLIAM KEIFT, THE THIRD GOVERNOR. 
 
 The ship " Herring " arrived at Manhattan on the 2Sth of 
 March, 1638, bringing the newly appointed Governor. The 
 affairs of the colony had progressed but slowly. It had been 
 founded by a company of merchants, who weighed every- 
 thing from a financial standpoint; high tariffs were laid upon 
 the industry of the settlers, which produced dissatisfaction 
 and led to frequent altercations between the people and the 
 authorities. They were held together, however, by the fear 
 of a savage enemy constantly prowling around them. Keift's 
 administration continued nine years, and became unpopular 
 and unprofitable to the company in consequence of the 
 Indian war, into which he was unfortunately drawn. The 
 first advance toward popular government was, however, taken 
 under his administration. The people were allowed to elect 
 eight representatives to assist the Governor in administering 
 the affairs of the colony. Building lots were then first granted 
 the citizens. In 1642 a stone tavern was erected on what is 
 . now Pearl street, which afterwards became the City Hall. A 
 
23 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 stone church was also erected in the south-east corner of the 
 fort. Governor Keif t, having been relieved from office, set 
 sail for Holland in the ship " Princess," July, 1647. Several 
 prominent persons were on board, among whom was Dominie 
 Bogardus, who had married a wealthy widow on Manhattan, 
 but had resolved to make one more visit to the fatherland. 
 The voyage proved disastrous. The pilot mistook the chan- 
 nel, entered the Severn, and wrecked his vessel on the coast 
 of Wales. Of the one hundred persons on board but twenty 
 were saved. 
 
 PETER STUYVESANT, THE LAST OF THE DUTCH GOVERNORS. 
 
 Success had not particularly crowned the undertaking of 
 the company. It was computed that the West India 
 Company had, between the years 1626 and 1644, expended 
 upon the settlement over two hundred thousand dollars above 
 all returns made to it, and that not more than one hundred 
 men remained in the city, exclusive of the officers and 
 employes of the company, at the close of the Indian war in 
 1645. Stuyvesant, it was hoped, would retrieve these losses, 
 and secure the enlargement and stability of the town. He 
 had been the director of the Dutch colony at Curacoa, where, 
 in a battle with the Portuguese, he had lost a leg. He was a 
 brave man, with considerable breadth of mind and great force 
 of character. He was also imperious, impatient of contradic- 
 tion, absolute and despotic in his notions of government 
 lie, however, excelled all his predecessors in efforts for the 
 advancement of the colony, and the good of the people, 
 among whom he settled after the English conquest, and re- 
 mained a private and amiable citizen until the close of his 
 life, leaving an honorable posterity not extinct at this day. 
 His administration was characterized by great vigor, and the 
 town soon exhibited marked improvements. As is usual, 
 some of his subjects were pleased, and some dissatisfied. 
 Drunkenness and profanity were strictly prohibited, and no 
 
PETER STUYVESANT, THE LAST DUTCH GOVERNOR. 29 
 
 liquors were to be sold to the Indians. Other abuses were 
 speedily corrected. In 1648 he established a weekly 
 market ; in 1652 the city was regularly incorporated ; the 
 next year the palisades on the line of AVall Street were 
 erected, and in 1657 the streets were laid out and named. 
 The population of the place had also wonderfully increased. 
 But the martial fires of the old Governor still slumbered in 
 his capacious frame, and waited an opportunity for an out- 
 burst. This was soon given. Three nationalities had estab- 
 lished their colonies on these shores. The English in Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland, and on the eastern coast, had protested 
 against the establishment of New Amsterdam, which divided 
 their colonies. The Swedes established themselves on the 
 banks of the Delaware, under the protest of the Dutch. The 
 Swedes built Fort Christina as a matter of common defence, 
 and the Dutch, to protect their own trade in that locality, 
 erected in 1650 Fort Casimar, near the mouth of the Brandy- 
 wine, and but five miles from this Swedish fortification. 
 Regarding this an encroachment, the Swedish Governor in 
 1654 adroitly captured the fort, changed its name, disarmed 
 and paroled the little garrison. The next year Stuyvesant 
 received orders to recapture the fort, and drive the Swedes 
 entirely from the river. This was a welcome message to the 
 old warrior. 
 
 The whole force of New Amsterdam was soon afloat in 
 seven ships of war, with the intrepid 
 Governor as commander, and the 
 whole Swedish territory speedily 
 capitulated. But the victorious 
 Dutch had no time to rejoice over 
 their successes. Two thousand 
 armed savages, taking advantage 
 of the defenceless state of the 
 colony to avenge the shooting of a 
 squaw some time previously, overran stuyvesants seal. 
 the town, after which they departed to Hoboken, Bavonia, 
 
30 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and Staten Island, and in three days murdered one hundred 
 of the inhabitants, carried into captivity a hundred and fifty 
 more, besides destroying property valued at two hundred 
 thousand guilders. Stuyvesant soon returned, and while he 
 made every preparation for a vigorous war against the In- 
 dians, he at the same time so appeased them with kindness 
 and presents, that from motives of fear and friendship they 
 were glad to conclude a peace by the release of the captives. 
 His power over the Indians was always wonderful. 
 
 THE SURRENDER OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. 
 
 A still greater danger had long hung over the Dutch 
 colony. The English had from the first claimed the entire 
 continent as having been discovered by Cabot. In vain did 
 the Dutch urge their own discovery, their title honorably 
 secured from the Indians, and the fact of possession. The 
 Plymouth colony established at New Haven spread gradually 
 over the country, until it held much of Long Island and 
 Westchester. The Virginia colony absorbed the territory on 
 the Delaware so triumphantly wrested from the Swedes. 
 Stuy vesant's appeals to the company for the means of defence 
 were unheeded. The accession of Charles II. to the Eng- 
 lish throne, in 1664, brought matters to a crisis. He granted 
 to his brother James, Duke of York, a patent of the territory 
 lying between the Connecticut river and Delaware bay, cov- 
 ering the whole of the Dutch dominion in America. The 
 Duke immediately despatched four ships, with four hundred 
 and fifty soldiers, to take possession of the territory he had 
 thus acquired. Late in August, 1664, the little fleet cast 
 anchor near Coney Island. The soldiers were landed and took 
 possession of the block-house on Staten Island, and soon cut 
 off Manhattan from the neighboring shores. The resolute 
 Governor made what preparation possible for defence, but 
 the colony was not able to resist a siege. The palisades, 
 effectual enough against the Indians, were of little use against 
 English troops. The fort itself was a mere sham. The pop- 
 
THE SURRENDER OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. SI 
 
 ulation amounted to about fifteen hundred, and could furnish 
 but a few hundred, at most, able to bear arms ; and to crown 
 all, not over six hundred pounds of gunpowder could be col- 
 lected in the colony. The town, standing on the southern 
 point of the island, was exposed from all sides to the raking 
 lire of the fleet, and must have soon been one smoking ruin. 
 Still, the brave Governor could not brook the thought of sur- 
 render, and as soon as the fleet anchored in the bay, he sent 
 a messenger to inquire what object they had in thus entering 
 a friendly port. The commander returned a reply asserting 
 the claim of Great Britain to the territory, and demanded an 
 immediate surrender, giving assurances that all submissive 
 inhabitants would be secured in their liberty and estates. 
 Having promised to give a reply on the following morning, 
 the Governor convened his council and the city magistrates, 
 and informed them of the demand, but withheld the letter 
 containing the terms of capitulation. A demand for this 
 document on the part of the burgomasters greatly enraged 
 the Governor, who dissolved the assembly and declared his 
 purpose of defending the town. The English commander 
 understood the condition of the colony. Knowing its de- 
 fence utterly impossible, and that secret heart-burnings had 
 long existed among a portion of its inhabitants, he issued an 
 artful proclamation to the inhabitants, and made arrangements 
 for recruiting in the settlement. The landing of troops at 
 Brooklyn to storm the town, and the anchoring of the ships 
 in front of the fort, convinced all that the crisis had fully 
 arrived. Crowds gathered around the venerable wooden- 
 legged Governor, among whom was his own son, pleading for 
 the stay of hostilities by the surrender of the town. For a 
 time he was inflexible, saying, u N~o / I would rather he carried 
 out dead / " but he at length yielded, performing no doubt the 
 most painful service of his life. On the morning of the 8th 
 of September, 1664, Stuyvesant marched his troops out of Fort 
 Amsterdam with the honors of war, and the English took pos- 
 session and raised on the flagstaff the ensign of their country. 
 Thus closed the reign of the Knickerbockers, after holding 
 
32 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Manhattan fifty-five years, and establishing a flourishing and 
 interesting colony. Governor Stuyvesant soon after de- 
 parted for Holland to give an account of his administration 
 to the West India Company, after which he returned, lived 
 
 STUYVESANT IITTYS. 
 
 and died on a large farm he had previously purchased in the 
 Bowery. A large pear-tree of his planting stood until three 
 years ago at the corner of Third avenue and Thirteenth 
 street. This monument of the good old days has now disap- 
 peared — the last of the Knickerbockers. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 "gJHE first money in use on Manhattan was 
 Wampum, i.e., small beads made of 
 shells, sometimes wrought into belts 
 and worn as ornaments. Wampum was 
 of two kinds, white and black or pur- 
 ple color, the dark colored being twice 
 as valuable as the other. Wampum 
 consisted of cylindrical pieces of testa- 
 ceous fishes, (hard-shell clams or oys- 
 ters,) a quarter of an inch in length, and in diameter less than 
 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 33 
 
 a pipe stem, drilled lengthwise so as to be strung upon a 
 thread. A piece of white wampum was counted equal to a 
 farthing. The Dutch and English traders carried into the 
 interior their knives, combs, scissors, needles, awls, looking- 
 glasses, hatchets, guns, blankets, etc., and sold them to the na- 
 tives for seawant or wampum, and with this wampum returned 
 and purchased their furs, corn, venison, etc., on the seaboard, 
 thus artfully avoiding the great labor of transporting the furs 
 and grain through the country. This circulating medium 
 was used in New England also, and was finally regulated by 
 civilized governments. 
 
 The Dutch kept five festivals, Kerstydt (Christmas), 
 Nieuw jar (New Year), Paas (the Passover), Pinxter (i.e., 
 Whitsuntide), and San Claas (i.e., Saint Nicholas, or Christ- 
 kinkle day). Christmas was a great day for shooting-matches. 
 Turkeys and other fowls were placed at a long distance from 
 the marksman, every one paying for his shot and bearing 
 away all he hit. This festival is still continued in New York, 
 the shooting having been superseded by Church services and 
 festivals, in which the Christmas tree, containing a present 
 for each expected to attend, forms the principal object of at- 
 traction. Presents are given profusely in all circles. Mer- 
 chants are expected to give presents to all in their employ, 
 and often expend thousands of dollars in carrying out this 
 costly programme. The ingenious stories of Santa Claus are 
 not repeated as much as formerly, though the children are as 
 much interested in them as w r ere those of the preceding gen- 
 erations. 
 
 Paas was long very generally observed by the Dutch, and 
 colored boiled eggs may still be found in many families in 
 the city and country on the return of this festival. Pinxter 
 is scarcely remembered. New Year was the great festival 
 of the whole season. The tables were spread with cakes, 
 cider, wines, indeed everything calculated to tempt and sat- 
 isfy the appetite. Everybody received calls, and all went to 
 see their friends. General Washington resided in New York 
 3 
 
34 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 during the first year of his Presidency, in the Franklin 
 House, at the head of Cherry street. On the first day of 
 January, 1790, he was waited on by most of the principal 
 gentlemen of the city. They were severally introduced to the 
 President, who received them with marked cordiality, and 
 after an agreeable interchange of thought they severally with- 
 drew, greatly pleased with the appearance and manners of 
 the President, to most of whom he was a personal stranger. 
 In the evening the ladies came to call on Mrs. Washington. 
 The evening was beautiful, and many came. All were cor- 
 dially received, and after being seated, coffee, plain and plum 
 cake were served, which was followed by familiar conversa- 
 tion, in which Mrs. Washington was conspicuous. The Gen- 
 eral, who had been greatly pleased with the calls of the gen- 
 tlemen, was present during the evening. Not being familiar 
 with their usages, he ventured to ask whether this matter was 
 casual or customary, to which a lady replied that it was their 
 annual custom, received from their Dutch forefathers, and 
 which they had always commemorated. After a short pause, 
 he observed, " The highly favored situation of New York, 
 will, in process of years, attract emigrants, who will gradually 
 change its customs and manners ; but let whatever changes 
 take place, never forget the cordial, cheerful observance of 
 New Year's day." Emigration has not changed this ancient 
 custom. English, Irish, Scotch, Jews, and Gentiles, rich and 
 poor, continue the practice ; tables groan under a burden of 
 rich viands and cakes, costly wines, lemonade, and rare fruits. 
 Nearly every house is still open for callers, who begin their 
 circuits in the morning, many of them continuing their 
 travels until the small hours of the night. While there are 
 some things pleasant and desirable in this ancient custom, it 
 is also attended with so much excess, that the first day of Jan- 
 uary closes annually in New York upon more tipsy dandies 
 than can be found in almost any other city in Christendom. 
 
 Thanksgiving is now very generally observed in New 
 York, services being held in most of the churches, and aL 
 
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 35 
 
 business is suspended. This custom originated in New Eng- 
 land, and has gradually spread its way through most of the 
 country. 
 
 Independence Day, originating with the publication of the 
 Declaration in Philadelphia, is a great holiday in New York. 
 The incessant discharge of fire-arms from early morn 'till 
 evening, is very distressing to people of weak nerves. The 
 brilliant fireworks during the evening of the 4th of July, in 
 the parks and squares, are not excelled in the world. 
 
 The Dutch mansions were complete models of neatness and 
 order. The floors had no carpets, and were almost worn out 
 with repeated scourings of soap and white sand. Their par- 
 lors were choicely kept, and their tables contained no rich 
 plate. 
 
 Dancing was a common recreation among the Dutch. The 
 supper at a dance consisted of chocolate and bread. 
 
 All marriages among the ancient Dutch had to be pub- 
 lished three weeks beforehand in the churches, otherwise a 
 license must be purchased from the Governor. This latter 
 was considered costly. 
 
 A good suit of clothes worn at church was invariably taken 
 off and laid away on the return. 
 
 The Dutch were fond of posterity. A father sometimes 
 gave his son a bundle of goose-quills, telling him to give one 
 to each of his sons. 
 
 Gentlemen in good circumstances thought nothing of car- 
 rying a bag containing a hundred pounds of meal through the 
 streets, and would have been ashamed of a porter. 
 
 It was the custom of the early Dutch merchants and spec- 
 ulators to make their fortunes out of their customers and 
 nothing from their creditors. Alas ! how the world changes ! 
 
36 
 
 "NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 ENGLISH COLONIAL HISTORY. 
 
 SUCCESSFUL ADMINISTRATION OF COL. NICOLS RECAPTURE OF MAN- 
 HATTAN BY THE DUTCH THE CAREER AND TRAGIC END OF LEISLER, 
 
 THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE CAPTAIN KIDD, THE NEW YORK PIRATE 
 
 RIP VAN DAM THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY THE NEGRO 
 
 PLOT OF 1741 TRIUMPH OF THE ANGLO-SAXON TROUBLOUS TIMES 
 
 APPROACHING. 
 
 UCH dissatisfaction was very reason- 
 ably expected with this sudden change 
 of authority, though it proved, upon 
 the whole, quite satisfactory to the 
 Dutch colony. The inhabitants were 
 confirmed in their right of property 
 and their custom of inheritance; 
 they were allowed to continue their 
 commerce with the Holland merchants, liberty of conscience 
 in matters of religion was not abridged, and they were prom- 
 ised exemption from impressment in war service against any 
 nation whatsoever. They were allowed to elect inferior offi- 
 cers and magistrates, and any who were dissatisfied were per- 
 mitted to leave the country. The first English Governor, 
 Col. Eichard Nicols, established the system of trial by jury, 
 a hitherto unknown procedure in America. The Dutch Gov- 
 ernment at that period was reputed the most liberal govern- 
 ment in Europe ; but, unfortunately, the Government had 
 never had control of the colony, that having been committed 
 to the mercenary management of a private mercantile cor- 
 poration. Every precaution to strengthen the hold of the 
 new government on the inhabitants was taken. All grants of 
 
RECAPTURE OF MANHATTAN BY THE DUTCH. 37 
 
 land previously made were renewed or confirmed, and all 
 individual interests were carefully guarded. All property 
 belonging to the West India Company was confiscated and 
 sold at auction to the inhabitants. This linked the new ad- 
 ministration to their titles, and made it essential to the posses- 
 sion of their property. It was not until July 12, 1665, that the 
 Governor felt safe in attempting any decided change in the 
 government. On that day he issued his proclamation revok- 
 ing the old system of burgomasters and schepens, intro- 
 ducing in their place a Mayor, a Board of Aldermen, and a 
 Sheriff, all of whom were to be appointed by the Governor. 
 The name of the city was also changed to New York, in honor 
 of the Duke. Colonel Nicols, after a successful administra- 
 tion of four years, was at his own request relieved from duty, 
 and was succeeded in office by Colonel Francis Lovelace, an 
 offker of the English army. 
 
 RECAPTURE OF MANHATTAN" BY THE DUTCH. 
 
 N 1672 war again broke out between England 
 and Holland. The sturdy Dutch having 
 waited anxiously for an opportunity to re- 
 cover their lost possessions in America, fitted 
 out a squadron of five ships to cruise on the 
 American coast, with instructions to inflict as 
 much injury as possible upon the English colony and 
 commerce. Though the authorities at New York 
 were apprised of this fact, little preparation for defence 
 was undertaken. Governor Lovelace appears to have 
 been a moderate, good-natured genius, vastly more interested 
 in trips of pleasure than the affairs of government ; hence, 
 he scrupled not to leave for distant parts of the country, 
 though the city was liable to be surprised at any hour with 
 the approach of a hostile fleet. In his absence the fort was 
 
33 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 left under command of Captain John Manning, a white- 
 feathered hero, full of pomp and bluster, every way capable 
 of eating a rich dinner and of adjusting a pair of shoulder- 
 straps, though quite incapable of conducting any ordinary 
 correspondence or of resisting an attack. 
 
 In February, 1673, a rumor reached the city that the en- 
 emy's fleet had been discovered off the coast of Virginia. 
 The Governor was luxuriating among his rich friends in 
 Westchester. A hasty summons from Captain Manning 
 brought him to the city, where several hundred troops were 
 mustered, but as no enemy appeared they were soon dispersed. 
 In July he planned a trip to Connecticut. (A New York sum- 
 mer vacation.) A few days after his departure, two Dutch 
 men-of-war appeared off Sandy Hook. The affrighted Man- 
 ning again sent a dispatch to the Governor, and caused the 
 drum to be beaten through the streets for recruits. The only 
 noticeable response was from the Dutch malcontents, who, 
 overjoyed at the sight of the flag of the "fadderlandt," on 
 pretence of doing service, entered the fort and spiked many 
 of the cannon, after which they departed, leaving the chicken- 
 hearted captain to fight his battle on his own line and in his 
 own way. Meanwhile the enemies' ships advanced in front 
 of the fort, and after some interchange of communications, 
 in which Manning exhibited the greatest imbecility, the city 
 with its fortifications was surrendered without firing a gun in 
 its defence. The pusillanimous conduct of Manning, in sur- 
 rendering the city without the slightest resistance, was a 
 matter of great mortification to the English people, who then, 
 as now, prided themselves on their military prestige. After 
 the English authority was again established on the island, 
 Manning was arraigned and tried bv court-martial for cow- 
 ardice and treachery, and was convicted. His sword was 
 broken over his head in front of the City Hall, and he was 
 incapacitated from holding any station of trust or authority 
 under His Majesty's government ever afterward. 
 
 The Dutch commanders appointed Captain Anthony Colve 
 
THE CAREER AND TRAGIC END OF LEI6LER. 
 
 Governor, who changed the name of the city to New Orange, 
 and proceeded to reorganize the municipal institutions, con- 
 forming them again to those of the fatherland. Expecting 
 an attack from the English to recover their lost territory. 
 Governor Colve with commendable dispatch repaired the 
 palisades, improved the fortifications, and placed the city in 
 a good state of defence. But the Dutch were not long al- 
 lowed to enjoy the fruit of this toil. The treaty of peace 
 signed February 9, 1674, between England and Holland, re- 
 stored Manhattan to the English crown, and on the 10th of 
 November, 1674, the Dutch Government departed from 
 American soil for the last time. 
 
 THE CAREER AND TRAGIC END OF LEISLER, THE PEOPLE'S 
 
 CHOICE. 
 
 S soon as the final cession of Man- 
 hattan to the English dominion had 
 been secured by the peace treaty with 
 the Holland Government, the Duke 
 of York applied for and received 
 from his brother Charles II. the 
 confirmation of his former title to 
 the country, and immediately ap- 
 pointed Sir Edmond Andros Gov- 
 ernor of the province. Andros, though a man of ability, was 
 the unscrupulous tool of his master, the Duke of York, and 
 his arbitrary tyranny over the people soon rendered his 
 government immensely unpopular. During his administra- 
 tion seven public wells w ere dug, a new dock was constructed!, 
 new streets were laid out, and the " bolting act " passed. 
 This latter granted the inhabitants of Manhattan the exclu- 
 sive monopoly of bolting flour, a business which, twenty years 
 later, furnished employment and subsistence to nearly two- 
 
40 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 thirds of the population. Andros was recalled in 1683, and 
 Colonel Thomas Dongan appointed in his stead. The death 
 of Charles IL, in 1685, brought the Duke of York to the 
 English throne under the title of James II. The great polit- 
 ical battles between Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe 
 were now fiercely renewed, James seeking with every ap- 
 pliance the restoration of the Koman Catholic religion in 
 England, as it had existed at the beginning of the reign of 
 Henry VIII. The American colonies were largely peopled 
 with Protestant refugees, who had fled the tyranny of the Old 
 World, and who could but take a lively interest in the pending 
 struggle. It was known that Governor Dongan, though a man 
 of moderation and caution, was a zealous Catholic, who had 
 received instructions from his master to favor the introduction 
 of the Roman Catholic religion into the province. As the 
 contest proceeded in England, the tides of public feeling ran 
 high in this country. The climax was reached on the recep- 
 tion of the news of the landing and proclamation of the 
 Prince of Orange, and the abdication and flight of the former 
 king. The revolution in England immediately extended to 
 this country. The Bostonians rose to arms, deposed the Eng- 
 lish officers, sent them back to the mother country, and estab- 
 lished a popular government. New York was more conserv- 
 ative. Governor Dongan, too tolerant in his policy to please 
 the king, had been superseded a short time previously by 
 Francis Nicholson, another Catholic, who, on the reception of 
 the news, betook himself on board a vessel lying in the harbor, 
 and sailed for England, leaving the colony without a ruler. 
 Two political parties quickly came to the surface, each of 
 which avowed its loyalty to the reign of William and Mary. 
 One consisted of the members of the late Council, supported 
 by a few wealthy citizens, and claimed that the colonial gov- 
 ernment was not subverted by the revolution in England, or 
 by the flight of the Governor; that the second in authority 
 with the Council inherited the power to administer the gov- 
 ernment, until matters should be definitely settled by the 
 
THE CAREER AND TRAGIC END OF LEISLER. 
 
 41 
 
 crown. The other party, which embodied the masses of the 
 people, maintained that by the overthrow of the late king, and 
 the abandonment of the country by the Governor, the previous 
 system of government was totally overthrown, and that the 
 people were empowered to appoint a provisional government 
 of their own. But in times of general and intense excitement 
 there is little chance for discussion ; prejudice and inclination 
 are immensely more potent than logic. The public money of 
 the city, amounting to £773 12s., had been deposited for safe 
 keeping in the fort, which was garrisoned with a few troops. 
 A crowd of citizens took possession of the fortification with- 
 out resistance, after which Jacob Leisler, senior captain of the 
 trainbands, was unanimously appointed to take command of 
 the same, with power to preserve the peace, and suppress 
 rebellion until instructions were received from England. 
 The gentleman thus elevated to be the principal hero, and 
 bear in the end the sad penalty of this exciting epoch, was 
 one of the oldest and wealthiest of the Dutch burghers. He 
 had entered Manhattan as a soldier in the service of the West 
 India Company in 1660, and soon after married the widow of 
 Cornelius Yanderveer, and thus became uncle of Stephanus 
 Yan Cortland t and Nicholas Bayard, who were afterwards 
 the principal instigators in his execution. He had already 
 held a commission in the colony, and fully demonstrated his 
 capacity and loyalty. No sooner had he taken possession of 
 the fort, however, than active measures were undertaken by 
 the opposite party to subvert his administration. Nicholas 
 Bayard became the principal opponent of the Leislerian Gov- 
 ernment. Bayard was the cousin of Mrs. Peter Stuy vesant, of 
 genuine Holland origin, had by mercantile pursuits amassed a 
 large fortune, and had long been an active politician. He had 
 served as Mayor, and was at this time colonel of the train- 
 bands, of which Leisler was senior captain. His party having 
 failed to get possession of the fort or custom-house, he next 
 tried, but in vain, to disaffect the militia. Finding his influence 
 gone, and alarmed for his personal safety, he, with Colonel 
 
42 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Peter Schuyler, took refuge at Albany, where they labored in- 
 dustriously to excite hostility to Leisler and his party. Leisler 
 was supported by Massachusetts, and the General Court of 
 Connecticut, by the citizens of other provinces ; but the au- 
 thorities at Albany, probably through the influence of Bayard, 
 refused for a period to recognize him. His administration 
 appears to have been just, and considering the times, moder- 
 ate. The first Mayor elected by the people was under his 
 administration. 
 
 France having espoused the cause of the exiled king, war 
 broke out on the frontier between the French of Canada and 
 their Indian allies, and the English colonies. The thriving 
 settlement at Schenectady was burned, and nearly all the 
 inhabitants massacred in one night. These depredations led 
 to a general movement on the part of the authorities at 
 Albany, New York, and New England, and two expeditions 
 were fitted out, one against Montreal, and the other against 
 Quebec. Neither of these accomplished their mission, and 
 Leisler's administration can hardly be regarded a success 
 though his motives were certainly only those of a genuine 
 patriot. 
 
 In December, 1689, a messenger from the English Govern- 
 ment arrived at Boston with a communication addressed " To 
 Francis Nicholson, or, in his absence, to such as for the time 
 being takes care for preserving the peace and administering 
 the laws in his Majesty's province of New York." Anxious 
 to obtain possession of the letter and what authority it might 
 confer, Bayard and one or two of his adherents secretly en- 
 tered New York, and on the arrival of the messenger asserted 
 their pretensions and demanded the missive. After some 
 deliberation, however, the messenger delivered the package 
 to those actually in power. The document authorized the 
 person in power to take the chief command as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, and to appoint a council to assist him in conduct- 
 ing the government. Leisler carried out these instructions. 
 A riot ensued, in which an attempt was made to seize Leis- 
 
THE CAREER AND TRAGIC END OF LEISLER. 
 
 43 
 
 ler, after which he issued a warrant for the arrest of Bayard 
 and others, on the charge of high misdemeanor against his 
 Majesty's authority. Bayard was arrested and thrown into 
 prison, and on the following day a court was called to try 
 him for treason. Finding his affairs suddenly brought to 
 extremities, Bayard confessed his faults, and supplicated for 
 mercy, which was granted, though he was retained a prisoner 
 for fourteen months. Early in his administration, Leisler 
 had sent a report of his doings to the English throne. It 
 was, however, written in broken English, a language he had 
 never mastered ; and as every disappointed English Governor 
 stood ready to malign his motives and decry his usurpations, 
 a violent prejudice was probably excited against him. Late 
 in the year 1690, the Prince of Orange appointed Henry 
 Sloughter Governor of New York, and Major Richard In- 
 goldsby Lieutenant-Governor, who set sail for America with 
 several ships and a small body of troops. A storm separated 
 the vessels at sea, and Ingoldsby landed two months previous 
 to the arrival of his superior. On landing, Ingoldsby an- 
 nounced the appointment of Sloughter, and demanded the 
 fort for the accommodation of his troops. Leisler expressed 
 his willingness to surrender the fort and his entire authority, 
 but very properly demanded that previous to it the new- 
 comer should produce his royal commission. The papers 
 were, however, in the possession of Sloughter, and no sort of 
 credentials could be produced. Leisler then offered the City 
 Hall for the accommodation of the English troops, declining 
 to surrender the fort until an officer duly commissioned ar- 
 rived. Ingoldsby, with a haughty dignity, such as no wise 
 officer sensible of the proper forms of authority would ex- 
 hibit, issued a proclamation calling on the people to assist 
 him in overcoming all opposition to his Majesty's command. 
 This was bravely replied to by Leisler on the following day, 
 charging whatever of bloodshed should ensue to his oppo- 
 nent, and forbidding him to commit any hostile acts against 
 the city, fort, or province, at his utmost peril. A cloud of 
 
44 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 wild agitation and uncertainty hung over the city for seven 
 long weeks, until on the 19th of March the missing vessel, 
 with the storm-tossed Governor, entered the harbor. Slough- 
 ter immediately landed, selected his council from among the 
 enemies of Leisler, and proceeded to the City Hall, where he 
 published his commission. Having sworn in the members 
 of his council, he directed Ingoldsby to demand possession 
 of the fort, though it was now eleven o'clock at night. Leis- 
 ler, to avoid any deception, dispatched Ensign Stoll, who had 
 seen Sloughter in England, with a message to the Governor, 
 charging him to eye him closely. A second demand was 
 made for the fort, and Leisler dispatched the Mayor and 
 another prominent officer to make to the Governor all neces- 
 sary explanations, and to transfer the fort. On entering his 
 presence they were, however, handed over instantly to the 
 guards, without being allowed to speak. Another ineffectual 
 demand for the fort was made, after which the matter was 
 allowed to rest until the next day. 
 
 On the following morning, Leisler addressed a polite and 
 congratulatory letter to the Governor, asking to be released 
 from duty, and offering the fort with all its arms and stores, 
 expressing also his willingness to give an exact account of 
 all his doings. An officer dispatched to receive the fort was 
 ordered to release Bayard and Nichols, who were still in con- 
 finement, and to arrest Leisler and his principal adherents. 
 Bayard and Nichols were at once admitted and sworn into 
 the council, and Leisler and eleven of his friends arrested. 
 Two weeks later they were arraigned for trial. Leisler set 
 up no defence, alleging that the court had no authority in the 
 case — that the king of England only could decide whether 
 he had acted without his authority or not. Leisler and his 
 son-in-law, Milborne, who had acted as Secretary, were pro- 
 nounced usurpers and traitors, and condemned to death. On 
 the 16th of May, 1G91, amid a storm of rain, while the dissi- 
 pated Governor and his satellites were revelling at a drunken 
 feast, they were brought out for execution. The scaffold 
 
THE CAREER AND TRAGIC END OF LEISLER. 
 
 45 
 
 was erected on the ground now covered by the New York 
 post office, and in full view of Leisler's fine residence. Mil- 
 borne offered a prayer for the king, queen, and the officers 
 of the province. Leisler delivered a long address, which dis- 
 played the workings of a fine mind, and a good heart, after 
 which he died without a murmur, amid the tears and lamen- 
 tations of the populace. 
 
 Thus closed the career of the first New York Governor 
 elected by the people. Leisler does not appear to have been 
 unduly ambitious for political honors. He was a patriotic, 
 honest, high-minded Dutchman ; wholly destitute of the arts 
 and intrigues of the modern politician. Chosen by his coun- 
 trymen, like Washington at a later period, he devoted him- 
 self with all his energies for the advancement of the common 
 weal, and died a martyr to the cause he served. Possessed 
 of great influence, he incited no insurrection to prevent his 
 execution ; and wasted none of his vast estate in purchasing 
 a pardon. He did not cringe and beg for life as his enemies 
 had meanly done ; but asserting his sincerity, like an honest, 
 brave man he expired, trusting in God, and praying for his 
 enemies. His execution, ordered over the signature of a 
 drunken Governor, was the first ripe fruit of that spirit of 
 English usurpation which culminated at length in the 
 numerous gory fields of the American Revolution. Four 
 years after his death, his worthy son, after a series of well-timed 
 efforts, secured from the English Parliament the triumphant 
 reversal of the attainder, and the complete exoneration of 
 his father from the charge of usurpation. 
 
46 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 CAPTAIN KIDD, THE NEW YORK PIRATE. 
 
 NE melancholy event in human 
 history too frequently gives 
 place to another still more ap- 
 palling. The frontier war be- 
 gun during the administration 
 of Leisler, continued its ravages 
 for a number of years after 
 his death. Governor Fletcher 
 wisely formed an alliance with 
 the Iroquois Indians, who proved a valuable defence against 
 these hostile inroads. It was clearly the design of the French 
 Government to harass and cripple the frontier settlements, 
 until such times as it could overwhelm the cities, and so wipe 
 out the English authority from the country. During these per- 
 ilous years, great losses and calamities were inflicted on the 
 colonies, and the people sighed for security and rest. But 
 another evil, equally disastrous to the development of the city, 
 had long preyed upon its commerce. The slave trade had been 
 considered legitimate since the founding of the colony, and the 
 Dutch have the unenviable honor of introducing this iniqui- 
 tous system. During the continuance of the Dutch dynasty, 
 however, this trade appears to have been carried on by nan- 
 sient Dutch traders, who obtained the blacks from the African 
 kings, on tne coasts of Guinea, and to have formed no part 
 of the regular business of the shipping merchants of Manhat- 
 tan. This continued policy of legalized theft and brutality 
 necessarily corrupted the men of the sea, and fitted them for 
 any undertaking of treachery and daring. It is difficult in- 
 culcating theft and honesty in the same lesson. During the 
 continuance of the war between France and England, many 
 privateers had also been fitted out from England and New 
 York, to prey upon the French merchantmen, which greatly 
 encouraged the licentious tendencies of the sailors. It is 
 
CAPTAIN KEDDj THE NEW YORK PIRATE. 47 
 
 said that many of these, failing to seize the legitimate objects 
 of their pursuit, to prevent failure to the expedition, fell 
 upon friendly vessels, which they plundered and sunk, return- 
 ing in triumph with their booty. So difficult is it for adven- 
 turous men, long trained in these schools of vice, and feasted 
 with ill-gotten gain, to return to the walks of common indus- 
 try, that at the close of the war the seas literally swarmed 
 with armed pirates. Many merchants suspended business in 
 consequence of these incessant perils ; and it is even hinted 
 that not a few of them, as well as higher functionaries, in- 
 cluding Governor Fletcher himself, became abettors and 
 partners in these piratical enterprises. The American seas, 
 with a thinly populated coast of two thousand miles, indented 
 with numerous harbors, rivers, and inroads, and with a poorly 
 organized government, furnished perhaps the safest retreat 
 for these wandering corsairs. Their merchandise was largely 
 disposed of through the Spanish merchants, who had been 
 so deeply demoralized by their Central American plunders 
 that they cared little whence they received their goods, pro- 
 vided they yielded a satisfactory profit. It is probable that 
 New York merchants, also, were not guiltless. Before the 
 conclusion of the war, these depredations became so alarm- 
 ing that many New York merchants besought the English 
 ministry to institute measures to suppress piracv. Governor 
 Fletcher, who had been accused on every side of complicity 
 with these malefactors, was removed, and Lord Bellamont 
 appointed in his stead, with instructions to extirpate piracy 
 from the American seas. As every English vessel was at 
 that time engaged in the war with France, Bellamont formed 
 a stock-company, in which the King, Chancellor Somers, the 
 Earl of Romney, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Ox- 
 ford, Bellamont, and Robert Livingston, became sharehold- 
 ers. A written agreement was made, consisting of several 
 articles, which recited, in substance, that Bellamont should 
 furnish £5,000, this sum being four-fifths of the outlay in 
 the undertaking, and that the remaining fifth should be 
 
48 
 
 NEW YOEK ANI> ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 supplied by Livingston, and the captain of the expeditioD. 
 Livingston, at the opening of the negotiations, had introduced 
 Captain William Kidd (sometimes called Robert Kidd), with 
 whom he had just crossed the Atlantic, as a man well qualified 
 for such an undertaking. Kidd was a Scotchman by birth, 
 had followed the sea from Lis youth, had been captain of a 
 privateer in the West Indies, and was at that time captain of 
 a packet plying between New York and London. He was in 
 the prime of life, and had several years previously married 
 a respectable lady in New York, with whom he had since 
 lived, in his own house, in Liberty Street, where he was re- 
 garded a wealthy and honorable seaman. It is said that the 
 h'rst rich carpet on Manhattan was in Kidd's parlor, though 
 he is not believed to have been greatly dishonest until the 
 last three years of his life. As he was an experienced and 
 resolute commander, with extensive knowledge of the lurking 
 places of the pirates, and of many of the pirates themselves, 
 he was considered (forgetting the force of his old habits) the 
 fittest person to take charge of the expedition. It is now 
 easily discovered that two fatal mistakes were made in plan- 
 ning this expedition. First, the vessel should have been a 
 regular man-of-war, under the direction of the general gov- 
 ernment, in which the captain had no capital, and from which 
 no one expected a profit. On the other hand, though com- 
 missioned by the king, and expected to promote the public 
 good, it was the property of a private corporation, and ex- 
 pected to bring large pecuniary returns. The prizes captured 
 were to be taken into Boston Harbor, and delivered to Lord 
 Bellamont. The parties agreed that if no prizes were cap- 
 tured, the £5,000 advanced by Bellamont should be refunded, 
 and the title of the vessel be vested thereafter in Livingston 
 and Kidd. But as soon as Kidd delivered to Bellamont prize 
 goods to the amount of £100,000, then the ship was to be- 
 long to Livingston and Kidd. Bellamont and those he repre- 
 sented were to receive four-fifths of the net proceeds, the 
 remaining fifth belonging to Livingston and Kidd. The 
 
CAPTAIN KTDD, THE NEW YORK PIRATE. 
 
 49 
 
 second mistake was in the contract made witli the crew. 
 Kidd agreed to furnish about one hundred men, who were to 
 receive one-fourth the value of all captures, but who were to 
 be enlisted with the distinct stipulation, " no prize, no pay." 
 While it was certain that these terms would secure a crew, it 
 was also certain that few besides the most daring and fool- 
 hardy would be induced to embark. The result was that his 
 crew was made up of the most suspicious class, many of 
 whom had probably been pirates themselves, and hence open 
 to the most violent temptations when afloat on a foreign sea. 
 
 A commission bearing the great seal of England was is- 
 sued December 11, 1696, and the following April Kidd set sail 
 for New York in the " Adventure Galley," a fine ship with 
 sixty sailors, which had been fitted out for the expedition. Here 
 he visited his wife, and cruised for some time around the 
 coast, capturing a French privateer, for which he received 
 the thanks of the Assembly of New York, and two hundred 
 and fifty pounds as a complimentary reward for his fidelity. 
 While here he continued to recruit his force until it ex- 
 ceeded one hundred and sixty men, after which he sailed for 
 the East Indies and the eastern coast of Africa. Up to this 
 point his fame continued unsullied, and by what process the 
 change in his career was produced is not certainly known, 
 lie afterwards protested that, failing in the pursuit of the pi- 
 rates, his crew became mutinous and forced him, contrary to 
 his will, into his career of infamy. It is more probable that, 
 finding himself in possession of a strong ship completely 
 armed, with a large and well-selected crew obsequious to his 
 wishes, the temptation to prey upon the w r eak instead of en- 
 countering the strong overcame him, and he thus became one 
 of the most intrepid and successful pirates that ever hoisted 
 the black flag on the seas. Upon the commerce clustering 
 along the coasts of Malabar and Madagascar, he conducted a 
 career of outrage and plunder, by which in a short time he 
 amassed countless treasure, and inflicted such destruction as 
 to render his name a terror on the seas, and a theme for every 
 4 
 
50 
 
 NEW YOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 future historian. Satisfied finally with his accumulations, he 
 resolved to return. To avoid detection he exchanged his ves- 
 sel, with a large portion of his crew, for a frigate he had cap- 
 tured, and in 1698 brought his vessel into Long Island Sound, 
 and on Gardiner's Island buried a large amount of treasure 
 in the presence of the proprietor of the estate, whom he laid 
 under strict injunctions of secresy. He next repaired to Bos- 
 ton under an assumed name, with the design, it is believed, 
 of selling the frigate, after which he hoped to join his family 
 and spend the remainder of life in quiet splendor. Appre- 
 hended in the streets at Boston, he was arrested by order of 
 Governor Bellarnont, one of the chief promoters of the enter- 
 prise, who had heard startling rumors concerning him, and 
 had been anxiously watching for his return. He was sent to 
 England for trial. It being considered difficult to substan- 
 tiate the charge of piracy, he was arraigned for the murder 
 of William Moore, one of his crew, whom he had unfortu- 
 nately killed while at sea, by hitting him with a bucket for 
 insubordination. After an unfair trial he was hanged in 
 chains at Execution Dock, May 12, 1701. The rope broke 
 and he ascended the scaffold the second time. Six of his ac- 
 complices were executed the same day. Tradition says that 
 after the capture of Kidd his crew returned with the vessel 
 to Gardiner's Island, where they ascertained that two ships 
 were in pursuit for their capture. In an attempt to escape 
 they ran their vessel some distance up the Hudson river, 
 where she was blown up and sunk, the sailors dispersing on 
 the shore with such treasure as they could bear away. 
 
 The buried treasure on Gardiner's Island was taken up by 
 a commission appointed by Governor Bellarnont, and con- 
 sisted, besides considerable rich merchandise, of three bags of 
 gold dust, two bags of coined silver, one bag of coined gold, 
 two bags of golden bars, one bag of silver bars, one bag of 
 silver rings, one bag of silver buttons, and one of jewels and 
 precious stones, including agates and amethysts. The treasure 
 was at that time valued at about two hundred thousand dol- 
 
CAPTAIN KIDD, THE NEW YORK PIRATE. 
 
 51 
 
 lars, and with this Kidd doubtless thought it would not be 
 difficult to secure his release, if his royal commission, which 
 he still held, proved insufficient. The treasure thus obtained 
 was believed to be but a fraction of his accumulations, and 
 various rumors concerning buried riches have been revived 
 by every succeeding generation down to our day. Acres of 
 soil have been dug over by eager gold hunters. A pot con- 
 taining eighteen hundred dollars in money ploughed up in a 
 corn-field at Martha's Vineyard over twenty-five years ago, 
 was believed by some to be a part of Kidd's money. Several 
 families on Long Island it is said became unaccountably rich, 
 and were believed to have shared in his accumulations, 
 though this is uncertain. In 1844 an excitement was occa- 
 sioned by the discovery of a sunken vessel near Caldwell's 
 Landing on the Hudson river, supposed to be the one sunken 
 by Kidd's sailors. A stock company to pursue the search 
 was hastily formed, sinking the fortunes of many though it 
 brought up nothing but mud. The affairs of the company, 
 after being manipulated by designing men, were wound up 
 with litigation, disclosing great deception, and the false im- 
 prisonment of an honest man, who had been unwarily drawn 
 into the association. 
 
 Captain Kidd was not the only American pirate. His roy- 
 al instructions named " Captains Thos. Too, John Ireland, 
 Thomas Wake, Captain Maze, and other subjects, natives or 
 inhabitants of New York and elsewhere in America, they 
 being Pirates upon the American seas," as persons to be pur- 
 sued and captured. His unusual notoriety arose from the 
 facts that he was fitted out by several members of the English 
 nobility, all of whom were tried for their lives, after his dis- 
 grace, but acquitted ; from the valuable treasures discovered, 
 and the summary punishment with which he was overtaken. 
 His career forcibly illustrates the facts that sin brings its own 
 punishment, and that " the way of the transgressor is hard? 
 
 His wife and daughter continued to reside, though in great 
 retirement, in New York for some years after his death ;. but 
 
52 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 as he left no sons, it cannot be supposed that any of the ex- 
 cellent families bearing the name are his descendants. 
 
 RIP VAN DAM. 
 
 flyv^XJRING the administration of the five 
 Wj§§] colonial governors, immediately suc- 
 ceeding Lord Eellamont, and reaching 
 down to 1731, but little of general interest to 
 posterity occurred, save their occasional mer- 
 cenary usurpations, and an unsuccessful expe- 
 dition fitted out at great expense against the 
 French in Canada. Upon the death of Governor 
 Montgomerie, which occurred July 1, 1731, the 
 chief functions of government devolved upon Kip 
 Van Dam, the oldest member of the council, and 
 ex officio, the second officer in the government. Van Dam was 
 a genuine Holland Dutchman, his father having settled in 
 the city during the reign of Governor Stuyvesant. He had 
 acquired a considerable fortune in mercantile pursuits, and 
 was at this time conducting an extensive foreign trade. lie 
 had long taken an active interest in public affairs, was famil- 
 iar with all the machinery of the government, and as he 
 sought the good of the people, being one of them, they were 
 greatly pleased with his administration, and nothing exciting 
 occurred during the thirteen months of his continuance in 
 office. On the 1st day of August, 1732, he delivered the 
 seals of government to his successor, Colonel William Cosby, 
 former Governor of Minorca, who had just arrived with his 
 royal commission. Cosby was despotic and avaricious, and 
 had not sustained an unblemished character in his former 
 administration. While in England he had, however, opposed 
 an obnoxious sugar bill, likely to seriously affect the colonists, 
 which gave him a transient popularity on his arrival. The 
 
KIP VAN DAM. 
 
 53 
 
 assembly then in session granted him a revenue for six years, 
 and a present of five hundred and fifty pounds for the service 
 he had rendered them in parliament. Yan Dam, during his 
 administration, had performed the whole service of govern- 
 ment, and had accordingly drawn from the treasury the cus- 
 tomary salary, amounting to about two thousand pounds. The 
 English crown, at the request of Cosby, had, however, fur- 
 nished him with an order requiring Van Dam to refund half 
 of the money to his superior. One of Cosby's first acts was 
 to produce this order, and demand immediate payment of the 
 money, but soon found that, in the plucky Dutchman, he had 
 really caught a tartar. Yan Dam expressed his perfect will- 
 ingness to divide the salary of two thousand pounds, on con- 
 dition that Cosby should also divide the six thousand pounds 
 he had received as perquisites, since his appointment, and 
 previous to entering upon the duties of his office. Cosby 
 soon brought a suit against Yan Dam, before the judges of the 
 Supreme Court, as barons of the Exchequer, functions which 
 their commissions allowed them to exercise. This was lit- 
 erally taking the adjudication in his own hands, as the gov- 
 ernor was ex officio Chancellor of the Exchequer, and two of 
 the judges were among his most intimate friends. Yan Dam's 
 counsel excepted to the jurisdiction of the court in the case, 
 and demanded that the case be tried in a suit at common law. 
 The validity of this exception was supported by one of the 
 judges, but overruled by the other two. Yan Dam's cause 
 was thus declared lost, and he was compelled to refund the 
 money. 
 
 But the people declared that the cause should not rest here. 
 This continued contempt, with which everything of colonial 
 origin was viewed and treated by the English crown and min- 
 istry, could no longer be silently tolerated. They were already 
 growing weary of rapacious, tyrannical Governors, whose sole 
 object was to repair their broken-down fortunes from the un- 
 requited industry of their subjects. The judge who had sus- 
 tained the exceptions of Van Dam's counsel was hastily re- 
 
54 
 
 NEW YORK aND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 moved from office, and Van Dam suspended from the coun- 
 cil. This arbitrary procedure, against one of their own long- 
 trusted and honored citizens, aroused the indignation of the 
 populace, whose loud murmurs were heard in all parts, of the 
 town. 
 
 THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 7 P to this period, but one newspaper had 
 been published in New York. That 
 was The New York Gazette, by Wil- 
 liam Bradford, started in October, 1725, under 
 government patronage, by which it had been 
 continued until this time. Supported by gov- 
 ernment, it had, however, been a mere sycophant, 
 and very naturally espoused the cause of Cosby in 
 this controversy. During the progress of this trial, 
 New York was startled with the issue of a new and 
 independent paper, called the New York Weekly 
 Journal, and published by Peter Zenger. This enterprising 
 little sheet thought it entirely within its province to examine 
 the affairs of government, scrutinize and advise the Governor, 
 question the proceedings of the Court of Exchequer, discuss 
 questions agitating the assembh r , and present its own showing 
 of the grievances of the colonies. Week after week, its col- 
 umns teemed with earnest, spicy, and witty articles, in which 
 the cause of Van Dam was with marked ability maintained, 
 and the policy of the Governor arraigned. Smarting under 
 the scorn of the people, and wounded by the incessant dis- 
 charge of these paper bullets, the Governor resolved to take 
 the offensive. The columns of the Gazette had boldly stood 
 in his defence; but these were not sufficient: opposition must 
 be suppressed. It was resolved to select four of the issues of 
 the paper, containing the most obnoxious articles, which were 
 to be burned by the common hangman, the officers of the 
 
THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 55 
 
 city and the populace being required to attend the ceremony. 
 Scarcely anybody attended, however; which convinced the 
 mortified Governor that he had entered this paper warfare at 
 his own charges. But one thing remained, and that was to 
 crash the editor. Zenger was accordingly arrested on a charge 
 of libel, and as an enormous bail was exacted, which he could 
 not procure, he was thrown into jail, and denied the use of 
 pen, ink, or paper. Here he continued more than eight 
 months, without, for a single week, suspending the issue of his 
 paper, giving direction to his friends through a chink in the 
 door. His paper lost none of its vitality by his confinement. 
 Its ablest articles are believed to have been written by Van 
 Dam's lawyers, and other deposed officials. On the 4th of 
 August, 1735, Zenger was brought out of his cell for trial. 
 Every preparation, it was believed, had been made by the 
 Governor and his friends to secure his conviction. There 
 were but three eminent lawyers in New York at that time — 
 William Smith, James Alexander, and Mr. Mumiy. Smith 
 and Alexander, having been employed to defend the prisoner, 
 were greatly surprised by the Governor, who, for a pretended 
 offence, ordered their names to be stricken from the list of at- 
 torneys. It now looked as if the court party were to have 
 things all their own way. But the friends of Zenger were not 
 to be thus outwitted. They had silently engaged the services 
 of Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia. Hamilton, though 
 eighty years of age, had not greatly declined in mind, was a 
 man of warm and generous impulses, and one of the most 
 brilliant barristers of his day. A more able or dignified ad- 
 vocate could scarcely have been found in the world, and his 
 appearance in the crowded court-room, just as the case was 
 called, almost stunned the leaders of the prosecution. The 
 case was tried in the Supreme Court, with a jury of twelve of 
 the citizens. The prosecution produced certain statements 
 printed in Zenger's paper, and claimed that they were libelous, 
 and that the jury were required to render a verdict of guilty, 
 when satisfied that he had published them. Hamilton admit- 
 
56 
 
 NEW YOKE AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ted their publication, and proposed to introduce the full evi- 
 dence of their truthfulness. To this the attorney-general 
 objected, claiming that the truth of a libel could not be taken 
 in evidence, and that a libel became all the more dangerous 
 because of its truthfulness. The fact of publication having 
 
 THE KIPP BAY HOUSE, AND HOME OF MAJOR ANDRE DURING HIS TREASONABLE 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH ARNOLD. 
 
 been now fully admitted, and all evidence on the part of the 
 defence being summarily ruled out by the court, nothing re- 
 mained but for the counsel to sum up the case for their re- 
 spective clients. Hamilton proceeded in a bland and eloquent 
 manner to state the case, after which he labored to impress 
 upon the jury that they were to be judges of the law, as well 
 as of the facts in the case, and that they were not to be tram- 
 melled by the interpretation of the court. Hamilton's address 
 was so ingenious and pertinent that we cannot forbear intro- 
 ducing a few extracts from it. 
 
 " If," said he, " a libel is understood in the large and un- 
 
THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 57 
 
 limited sense urged by Mr. Attorney, there is scarce a writing 
 I know of that may not be called a libel, or scarce any per- 
 son safe from being called to account as a libeller; for 
 Moses, meek as he was, libelled Cain, and who is it that has 
 not libelled the devil ; for, according to Mr. Attorney, it is no 
 justification to say that one has a bad name. Echard has 
 
 OLD CITY HALL IN WALL STREET. 
 
 libelled our good King William. Burnet has libelled, among 
 others, King Charles and King James, and Rapin has libelled 
 them all. How must a man speak or write, or what must he 
 hear, read, or sing, or when must he laugh, so as to be secure 
 from being taken up as a libeller. I sincerely believe that 
 were some persons to go through the streets of New York 
 nowadays and read a part of the Bible, if it were not 
 known to be such, Mr. Attorney, with the help of his innuen- 
 does, would easily turn it to be a libel. As, for instance, the 
 sixteenth verse of the ninth chapter of Isaiah : ' The leaders 
 of this people [innuendo, the Governor and Council of New 
 York] cause them [innuendo, the people of this province] to 
 err ; and they [meaning the people of this province] are de- 
 stroyed ' [innuendo, are deceived into the loss of liberty, which 
 
58 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 is the worst kind of destruction]. Or, if some person should 
 publicly repeat, in a manner not pleasing to his betters, the 
 tenth and eleventh verses of the fifty-sixth chapter of the 
 same book, then Mr. Attorney would have a large field to 
 display his skill in the artful application of innuendoes. The 
 words are : ' His watchmen are blind ; they are all ignorant ; 
 yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough.' But 
 to make them a libel, no more is wanting than the aid of his 
 skill in the right adapting of his innuendoes. As for instance, 
 ' His watchmen [innuendo, the Governor, Council and Assem- 
 bly] are blind ; they are ignorant [innuendo, will not see the 
 dangerous designs of his excellency] ; yea, they [meaning the 
 Governor and his Council] are greedy dogs, which can never 
 have enough [innuendo, of riches and power.] ' " 
 
 He then proceeded to show that these illustrations were 
 perfectly in keeping with the case under trial, and urged the 
 jury to decide for themselves concerning the truth or false- 
 hood of Zenger's articles, after which he concluded as fol- 
 lows: "You see I labor under the weight of many years, 
 and am borne down by many infirmities of body ; yet, old 
 and weak as I am, I should think it my duty, if required, to 
 go to the utmost part of the land, where my service could be 
 of any use in assisting to quench the flame of persecution 
 upon information set on foot by the government to deprive 
 a people of the right of remonstrating (and complaining too) 
 against the arbitrary attempts of men in power — men who 
 injure and oppress the people under their administration, 
 provoking them to cry out and complain, and then make that 
 very complaint the foundation for new oppressions and per- 
 secutions. I wish I could say there were no instances of this 
 kind. But to conclude, the question before the Court and 
 you, gentlemen of the jury, is not a small or private concern; 
 it is not the cause of a poor printer, nor of New York alone, 
 which you are now trying. No ! it may, in its consequences, 
 affect every freeman that lives under the British Govern- 
 ment upon the main of America. It is the best of causes ; 
 
THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY. 
 
 59 
 
 it is the cause of liberty; and I make no doubt but your 
 upright conduct this day will not only entitle you to the love 
 and esteem of your fellow citizens, but every man who 
 prefers freedom to a life of slavery will bless and honor you 
 as men who have baffled the attempts of tyranny, and, by an 
 impartial and incorrupt verdict, have laid a noble foundation 
 for securing to ourselves, our posterity, and our neighbors, 
 that to which nature and the laws of our country have given 
 us a right — the liberty of both exposing and opposing arbi- 
 trary power, in these parts of the world, at least by speaking 
 and writing the truth." 
 
 The venerable barrister closed amid a general outburst of 
 satisfaction and applause, and the attorney -general offered but 
 a weak response. The jury were charged that they were 
 judges of the fact, but not of the law, and that the truth of 
 the libel should not enter into their deliberations. After a 
 few minutes' absence, the jury returned a unanimous verdict 
 of "not guilty" The anxiety of the assembled populace 
 being thus happily dismissed, their joy burst forth in loud 
 and continued cheers, which rent the air, carrying everything 
 before them. Hamilton was seized by glad hands, and borne 
 from the court-room on the shoulders of the people. On the 
 following day a public dinner was given him by the inhabi- 
 tants, and the freedom of the city was presented to him in 
 a magnificent gold box, and when he set sail for Philadelphia 
 it was amid the roar of cannon. The spirit of independence 
 brought out so emphatically in '76 had already begun to 
 work in the minds of the people, and Hamilton's earnest 
 utterances fell upon their hearts like sparks in a magazine. 
 Whether this triumphant defeat of the Governor affected his 
 health or not, we cannot tell, but he was shortly afterwards 
 reported sick, and expired on the 7th of March, 1736. This 
 great and decisive battle for the liberty of the press, so ably 
 contested in the face of such frightful dangers, has had its 
 influence on the government and inhabitants of Manhattan 
 to the present day, and we cannot tell how deeply we are 
 
60 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 indebted to the burning appeals of that brilliant orator, and 
 the fearless decision of that faithful jury. 
 
 THE NEGRO PLOT OF 1741. 
 
 ?^5?»OPULAE panics rank among the most 
 /j'l&Sy fatal disasters that can overtake a peo- 
 k\\'^ pie. The frenzy of wild and excited 
 masses in a populous city, like the com- 
 bustion of vast stores of inflammable 
 material, is truly frightful. In such 
 periods neither age, nor rank, nor sex, 
 nor condition, can be said to afford any 
 pledge of permanent security. Among others, the celebrated 
 Popish Plot concocted by Titus Gates of England, and the 
 no less singular Witchcraft delusion of New England, may 
 be mentioned as examples. The New York negro plot of 
 1741 may be ranked with the preceding, and deserves a pass- 
 ing notice in this chapter on colonial history. The lapse of 
 the one hundred and thirty years which have since intervened 
 has thrown so dense a haze over the period that nothing can 
 be certainly known concerning it, save what has been trans- 
 mitted to us by successive historians. It is impossible for us 
 to determine how many grains of truth found place in that 
 storm of prejudice and passion, which resulted in the heartless 
 slaughter of a multitude of ignorant and defenceless beings. 
 The population of New York at that time amounted to about 
 ten thousand, nearly two thousand of whom were colored 
 slaves. Having grown up in ignorance and moral neglect, 
 they were considerably addicted to pilfering and other vices, 
 and often caused their masters considerable anxiety. The 
 most stringent measures were adopted to prevent their as- 
 sembling together; yet, as in all slave communities, a latent 
 
THE NEGRO PLOT OF 1741. 
 
 61 
 
 fear filled the minds of the whites, which every now and 
 then burst forth into a matter of public alarm. Some time 
 in the winter of 1740-41, a Spanish vessel, manned in part 
 with black sailors, was brought into the harbor as a prize, and 
 the negroes sold at auction, having previously enjoyed their 
 freedom, and not relishing their changed relations, it was but 
 natural that some complaints and threats should fall from 
 their lips which were not particularly heeded at the time. 
 
 On the 18th of March, 1741, the Governor's house in the fort 
 was discovered to be on fire, and despite the efforts to save it 
 the flames continued to rage until the building, the King's 
 chapel, the Secretary's office, the barracks, and stables, were 
 wholly consumed. The Governor, in reporting the matter to 
 the Assembly, declared that a plumber had left fire in the 
 gutter between the house and the chapel, and that from this 
 circumstance the accident had probably occurred. Some 
 days later the chimney of Captain Warren's house, situated 
 near the fort, took fire, but no damage occurred. After a few 
 days a fire broke out in the storehouse of one Yan Zandt, 
 and was said to have resulted from the carelessness of a 
 smoker. Three days later a cow stable was discovered to be 
 on fire, but this was soon extinguished ; and the same day the 
 house of Mr. Thompson was found on fire, the fire having 
 begun in the chamber where a negro slave slept. Coals were 
 discovered the next day under John Murray's stable on Broad- 
 way. On the day following two more fires occurred, one in 
 the house of a sergeant near the fort, and the other on the 
 roof of a house near the Fly Market, both of which were ex- 
 tinguished with slight damage. It now came to be believed 
 that these fires were the work of incendiaries, and who the 
 guilty parties were became a matter of earnest inquiry. 
 Some wise head conceived that these Spanish slaves had 
 undertaken to destroy the city, while others believed the 
 whole colored population of the island had conspired to burn 
 the city and massacre the whites. One of the Spanish ne- 
 groes, living near where a fire had occurred, on being ques- 
 
 ♦ 
 
62 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS rNSTHUTIONS. 
 
 f 
 
 tioned, was considered a suspicious character ; the demand 
 for the arrest of the Spanish negroes became general, and 
 they were accordingly thrown in^o prison. Another fire oc- 
 curring during the afternoon, while the magistrates were in 
 consultation, the panic became so general that negroes of all 
 ages were arrested by the wholesale and thrown into close 
 confinement. Search was now instituted for strangers, but 
 as none were found many families concluded to escape from 
 this threatened Sodom before it was consumed. The 
 stampede to the suburbs and regions round about became 
 general, and every available vehicle was drafted into service. 
 On the eleventh of April the Assembly offered a reward of 
 one hundred pounds and full pardon, to any one who would 
 turn State's evidence and make known the plot and the names 
 of the conspirators. This was far too tempting a bait for a 
 class of terrified, ignorant negroes, who saw nothing but the 
 dungeon and a frightful death before them, unless by some 
 revelation they were to regain their liberty, and such wealth 
 as they had never aspired to. For the investigation of the 
 case the Supreme Court convened on the 21st of April, 
 Judges Philipse and Horsmanden presiding. Robert "Watts 
 was foreman of the grand jury. It soon became evident that 
 the liberal reward offered ten days previously was destined 
 to be fruitful in results. Those days and nights had been 
 spent by the wretched prisoners in gloomy meditation, and 
 nearly every one was ready to make disclosures. Among the 
 first examined was Mary Burton, a colored servant girl inden- 
 tured to John Hughson, keeper of a squalid negro tavern on 
 the west side of the island. Mary testified that Caesar Varick, 
 Prince Amboyman, and Cuff Philipse' x ' had been in the habit 
 of meeting at the house of Hughson, talking about burning 
 the fort, the city, and murdering the people, and that Hugh- 
 son and his wife had promised to help them, after which 
 Hughson was to be the governor and Cuff king. She stated 
 that no whites had been present at these times except her 
 
 • Slaves then bore the surname of their masters invariably. 
 
THE NEGEO PLOT OF 1741. 
 
 63 
 
 master and mistress, and Peggy Carey, an abandoned Irish 
 woman living at Hughson's. Peggy was next brought before 
 the court and promised pardon on condition of general con- 
 fession. She, however, denied all knowledge of any con- 
 spiracy, or of the origin of any of the fires, and said that to 
 accuse any one would be to slander innocent persons and 
 blacken her own soul. The law at that time was that no 
 slave could testify in a court of justice against a white person. 
 Yet Mary Burton, a colored slave, here testified to matters 
 implicating Peggy Carey, a white woman, which she, Peggy, 
 emphatically denied. But the city had gone mad, and Mary 
 Burton, who a month previous would have been spurned from 
 a court-room, had suddenly become an oracle, and on her tes- 
 timony poor Peggy and the negroes named were found guilty 
 and sentenced to be executed. Death now staring Peggy in 
 the face, she became greatly alarmed, and begged for a second 
 examination, which was readily granted. She now testified 
 that she had attended a meeting of negroes held at a wretched 
 house near the battery kept by John Romme, and that 
 Romme had promised to carry them all to a new country 
 and give them their liberty, on condition that they should 
 burn the city, massacre the whites, and bring him the plun- 
 der. This ridiculous twaddle, evidently fabricated for the 
 occasion, was received as proof positive, and the persons 
 named (except Romme, who fled for life, though his wife was 
 arrested) were severally brought before her for identifica- 
 tion. The work of public slaughter began on the eleventh of 
 May, when Caesar and Prince were hanged, denying all knowl- 
 edge of any conspiracy to the last. Hughson and his wife 
 having been found guilty, were shortly after hanged, in con- 
 nection with Peggy, who had been promised pardon for her 
 pretended confession, every word of which she solemnly re- 
 tracted with her dying breath. We will not follow the 
 details of this strange investigation further. Suffice it to say 
 that, finding confession or some new disclosure the only loop- 
 hole through which to escape, nearly every prisoner prepared 
 
64 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 a story which availed him nothing in the end. Every attor- 
 ney volunteered to aid the prosecution, and thus left the ter- 
 rified slaves, without counsel or friend, to utter their incoher- 
 ent and contradictory statements and die. From the 11th of 
 May to the 29th of August, one hundred and fifty-four ne- 
 groes were committed to prison, fourteen of whom were 
 burned at the stake, eighteen hanged, seventy-one trans- 
 ported, and the remainder pardoned or discharged. The loqua- 
 cious Mary Burton continued the heroine of the times, depos- 
 ing to all she knew at the first examination, but able to 
 bring from her capacious memory new and wonderful revela- 
 tions at nearly every sitting of the court. At first she de- 
 clared that no white person, save Hughson, his wife, and 
 Peggy, was present at the meeting of the conspirators ; but at 
 length remembered that John Ury, a supposed Catholic priest 
 and schoolmaster in the city, had also been implicated. He 
 was at once arrested, and on the 29th of August hanged. 
 The panic now spread among the whites, twenty-four of 
 whom being implicated were hurled into prison, and four of 
 them finally executed. Personal safety appeared now at an 
 end ; everybody feared his neighbor and his friend, and the 
 Reign of Terror attending the Salem Witchcraft was scarcely 
 more appalling. We cannot conceive how far this matter 
 would have extended if the incomprehensible Mary Burton 
 had not, inflated with former success, begun to criminate 
 many persons of high social standing in the city. While the 
 blacks only were in danger, these persons had added constant 
 fuel to the fire; but finding the matter coming home, they 
 concluded it was now time to close the proceedings. The 
 further investigation of the case was postponed, and so the 
 matter ended. That some of the fires were the work of in- 
 cendiaries (perhaps colored) there appears to us but little 
 doubt ; but that any general conspiracy existed is not proba- 
 ble. The silly story that a white inn-keeper should conspire 
 with a few negroes to massacre eight thousand of his own 
 race, that he might occupy a subordinate position under an 
 
TRIUMPH OF THE ANGLO-SAXON. 
 
 65 
 
 ignorant colored king, is simply ridiculous ; yet for this he 
 and his wife were hanged. The trials and executions were a 
 frightful outrage of justice and humanity, presenting a mel- 
 ancholy example of the weakness of human nature, and the 
 ease with which the strongest minds are borne down in peri- 
 ods of popular delusion. 
 
 TRIUMPH OF THE ANGLO-SAXON. 
 
 (SSjCpJHE scheme of kingcraft to make the 
 authorities independent of the people, 
 by securing a permanent revenue, was 
 again and again introduced by the Colonial 
 Governors, but as often resisted by the Assem- 
 bly. Sir George Clinton, having alienated the 
 people by his unfortunate administration, was su- 
 perseded in 1753 by Sir Danvers Osborne, who 
 had received royal instruction to insist on a per- 
 manent revenue. This being emphatically re- 
 sisted, the dispirited Governor, who had just 
 buried his wife, seeing nothing but trouble and failure in the 
 future, terminated his existence by hanging himself with a 
 handkerchief from the garden wall of John Murray's house 
 in Broadway. He was succeeded by Lieutenant-Governor 
 James Delancey, whose accession was hailed with delight. 
 It was under his administration that Kings (now Columbia) 
 College was founded, the charter being signed by Delancey, 
 October 31, 1754. The same year the scheme for a public 
 library was projected, and the Walton House, long the 
 palace of the city, erected. This building, erected by William 
 Walton, a son-in-law of Delancey, was four stories high, 
 built of yellow Holland brick, with five windows in front, 
 and a tiled roof encircled with balustrades. This edifice, 
 5 
 
66 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 - which would attract no unusual attention now in a country 
 village, was then considered the wonder of America, and had 
 a wide European fame. It is still standing on Pearl street, 
 and contrasts sadly with the magnificent iron-fronted busi- 
 ness palace of the Harpers, now nearly opposite. The city 
 was now being enlarged ; new streets were laid out and con- 
 structed, and piers and ferries established. But the most 
 exciting topic of this period was the war with France, which 
 resulted finally in the conquest of Canada. The establish- 
 ment of French and English colonies on this continent re- 
 sulted in incessant friction between these rival powers, and 
 led ultimately to a gigantic struggle between the two most 
 warlike nations of the world. The English, having planted 
 themselves on the Eastern seaboard, advanced westward, 
 claiming all between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, 
 while the French, possessing Canada in the north, and the 
 mouth of the Mississippi in the south, claimed all lying be- 
 tween. These incessantly interfering claims for rich terri- 
 tory, which neither owned, led to numerous bloody wars, 
 extending in their influence from the St. Lawrence to the 
 Ganges, for the possession of a country which, twenty years - 
 after the cessation of these struggles, passed from under the 
 control of both. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, 
 closed the third colonial war, which had been prosecuted with 
 great vigor, and which had resulted in the capture of Louis- 
 burg by the English arms. By the treaty, however, this 
 captured territory was restored to France, leaving things 
 again in statu quo, and ready for new hostilities. In 1749, 
 George II. chartered the Ohio Company, granting six hun- 
 dred thousand acres of land, in the vicinity of the Ohio river, 
 to certain persons of Westminster, London, and Virginia, 
 thus paving the way for new national troubles. It was 
 in 1753, to avoid an open rupture which was rapidly approach- 
 ing, that a young man of Virginia, destined to be heard from 
 (George Washington), volunteered to carry a letter of ineffec- 
 tual remonstrance, several hundred miles through a dangerous 
 
TRIUMPH OF THE ANGLO-SAXON. 
 
 67 
 
 country, to the French commander. In 1755 three expedi- 
 tions were fitted out against Canada — one under General 
 Braddoek, to dislodge the French from Fort Duquesne ; one 
 under General Shirley, 
 for the reduction of 
 Niagara ; and one un- 
 der William Johnson, a 
 member of the Council 
 of New York, against 
 Crown Point. All three 
 signally failed, though 
 Johnson, gaining a 
 slight advantage over 
 the French, wounding 
 and capturing their com- 
 mander, magnified it in- 
 to a victory, for which 
 he was rewarded by 
 the English Govern 
 ment with £5,000 and 
 the title of baronet. 
 
 The preparations of 1756 were more extensive than in 
 the preceding year, the Governors of Connecticut, New 
 York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland uniting in the campaigns, 
 and pledging nineteen thousand American troops. This 
 year closed also with the success of the French arms. Prep- 
 arations for war were renewed in 1757, on a greatly 
 enlarged scale. Four thousand troops were pledged from 
 New England alone, and a large English fleet came over to 
 take part in the struggle. Yet this year ended again in 
 disaster, with a loss to the English of Fort Henry and three 
 thousand captured troops. The affairs of the English colo- 
 nists had now become very alarming, filling New York and the 
 whole country with intense anxiety. The English colonists 
 outnumbered the French by nearly twenty to one ; yet, as 
 they were divided in counsel, their expeditions had either 
 
 WASHINGTON AT THE AGE OF FORTY. 
 
68 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 been overtaken with disaster, or beaten by the French, who, 
 united under a single military Governor, had so wielded 
 their forces, and attracted to their ranks the Indians, as to 
 have spread general disaster along the whole frontier. 
 
 It was in this critical exigency that William Pitt, Earl of 
 Chatham, was called to the helm of State, and so rapid were 
 his movements, and comprehensive his plans, that the three 
 years of disaster were followed by three of brilliant victory, 
 culminating in the reduction of Louisburg, Frontenac, Crown 
 Point, Ticonderoga, Niagara, and Quebec, thus obliterating 
 forever, after a doubtful struggle of one hundred and fifty- 
 six years, the French dominion from the country. The 
 triumphant conclusion of this long and anxious struggle was 
 the occasion of great and universal rejoicing in New York. 
 The merchants had long looked for the enlargement of their 
 commerce, and the citizens for the expansion of the city. 
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES APPROACHING. 
 
 HE year 1760, which so honorably 
 [1 closed the war, was also marked by 
 the death of Lieutenant Governor 
 Delancey, who was succeeded by Cad- 
 wallader D. Golden, a zealous royalist, who 
 continued in power five years. It was 
 during this term that the noted Stamp 
 Act was passed, which rendered his ad- 
 ministration a very stormy and unpleasant 
 one. The news of the passage of this Act was followed in 
 New York by the issue of a new paper called the "Constitu- 
 tional Courant," which first appeared in September, 1765, by 
 the placarding of the streets with "The Folly of England, 
 and the Ruin of America;" by the organization of the 
 
TROUBLOUS TIMES APPROACHING. 
 
 69 
 
 " Sons of Liberty," and the appointment of a " Committee of 
 Correspondence, " to secure unanimity of action among all 
 the merchants of the country in resisting the aggressions of 
 England. 
 
 THE OLD BRIDEWELL. 
 
 While there existed in the nature of the case many reasons 
 why these colonies should eventually rise to independency, 
 it is also certain that proper treatment on the part of the 
 mother country would have long delayed such an event. 
 The colonists had no desire to sever their connection with the 
 home government; indeed, they long clung to its usages and 
 authority. In the bloody campaigns against the French they 
 had sacrificed the lives of thirty thousand of their sons, and 
 burdened themselves with a debt of thirteen million pounds, 
 sterling. An honorable acknowledgment of their undoubted 
 interests and rights would have permanently cemented them 
 to the English crown : but these were persistently denied. 
 The colonists were regarded as greatly inferior to the people 
 of England. Pitt, the friend of America, once said in Par- 
 liament, " There is not a company of foot that has served in 
 
70 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 America out of which you may not pick a man of sufficient 
 knowledge and experience to make a governor of a colony 
 there." This underrating of the American intellect led to the 
 appointment of weak and tyrannical Governors, which yielded 
 at length its legitimate fruit. The colonists resisted taxation 
 because they were not represented in the English Parliament ; 
 but the matter of taxation was not so grievous as the whole- 
 sale suppression of manufacture. America abounded with 
 iron ; but no axe, hammer, saw, or other tool, could be manu- 
 factured here without violating the crown law. Its rivers 
 and marshes teemed with beaver, but no hatter was allowed to 
 employ over two apprentices, and no hat of American manu- 
 facture could be carried for sale from one colony to another. 
 No wool could be manufactured save for private use, and the 
 raw material could not be transported from one colony to 
 another. Everything must be sent to England for manu- 
 facture, and return laden with heavy duties. The colonists 
 were prohibited from opening or conducting a commerce 
 with any but the English nation, and every article of export 
 must be sent in an English ship. 
 
 The repeal of the Stamp Act was followed by the duty on 
 tea, glass, etc., — legislation equally obnoxious to the colonies. 
 The British naval officers were petty lords of the American 
 seas. They compelled every colonial vessel to lower its sails 
 as it passed, fired into them for the slightest provocation, 
 boarded them at pleasure, and rudely impressed into their 
 service sailors who were never allowed to return to their 
 families. These things could but yield a bloody harvest. 
 The failure of the Governors to secure a permanent revenue 
 was followed by the quartering of troops in New York, which 
 the populace felt was another scheme for the destruction of 
 their liberties. The citizens of New York were first to resist 
 these aggressions. It was here that the Sons of Liberty first 
 organized, and raised the first liberty pole. The Manhattan 
 merchants were first to cease the importation of English 
 goods — a contract grossly violated by other merchants in 
 
TROUBLOUS TIMES APPROACHING. 
 
 71 
 
 America, but rigorously adhered to in New York, to the 
 ruin of many strong houses. Here the first blood was shed 
 in behalf of liberty. It occurred in a conflict between the 
 citizens and the English soldiers, January 20, 1770 (over 
 five years before the battle of Lexington), on a little hill near 
 the present John street. It was in relation to the liberty 
 pole, and long known as the battle of Golden Hill. New 
 York was the scene of the greatest suffering during the 
 Revolution. Early captured and partly burned, it lay seven 
 years in ruins under the heel of the conqueror, who had here 
 established his principal headquarters, and monopolized all 
 its churches, public buildings, and many private residences. 
 Here the first Federal Congress was organized in 1785, the 
 federal constitution adopted in 1788, and President Wash- 
 ington inaugurated in 1789. First to espouse the cause of 
 independence and organize defence, though its commerce 
 was wholly ruined, and its inhabitants lay starving and 
 bleeding through perilous years, it uttered no murmur of 
 complaint; and since the establishment of independence its 
 citizens have been second to no others in promoting the in- 
 terests of their country and of humanity. 
 
72 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IMPORTANT INCIDENTS OF THE REVOLUTION AND 
 LATER HISTORY OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 NEW YORK GOVERNMENT AT SEA — PLOT TO ASSASSINATE WASHING- 
 TON SHOCKING BARBARITY OF ENGLISH OFFICERS HALE AND 
 
 ANDRE, THE TWO SPIES ARNOLD IN NEW YORK BRITISH EVAC- 
 UATION THE BURR AND HAMILTON TRAGEDY OF 1804 ROBERT 
 
 FULTON AND THE " CLERMONT " PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825. 
 
 NEW YORK GOVERNMENT AT SEA. 
 
 ILLIAM TRYON, the last colonial 
 Governor, entered New York July 
 8, 1771- He occupied the house 
 in the fort, which had been rebuilt 
 after the excitement attending the 
 negro plot subsided, and which was 
 now again destroyed by fire. His 
 family (except the servant girl, who was burned alive) barely 
 escaped with life, a daughter leaping from a window of the 
 second story. As revolution was brewing, business was so 
 generally prostrated that no public improvements were made 
 during his administration, except the founding of the New 
 Y^ork Hospital. Tryon having returned to England, the gov- 
 ernment again devolved upon Cadwallader D. Colden until 
 his return, which occurred June 24, 1775. The next day 
 Washington entered New York on his way to Cambridge to 
 take command of the Provincial army. The country was 
 now fully in rebellion, and Tryon found his bed filled with 
 thorns. The idea of rocking his weary frame and aching 
 head into repose on the billows of the bay appears now to 
 
PLOT TO ASSASSINATE WASHINGTON. 
 
 73 
 
 have been suggested, but the fact that rest for a Crown Gov- 
 ernor could only be found on the other side of the Atlantic 
 was not yet so manifest. He, however, continued at his post, 
 and kept up a semblance of authority against the Provincial 
 Congress, until the latter part of August, when he removed 
 his headquarters on board the " Asia," an English man-of-war, 
 from which he for some time kept up a communication with 
 his friends on shore. He also caused the principal archives 
 of the city to be placed on board the ship " Duchess of Gor- 
 don." These were carried to England, but again returned by 
 royal order in 1781. 
 
 PLOT TO ASSASSINATE WASHINGTON. 
 
 BOUT the 24th of June, 1776, a most 
 barbarous plot was discovered among 
 the tories of New 
 York, including the 
 Mayor and several of 
 General Washington's 
 guards. The plan was, 
 upon the approach of 
 the British troops, to murder Washing- 
 ton and all the staff officers, blow up 
 the magazines, and secure the passes of the town. 
 About five hundred persons were engaged in the 
 conspiracy, and the Mayor acknowledged that he 
 had paid one of the chief conspirators £140, by 
 order of Governor Tryon. One of the soldiers belonging to 
 Washington's guards being convicted was executed in the 
 Bowery, in the presence of twenty thousand spectators. 
 Severity to the few was doubtless mercy to the many. 
 
74 
 
 NEW YOKE AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 SHOCKING BARBARITY OF ENGLISH OFFICERS. 
 
 HE condition of the captured soldiers 
 of the Continental army, and of 
 many of the inhabitants of New 
 York, during the Eevolutionary 
 period, presents one of the most 
 melancholy chapters of human suf- 
 fering in the history of the world. 
 The several churches were con- 
 verted into prisons, hospitals, mili- 
 tary depots, and riding schools 
 The Bridewell, in its half -finished 
 condition, the new jail, sugar-houses, and various prison-ships, 
 were filled with soldiers and political prisoners promiscuously 
 huddled together. In winter, without fire or blankets, they 
 
 OLD PROVOST, NEW YOUK. 
 
 perished with cold, and in summer they suffocated with heat. 
 In the burning season every aperture in the walls was crowded 
 with human heads, panting for a breath of the outside world, 
 
SHOCKING BAKBARITY OF ENGLISH OFFICERS. 75 
 
 while the ghastly eye turned anxiously from the misery and 
 death within, in quest of a green leaf or a friendly counte- 
 nance. Sick, wounded, and healthy lay on the same floor, ren- 
 dered putrid with filth, and vocal with the sounds of human 
 agony. Jailers and guards exhibited a love of cruelty hor- 
 rid beyond expression, and many are said to have been 
 poisoned by these fiendish attendants for their watches and 
 silver buckles. They were not regarded as prisoners of war, 
 but as pinioned rebels, to be starved and tortured until killed 
 or goaded into the royal army. While a few remonstrated 
 against these shocking inhumanities, the friends of the minis- 
 try cried out, " Starvation, Starvationto the Rebels / nothing 
 but starvation will bring them to their senses." 
 
 The old sugar-house, one of the chief dens of human tor- 
 ture, was constructed of gray stone, and stood in Liberty 
 street, east of Nassau, and immediately adjoining the Middle 
 Dutch Church, or what is now the old New York Post-office. 
 This sugar refinery, erected in 1689, had passed through an 
 honorable career from the days of Leisler downward in its 
 legitimate use, but was now, under foreign rule, destined to 
 depart from the good old way ; its sweetness to be changed to 
 sail and bitterness, and its cheerful business hum to the sig-hs 
 and wails of the suffering and starving. The edifice con- 
 tained five low stories which were each divided into two rooms. 
 The walls were very heavy, and the windows small and deep. 
 The yard was encircled with a close board-fence nine feet 
 high. Within these walls were at times huddled 400 or 500 
 prisoners of war, without beds, blankets, or fire in winter, 
 wearing for months the filthy garments that covered them on 
 the day of their capture. Hot weather came, and with it the 
 typhus fever, which prevailed fearfully, filling the dead cart 
 on each returning morning with wrecks of wasted humanity, 
 which were rudely dumped in the trenches in the outskirts of 
 the city. The meagre diet of these suffering patriots con- 
 sisted of pork and sea biscuit ; the latter, having been damaged 
 by salt water, were consequently very mouldy, and much worm- 
 
 < 
 
76 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 eaten. We present a cnt of this memorable structure, which 
 stood as a monument of the several periods through which 
 it had passed until 1840, when it was demolished by the 
 march of modern architectural improvements. This cut and 
 several others in this volume were engraved by Alexander 
 Anderson, M.D., when in his eighty-eighth year, and were ob- 
 tained, with valuable information in relation to the prisons of 
 the Revolution, from Charles I. Buslmell, Esq., of Kew York, 
 who has perhaps taken a deeper interest in the study of that 
 interesting period than any other writer of our times. 
 
 THE OLD SUGAR HOrSE IN IIBERTV .STREET. 
 
 But dreadful as were the prisons, and the old sugar-house 
 in Liberty street, the prison-ships are of still more terrific 
 memory. In 1779 the "Prince of Wales" and the " Good 
 Hope " were used as prison-ships. The " Good Hope " being 
 destroyed by fire the following year, several old hulks for- 
 merly employed as men-of-war were anchored in the North 
 and the East rivers, and were called hospital ships, though it 
 soon became apparent that they were but wretched prisons 
 for captured Americans. Among these may be mentioned 
 the u Stromboli," the " Scorpion," the "Hunter," the " Fal- 
 
SHOCKING BARBARITY OF ENGLISH OFFICERS. 77 
 
 mouth," the " Chatham," the " Kitty," the " Frederick," the 
 " Glasgow," the "Woodland," the " Clyde," the "Persever 
 ance," and the " Packet." (See cut page 100.) 
 
 But none attained such appalling notoriety, as a monstrous 
 crucible of human woe, as the " Jersey." This vessel was 
 originally a British line-of-battle ship, built in 1736, and car- 
 ried sixty guns. She had done good service in the war with 
 France, and had several times served as a part of the Medi- 
 terranean squadron. In the spring of 1776 she sailed for 
 America as one of the fleet of Commodore Hotham, and ar- 
 rived at Sandy Hook in the month of August. She was sub- 
 sequently used as a storeship, then employed as a hospital 
 ship, and was finally, in the winter of 1779-80, fitted up for a 
 prison ship, and anchored near the Wallabout in the East river, 
 near what is now the Navy Yard, where she lay until the 
 close of the war, when the day of retribution arrived, and 
 she was broken up and sunk beneath the muddy waters of 
 the East river to rise no more. Dismantled of her sails and 
 stripped of her rigging, with port holes closed, with no spar 
 but the bowsprit, and a derrick to take in supplies, her small 
 lone flag at the stern became the appropriate but unconscious 
 signal of the dreadful suffering that raged within. Hundreds 
 of captured prisoners were packed into this small vessel, 
 where, with but one meal of coarse and filthy food per diem, 
 without hammocks, or physicians, or medicines, or means of 
 cleanliness, they wretchedly perished. Thousands of emaci- 
 ated skeletons were during these perilous years cast into the 
 billows of the bay, or left half covered in the sand banks and 
 trenches. The bones of the dead lay exposed along the beach, 
 drying and bleaching in the sun, whitening the shore until 
 washed away by the surging tides. About twelve thousand 
 prisoners are believed to have died on these vessels, most of 
 whom were young men, the strength and flower of their 
 country. 
 
 The spirit of Yankee adventure was not wanting, however, 
 even in those floating dens of pestilence and famine. The 
 
73 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 prisoners on board the " Jersey " secretly obtained a crow-bar, 
 which they artfully concealed and used on windy and stormy 
 nights to break off the port gratings, when good swimmers 
 would plunge into the water and make their way to the shore. 
 Thus numbers escaped to their friends, to tell the sad story 
 of their sufferings and reveal the still sadder fact of the num- 
 bers who had died. A singularly daring and successful feat 
 was undertaken in December, 1780, by some adventurous New 
 England captains suffering on the " Jersey." The best boat 
 of the ship had returned from New York about four in the 
 afternoon, and was carelessly fastened at the gangway, with 
 her oars on board. • A storm prevailed, and the wind blew 
 down the river, producing an immense tide. At a given sig- 
 nal a party of prisoners placed themselves carelessly between 
 the ship's waist and the sentinel, while the four captains en 
 tered the boat, the fastening of which was thrown off by theii 
 friends. The boat passed close under the bow of the ship 
 and was at a considerable distance from her before the senti- 
 nel at the forecastle gave the alarm and fired at her. The 
 second boat was manned with much dispatch for a chase, but 
 she pursued in vain. One man from her bow fired several 
 shots at the deserters, and a few guns were discharged from 
 the shore ; but all to no effect. The boat passed Hell-gate in 
 the evening, and arrived at Connecticut with her precious 
 freight the next morning. Very few deserters were captured. 
 
 Civilians also suffered with the soldiers. On one of the 
 coldest nights of the century a party of British troops crossed 
 the Hudson river on the ice and proceeded to Newark. After 
 capturing the little garrison they burned the academy and 
 rifled many of the dwellings. They then entered the house 
 of Justice Iledden, and carried him from his bed a prisoner, 
 with no clothing to screen him from the dreadful blast save 
 his shirt and stockings, wounding his wife in her head and 
 breast, who remonstrated against this inhuman procedure. 
 Fortunately, a few militia pursued them and rescued the Jus- 
 
SHOCKING BARBARITY OF ENGLISH OFFICERS. 
 
 79 
 
 tice, who was dreadfully frozen, and must have perished long 
 before reaching New York. 
 
 When the traitor Arnold entered New York, he speedily 
 procured the arrest of more than fifty of the warmest friends 
 of independence, who were hurled into dungeons and other 
 places of confinement, where they long continued. The poor 
 prisoners were kept in profound ignorance of the progress of 
 the war, and were led to believe that their cause was hope- 
 lessly lost. Imagine the feelings of one of these sufferers, in 
 the old sugar-house in Liberty street, as he one day stood 
 leaning in bitterness of soul against the high fence which 
 surrounded it, when a citizen, passing near by, without halt- 
 ing or turning his head, said, in a low tone, " General Bur- 
 goyne is taken, with his whole army. It is the truth / you 
 may depend upon it" His sinking hopes revived. He hob- 
 bled back into the gloomy den, to whisper in palsied ears the 
 cheering truth, and raise, even in those death-glazed eyes, the 
 thrice welcome vision of a country saved. That friendly 
 informant would have suffered severely if discovered ; but 
 his contribution to these wasting patriots was more valuable 
 than the gold of Ophir or the affection of woman. But the 
 plant of liberty does not die of hunger, or thirst, or naked- 
 ness, or reproach, or contumely. Nay, these but accelerate 
 its immortal development ; and, amid the sufferings of the 
 prisons, the privations of the camps, the wails and sobbings 
 of widows and orphans, it continued its sublime expansion, 
 until, at length, bursting through every opposition, it spread 
 its benign shadow o'er all the land. 
 
 In the midst of these appalling sufferings, the British offi- 
 cers of New York amused themselves by planning a theatre, 
 consenting themselves to become the comedians — a practice 
 which they continued, in the edifice in John street, for sev- 
 eral years, the tory population attending and applauding their 
 entertainments. 
 
80 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 HALE AND ANDRE, THE TWO SPIES. 
 
 OUTITUDE under the smart of un- 
 merited sufferings is one of the rarest 
 traits of humanity. 
 
 War is not only characterized by 
 general suffering and disaster, involv- 
 ing nearly every family of the country, 
 but by personal adventures and sacri- 
 fices, which not unfrequently leave a 
 sting to rankle in the minds of successive generations. There 
 is a moral sublimity in one's voluntarily casting himself 
 between his country and its fiercest enemies, uncovering his 
 own brave head to receive the blow, that by his sacrifice 
 kindred and posterity may glide unscathed and peacefully 
 down the stream of time ; but this sublimity is greatly inten- 
 sified when young men of brilliant abilities, stainless reputa- 
 tion, and of undoubted worth to society nobly assume responsi- 
 bilities attended with extraordinary perils, and likely soon to 
 culminate in saddest failure and ruin. The career of Nathan 
 Hale and of John Andre, two of the most brilliant and virtu- 
 ous young officers representing the opposing forces of that 
 stormy period, presents one of the most striking examples of 
 this kind in the annals of time. Hale was born in Coventry, 
 Conn., June 6, 1755 ; graduated with high honor, at Yale 
 College, at the age of eighteen years, and soon became a suc- 
 cessful teacher. His parents designed him for the ministry ; 
 but the crash of arms at Lexington so aroused his patriotic 
 impulses that he immediately wrote to his father, stating 
 " that a sense of duty urged him to sacrifice everything for 
 his country." He soon after entered the army as a lieuten- 
 ant, and was, a few months later, promoted to the captaincy. 
 While stationed with the troops near Boston, he w r as noted as 
 a vigilant officer; and, in the early part of September, 1776, 
 when in New York, he, with an associate, planned and cap- 
 
HALE AND ANDRE, THE TWO SPIES. 
 
 81 
 
 tured a British sloop laden with provisions, taking her at 
 midnight from under the guns of a frigate. 
 
 Just before the capture of New York, Washington became 
 exceedingly anxious to ascertain the plans of the enemy, who 
 were encamped in force on 
 L0112; Island. A council of 
 war was held, and an ap- 
 peal made for a discreet 
 officer to enter the enemy's 
 lines and gather informa- 
 tion. Captain Hale, who 
 was only twenty-one years 
 of age, came nobly forward 
 and offered to undertake 
 the perilous mission. He 
 entered the British lines 
 in disguise, examined the 
 island, made drawings and 
 memoranda of everything most important, ascertained their 
 plans, conducting his enterprise with great capacity and 
 add ress, but was accidentally apprehended in making his 
 escape. But while Hale was making discoveries at Long Island, 
 a portion of the British army had crossed the East river under 
 cover of the fire of their fleet, and had captured New York, 
 General Howe taking up temporary headquarters in the 
 vicinity of Fiftieth street. Hale was brought to the head- 
 quarters of Howe, who delivered him to the notorious Cun- 
 ningham, ordering him to be executed on the following 
 morning, unless he should renounce the colonial cause. He 
 was unmercifully hanged upon an apple-tree, and his remains 
 cast into an unknown grave. 
 
 Andre was born in London, in 1751 ; was educated at 
 Geneva, after which he entered a counting-house. Disap- 
 pointed in love, he abandoned business and entered the army, 
 where he rose by the intrinsic worth of his character to be 
 captain, major, and finally adjutant-general, under Sir Henry 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Clinton, chief commander at New York. As he had read 
 extensively, had a vigorous memory, brilliant powers of con- 
 versation, understood several languages, wrote poetry, and 
 was a fine singer, he became naturally a universal favorite in 
 all select circles. His enthusiasm for the loyal cause was 
 unbounded; and Sir Henry Clinton appears to have com- 
 mitted to his pen the treasonable correspondence which was 
 conducted for more than eighteen months with Benedict 
 Arnold. Their letters were written in disguised hands, Ar- 
 nold using the signature of "Gustavus," and Andre that of 
 " John Anderson." Some of these letters are believed to have 
 been written in the Kipp Bay House, a cut of which is in- 
 serted on page 56. This edifice, erected of Holland brick, 
 in 1641, was considered a mansion of such respectable grand- 
 eur during the revolution, that in the forced absence of the 
 proprietor, who was a whig, it was made the headquarters 
 and place of banqueting and pleasant resort of British offi- 
 cers of distinction. Here Sir William Howe, Sir Henry 
 Clinton, Lord Percy, General Knyphausen, Major Andre, 
 and their satellites beguiled many a weary hour. It was at 
 this house that Major Andre partook of his last public dinner 
 in New York, and with his characteristic conviviality sung at 
 the repast a song beginning : 
 
 "Why, soldiers, why, 
 Should we be melancholy boys, 
 Wlwse business His to die? " etc. 
 
 In ten short days from that time this gay and accomplished 
 officer was a prisoner, and found it his sad u business to die " 
 as a malefactor. 
 
 But we have somewhat anticipated our story. Andre* was 
 selected to ascend the Hudson, have an interview with Ar- 
 nold, and complete the arrangement for the capture of West 
 Point. From the " Vulture," an English man-of-war, he landed 
 near naverstraw, at dead of night, held the expected confer- 
 ence with the American traitor, lay concealed for some time 
 
HALE AND ANDRE, THE TWO SPIES. 
 
 83 
 
 within the American lines, but was captured at Tarrytown, 
 in an effort to return to New York. After an impartial trial 
 he was, at the age of twenty-nine years, executed as a spy, at 
 Tappan, October 2, 1780. 
 
 While there are some points of similarity in the career and 
 fate of these accomplished young men, there are also re- 
 markable contrasts in the treatment administered to them by 
 the authorities into whose hands they fell. Neither of them 
 contested the principles upon which they were sentenced, 
 but manfully recognized the importance of these rules of 
 war, though Andre begged that the application of the rule 
 might be changed, and he shot instead of hanged — a matter 
 to which Hale was profoundly indifferent. 
 
 Hale was approached by the authorities with advantageous 
 offers, on condition that he would join the enemy, which he 
 resolutely spurned, at the loss of his life ; but Andre was 
 subjected to no such temptations. Hale, captured in the 
 afternoon, was executed at day-break on the following morn- 
 ing ; while Andre was granted ten days to prepare for his 
 approaching doom. Hale, during the short period of his 
 confinement, was made in every conceivable manner to feel 
 that he was considered a traitor and a rebel. He saw 
 no friendly countenance, and heard no word of respect or 
 compassion. The hasty letters he wrote to his father and 
 sister were destroyed, and he was even denied the use of a 
 Bible and the counsels of a clergyman at his execution. On 
 the other hand, the generous Americans, half -forgetting the 
 treachery of Andre, lavished to the last their attentions and 
 affections upon his accomplished person, Washington shed- 
 ding tears when he signed his death-warrant. Andre, as he 
 was going to die, with great presence of mind and the most 
 engaging air, bowed to all around him, thanking them for 
 the kindness and respect with which he had been treated, 
 saying, " Gentlemen, you will bear witness that I die with 
 the firmness becoming a soldier." Hale had received no 
 respect, and no kindly attentions ; hence, he had none to 
 
84 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 return. He was a mere youth, but with a manly courage, 
 mighty in death on the scaffold, exclaimed, " I am so satis- 
 fied with the cause in which I have engaged, that my only 
 regret is that I have not more lives than one to offer in its 
 service." 
 
 While we can but respect the attainments and admire the 
 bearing of Andre, we are no less favorably impressed with 
 the manly accomplishments and fortitude of Hale, several 
 years his junior, who passed through one of the most trying 
 ordeals in the history of the world, and whose name has not 
 had its deserved prominence in American history. 
 
 ARNOLD IN NEW YORK. 
 
 MMOKG all the blackened names that 
 darken the pages of New York his- 
 tory, no one has stood forth so con- 
 spicuously, or been so emphatically 
 I a hissing and a by-word among all 
 classes, as that of Benedict Arnold. 
 He was born of respectable parentage at Norwich, Conn., 
 January 3, 1740, where he received the usual common- 
 school education of his day, being designed by his friends for 
 a mercantile career. His early associations and habits gave 
 evidence of an unprincipled, adventurous, and changeable 
 
ARNOLD IN NEW YORK. 
 
 85 
 
 nature, which unfortunately grew worse and worse through 
 all his career. His greatest talent was doubtless in military 
 pursuits, where he always appeared as an intrepid, dashing, 
 and successful chieftain. Among the first at the outbreak 
 of the Revolution to abandon business and mount the sad- 
 dle, he was during the early northern campaigns more con- 
 spicuous than any other, exhibiting everywhere a genius and 
 fortitude challenging the respect of friend and foe. But his 
 treacherous and selfish nature, his vanity and extravagance, 
 were everywhere as conspicuous as his military successes, re- 
 sulting in repeated perplexities and difficulties, rendering 
 him forever unpopular and an object of public suspicion. 
 Overlooked and slighted 
 by Congress in its army 
 appointments, convicted of 
 peculation and reprimand- 
 ed by his superiors, and 
 strangely ambitious for lux- 
 ury and display, he satani- 
 cally resolved to betray his 
 country's cause, and sell his 
 influence for a bag of gold. 
 He was probably long re- 
 strained from this traitor- 
 ous undertaking by the 
 counsels of Washington, 
 who highly appreciated his abilities, though he disapproved 
 of his unscrupulous conduct. Recovering from a wound re- 
 ceived in battle, he w T as appointed to the command of Phila- 
 delphia. Here he married for his second w T ife Miss Margaret 
 Shippen, wmose father was subsequently chief justice of Penn- 
 sylvania, and was at that time considered one of the chief 
 men of the State, though strongly attached to the tory interest. 
 His wife was one of the chief belles of the city, and probably 
 added some stimulus to his extravagant temper. She had 
 been an intimate friend of Major Andre, with whom she con- 
 
86 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tinued to correspond after her marriage, and which probably 
 paved the way for the undying dishonor of her husband. 
 Having resolved on great treachery, Arnold sought and 
 obtained from Washington command of West Point, one 
 of the principal bulwarks of the country and the key to the 
 interior. His iniquitous correspondence with British officials 
 is believed to have been continued for eighteen months be- 
 fore its detection. In this he proposed to so dispose of the 
 troops at West Point that the place, with all its forces and 
 munitions, would fall an easy conquest ; for which lie was to 
 be rewarded with a General's commission in the royal army, 
 and a purse of £10,000 of English gold. Deserting his country 
 which had raised him from obscurity, robbing her of his in- 
 fluence and service, seeking with artful strategy to enslave 
 her patriots and desolate her plains, in the period of her 
 deepest poverty and distress, he committed one of those unpar- 
 donable crimes which the world has never been able to over- 
 look. Twice he narrowly escaped capture ; a singular pro- 
 vidence, however, ordered that his crime should not be wiped 
 out with his blood, but that, through the twenty-one years of 
 his ripened manhood, his dejected crest should be blazoned 
 with the marks of his infamy, and that he should live and 
 die a despised exile from the land of his nativity. He would 
 have been captured, and humanly speaking should have been, 
 by Washington at West Point, had it not been for the unac- 
 countable stupidity of Colonel Jameson, commander at North 
 Castle, to whom Andre was given after his arrest. The 
 papers found in his stockings, containing plans of all the 
 West Point fortifications, a description of the works, the 
 number of troops, the disposition of the corps, etc., etc., were 
 all in Arnold's handwriting. These Jameson dispatched to 
 Washington, but insisted on sending a letter stating these 
 facts to Arnold, which apprised him of his danger and led to 
 his hasty flight. The letter from Jameson was received by 
 Arnold while at breakfast with his wife and several officers. 
 He was greatly startled, but quieted the officers by stating 
 
AKNOLD IN NEW YORK. 
 
 87 
 
 that his presence was needed at the fortifications, and that he 
 would soon return. His wife, with her infant child, had come 
 from Philadelphia to join him at his post of duty but ten 
 days previously. Summoning her to their private room, he 
 informed her of his crime, and the necessity of his immediate 
 flight. Overwhelmed with the announcement, she screamed, 
 swooned, and fell upon the floor, and in this perilous condition 
 he left her and fled for his life. Gaining the " Vulture," 
 still anchored in the river, he proceeded to New York. 
 Here he received his royal commission, and at length the 
 stipulated price for his treason ; but his crime was too naked 
 and wanton to secure respect even from those for whom he 
 had sacrificed his honor. He soon caused multitudes of 
 patriots to be arrested and cast into dungeons, but in his 
 precipitate flight from "West Point he had left all his papers, 
 and hence could produce no evidence against them. Covered 
 with scorn, he lived in partial concealment, sometimes in the 
 Yerplanck House in Wall street, and again on Broadway, 
 near the Kennedy House, Clinton's residence and headquar- 
 ters. To save him from utter contempt when he rode out, 
 English officers attended him, though it is said many of them 
 thought it an ungracious task to appear at his side in the streets. 
 While here, a plot was laid in the American camp for his 
 capture, which nearly succeeded. The American troops 
 were so stung with the disgrace he had brought upon their 
 arms, that many were ready to enlist in any feasible enter- 
 prise to bring him to speedy retribution. Sergeant-major 
 Champe, of the American dragoons in New Jersey, was the 
 daring spirit of the band, who, by a connivance with his com- 
 manding officer, deserted the ranks and galloped toward the 
 Hudson, but so hotly was he pursued by several troopers not 
 in the secret that he plunged into the river and swam across 
 to New York. His perilous adventure gave the strongest 
 evidence that his desertion to the British was genuine ; hence, 
 he was warmly received by all. He thus gained free access 
 to Arnold's residence in Broadway, and adroitly matured a 
 
88 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 plan for his capture. His comrades were to cross from New 
 Jersey in a boat opposite the house, under cover qf darkness, 
 pass up through an adjoining alley, enter the garden and gain 
 access to the rear of the dwelling, seize and gag the victim, 
 carrying him by the same route to the boat. Champe had 
 loosened the pickets of the fence, the hour was appointed for 
 the undertaking; but unfortunately, on the day previous to 
 its execution, Champe's regiment was ordered to embark for 
 Chesapeake, and Arnold removed his headquarters to another 
 dwelling. Champe's comrades were punctual at the rendez- 
 vous, where they waited several hours for his appearance ; 
 and then returned in disappointment to camp. Not long 
 after Champe made his escape from the southern army, and 
 returned to his friends, to clear up the strange mystery that 
 had hung over his conduct. Arnold left New York to com- 
 mand an expedition against Virginia, and afterwards led one 
 against New London, Conn. ; and is said to have watched 
 with fiendish cruelty the burning of the town, almost in sight 
 of the place of his birth. At the close of the war, he went to 
 England, where he died unlamented, in 1801. It is said that 
 he once expressed the sorrow that he was the only man liv- 
 ing who could not find refuge in the American .Republic. 
 
BRITISH EVACUATION. 
 
 89 
 
 BRITISH EVACUATION. 
 
 HE surrender of Lord Corn wal lis at 
 Yorktown, on the 17th of October, 
 1781, with seven thousand English 
 troops, was really the signal for termin 
 ating the weary struggle. Lord North, 
 the English Premier, was compelled to 
 resign the following March, and Rock- 
 ingham, the leader of the peace party 
 in Parliament, was appointed to fill his place. Negotiation 
 followed for many months, ending in the complete emanci- 
 pation of the colonies from British rule. On the 25th of 
 November, 1783, at 12 m., the British flag was taken from 
 the staff on the fort, the troops embarked, and the long ex- 
 patriated citizens were allowed to return to the full possession 
 of their city and property. Washington tarried until the 
 4th of December, when he took his farewell of his ofhcers 
 amid such expressions of profound sorrow as have rarely 
 been exhibited in army circles. The city, seven years a 
 prison and military depot, had greatly sunken into decay ; 
 commerce was wholly ruined, and general desolation brooded 
 on every side. Though escaped from the boiling caldron of 
 war, it was long disquieted with civil feuds growing out of 
 the late struggle. Its population at the close of the war 
 amounted to about twenty-three thousand, and though nu- 
 merous improvements were contemplated, so deep and uni- 
 versal was the poverty of the population that little of public 
 enterprise was undertaken for more than fifteen years. 
 
90 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 THE BURR AND HAMILTON TRAGEDY OF 1804. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY period opens a 
 wide theatre for the development of 
 the rarest genius, and for the grandest 
 display of all the richest qualities of 
 the human soul. And while it is true 
 that great benevolence, patriotism, or 
 self-sacrifice at such times glows with 
 a richer coloring, it is no less true that 
 selfishness, peculation, and treason, are 
 branded with a deeper infamy. The stirring events of the 
 American Revolution brought to the surface a multitude of 
 able and brilliant men, some of whom by directness and 
 sterling integrity towered higher and higher through all their 
 history, while others equally gifted, choosing the tortuous 
 paths of stratagem and guile, sunk into national contempt, 
 and blackened their names with undying disgrace. While few 
 names in American history, on their bare announcement, 
 suggest more than those of Aaron Burr and Alexander Ham- 
 ilton, it would be difficult to find two young men whose early 
 circumstances presented more numerous points of similarity, 
 or upon whom nature and providence had more profusely 
 lavished their gifts and opportunities. Born in the middle 
 of the eighteenth century, with but eleven months' difference 
 in their ages, educated in the first circles of the times, fortu- 
 nate in their matrimonial alliances; both small of stature, 
 beautiful in person, courtly in carriage, rarely gifted in mind, 
 distinguished for gallantry on the field of battle, and for suc- 
 cess at the bar, they certainly had opportunities w r ide as the 
 world for the realization of the highest worldly satisfaction, 
 and for immortal renown. 
 
 Hamilton was born in the West Indies, where he lost his 
 mother in childhood ; his father early failed in business, con- 
 tinuing through life in poverty and dependence, leaving his 
 son under the charge of relatives. The Revolution found 
 
THE BURR AND HAMILTON TRAGEDY OF 1804. 
 
 91 
 
 young Hamilton a student in King's (Columbia) College, 
 where he displayed such extraordinary qualities of mind 
 that he soon rose from obscurity to shine through life as a 
 star of the first magnitude in the politi- 
 cal and intellectual world. Having 
 adopted New York as the city of his 
 residence, he espoused the colonial 
 cause unfalteringly, and early entered 
 the army. He took part in the battle 
 of Long Island, retired across the Har- 
 lem river as a captain of artillery un- 
 der Washington when New York was 
 abandoned to the enemy, shared the 
 dispiriting retreat through the Jerseys, 
 
 bore honorable part in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, 
 and assisted at the capture of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. 
 He early became aide-de-camp to General Washington, whose 
 confidence he always retained, conducting much of the Gen- 
 eral's correspondence during the war, receiving from him the 
 appointment of first Secretary of the Treasury of the United 
 States, and assisting him in the preparation of his memorable 
 Farewell Address. In all the early conventions in which the 
 principles and forms of our government were settled, and in 
 the pamphlet and periodical literature of his times, his in- 
 fluence was scarcely second to that of any other in the coun- 
 try. The practice of duelling, rife in his times, and by which 
 he lost his eldest son, a youth of twenty years, two years pre- 
 vious to his own sad death, he utterly condemned ; yet, yield- 
 ing at last to the persistent demands of a false honor, he was 
 mortally wounded at Weehauken by a ball from Burr's pis- 
 tol, July 11th, 1804, and expired on the following day, in his 
 forty-eighth year. 
 
 The rise of Burr was not so completely from obscurity. 
 His father and grandfather having been pre-eminently dis- 
 tinguished for both moral and intellectual greatness, he 
 inherited the prestige of a great and honored name. Grad- 
 
92 
 
 EW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 uating with honor at Princeton, in 1772, at the early age of 
 sixteen, he had two or three years for reading and observa- 
 tion before the outburst of the Revolution. The times were 
 fraught with great events, and the military ambition with 
 which his whole soul was aglow soon burst forth in rapid 
 and dashing strides for glory and renown. In those perilous 
 northern campaigns under Arnold, he bore a distinguished 
 part ; and, though a beardless youth, he had the honor of 
 carrying General Montgomery bleeding from the field, and 
 
 RICHMOND HILL HOUSE. 
 
 of supporting his dying head. He was for a short time 
 associated with Washington as one of his aids, the connection 
 being soon dissolved with mutual disgust, which never after- 
 wards suffered any abatement. At the close of the war, Burr 
 and Hamilton, neither of whom had spent much time in the 
 study of law, on being admitted, began to practice in New 
 York, where each rose with the rapidity and brilliancy of a 
 rocket — entering regions which rockets could not. The old 
 members of the bar being mostly legally disqualified on ac- 
 
THE BURR AND HAMILTON TRAGEDY OF 1804. 93 
 
 count of their former disloyalty, these intrepid young military 
 celebrities, with scarcely more than a single bound, placed 
 themselves at the forefront of the profession, from which they 
 were never subsequently displaced. Burr, in particular, 
 from his family associations, soon became immensely popular, 
 drawing numerous and wealthy clients, in whose service he 
 speedily amassed a fortune. In the meantime his success in 
 politics was equally brilliant. In 1784 he was elected to the 
 State legislature, and the following year appointed Attorney- 
 General of New York. In 1791 he entered the United 
 States' senate, where he continued six years, when he was 
 again sent to the State legislature. Here he fought a blood- 
 less duel with Mr. Church. The electoral college of 1800, 
 having by some mischance cast an equal number of votes 
 for Burr and Jefferson, the House of Representatives, on 
 its thirty-sixth ballot, elected Jefferson President, leaving 
 Burr the Vice-president of the United States. It was during 
 this term that the fatal duel occurred between him and 
 Hamilton. Burr had purchased the famous Richmond Hill 
 mansion, where he lived with his family in much splendor. 
 This building, erected previous to the Revolution, stood on a 
 fine eminence, on what is now the corner of Varick and 
 Charlton streets, then far out in the country, and was sur- 
 rounded with richly cultivated gardens and parks. It had 
 been the headquarters of General Washington, and at a later 
 period was occupied by one of the British Generals com- 
 manding New York. Hamilton owned a fine country resi- 
 dence on the Kingsbridge road (near Central Park), but at 
 the time of his death lived in Park Place, near Broadway. 
 Burr's popularity having much waned, and seeing no pros- 
 pect of being returned to the presidency, sought to be 
 elected Governor of New York. In this he was also over- 
 whelmingly defeated. Hamilton was virtually the head of 
 the opposition ; and Burr believed his failure owing to cer- 
 tain disparaging utterances made by this distinguished oppo- 
 nent. He accordingly demanded a general and uncondi- 
 
94 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tional retraction, which, not being instantly complied with, 
 was followed by a challenge for a duel. Burr had been 
 observed by the boys of the neighborhood for some time, to 
 be practising with a pistol in his park ; and while Hamilton 
 in the encounter innocently discharged his piece in the air, 
 the aim of Burr produced deadly effect. These facts, coming 
 to the knowledge of the people, produced the belief that he 
 had sought the deliberate murder of Hamilton, who had long 
 
 HAMILTON'S RESIDENCE. 
 
 been his victorious opponent. Burr was found several hours 
 after the occurrence in his arbor, reading one of his favorite 
 authors as composedly as if nothing had happened, and 
 even refused to credit the statement that Hamilton had been 
 injured, and was then lying in a dying condition. The re- 
 mains of Hamilton were interred amid the sighs and wails of 
 
ROBERT FULTON AND THE " CLERMONT." 
 
 95 
 
 the people, in the grounds at old Trinity, where they still 
 remain. Having slain the nation's favorite, the indignation 
 of the populace burst forth against Burr with such intensity 
 that he was glad to abandon his palace home and seek refuge 
 in the Southern States. We cannot trace minutely his later 
 career. Arrested soon after and tried for treason, he con- 
 sumed all his means in making his defence successful, after 
 which he sailed for Europe. Sunk in deepest poverty and 
 distress, he begged a passage back to the States in 1812. 
 His wife had died some years previously, his only daughter, 
 Mrs. Governor Alston, of South Carolina, and her son 
 being the only surviving friends to claim his affection. 
 About the time of his return from Europe, Aaron Burr 
 Alston, his only grandchild, was laid in a little grave. 
 The mother of this boy, a gifted woman, with unchanging 
 affection for her doting father, soon after started North to 
 visit and console him in his despised and wretched condition. 
 But she was lost at sea, and never heard from after embarking ; 
 and her sorrow-stricken husband, after long, anxious, and 
 disappointed search, expired suddenly under a burden of 
 woe. By a singular providence, Burr lived on and passed 
 his eightieth year. Like a shrivelled and fire-scorched oak, 
 he still lifted his guilty head and looked down upon the des- 
 olation of his business, his popularity, his honor, his family, 
 and his hopes for time and for eternity. What a sad and 
 melancholy comment upon the insecurity of worldly fortune, 
 and the unhappy fruit of deliberately abandoned principle ! 
 
96 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ROBERT FULTON AND THE " CLERMONT." 
 
 )W long and anxiously the 
 world waited for human ge- 
 nius to control and utilize 
 material nature ! How slow 
 is philosophical progress ! 
 
 Though the properties of 
 steam were treated of, and 
 mechanical effects produced 
 by its agenc\^, more than two 
 centuries previous to the beginning of the Christian era, 
 the steam engine proper was not patented until the time of 
 Watt (1768-9), and not successfully applied to the use of 
 navigation until 1807. It is amusing, in these days of rapid 
 travel, to think of the early ferries of New York, and the slow 
 progress made on all the rivers and lakes. Until 1810, row- 
 boats and pirogues were the only ferry-boats plying between 
 New York and Long Island, or used anywhere else on the 
 rivers. Horse power was introduced in 1814, the boat being 
 constructed with a wheel in the centre, propelled by horses, 
 who operated on a sort of horizontal treadmill. The first 
 steam ferry-boat was the Nassau, constructed by Fulton, and 
 placed on the ferry bearing his name May 8, 1814 ; but as 
 steam was considered too expensive, no additional boats of 
 this kind were added for more than ten years. 
 
 Experimenting in steam navigation had been going on in 
 New York under the direction of Stevens, Fitch, and 
 Robert R. Livingston, for more than twenty years previous to 
 the successful attempt of Fulton. A monopoly had been 
 granted to John Fitch in 1787, but in 1798 the legislature of 
 New York transferred to Chancellor Livingston, who claimed 
 to be the discoverer of this new power, the exclusive right of 
 steam navigation on all the waters of the State for twenty 
 years, provided that lie should within the next twelve months 
 
 THE CLERMONT " 
 
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825. 
 
 97 
 
 place a boat on the Hudson river, with a speed of not less 
 than four miles per hour. This he failed to do. Several years 
 later he made the acquaintance of Fulton, in France, who, 
 though born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and essentially an 
 American, had hitherto gained all his notoriety in the old 
 world. Fulton had studied painting under Benjamin West, 
 the new canal system under the Duke of Bridgewater, had 
 been intimate with Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, 
 had invented machines for making ropes, spinning flax, ex- 
 cavating channels and aqueducts, and had spent much time in 
 inventing and patenting a torpedo. Fulton has been described 
 by those who knew him as tall and slender in form, graceful 
 in manners, simple in all his habits, and so intelligent and 
 prepossessing as to readily captivate the young and win 
 golden opinions from the talented and learned. Entering 
 into an arrangement with Mr. Livingston, he returned to New 
 York, planned and launched the " Clermont," the first steam- 
 boat that ever ploughed the Hudson, and thus obtained the 
 monopoly on the waters of the State. The vessel was con- 
 structed at Jersey City, amid the jeers of the populace, who 
 derisively christened it " the Fulton Folly." Scarcely any 
 one believed he would succeed ; but he knew the fate of men 
 who live in advance of their time, and coolly proceeded with 
 his undertaking. On the 7th of August, 1807, he announced 
 his vessel ready for the trial trip to Albany. Thousands of 
 eager spectators thronged the banks of the river, to mingle 
 their glee over the long-predicted failure ; but as the ma- 
 chinery began its movement, and the vessel stood toward the 
 centre of the river, the cry of u she moves ! she moves ! " ran 
 all along the line, and it is said that some sailors on vessels 
 anchored in the river, and not acquainted with the secret, 
 fell down on their knees and prayed to be delivered from 
 this wheezing monster. The passage to Albany was made in 
 thirty-two hours, the banks of the river being thronged much 
 of the way with excited thousands, witnessing with peculiar 
 pleasure this marvellous triumph of human genius. But 
 
 7 
 
98 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 while Fulton won the first laurels with the " Clermont," Mr. 
 John Stevens, and his son, R. L. Stevens, launched the 
 Phoenix immediately after, which they ran to Philadelphia, 
 gaining equal notoriety ; and as soon as the State monopoly 
 was abolished they launched an improved steamboat with a 
 speed of thirteen and one-half miles per hour, thus producing 
 a complete revolution in the system of navigation. Fulton 
 died suddenly in the plenitude of his powers, February 24th, 
 1815, in the fiftieth year of his age. 
 
 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825. 
 
 APITAL is one of the mighty 
 engines of national progress, 
 and internal developments can 
 only keep pace with the ac- 
 cumulations of the people. 
 Our city rulers now expend more on pub- 
 lic works in a single year than our f athers 
 did during a lifetime. Still, we must 
 pause to chronicle a few of the prominent 
 events that transpired in the earlier part 
 of this century. Passing over the events 
 of the war with England, in 1812-14, when the city wore a 
 martial air, and the populace almost unanimously engaged in 
 constructing the fortifications at the Narrows, on the islands 
 of the bay^and elsewhere; and the imposing reception of 
 General Lafayette, in the summer of 1824, we pause to 
 glance at the internal improvements of the following year. 
 The year 1825 was the beginning of a new era in the devel- 
 opment of the city, since which its population has more than 
 quadrupled, and the volume of its commerce enlarged at least 
 twenty-fold. The great event of this year was the opening 
 of the Erie Canal, commenced eight years previously. The 
 
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS OF 1825. 
 
 99 
 
 first flotilla of boats, containing Dewitt Clinton, Governor of 
 the State, and many other distinguished gentlemen, left 
 Buffalo October 26th, and arrived at New York on the morn- 
 ing of November 4th. The triumphant starting was signaled 
 by the discharge of a cannon, which was replied to by another 
 and another all along the line, the report reaching New York 
 in eighty minutes, and the return salute finding its way back 
 to Buffalo in about the same time — the raciest telegraphing 
 of that period. The construction of this great artificial 
 thoroughfare, as well as its subsequent enlargement, was an 
 unpopular measure with a large minority of the people, on 
 account of its costliness ; but in 1866 it was ascertained that, 
 besides enlarging many of the principal cities, and adding to 
 the comfort and wealth of nearly all the people of the State, 
 it had returned into the public treasury $23,500,000 above 
 all its cost, including principal, interest, repairs, superintend- 
 ence, etc., etc. 
 
 It was in May, 1825, that the first gas-pipes were laid, by 
 the New York Gas-light Company, which had been incorpo- 
 rated in 1823. No system for lighting the streets was intro- 
 duced until 1697, when the aldermen were charged with en- 
 forcing the duty that " every seventh householder, in the dark 
 time of the moon, cause a lantern and candle to be hung out 
 of his window on a pole, the expense to be divided among 
 the seven families." At a later period, the principal streets 
 were dimly lighted with oil lamps. This first gas-pipe inno- 
 vation extended on either side of Broadway, from Canal 
 street to the Battery, and soon grew into public favor, so that 
 in 1830 the Manhattan Gas-light Company was incorporated 
 with a capital of §500,000, to supply the upper part of the 
 island. A network of gas-pipes now extends over the en- 
 tire island, conducting this brilliant illuminator into nearly 
 every building. 
 
 The same year were introduced the joint-stock companies, 
 which were speedily followed by great commercial disasters, 
 almost paralyzing the commerce of the whole country. 
 
100 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Merchants' Exchange, and other architectural monu- 
 ments, were begun the same year. Marble was then first in- 
 troduced for ordinary buildings, the City Hall and the Amer- 
 ican Museum being the only buildings then standing on the 
 island in the construction of which this material had been 
 employed. The records of that otherwise bright year were 
 somewhat darkened with the introduction of the Italian opera 
 and the Sunday press. 
 
 In this connection we may also add that the New York 
 and Erie Railroad was opened to Goshen in 1841, and 
 through to Dunkirk in 1851. The Long Island Railroad was 
 opened in 1844, the New York and New Haven in 1848, the 
 Harlem to Chatham Four Corners in 1852, the Flushing in 
 1854, the Hudson river to Peekskill in 1849, and to Albany 
 in 1851. All these have greatly enlarged the commerce and 
 growth of the metropolis. 
 
 The first telegraphic communication with New York was 
 established by the Philadelphia and Washington line in 1845, 
 and was the second in the country, one having been estab- 
 lished the previous year between Washington and Baltimore. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND, 
 
 101 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 NEW YORK AS IT IS. 
 
 I. DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND. 
 
 EW YORK Island is situated in the 
 upper New York bay, eighteen miles 
 Ocean, at the 
 
 mouth of the Hudson river, which forms its 
 western boundary, is separated from Long 
 Island by the East river, and from the rest 
 of New York State by the Harlem river and 
 Spuyten Duyvel creek. The island is thirteen 
 and one-half miles long, two and one-half wide 
 at its extreme point, contains fourteen thousand 
 acres, and is by survey divided into 141,486 lots, 
 twenty-five by one hundred feet each. Its original surface was 
 diversified by broken rocky hills, marshes, and ponds of water, 
 and by arable and sandy plains. The rocks, which consisted 
 principally of gneiss, hornblende, slate, mica, limestone, and 
 granite, have been, for the most part, too coarse and brittle 
 for building purposes, but have been employed to advantage 
 in grading and docking. A bold rocky ridge, starting on 
 the southern portion, extended northward, branching off into 
 several spurs, which again united, forming Washington 
 Heights, the greatest elevation anywhere attained (two hun- 
 dred and thirty-eight feet above tide), and ending in a 
 sharp precipitous promontory at the northern extremity of 
 the island. 
 
 A body of fresh water known as " Collect Pond," nearly 
 two miles in circumference, and fifty feet deep, covered the 
 territory of the present .Five Points, and the site of the 
 
102 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Tombs, and was connected with the Hudson by a deep outlet 
 on the line of Canal street, from which the street takes its 
 name. This lake was encircled with a dense forest, and was 
 the resort of skating parties in winter, while in summer 
 Stevens and Fitch experimented in steam navigation on its 
 waters ten years before Fulton's vessel skimmed the Hudson. 
 Deep rivulets supplied by springs and marshes cut the surface 
 in many directions. Up Maiden lane flowed a deep inroad 
 from the bay. In the vicinity of Peck Slip ran a low water- 
 course, which in the wet season united with the Collect, thus 
 cutting off about eight hundred acres on the lower point, into 
 a separate island. A deep stream flowed down Broad street, 
 up which boatmen came for many years in their canoes to 
 sell their oysters. The sources that supplied these lakes and 
 streams still exist, and these waters are carried off through 
 numerous immense sewers, covered deep in the earth, over 
 which thousands tread daily, unconscious of their existence. 
 The lower part of the island has been greatly widened by 
 art ; the whole territory covered by Front and Water streets 
 on the east side, and by West, Greenwich, and Washington, 
 on the west, including the whole site of Washington Market, 
 was once swept by the billows of the bay. The chills and 
 fever, with which hundreds of families are afflicted at this 
 writing, result doubtless from these numerous covered but 
 malarious marshes. 
 
 Civilization introduced gardening and farming. At the sur- 
 render of the Dutch dynasty the city occupied only the ex- 
 treme southern portion of the island, a high wall, with ditch, 
 having been thrown across it on the line of Wall street, for 
 defence. All above this was for several years common 
 pasture ground, but was afterwards divided into farms. The 
 Governor's garden lay along what is now Whitehall street ; the 
 site of St. Paul's (Episcopal) Church was a rich wheat-field ; 
 the site of the old New York Hospital was once a fine or- 
 chard; the Bible House and Cooper Institute cover what at 
 a later period was devoted to luxurious gardens. The central 
 
POPULATION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 
 
 103 
 
 portion of the island was during the English colonial period 
 mapped out into rich productive farms, where men of means 
 settled, became rich, and left their names in the streets that 
 were afterwards constructed. 
 
 The city proper now extends from the Battery northward, 
 and is compactly built for six miles, and irregularly to the 
 Harlem river. The few vacant lots below Fifty-ninth street 
 are being rapidly improved, and a vast amount of building is 
 going on much farther up. Gardening is still conducted on 
 a splendid scale on the upper portions of the island, though 
 these green plots are being constantly encroached upon by 
 the advance of the mason and the joiner. On the west side, 
 through Bloomingdale, Manhattanville, and Washington 
 Heights, may be found still some of the old country mansions 
 and yards of the good lang syne, and many modern palatial 
 residences glittering with costly splendor. 
 
 II. POPULATION AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 
 
 HE growth of the city has been rapid, as 
 a few statistics will show. In 1656 the 
 Jij||jj||| population amounted to 1,000, in 1664 
 to 1,500, in 1700 to 5,000, in 1750 
 to 13,500, in 1774 to 22,750, in 1800 to 60,489, 
 in 1820 to 123,706, in 1830 to 202,589, in 1840 
 to 312,932, in 1850 to 515,547, and in 1860 
 to 813,669. In consequence of the high prices 
 occasioned by the war, and the disorganized 
 condition of the various industrial pursuits, the 
 census of 1865 showed a decrease in the popula- 
 tion, which amounted to 726,386. The census returns of 1870 
 place the population of the island at 942,252. It is proba- 
 ble that the population of the island will eventually reach a 
 million and a half, and perhaps even more. Many portions 
 
104 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of the city have long since been deserted by the better classes 
 of society, but their departure has been speedily followed by 
 a much denser packing of the -localities thus deserted. In 
 1800 the fashionable part of the city was in Wall and Pine 
 streets, and between Broadway and Pearl. It has gradually 
 moved northward, lingering in our day long around Union 
 Square, which has at last been deserted, and it is difficult 
 deciding where the matter will end. When the plan for the 
 erection of the City Hall was made, about seventy years ago, 
 it was urged that the city would never extend above Cham- 
 bers street ; hence the rear wall of the edifice was made of 
 sandstone, and not of marble like the rest, because it was said 
 it would never be seen. To fill the entire island and suburbs, 
 would produce an immensely smaller change than has already 
 occurred since that time. There are now about sixty-five 
 thousand buildings on the island, many of which cover 
 several lots, and not a few twenty or thirty each ; and as 
 fully one thousand acres are covered by the parks and reser- 
 voirs, there is not as much vacant land remaining as many 
 writers have supposed. The vicinity of Central Park is now 
 considered the most eligible part of the city ; but who can 
 tell but even this may yet become a grand commercial 
 theatre, as many places already have which were once held 
 sacred by a generation long since departed ? Some sections 
 in the lower wards are now packed with a population 
 amounting to the appalling figure of two hundred and ninety- 
 thousand to the square mile. If this should become general, 
 the island would contain over six millions. Hundreds of 
 residences are annually rising on the upper parts of the 
 island, but an equally large number farther down are being 
 converted into places of business ; and this, we opine, will 
 continue until the entire island is one vast centre of com- 
 merce, manufacture, and storage. Thirty years will proba- 
 bly entirely drive the 4lite from the island. The bridges 
 and tunnels now in immediate prospect will hasten this 
 result, make the surrounding country for miles the real sub- 
 
STREETS AND AVENUES OF NEW YORK. 105 
 
 urbs of the metropolis, and fill it with wealth and palatial 
 splendor. Already many thousands doing business here daily, 
 reside in other places, not a. few thirty, and some fifty miles 
 up the Hudson. It has been estimated that two hundred 
 thousand persons daily cross the East river, while not many 
 less cross on the other side to New Jersey, Staten Island, or 
 depart on the railroads running north. The construction of 
 a railroad on the west side of the Hudson, and a bridge 
 across the East river, at Blackwell's Island, will open eligible 
 sections for suburban residences hitherto inaccessible to the 
 business public of Manhattan. These enterprises cannot 
 long be delayed. 
 
 in. STREETS AND AVENUES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 THE PLAN, THE PAVEMENTS, AND THE MODES OF TRAVEL WALL 
 
 STREET BROAD STREET — BROADWAY — FIFTH AVENUE BOULE- 
 VARD. 
 
 I HE early settlers of Manhattan 
 had no conception of the propor- 
 tions the town was ultimately to 
 assume, and, hence, formed no 
 comprehensive plan for its outlay. 
 In 1656 they resolved to lay out 
 the streets of the city, which was 
 done in a most grotesque manner. 
 Washington Irving ludicrously 
 describes the occurrence thus: 
 " The sage council not being able 
 to determine upon any plan for the building of their city, the 
 cows, in a laudable fit of patriotism, took it under their pe- 
 culiar charge, and as they went to and from pasture, estab- 
 lished paths through the bushes, on each side of which the 
 
106 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 good folks built their houses, which is one cause of the 
 rambling and picturesque turns and labyrinths which distin- 
 guish certain streets of New York at this very day." Many of 
 the streets in the lower part of the city have been straightened 
 and improved at vast expense. On the 3d of April, 1807, 
 an Act was passed, appointing Simeon Dewitt, Gouverneur 
 Morris, and John Eutherford, to lay out by careful survey 
 the whole island, which was accordingly done, and the map 
 of the same filed in the secretary's office in March, 1811. 
 To the commendable forethought of these gentlemen is the 
 city indebted for the admirable arrangement of its uptown 
 streets and avenues. This survey extended to One Hundred 
 and Fifty-fourth street, but it has since been extended to 
 Kings Bridge. Below Fourteenth street much irregularity 
 still exists in the streets, and probably always will, to the 
 infinite perplexity of strangers ; but above that point the 
 avenues and streets run at right angles to each other, the 
 direction of the former being nearly north and south, and the 
 latter east and west, from river to river, and numbering each 
 way from Fifth avenue. The avenues number from south 
 to north. 
 
 The streets, avenues, squares, and places on Manhattan 
 now number nearly seven hundred, about three hundred 
 miles of which are paved, and are illuminated at night by 
 about nineteen thousand gas lamps. The first pavements 
 were laid in what is now Stone street, between Broad and 
 Whitehall streets, in 1658. Bridge street was paved the same 
 year, and several others running through marshy sections soon 
 after. These pavements were of cobble-stone, without side- 
 walks, and with wooden gutters running through the centre 
 of the streets. Broadway was paved in this manner, in 1707, 
 from Trinity Church to Bowling Green. 
 
 In 1790 the first sidewalks on Manhattan were laid. They 
 extended along Broadway, from Yesey to Murray street, and 
 on the opposite side for the same distance along the Bride- 
 well fence. These were narrow pavements of brick, flag- 
 
STREETS AND AVENUES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 107 
 
 stone being yet unknown to the authorities. !No plan for 
 numbering the streets was considered until 1793, when a 
 crude system was introduced. The old cobble-stone pave- 
 ments have been succeeded by the Belgian or square-stone ; 
 and of late the Nicolson and the Stafford, different styles of 
 wooden, have been introduced. A concrete pavement, com- 
 posed of gravel, broken stone, cinders, coal ashes, mixed in 
 definite proportions with tar, pitch, resin, and asphaltum, 
 has been spread over the streets, with tolerable success in 
 some instances, and perfect failure in others. Eighty-five 
 miles of the Belgian have been laid, which probably gives the 
 best satisfaction of any introduced. It consists of blocks of 
 bluish trap-rock, made slightly pyramidal in form, and set in 
 sand with the base upward. It is very even and durable. 
 
 The avenues, from First to Twelfth, numbering from the 
 East river, are designed to be eight miles long (except the 
 Sixth and Seventh, which are cut off by Central Park), are 
 one hundred feet wide (except Lexington and Madison, 
 which are eighty feet), and one thousand feet apart. The 
 cross streets are from one mile to two and a half miles in 
 length, sixty feet wide (except one in ten, which is one hun- 
 dred), and two hundred and sixty feet apart. The first city 
 railroad was constructed in 1852, and opened with great cere- 
 mony, the President of the United States officiating. There 
 are now seventeen lines of horse cars, and numerous omnibus 
 lines, which carry in the aggregate a hundred million passen- 
 gers annually. These run continuously in all directions, 
 though most of them pass or terminate near the City Hall, 
 which is still the great centre of business attraction. The 
 one hundred and ten monthly magazines, the thirteen daily, 
 and the two hundred and forty weekly, newspapers are nearly 
 all printed within sight of the City Hall, Park Row and 
 Printing House square producing many of them. 
 
 The City Hall, the centre of the city government, the 
 Court House, the Hall of Records, the printing, the general 
 Post Office, the principal wholesaling, insurance, and banking 
 
108 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 houses, being clustered in the lower part of the city, make it 
 the business centre toward which everything still converges. 
 The principal ferries to New Jersey, Staten Island, and 
 Brooklyn make their landings opposite this locality ; and op- 
 posite this point is now being constructed the lofty East 
 river bridge. Streets in this locality are crowded with cars, 
 carriages, omnibuses, loaded carts, and wagons of every de- 
 scription, from dawn 'till dark, at all seasons of the year, heat 
 and storm but slightly interfering with the busy programme. 
 Bankers, merchants, clerks, agents, in fine, persons of both 
 sexes, and of every age, calling, and country, go rushing by 
 with such rapidity that the modest countryman, though anx 
 ions to cross one of these surging thoroughfares, finds himself 
 much in the situation of the rustic in Horace, who stood wait- 
 ing on the bank for the river to run by. 
 
 The two principal lines of uptown travel are through Hud- 
 son street and Eighth avenue on the west, and Bowery and 
 Third avenue on the east. The elevated railroad, the track 
 laid on iron posts about sixteen feet above the pavement, 
 passes up Greenwich street and Ninth avenue. Various 
 methods for securing rapid transit are being agitated at this 
 time. The plan for the " Pneumatic Tunnel " involves the 
 construction of an underground road, commencing at South 
 Ferry, extending under Broadway to Central Park and above 
 that point, together with a Fourth avenue branch to Harlem 
 river. The company claim that, when the road is completed, 
 they will be able to transport more than twenty thousand 
 persons per hour each way. 
 
 The " Underground Iiailroad" proper, is another inde- 
 pendent and separate enterprise. 
 
 The " Arcade Railway" if constructed, contemplates the 
 use of the width of the streets and avenues under which it 
 passes, excepting five feet on each side, to secure the founda- 
 tions of the buildings. The road will contain sidewalks, 
 roadway, lamp posts, telegraph wires, hydrants, and sewers, 
 the whole covered with arches of solid masonry, rendered 
 
THE BROADWAY PNEUMATIC UNDERGROUND RAILWAY. 
 
WALL STREET. 
 
 109 
 
 water-tight, and supported by heavy iron columns. The 
 routes selected are the line of Broadway from the Battery to 
 the intersection of Ninth avenue, thence to Hudson river ; 
 also branching at Union square, and following the line of 
 Fourth avenue to the Harlem river. It is estimated to cost 
 over $2,000,000. 
 
 The " Viaduct Railway " is another style of elevated road. 
 This wealthy company proposes to erect its lower depot at 
 Tryon Row, causing its road to form an easy connection with 
 the East river bridge. This road, if constructed, will run 
 through the rear of the blocks, have a line on the east- 
 ern and one on the western side of the city, each extend- 
 ing to "Westchester County. It is to be built on brick 
 irches, supported by heavy iron columns, which will them- 
 selves stand on inverted arches of solid masonry constructed 
 in the ground. It is estimated to cost from $10,000,000 to 
 $20,000,000. One of these roads is certain to be constructed 
 at no distant day. 
 
 Nassau, a narrow and gloomy street, has long been the 
 trade centre of cheap and miscellaneous books, though much 
 of this has lately found its way up town. 
 
 WALL STREET. 
 
 "Wall, a short and crooked street, though immensely 
 straighter than many who spend their time in it, is the great 
 financial centre of the country, and is lined for the most 
 part with magnificent banking-houses. On the corner of 
 Nassau, stretching from Wall to Pine, and fronting on each, 
 stands what was originally the Custom House, now the Sub- 
 Treasury, a white-marble fire-proof building, ninety feet by 
 two hundred, with a rotunda sixty feet in diameter, the dome 
 supported by sixteen Corinthian pillars. The building occu- 
 pies the site of the old Federal Hall, where President Wash- 
 ington was inaugurated ; it is a partial imitation of the Par- 
 thenon at Athens, and cost nearly twelve hundred thousand 
 
 8 
 
110 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 dollars. Here the Government deposits its one hundred 
 millions of gold, and here its great monetary transactions are 
 made. In the basement is the pension bureau. Farther 
 down, and on the opposite side of the street, stands what was 
 built for the Merchants' Exchange. It covers an entire 
 block ; its portico is supported by twelve front, four centre, 
 and two rear Ionic columns thirty-eight feet long, four and 
 a half in diameter, each formed from a single granite block 
 weighing forty-five tons. The rotunda is eighty feet in 
 diameter, and the crown of the dome, which rests on eight 
 Corinthian columns of Italian marble, is one hundred and 
 twenty-four feet high. It was built many years ago, by an 
 incorporated company, and cost §1,800,000. It was pur- 
 chased by the Government several years since for $1,000,000 
 and is now the United States Custom House. As London is 
 England, so, in a sense, Wall street is New York, if not 
 America. Here "Bears" and "Bulls" in sheep's clothing 
 meet in frequent and fierce rencounter, and alternately claw 
 and gore each other. Beneath the frowns of the lofty spire 
 of old Trinit} r , these calculating votaries of mammon play with 
 fortunes as boys do with bubbles, and while a few rise and soar^ 
 many decline and burst. "Wall street seldom contains above 
 fifteen millions of gold outside the Sub -Treasury, but the nec- 
 essary and speculative transactions in this alone amount daily 
 to seventy millions, and on the 24th of September, 18G9, 
 amounted to several hundred millions, one broker alone pur- 
 chasing to the amount of sixty millions. The gold transac- 
 tions of 1869 are said to have reached thirty billions, and the 
 aggregate business of Governments and stocks, to have also 
 exceeded twenty billions. The rapidity with which money is 
 counted, and vast amounts of stocks, bonds, and miscellaneous 
 securities exchanged, is perfectly astonishing. Most of the 
 counter-trade is performed by young men and striplings, the 
 advanced and calculating minds spending most of their time in 
 the private office. The most crowded and busy centres of 
 
BROAD STREET — BROADWAY. 
 
 Ill 
 
 New York appear cheap and tame, after spending an honr in 
 Wall street. 
 
 BROAD STREET. 
 
 The continuation of the narrow Nassau proper south of 
 "Wall street, having all at once strangely widened, is called 
 Broad street. During the last few years brokers and specu- 
 lators of every description have crowded into its silent pre- 
 cincts, until it has become the most noisy and tumultuous 
 speculative centre on the island. Here stands the elegant 
 marble structure containing the far-famed, gorgeously fur- 
 nished Gold Room, where the daily sales take place, often 
 amid such excitement and din as we cannot describe. The 
 Board of Brokers was organized in 1794, and the entrance 
 fee has risen from fifty dollars to three thousand. The Board 
 numbers about four hundred and seventy members in good 
 standing. Each member has a safe in the vault, with a 
 combination lock. The Board claims to be composed of 
 honest and honorable men only. Besides this there are various 
 other specific boards of all kinds of speculators — stock-brokers 
 gold-brokers, oil-brokers, and cliques — uniting and dissolving 
 as occasion may offer opportunities of gain to ambitious 
 and unscrupulous men. Among these originate the gold 
 scrambles, the railroad wars, the raid on the banks, and other 
 panics which crowd the streets with well-dressed, but frenzied 
 men, some flushed and violent, some pale and staggering, 
 turning prematurely gray over the wreck of their earthly 
 hopes. 
 
 BROADWAY. 
 
 Broadway begins at Castle Garden, the extreme southern 
 point of Manhattan, unites at the Central Park with the 
 Boulevard, making the longest street on the island, thirteen 
 and one-half miles, and is lighted by over one thousand gas 
 lamps. This street is eighty feet wide, and contains many 
 
112 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of the principal business houses, hotels, and places of amuse- 
 ment. Not a few of these cover an entire block, are built of 
 marble or iron, are five, six, and sometimes seven stories above 
 ground, and two below, with well-lighted vaults extending to 
 near the centre of the streets. Broadway is the glittering 
 promenade of wealth, beauty, fashion, and curiosity. 
 
 FIFTH AVENUE. 
 
 While Eighth avenue is the principal avenue for business 
 purposes, "Fifth, avenue is distinguished for the splendor of 
 its private residences, to which, with the exception of a few 
 magnificent churches and institutions, it is entirely devoted. 
 It begins at Washington square, near the centre of the city, 
 and extends northward in a perfectly straight line for six 
 miles, and is pre-eminently the street of palaces. The build- 
 ings are large, constructed of marble, or of the several varie- 
 ties of free-stone, the fronts ornamented with cornices, 
 entablatures, porticos, and columns, elegantly carved and 
 sculptured. Everything is massive and expensive, and the 
 surrounding streets so far partake of its magnificence that 
 one may travel miles amid unbroken lines of palatial splen- 
 dor. Here dwell the millionaires who control so largely the 
 shipping, the railroad, the banking, and the legislative inter- 
 ests of the country. Much unoccupied space still remains 
 on this peerless avenue for wealth and genius to lavish their 
 dazzling inventions. For the relief of Broadway, Laurens 
 street is now being widened and made to connect Fifth ave- 
 nue with West Broadway. This opens another general 
 thoroughfare for uptown travel, and will probably attract its 
 share of business firms. It will greatly disturb the quiet and, 
 mar the beauty of the lower portion of this brilliant avenue, 
 and already a number of its palaces, near Union square, 
 have been converted into business houses. 
 
THE BOULEVARD. 
 
 \Ve live in a fast age, and New Yorkers are a fast people « 
 hence, it seemed intolerable to some that the law regulating 
 driving at the Park should restrict every man to six miles an 
 hour, and arrest summarily every blood who dared to disre- 
 gard the rule. Nor was the private trotting course between 
 the Park and High Bridge adequate to the demand. A 
 great public drive, broad and long, where hundreds of fleet 
 horses could be exercised in a single hour, was the demand 
 that came welling up from the hearts of thousands. One 
 was accordingly laid out on the line of the old Eloomingdale 
 Poad, beginning at Fifty-ninth street with an immense circle 
 for turning vehicles. On the 21st of September, 1868, the 
 work of grading commenced ; and during 1869 an average 
 force of 740 men was employed. This street extends from 
 Fifty-ninth to One Hundred and Fifty-fifth street, a distance 
 of about five miles, is one hundred and fifty feet wide, with 
 a narrow line of shrubbery and flowers extending through 
 the centre, defended by solid curbstones. In the construc- 
 tion of this street it was found necessary to remove, by exca 
 vation and blasting, 350,000 cubic yards of rock and earth, 
 and to provide and deposit 300,000 cubic yards in certain 
 depressed localities, to perfect the grade. The bed of the 
 street is formed of set stone, covered with pounded stone, 
 after which it is graveled, rolled, and the surface otherwise 
 improved. The sidewalks are very capacious. This street 
 is expected to be one of the later wonders of Manhattan, and 
 land is held at fabulous prices along its entire length. 
 
114 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 IY. 
 
 THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 HOTELS, ASTOR HOUSE — FIFTH AVENUE ST. NICHOLAS — GRAND 
 
 CENTRAL COOPER INSTITUTE ACADEMY OF DESIGN THEATERS 
 
 AMERICAN BIBLE HOUSE PUBLISHING HOUSES THE PARK BANK 
 
 LIFE INSURANCE BUILDINGS CITY HALL NEW YORK COURT- 
 HOUSE NEW YORK POST-OFFICE STORES : A. T. STEWART'S 
 
 CLAFLIN'S LORD & TAYLOR^ TIFFANY & CO. NUMBER OF 
 
 BUILDINGS. 
 
 jfKBJHE architecture of Manhattan has 
 |H§jjj< p greatly varied in the different periods 
 f its history. As in all new settle- 
 ments where timber abounds, the first build- 
 ings were constructed of logs. Indeed, 
 nothing else appears to have been employed 
 until 1647, when the first stone house was finished, 
 an event of such transcendent importance, that 
 the generous Dutch celebrated it by drinking one 
 hundred and twenty-eight gallons of liquor on the 
 occasion. During the first forty years after the 
 settlement of Manhattan, the old Holland style of architec- 
 ture entirely prevailed. Some of these buildings had narrow 
 foundations, w T ith high peaked roofs ; others were broader at 
 their base, one, and sometimes two stories high ; the gables, 
 which always faced the streets, were sometimes of brick, but 
 oftener of shingles rounded at the end. Many of the roofs 
 were bevelled, projecting at the eaves sufficiently to shelter a 
 small regiment of troops. The gutters of many of the houses 
 extended to near the centre of the streets, to the great an- 
 noyance of travelers in rainy weather. The front entrance 
 was usually ornamented with a high wooden porch called a 
 stoop, where the women spent the shady part of the day. 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 115 
 
 The more important buildings such as the " Stuyvesant Huijs" 
 near the water edge, now Moore and Front streets, and the 
 
 Stadt-Huys " or City Hall, on Pearl street, were set in the 
 foreground, to be more readily seen from the river and bay. 
 The first buildings erected on Wall street were block-houses. 
 
 But if this Holland style lacked elegance, it possessed the 
 merit of durability. One in a fine state of preservation 
 taken down in 1827, was marked 1698, and many after stand- 
 ing more than one hundred years showed no signs of decay. 
 The last of these Knickerbockers has now disappeared from 
 Manhattan, though they still linger on Long Island, and up 
 the Hudson. The English conquest introduced a greater 
 variety, which has continued to change and multiply its forms 
 until the present time. As early as 1670, stone and brick 
 were principally employed ; iron, so extensively used at pres- 
 ent, has been introduced during the last thirty years. A 
 builder in Water street, about the beginning of the Revolution, 
 exchanged leaden sash for wooden, a novelty too great for 
 the times, for the trustees of Trinity after the great fire of 
 1778 still retained the leaden frame. 
 
 The architecture at present may be said to be thoroughly 
 eclectic, as nearly every style known to the student may be 
 found, several at times blending, in the same edifice. Trin- 
 ity church on Broadway, is of the Gothic; St. George's in 
 Stuyvesant square, of the Byzantine ; St. Paul's Methodist 
 Episcopal, on Fourth avenue, is of the Romanesque ; the City 
 Hall is of the Italian ; the Tombs of the Egyptian ; while the 
 Synagogues present the Moresque, and the distinctive form of 
 the Hebrew style. 
 
 Hotels. — The hotels form an important part of every large 
 town, and in many instances one of their chief attractions. 
 What would Clifton, or Saratoga, or New York be to the 
 great traveling public, without their hotels. The hotels of 
 New York rank among the largest and finest in the world^ 
 Among them may be mentioned the Astor, Metropolitan, St. 
 Nicholas, St. James, St. Cloud, Hoffman, Everett, Claren- 
 
116 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 don, New York, Fifth Avenue, Grand Central, Gilsey, and a 
 hundred more, many of which are of equal notoriety. 
 
 FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL. 
 
 The Astor House was erected in 1836, by John Jacob 
 Astor, then the richest man in America. It is a six-story 
 granite, on Broadway, overlooking the City Hall Park, and 
 covers the spot where Mr. Astor resided during most of his 
 business life. The front extends across a narrow block, and 
 the building affords accommodations for six hundred guests. 
 Architecture on Manhattan has so decidedly improved since 
 its erection, that its glory has long since departed. Its exte- 
 rior appears sombre and heavy, its windows are small and 
 unadorned, no balcony or colonnade tempts the inmates into 
 public view, and its single massive entrance is not really in- 
 viting. Under the management of the Stetsons it has, how- 
 ever, long ranked among the very first hotels of America. 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 117 
 
 Fifth Avenue hotel stands opposite Madison square, at 
 the junction of Broadway, Fifth avenue, and Twenty-third 
 street. The structure is of white marble, six stories high, 
 fronting on three streets, and after devoting, as is the custom, 
 most of its first floor to stores, has accommodations for a 
 thousand guests. It is beautifully located and forms a rich 
 center of fashion and speculation. It was erected and is 
 still owned by Mr. Amos K. Eno, formerly a New-England 
 youth and the architect of his own fortune. 
 
 The St. Nicholas, opened in 1854, stands on Broadway, 
 between Broome and Spring streets. The structure is of 
 white marble and brown freestone, is six stories high, witli six 
 hundred rooms, and can accommodate a thousand persons. 
 The St. Nicholas is also a richly furnished hotel, conducted 
 on the American or full-board plan, and has been the theater 
 of many brilliant occasions. 
 
 The Grand Central hotel, opened August 24, 1870, is the 
 largest in the United States. It stands on Broadway between 
 Amity and Bleecker streets, with a frontage of 175 feet, and 
 extends to Mercer street, being 200 feet in depth. It covers 
 the ground once occupied by the Lafarge House, afterwards 
 the Southern Hotel and the Winter Garden Theatre. The 
 edifice is constructed of brick and marble, is ten stories high, 
 and covers fourteen full lots, for some of which Mr. Higgins 
 paid eighty-three thousand dollars apiece. The dining-room 
 affords space for 600 persons to sit at table at once; the 
 plate and furniture are magnificent, costing half a million, 
 and the arrangements for observation, health, and comfort, 
 the most exquisite. The building is 127 feet high at the 
 cornice, which is surmounted by a heavy Mansard roof, the 
 top of the flag-staff being 197 feet above the pavement. 
 Thirty miles of steam coil are employed in heating the edi- 
 fice, the floors amount to 350,000 square feet, requiring seven 
 acres of carpeting, besides an acre of marble tiling ; and the 
 cooks, waiters, chambermaids, hallmen, and clerks amount to 
 
118 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 GRAKD CENTRAL HOTEL, BROADWAY, OPPOSITE BOND STREET. 
 
 a small brigade. The price of board is $3, $3.50, and $4 per 
 day. 
 
 Cooper Institute, a fine six-story brown-stone, covering a 
 block between Seventh and Eighth streets, Third and Fourth 
 avenues, is a munificent donation from the man whose name 
 it bears, and cost nearly half a million. Its enlightened pro- 
 jector grew up in poverty, with scanty means of culture, and 
 the building is the fruit of frugal toil, coupled with a long- 
 cherished desire to promote a knowledge of science and art 
 among the laboring classes. It contains vast halls for lec- 
 tures, a fine reading-room, evening-schools for young ladies, 
 mechanics, and apprentices, galleries of art, and collections of 
 rare inventions. The large lecture-room in the basement is 
 the most popular public hall in the city, and has echoed to 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 119 
 
 COOPER UNION. 
 
 (Eighth street, between Third and Fourth avenues.) 
 
 the eloquence of the most noted men of this country, and 
 many from Europe. It was in this hall that Red Cloud de- 
 livered his great address in the early summer of 1870. The 
 first floor of the building is rented for stores, and brings an 
 income of nearly thirty thousand dollars. 
 
 The Free Night Classes in Cooper Union had an average 
 attendance during February, 1871, as follows: School of Sci- 
 ence, 276; School of Art, 643; School of Telegraphy, 35; 
 Scientific Lectures, 545 ; Oratory Class, 100 ; total, 1,569. 
 The new classes in English literature and the French lan- 
 guage were attended by 200 and 100, respectively, bringing 
 up the general total of attendance to over 1,800. The School 
 of Design for girls and women has been attended by over 
 eighty daily, and that of Engraving for women by 26. The 
 
120 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 number of visitors to the free reading-room was 29,383 ; num- 
 ber of books used, 4,509. 
 
 ACADEMY OF DESIGN. 
 
 The Academy of Design, on the corner of Fourth avenue 
 and Twenty-third street, though not particularly large, is still 
 a building before which the observer will pause, to glance at 
 its Gothic windows and marble walls of many colors, col- 
 lected from various parts of Europe and America. The vis- 
 itor is not slow to conclude that the exterior is, indeed, one of 
 design. 
 
 Theaters. — The first building erected for a theater on the 
 island was in 1761, and opened with the tragedy of "Fair 
 Penitent." The mob destroyed it during the excitement oc- 
 casioned by the "Stamp Act," in 1766. The business has 
 proved so profitable, that, notwithstanding the fearful havoc 
 made among these houses of wicked amusement by fires and 
 other casualties, they have always been too numerous, and far 
 
The Astor Library— Lafayette Place, near 6th Street. 
 (The above cut represents but half the present building.) 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 121 
 
 BOOTH'S THEATER. 
 
 too largely patronized for the interests of good morals. 
 About twenty houses of this kind are now maintained ; many 
 of them are of costly constructure, the Academy of Music, 
 Fisk's Grand Opera House, Booth's New Theater, Niblo's, and 
 "Wallack's ranking among the first. 
 
 The Astor Library Building, in Lafayette Place, with an 
 imposing entablature, marble steps and floor, is the largest 
 and finest library- room in America. It was projected by the 
 bequest of John Jacob Astor, and afterwards enlarged by 
 his son William B. Astor. The accompanying cut represents 
 the original structure and but half of the building as it now 
 stands. 
 
 The American Bible House, a plain six-story brick, with 
 cellar and vaults, was completed in 1853, at a cost, including 
 ground, of §303,000. It covers three-fourths of an acre, form- 
 
 9 
 
122 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ing a front on four streets, of 710 feet. The fronts on Fourth 
 avenue and Astor place are divided into five sections each. 
 The principal entrance on Fourth avenue is decorated with 
 four round columns with Corinthian capitals and moulded 
 bases, resting upon paneled and moulded pedestals, and semi- 
 circular arches are placed between the columns to form the 
 heads of doors, and all surmounted with a heavy cornice and 
 segment pediments. The boilers are placed in the area in the 
 centre of the building, so inclosed as not likely to endanger 
 the operatives in case of accident. Fifty stores and offices 
 are rented in the building, mostly to benevolent societies, 
 bringing an income of nearly $40,000, and making the Bible 
 House the principal centre of benevolent and reformatory 
 movements for the city and State. The Society was organized 
 in 1816, since which its receipts have considerably exceeded 
 $5,000,000. It has printed the Scriptures in twenty-nine dia- 
 lects, assisted in publishing and circulating many of the one 
 hundred and eighty-five versions issued by the British and 
 Foreign Bible Society, and has three times canvassed the en- 
 tire United States, supplying hundreds of thousands of desti- 
 tute families with the Word of God. The Society employs 
 about five hundred hands, and carries on every branch of its 
 vast business in its own building. The Bible House is visited 
 annually by thousands of strangers, and can scarcely cease to 
 be an object of profoundest interest. 
 
 The Publishing Houses of New York form an imposing 
 and interesting department of the city. The buildings of the 
 Harpers, the Appletons, and of Charles Scribner & Co., are 
 very extensive. The new Methodist Publishing and Mission 
 Buildings, corner of Broadway and Eleventh street, are the 
 headquarters of the most extensive denominational publish- 
 ing interests in the world. The enterprise began in Philadel- 
 phia in 1789, with a borrowed capital of $600. In 1804 it 
 was removed to New York, and in 1836 was destroyed by fire, 
 inflicting a loss of $250,000 upon the denomination. Besides 
 paying for various church interests $1,335,866.25, the agents 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN 
 
 123 
 
 in 1868 reported a net capital of $1,165,624.55, which has 
 since been increased to over $1,500,000. The new buildings 
 
 METHODIST PUBL1&H1.NG AMi> MJS.S10N BU1LDIKQ. 
 
 (Broadway, corner Eleventh street.) 
 
 on Broadway were purchased in April, 1869, and cost nearly 
 a million dollars. The structure is of iron, with five lofty 
 stories, and a basement which extends nineteen feet under 
 Broadway and fourteen feet under Eleventh street, and has a 
 floor of nearly half an acre. Besides furnishing salerooms 
 for books and periodicals, elegant offices for agents, editors, 
 missionary secretaries, rooms for committees, preachers' meet- 
 ings, etc., etc., enough is still rented to pay the interest on the 
 cost of the entire building. 
 
 Many of the periodicals of Xew York are issued from 
 colossal iron-fronted structures, which would have been an 
 astonishment to our fathers. The Herald building, covering 
 the site of Barnum's old museum, is perhaps among the finest 
 
124 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 G Times buildlll^, 
 
 erected several years 
 earlier, is another fine structure, occupying a commanding 
 position at the head of Park Row. that ominous center of 
 compositors and printing ink. Near by stands Printing- 
 
 HEW YORK TIERALD BUILDING AND PARK BANK. 
 
 (proadtoap, come, Ann street.) 
 
 House square, in or around which are published the Tribune, 
 World, Observer, Sun, Day-Booh, Examiner and Chronicle, 
 Scientific American, Evening Mail, Baptist Union, Rural 
 ilfew Yorker, Independent, the Agriculturist, Methodist, 
 Christian Union, etc. 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 125 
 
 The I'ark Bank, adjoining the Herald building and facing 
 St. Paul's (Episcopal) church, is an elaborate and colossal mar- 
 ble structure, erected at vast expense, and forms one of the 
 most striking architectural wonders on lower Broadway. The 
 interior is if possible more exquisite in its appointments than 
 the exterior. The offices and business parlors of its chief 
 officers are cushioned and otherwise gilded and adorned in 
 the richest manner. 
 
 The Life Insurance Companies have of late virtually un- 
 dertaken to excel all others in architectural enterprises. The 
 building just reared by the Equitable Life Insurance Com- 
 pany, on the corner of Cedar street and Broadway, is an ex- 
 ample of what men and money can accomplish, and may be 
 termed one of the later wonders of Manhattan. It has a 
 frontage of S7 feet on Broadway, is 187 feet deep on Cedar 
 street, and is 137 feet high. Its massive iron columns and 
 substantial construction give the surest evidence of perman- 
 ency. 
 
 The building of the New York Life Insurance Company, 
 corner of Broadway and Leonard street, is scarcely less strik- 
 ing. It is constructed of white marble in the Ionic order, its 
 chief entrance-way being richly ornamented. The public 
 need not be alarmed at the report of the millions lavished 
 by the managers of these companies on imposing business 
 temples, as the demand for first-class offices is so great that 
 a large revenue is annually realized from the investment. 
 
 The City Hall, commenced in 1803 and completed in 
 1811, was for many years the finest edifice in America. It is 
 216 feet long and 105 wide. The front and ends are of white 
 marble and the rear of New York free-stone. The Mayor, 
 clerk of the common council, and many other officials occupy 
 its rooms. On the second floor is the Governor's room, 52 by 
 20 feet, used for the reception of distinguished visitors. It 
 contains General Washington's writing-desk, on which he 
 penned his first message to Congress, and is decorated with 
 many fine portraits of the Governors of New York, and other 
 
126 
 
 NEW YOR-K AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 distinguished Americans. The building is surmounted by a 
 tower containing a bell weighing over 9,000 pounds, and a 
 
 CITY HALL. 
 
 cupola in which is a four-dial clock of superior workmanship, 
 and is otherwise ornamented with a figure of Justice. The 
 building cost over half a million, a large sum for those days. 
 In the rear of the City Hall, and fronting on Chambers street, 
 the authorities have been for eight years engaged in the erec- 
 tion of the Kew York Couet-IIouse. The building is 250 
 feet long, 150 wide, and the crown of the dome when com- 
 pleted will be 210 feet above the pavement. The walls are 
 of Massachusetts white marble, the beams, staircases, and out- 
 side doors are of iron, while black walnut and the choicest 
 Georgia-pine are employed in finishing the interior. Some 
 of the iron beams and girders weigh over twenty-five tons 
 each. The halls are all covered with marble tiling. The 
 main entrance on Chambers street is readied bv a flight of 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 127 
 
 broad steps ornamented with marble pillars. The architect 
 lias suggested the idea of making the tower crowning the 
 apex of the dome a light-house, which from its great height 
 could be seen from vessels far out at sea. The edihce is Cor- 
 inthian in style, much larger and richer in finish than any 
 public building hitherto erected on Manhattan, and is costing 
 the public vast sums. Many private purses arc believed to 
 have been unduly filled in connection with its construction. 
 
 OLD POST-OFFICE. 
 
 (Comer Xassau and Liberty streets.) 
 
 The New York Post-Office, now being constructed at 
 the southern point of City Hall Park, nearly opposite the As- 
 tor House, will be somewhat triangular in form, with a front 
 of 279 feet toward the Park, two equal lateral facades of 
 262J on Broadway and Park Row, and a front of 144 feet at 
 the south-western extremity. The walls are to be of Dix Is- 
 land granite, three stories besides basement and attic, the main 
 
128 
 
 NEW YORK ANT) ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 cornice 80 feet above the sidewalk, and the crown of the 
 central dome 160 feet. The windows are to be semicircular- 
 headed throughout, the archivolts ornamented with voussoirs, 
 and carried on projecting pilasters. The inside, which is to be 
 devoted to the General Post-Office department and the United 
 States Court, will have its appropriate appointments and cor- 
 ridors, while its exterior will be adorned with a profusion of 
 classic pillars, balconies, balustrades, and other marks of 
 genius. It will probably take several years to complete it, and 
 cost as many millions. The post-office department of New 
 York is a colossal enterprise. Over one hundred tons of mail 
 matter are handled every twenty-four hours. 
 
 Many of the merchants of Manhattan are immensely richer 
 than the ancient kings, owning stores the floors of which cover 
 from five to fifteen acres, employ thousands of clerks, porters, 
 and seamstresses, and count their income by the million. 
 
 Mr. A. T. Stewart's retail store, at the corner of Tenth 
 street and Broadway, has eight floors, which, if spread out 
 singly, would cover over fifteen acres. Ilis sales in this build- 
 ing average §S0,000 per day, and the daily visitors number 
 from 15,000 to 50,000, according to the season. Mr. Stew- 
 art lias just erected the most costly private residence on the 
 continent for himself and family. It stands at the corner of 
 Fifth avenue and Thirty-fourth street, is of white marble, and 
 said to have cost over two millions. Mr. Stewart paid last 
 year a larger income-tax than either of twenty-seven States 
 and more than nine of our territories combined. This gen- 
 tleman has also an immense wholesale store near the City 
 Hall doing a vast business, and is in this line only excelled by 
 II. B. Claflin & Co., who have not only the largest wholesale 
 store, bat are the heaviest dealers in dry-goods in America. 
 Their store has a frontage of eighty feet, and extends from 
 Church street to West Broadway along Worth street, a dis- 
 tance of 375 feet. Beside many purchasing agents abroad, 
 there are about live hundred clerks and other employes 
 attending to the everyday affairs of this colossal business 
 
United States Treasury Building— Cor. Wall and Nassau Streets. 
 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF MANHATTAN. 
 
 129 
 
 theater. The sales of the house have reached seventy mil- 
 lions in a year, and one million in a single day. Mr. Claflin 
 worships at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. 
 
 Lord & Taylor have just added another immense business 
 palace to the Metropolis. It stands at the corner of Twentieth 
 street and Broadway, is of the composite order, with a front of 
 110 feet, a depth of 128, and a height of 122 feet. Its solidity 
 may be imagined from the fact that over a thousand tons of 
 iron were employed in its construction. Though one of the 
 most massive structures on the island, its front is so profusely 
 and tastefully ornamented that one almost forgets that it is a 
 place of business. 
 
 Tiffany & Company have also just erected a fine building 
 on the southwest corner of Union square, on the site origin- 
 ally covered by Dr. Cheever's church. They are said to be 
 the largest dealers in jewelry in the world, their sales amount- 
 ing to several millions per annum, and probably have the 
 largest and finest store of its kind yet constructed. 
 
 There are now about sixty-five thousand buildings on the 
 island, of which about thirty-four thousand are of brick, 
 twenty thousand of stone, and eleven thousand of wood. 
 Twenty thousand of these are occupied as tenant-houses and 
 contain over half the population. Many of the churches are 
 large and beautiful, worthy of the times and the people who 
 built them, though it is not complimentary to our Protestant 
 evangelical Christianity, that the three largest enterprises in 
 church architecture undertaken on the island during the last 
 ten years, should result in a Jewish synagogue, a Universa- 
 iist church, and a Roman Catholic cathedral. 
 
 Choice architecture on Manhattan amounts to a practical 
 science, which is much studied, and some intrepid genius is 
 every year seeking to eclipse all his predecessors. At this 
 writing the Free Masons are erecting a superb temple on 
 Sixth avenue and Twenty-third street; a fine building called 
 the Seamen's Exchange is rising on Cherry street, at an ex- 
 pense of §100,000, to contain a reading room, savings bank 
 9 
 
130 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and other means for improving the condition of sailors. The 
 Industrial Exhibition Company have purchased a plot of twen- 
 ty-two acres between Third and Fourth avenues, at One Hun- 
 dredth street, and are preparing to erect a vast crystal palace, 
 the dimensions of which are to be so immense, that the crys- 
 tal palace of nineteen years ago will be remembered as a 
 mere " toy-house." What the next generation will undertake 
 we shall not attempt to divine. 
 
 The Grand Central Depot, at 42 d Street and 4th Ave- 
 nue, built of brick and iron, for the use of the New York 
 Central and Hudson Eiver, New York and Harlem, and 
 New York and New Haven Kailroad Companies, is an im- 
 posing structure, 692 feet long and 240 feet wide, and 
 admits of 150 cars, besides the waiting and baggage rooms, 
 and various offices connected with the different roads. The 
 building covers 66J city lots. The total cost was nearly 
 $2,250,000. 
 
 The Depot (car-room) is lighted with 12 large reflectors 
 of 58 burners each, suspended from the roof, and lighted by 
 electricity. The New York Tribune says : 
 
 " This is by far the largest, stateliest, most costly, most 
 commodious edifice devoted to like purposes on this Conti- 
 nent, is an ornament to our city, and a credit to American 
 architecture. 
 
 " If it were only to be seen for a price, thousands would 
 flock to it daily, as the most attractive spectacle in our 
 city." 
 
V. 
 
 BUSINESS IN NEW YOKK. 
 
 CAUSES OF BUSINESS FAILURE BUSINESS IN REAL ESTATE 
 
 CLASSES OF RICH MEN — POLITICIANS — SPECULATORS AND STOCK 
 GAMBLERS — SUCCESS OF GREAT MEN. 
 
 HILE it is true that business is essen- 
 tially the same the world over, it is 
 equally true that in a great city every- 
 is accelerated. In great commercial 
 centers business is reduced to a sort of science, 
 I ' and abundant scope is afforded for the play of 
 the largest and rarest talents. Nearly every man 
 in cities has his specialty, which he plies, paying 
 little attention to the rest of the world. If one 
 thought predominates over all others in the busy 
 m centers of New York, it is that of dispatch. Ev- 
 erything is on a run, and everybody from butcher to banker 
 in a hurry. A clerk fresh from the country, toiling for his 
 board, can scarcely be tolerated on account of his tardiness. 
 Steamboats, horse-cars, and stages are too slow to satisfy the 
 desires of the rushing masses. Every scheme for elevated 
 roads, underground roads, river bridges, or tunnels meets 
 with ten thousand advocates, through the ever-present desire 
 to hasten travel and dispatch business. If you call on a busi- 
 ness stranger, however important your business, you must be 
 able to state it tersely and at once, or you will be summarily 
 dismissed without a hearing. Everything goes on the old 
 maxim, " Time and tide wait for no man." Men get rich in 
 a year, and poor in a day ; " up like a rocket, and down like 
 a stick." 
 
 10 
 
CAUSES OF BUSINESS FAILURES. 
 
 The number of business failures in the metropolis is over- 
 whelmingly large, and to a stranger almost incredible. Many 
 people visit New York, witness its extravagance and glitter, 
 trace the records of a few marvellously successful families, 
 call on the poor boy of bygone years, and finding him a wealthy 
 publisher or importer, dwelling in a palace of brown stone, 
 return home confident that wealth in a great city is almost a 
 necessity, and that the great misfortune of their lives has 
 been in consenting to follow the slow and modest occupation 
 of their fathers. But success is not the rule in New York. 
 Indeed, it is the rare exception. Where one truly and per- 
 manently succeeds it is almost safe to say ninety-nine fail. 
 There are few houses established which do not sooner or later 
 suspend ; some have reorganized and failed a dozen times ; 
 nine-tenths of all disappear entirely after a few years, 
 leaving here and there one that has triumphantly withstood 
 the shocks of thirty years. The observation of the author 
 has led to the conclusion that nearly every permanent failure 
 may be traced to one of three causes : incompetency, extrav- 
 agance, or dishonesty. 
 
 Many who have inherited wealth, and a few who have 
 acquired it, conclude that New York opens the one grand 
 theater upon which they ought to operate. Hence, they 
 launch upon an untried business, in which others have suc- 
 ceeded, but in which they, for want of tact and skill, soon 
 fail, many of them to rise no more. The mania for rapid 
 fortune-making in stocks and other speculations also involves 
 thousands. Few sufficiently understand the chances in the 
 stock trade to deal intelligently and successfully. One or 
 two successful blunders give assurance, which ends a little 
 later in disaster and financial ruin, teaching the sad truth 
 when too late, that all men cannot be successful speculators. 
 
 The temptations to extravagance in this age are also so 
 
CAUSES OF BUSINESS FAILURES. 
 
 133 
 
 numerous and potent, that while but few wholly escape the 
 charge, the many are by it plunged into financial and moral 
 ruin. But few are brave and true enough to cling to first 
 principles amid prosperity. It is so very easy to enlarge our 
 scale of living, and so difficult to contract it, even when 
 necessity admonishes, that multitudes who have industriously 
 climbed the rugged heights of fortune become so linked to 
 fashion and pleasure, as to finally fail, and then " begin with 
 shame to take the lowest seats." New York is largely a 
 shoal of financial wrecks. Every month gay and attractive 
 families that have led the fashions, and sought to be the 
 admired of all admirers, disappear from society, and are 
 henceforth to old associations as one dead. Ladies, whose 
 rich parlors have been theaters of music, splendor, and fash- 
 ion, retire to secluded neighborhoods and ply the needle for 
 daily bread. Proud and petted daughters accept such hum- 
 ble situations as they can poorly fill, too many descending to 
 a life of shame. All through senseless extravagance. Most 
 of the leading salesmen in New York are bankrupt-mer- 
 chants, many of whom were once wealthy and lived in costly 
 splendor. Some of them built marble business houses on 
 Broadway which frugality would have saved, but which now 
 stand as monuments to mock them in their poverty. 
 
 Dishonesty is another fruitful source of failure. Perma- 
 nent success is rarely or never attained without integrity. 
 The order of the whole moral universe must be reversed be- 
 fore fraud and deception can hope for permanent security. 
 Twenty-five years ago a young man opened a store in New 
 York, and for a time rapidly prospered and amassed fortune. 
 He then contracted the unfortunate habit of systematic 
 lying. His brightening prospects soon waned, and bank- 
 ruptcy followed. His career has since been one of crushing 
 disappointments, and after failing in business four times he 
 is now a servant. In 18 — a brilliant young man with small 
 
 capital opened a jewelry store in street. For twelve 
 
 years he was regarded the model of probity, and the star of 
 
134 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 his fortune rose and shone with unwonted brilliancy. His 
 reputation for thoroughness and integrity was so well estab- 
 lished in financial circles, that he could draw fifty thousand 
 dollars from the banks on his own security. But, alas ! his 
 success corrupted him. He began to invest in real estate, the 
 titles being vested in his friends, and soon the community 
 was shocked with the report of his dishonest bankruptcy. 
 All his later years which with continued integrity would 
 have been the brightest and richest of his earthly career, 
 have been darkened with litigation, reproach, and self- 
 imposed penury. The policy of providing while in business a 
 rich mansion with fine surroundings, vesting the title in the 
 modest part of the family, is much resorted to, many ceasing 
 to keep up the semblance of solvency as soon as this is accom- 
 plished. A woman is as base as a man who will consent to 
 be the accomplice in such shocking dishonesty. 
 
 We ought here to add, perhaps, that there are also a few 
 honest and unavoidable failures. Small houses are pros- 
 trated by the fall of great ones, and general depressions, 
 panics, and suspensions affect all, but the honest and reliable 
 usually soon start again and retrieve their fortunes. 
 
 BUSINESS IN REAL ESTATE. 
 
 From the English conquest to this day transactions in real 
 estate have been as safe and profitable as almost any business 
 on Manhattan. The early settlers became wealthy by the 
 simple rise of land, and left vast estates to their posterity. 
 William Bayard's farm, which in 1800 was valued at $15,000 
 was sold in 1833 for $00,000, to gentlemen who divided it 
 and sold it for $260,000, leaving still an ample margin for 
 subsequent transactions. When the Central Park was first 
 planned, lots could have been bought on Fifth avenue be- 
 
Lord & Tatlor'8 Store— Broadway and 20th Street. 
 
CLASSES OF EICH MEN". 
 
 135 
 
 tween Fifty-ninth and Seventy-fifth streets for $500 each, 
 which now bring from $18,000 to $25,000 ; above Seventy- 
 fifth street they sold for $200 each, now for $10,000 or 
 $15,000 each. A plot of fifty-five lots on Eighth avenue, 
 purchased a few years since for $11,500, is now valued at 
 $300,000 by the successful purchaser, who still holds it. 
 Many of the wealthiest and sharpest men deal entirely in real 
 estate. Panics affect prices in this kind of property, crushing 
 those who deal only in margins, but the solid capitalist who 
 invests well is sure to survive depressions and prosper. The 
 transactions in real estate in our day are enormous, often 
 exceeding a million dollars a day. Business in real estate, 
 like all other speculations, opens a theater for sharpers. An 
 amusing story is told of a Frenchman who, many years 
 ago, when land suddenly rose to great value, concluded to do 
 like his neighbors — invest something in city lots. Without 
 examining it, he purchased something or nothing near the 
 Wallabout in Brooklyn. Some time after he visited his seller 
 to inform him that he had visited the " grant lot vot he had 
 sell him, and hefints no ground at all ; no ting he finds but 
 vataire." He accordingly asked for the return of his pur- 
 chase-money, but was coolly told that the bargain could not 
 be reversed, and that he must keep the lot. "Den," says 
 the excited Frenchman, " I ask you to be so goot as to take 
 de East Bibber off de top of it." The man again declined, 
 whereupon the Frenchman threatened to go and drown him- 
 self there in order to enjoy his land, and was as coolly 
 told that he might thus employ his water privilege. The 
 poor Frenchman's land is still submerged. 
 
 CLASSES OF RICH MEN. 
 
 The harvest of this world is gathered by a great variety of 
 reapers ; some are good, some bad. Kiches are not always 
 
136 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 given to " men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill, 
 but time and chance happen to them all." New Tork has 
 many varieties of rich men. Some are misers wearing the 
 garb of the pauper ; some are dishonest bankrupts clad in the 
 garments of others ; some purchase estates with money 
 wrung from the filth and wreck of humanity, while others 
 are the Lord's noblemen, gathering industriously that they 
 may disperse bountifully. We can only notice a few of the 
 more prominent classes of rich men. We begin with the 
 
 Politicians. — Years asjo it was difficult findino; men who 
 were willing to accept the nominations for office in New 
 York, but times have greatly changed. Large sums are now 
 exacted and given for positions. New York, however, con- 
 tains more vitality than its corrupt political record would 
 indicate. Thousands of amiable men do business here daily, 
 and form a large part of the strength of the city, but as 
 they reside outside of the county lines, are entirely counted 
 out on election days. The press of business keeps many vir- 
 tuous men from the polls ; many true men are discouraged, 
 and think it folly to contend with these floods of corruption ; 
 and others, deploring the expensive misrule of the times, quiet 
 themselves with the assurance that their own firm is sound, 
 and their income satisfactory. A company of unscrupulous 
 politicians, composed mostly of Democratic Romanists, have 
 long ruled the elections and governed the city. Money to 
 any amount needed to carry an election is always ready, and 
 thousands of thieves, tipplers, foreigners, and loafers are 
 always in the market to carry out, for a morsel of bread or a 
 glass of bourbon, any behest. But politicians who give their 
 fortunes for their elections, sell their administration to recover 
 their money. Office in New York in these days does not 
 signify eminence, or fitness, or honor, but MONEY. Money 
 in some form brings men to office, and office here almost 
 invariably brings men to money. Nearly all the political 
 sachems of Manhattan have amassed fortunes from the cor- 
 poration. One of its leaders at this writing, reputed to be 
 
CLASSES OF RICH MEN 
 
 137 
 
 worth eight or ten millions, was a few years since a chair- 
 maker, and abandoned his business with very meagre capital 
 for the political arena. It is folly for one to ask a modest 
 favor of a New York official. He is the man to whom favors 
 belong. His ears are closed to everything but golden peti- 
 tions, and silvery requests. A few years of official favor 
 furnish a Fifth avenue palace and a splendid turnout. 
 
 HEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE. 
 
 (Broad street.) 
 
 Speculators and Stock Gamblers. — It is but fair to state 
 that New York society contains a larger number of unscru- 
 
138 
 
 NEW YOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 pulous and daring speculators than any other American city. 
 The variety and magnitude of its business, and its connection 
 with all the financial centres of the world, open a wide 
 theater for every legitimate and illegitimate undertaking. 
 Here hundreds and thousands of plotters and schemers con 
 gregate, and ply their arts with varying successes and re- 
 verses. Men of no principle, and with no interest to serve save 
 their own pockets, by artful inventions, gain the control of 
 railroads, shipping-lines, stock-boards, and other moneyed 
 interests, absorbing everything within their grasp, and paying 
 only such bills as their circumstances compel. A striking 
 example of this is seen in the management of one of the lead- 
 ing railroad interests of the State, its elections being manip- 
 ulated in defiance of all law, under the direction of officers 
 one of whom was a few years since an indigent surveyor, and 
 another a retail pedler of dry goods. Many of these support 
 magnificent style, and live in costly palaces on Fifth avenue 
 during their prosperity. Nothing reliable can, however, be 
 predicted of any of them ; they build upon the sand, and if 
 rich to-day may be poor to-morrow, and are quite as likely to 
 be executed as drowned, or to die in a prison as in a palace. 
 
 SUCCESS OF GREAT MEN. 
 
 Men are great in what they are, but this can only be 
 known by what they do. During the last hundred years 
 an army of men have come to the surface on Manhattan, 
 whose directness, probity, indefatigable activity, and success 
 have demonstrated their title to real greatness in their respec- 
 tive spheres. Most of them began poor, were born in rural 
 retreats, or in foreign lands, enjoyed very inadequate facil- 
 ities of culture, and were unsupported by friends, or great 
 names. More than one of them entered New York carry- 
 
SUCCESS OF GEEAT MEN. 
 
 139 
 
 ing his entire effects in a pocket handkerchief. They are 
 eminently deserving of all the credit the world is disposed 
 to accord them. To their comprehensive genius we are 
 indebted for the facilities of our world-wide commerce, the 
 roar and rush of our long-drawn railroads, the speed and 
 magnificence of our river, lake, and ocean steamers, the 
 number and magnitude of our manufactories and printing- 
 presses, the stability of our national finances, and the found- 
 ing of many of our great educational, benevolent, and 
 religious establishments. Many of them have been at times 
 severely criticised, because of their relations to commerce, 
 banks, railroad stocks, etc. ; and without attempting an 
 apology for any of them, we only remark, that without 
 their genius and money, their critics would have plodded the 
 moors on foot, and died in profound ignorance of many of 
 the comforts of this age. 
 
 Some of these men have not been personally religious, 
 though most of them have shown a deference for sacred 
 things. Starting with a purpose to win by diligence, fru- 
 gality, and integrity, they have unflinchingly held to first 
 principles, and demonstrated that honesty is beyond all ques- 
 tion the best policy. One of the first representatives of this 
 class among New York merchants is Alexander T. Stewart. 
 Born in a humble home in Ireland, he early immigrated to 
 New York, and at length opened a small store on Broadway, 
 near Chambers street, doing all his own work, and toiling six- 
 teen hours per day. His wife lived in a single room over the 
 store, doing all her own work. Forced to raise money to 
 meet his engagements or speedily become a bankrupt, to 
 which he would not consent, he filled the neighborhood with 
 handbills offering his goods at cost. His stock was soon sold, 
 and as its quality was unsurpassed, his reputation was estab- 
 lished. His noble resolve to sacrifice his goods and pay his 
 debts was the key to his later success and world-wide fame. 
 At the age of eighty years, and among the largest and richest 
 merchants of the world, he attends to the minutest matters 
 
140 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of his business, never leaving the store at night until the last 
 stroke of the pen is made, and everything adjusted. 
 
 Among the steamboat and railroad men of Manhattan, we 
 could scarcely select a fitter representative than Cornelius 
 Vanderbilt. A penniless youth, he began his marvelous 
 career by paddling his own canoe between Staten Island and 
 New York, from which he soon rose to the captaincy of a 
 North-river steamboat. Some years later he commenced 
 running opposition with half the old lines of travel leading 
 to New York, at first with chartered, but finally with pur- 
 chased and well-constructed boats. From steamboat lines he 
 advanced to the control of railroads, and is likely to die 
 the acknowledged railroad kins: of the western continent. 
 Whatever may be said of his bargains, his business has 
 throughout been conducted on the cash system, paying every 
 man the precise sum promised without any delay. He is 
 now over eighty years of age, and lives in a plain brick 
 dwelling with his second wife, to whom he was recently 
 married. 
 
 Another class of successful New Yorkers began life reli- 
 giously, or became so quite early in their business career. 
 While these have been quite as active and powerful in 
 extending commerce, building railroads, and developing the 
 city, as those above mentioned, they have also formed the 
 pillars in the churches, and have sent out their money in 
 waves of blessedness to gladden the desolate plains of the 
 whole world. 
 
 John Jacob Astor was an elder in the Lutheran church, 
 and gave freely to many charitable enterprises. He was the 
 wealthiest man in America at his death. His son, William 
 B. Astor, is not only one of the richest, but one of the safest 
 business men in New York, investing his enormous income 
 almost wholly in real estate. With twice the wealth of his 
 father, he has less than half his liberality. lie is, however, 
 an honest man, and an honorable landlord. His income-tax 
 during 1870 exceeded that paid by the whole State of Yer- 
 
SUCCESS OF GEEAT MEN". 
 
 141 
 
 mont. Among the wealthy iron merchants of New York, no 
 man has run a more useful and brilliant career than William 
 W. Cornell. BeginniDg life in the city a penniless boy at 
 the anvil, he not only consecrated to God his heart, but 
 his money, giving half of the first hundred dollars he was 
 allowed to call his own to the missionary cause. Possess- 
 ing a vigorous and well-balanced mind, he early rose 
 from obscurity, making his business a power which brought 
 him in contact with the leading men of the metropolis. 
 While pressing with marvellous capacity an immense busi- 
 ness, he found time for wide religious labors, identifying his 
 name and money with every struggling enterprise of his 
 denomination, and fell in middle life, ripe in every good 
 work, and universally lamented by all who knew him. Of 
 Daniel Drew, William E. Dodge, James Lennox, Andrew Y. 
 Stout, Robert L. Stewart, H. J. Baker, William A. Booth, A. 
 R. Wetmore, and many others, we cannot particularly speak. 
 They not only rank among the most successful men in busi- 
 ness, but are among the most honored and generous in 
 their respective denominations. May they long live and 
 prosper, reaping many a golden harvest for Christ and 
 humanity, demonstrating that integrity, benevolence, and 
 genuine piety may have their finest development in the 
 rush and whirl of the metropolis. We conclude this chapter 
 by adding that while it is true that the chances of failure 
 are more numerous, and the trials of principle more severe 
 than in a smaller town, the metropolis still affords to true, 
 energetic, and well-balanced men the richest field for the 
 development of all their noblest faculties, and for the accu- 
 mulation of great wealth. But any young man hoping for 
 great success in New York must expect to toil harder, live 
 closer, and die earlier, after bearing through life an im- 
 mensely greater strain, both of head and heart, than in any 
 other portion of the American continent. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE CHURCHES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 REFORMED DUTCH PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL LUTHERAN PRESBYTE- 
 RIAN — BAPTIST METHODIST JEWS ROMAN CATHOLIC OTHER 
 
 DENOMINATIONS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 
 
 HE early religious history of Manhattan 
 presents many interesting reminiscences, 
 which for want of space we cannot minutely 
 present. Intolerance and persecution we 
 are, however, sorry to say, existed, in those 
 good old days of " simplicity and sunshine." 
 The troublesome doctrine of uniformity long retarded the 
 genuine religious development of the people. The first 
 Quaker preacher landed in 1656, but finding it unsafe for 
 one of his faith and habits, departed unceremoniously. In 
 1707 a Presbyterian clergyman was arrested and compelled 
 to pay the cost of an expensive suit, for preaching in a pri- 
 vate house, and baptizing a child. In 1709, a Baptist minis- 
 ter was imprisoned three months for presuming to preach in 
 the city without permission from the authorities. The Jews 
 were long denied the privilege of worship, and a law was 
 passed, though never enforced, for hanging every Catholic 
 priest who should voluntarily enter the city. These preju- 
 dices, however, early passed away. 
 
 REFORMED DUTCH. 
 
 The island being at first settled by the Hollanders, it was 
 but natural that the Dutch church should long have the pre- 
 
REFORMED DUTCH 
 
 143 
 
 cedency. A church organization was effected in 1626, and 
 there are regular records since 1639. In 1612, a stone church 
 
 THE OLD DUTCH CHURCH, FULTON STREET, CORNER WILLIAM. 
 {In ichich originated and are now held the Fulton-street noon prayer-meetings.) 
 
 edifice was erected in the southeast corner of the fort at 
 Bowling Green. The building was 70 by 52 feet, 16 feet 
 high, and cost 2,500 guilders. It stood 99 years, and was 
 then destroyed by fire. In 1693., the Garden street Butch 
 
144 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 church was erected, and in 1729 the Middle Dutch church, 
 used since 1844 as the New York Post Office. It was in this 
 church that the zealous Dutch submitted after much excite- 
 ment and discussion to the introduction of preaching in the 
 English language, to save their young people, who were flock- 
 ing to the English churches. The first sermon in English was 
 preached by the Rev. Dr. Laidlie, on the afternoon of the last 
 Sabbath in March, 1764, the innovation being such a novelty 
 that the building and its windows were packed beyond all 
 description. This occurred just one hundred years after the 
 introduction of the English government and language. The 
 North Dutch church was the next erected, on the corner of 
 what is now William and Fnlton streets. The land now 
 valued at $300,000 was donated by John Harpending ; the 
 corner-stone was laid July 2d, 1767, and the house dedicated 
 May 25th, 1769. The structure is of stone, 100 feet long by 70 
 wide, with a lofty steeple, and cost nearly twelve thousand 
 pounds. It was in this venerable edifice that the far-famed 
 Fulton-street daily prayer-meeting, characterized by unusual 
 catholicity, fervent spontaneity, and the devout and pente- 
 costal mingling of strangers, originated in September, 1857. 
 Here it still continues. The Reformed Dutch have now 25 
 churches and chapels on the island, many of which are large 
 and well attended, but their paucity indicates that this excel- 
 lent denomination, first on the soil, has not been very aggres- 
 sive. 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL. 
 
 On the surrender of Manhattan to the English in 1664, the 
 haughty conquerors not only took possession of the fort, but 
 of the church also, and forthwith introduced the Episcopal 
 6ervice, changing the name of the building to King's Chapel. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL. 
 
 145 
 
 'The service of the church of England was conducted here 
 until the dedication of the first Trinity in February, 1697. 
 This building, which stood on the site of the present Trinity, 
 was a small, square edifice, and after being twice enlarged, 
 was destroyed by the great conflagration of 1776. It was re- 
 built in 1788, pulled down in 1840, and the present magnifi- 
 cent structure completed and opened for worship, May 21st, 
 1846. It is solid New Jersey brown-stone from foundation 
 to spire, except the roof, which is wood. The edifice, which 
 is in the Gothic order, is 192 feet long and 80 feet wide, the 
 side walls rising fifty feet. The spire stretches upward to 
 the lofty altitude of 284 feet, up the winding stairs of which 
 hundreds ascend daily 308 steps (250 feet) to the tower, 
 where they obtain a magnificent view of the city, and its im- 
 mediate surroundings. The chimes of Trinity are surpassed 
 by few bells in the world. Trinity was endowed by Queen 
 Anne, and came into possession of a large farm owned by a 
 Dutch woman named Anneke Jans, which now covers a large 
 portion of the city. Trinity is the mother of Episcopal 
 churches in America. It is the richest religious corporation 
 on the continent, its property, mostly in city real estate, being 
 valued at forty or fifty millions. Many of the streets of New 
 York bear the names of her rectors and vestrymen. 
 
 The plan of a collegiate charge was early adopted by the 
 Dutch and Episcopal churches of New York, and still con- 
 tinues to a limited extent. St. Paul's, situated on Broadway, 
 between Fulton and Yesey streets, a fine structure of reddish 
 gray-stone, was opened for dedication October 30th, 1766. 
 St. Johns, on Yarick street, was erected in 1807, at a cost of 
 over two hundred thousand dollars, and St. George's was 
 dedicated July 1st, 1752. All these were under the Trinity 
 parish, though the last-named has since become a separate 
 corporation. 
 
 The Episcopalians of New York are a vigorous and benev- 
 olent body, forming really the strength of the denomination 
 in the country, supporting numerous benevolent institutions, 
 
146 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and paying annually large sums to maintain feeble parishes, 
 scattered over the interior of the State. Their churches and 
 chapels (94 in all) outnumber those of any other denomina- 
 tion on the island. They have been exceedingly happy in 
 selecting names for their churches ; besides the churches of 
 the Holy Apostles, Holy Innocents, Holy Communion, Holy 
 Martyrs, and Holy Trinity, we read of the church of St. Al- 
 ban's, St. Ambrose, St. Andrew's, St. Ann's, St. Clement, St. 
 John's, St. Luke's, St. Mark's, St. Paul's, St. Peters, St. 
 Philip's, St. Stephen's, St. Mary's, etc., etc., until one feels 
 that New York is a sainted community, notwithstanding the 
 number of sinners reported to still lurk around its corners. 
 
 LUTHERAN. 
 
 The Lutherans, akin to the Keformed Dutch, were the 
 third to establish a separate service. Indeed it appears to 
 have been established before the English conquest, though no 
 church edifice was erected until 1702, when a small stone 
 building was reared on the corner of Hector street and Broad- 
 way, which was also destroyed by the fire of September, 1776. 
 
 In 1767, they erected a substantial stone edifice on the 
 corner of Frankfort and William streets, known as the 
 " Swamp church," and others in different parts of the city, 
 have been since added as the wants of the denomination have 
 required. There are now about fifteen Lutheran churches 
 on the island, several of which have large and wealthy con- 
 gregations. 
 
Madison Avenue Reformed Church— Corner 5 r <T Street. 
 Rev. H. D. Ganse, Pastor. 
 
 Erected 1870. Cost $150,000. Lots, $90,000. Splr. '88 feet. 
 
PRESBYTERIAN. 
 
 147 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN. 
 
 The Presbyterians, whose activity and strength are at this 
 time second to no Protestant body in New York, were long 
 and bitterly opposed in establishing their system of worship. 
 They met in private houses for a considerable period, and in 
 1716 organized their first society, connecting it with the 
 Presbytery of Philadelphia. Having gained recognition 
 from the authorities, they were allowed to worship in the City 
 Hall until 1719, when they opened their first edifice in "Wall 
 street near Broadway. This first building was enlarged in 
 1718, rebuilt on an enlarged scale in 1810, destroyed by fire 
 in 1834, and again rebuilt and occupied until 1844, when it 
 was sold and taken down ; the congregation erecting what 
 has since been known as the First Presbyterian church, 
 corner of Broadway and Eleventh street. Their second edi- 
 fice, the " Brick church," on the corner of Beekman and 
 Nassau streets, was dedicated January 1, 1768, and stood at 
 that time in the open field. The next was the Rutgers-street 
 church, opened for worship May 13, 1798, which was fol- 
 lowed by the Duane, established in 1808, and the church 
 of University place in 1845. Many of their churches are 
 now located in the richest parts of the city, with large Sun- 
 day schools and intelligent congregations. It is doubtful 
 whether two more wealthy or liberal congregations can be 
 found on this continent than that of the First Presbyterian 
 church, Dr. Paxton, pastor, which last year contributed to 
 benevolent enterprises over one hundred and sixty thousand 
 dollars, and the Fifth avenue Presbyterian church, Dr. John 
 Hall, pastor, which contributed over one hundred and eigh- 
 teen thousand dollars. Of these sums nearly a quarter of a 
 million went to outside charities. A collection of $20,000 
 is no unusual thing for a Sabbath morning. Many of these 
 churches establish and support missions in less favored local- 
 ities. The churches and mission chapels of the Presbyterians 
 
148 
 
 NEW YOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 proper number seventy, those of the United Presbyterians 
 eight, of the .Reformed Presbyterians seven, and of the Con- 
 gregationalists nine. Several magnificent institutions, which 
 are elsewhere described in this work, have recently been 
 projected by this denomination. 
 
 BAPTIST. 
 
 The first Baptists on Manhattan were of the Arminian faith. 
 They began their toil amid violent persecution, and immersed 
 some of their converts at midnight, to avoid difficulty. Their 
 first house of worship, the Arminian Baptist church, stood on 
 Golden Hill, afterwards Gold street, and was erected about 
 1725. The history of the Baptist church in New York pre- 
 sents some remarkable congregational feuds, and whether 
 these have retarded or developed the growth of the denomina- 
 tion we shall not attempt to decide. As neither faction have 
 understood the principle of surrender, nearly every serious 
 dissension has either resulted in the extinction of a church, or 
 in the founding of one or two new ones. In 1770 a diffi- 
 culty arose in the First church, during the pastorate of Rev. 
 John Gano, respecting psalmody. Most of the congregation 
 preferred to abolish the old custom of parcelling out the lines 
 in singing, whereupon a number of members withdrew and 
 established the Second Baptist church. The Second church 
 gained accessions after the Revolution, when another strife 
 arose, about equally dividing the membership, each party 
 claiming to be the Second Baptist church, and virtually ex- 
 communicating each other. Through the mediation of friends 
 in 1791, the disputed title was dropped ; one section became 
 known as the Bethel church, and the other the Baptist church 
 in Fayette street. Thus one church literally, though un- 
 happily, developed into three in twenty-one years. In 1802 
 
St. Paul's Methodist Church— Corner 4th Avenue and 22d Street. 
 
METHODIST. 
 
 149 
 
 John Inglesby, a member of the Fayette street church, was 
 licensed to preach, and the next year began to hold regular 
 services in a hall in Greenwich street, which resulted at length 
 in the First Ebenezer Baptist church. Inglesby's course was 
 not approved by the Fayette-street society. His preaching 
 savored of Antinomianism, and his society was refused ad- 
 mission into the Association. The Ebenezer church of our 
 day was organized in 1825, and after several removals is now 
 located in West Thirty-sixth street. The Welsh Baptist 
 church was founded in 1807, the Mulberry street, the Abyssi- 
 nian, and the North Beriah in 1809, the Zoar church in 1811, 
 the South Baptist in 1822, the Cannon street in 1827, the 
 North Baptist in 1828, the Salem in 1834, the West church in 
 1835, the Berean in 1838, the Sixth street in 1840, and the 
 Bloomingdale in 1843. The Old and the New school, the 
 Colored, the German, the Welsh, and the Free-will Baptists, 
 united, have about fifty places of worship in New York at 
 this time, and rank among the most zealous and useful of our 
 city churches. 
 
 METHODIST. 
 
 Methodism having become a power in Great Britain, drifted 
 across the ocean, and, in 1766, sprang up in the New World. 
 The first Methodist service was conducted by Philip Embury, 
 an Irish Wesleyan local preacher, in his own house in Barrack 
 street, now Park Place, to a congregation of six persons. A 
 class was soon formed, and the place becoming too small for 
 the congregation, a more eligible room was secured in the 
 neighborhood; where the little society unexpectedly sprang 
 into public notice by the advent of Captain Thomas Webb of 
 the English army, then stationed at Albany. Webb had 
 served with distinction under Braddock and Wolfe, was a 
 spiritual son of John Wesley, a man of sense and fervid elo- 
 
150 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 quence, and as he preached in full uniform, laying his sword 
 on the desk, he attracted great attention. The Rigging Loft 
 on Horse and Cart street, now William, between Fulton and 
 John streets, until the opening of the first John-street church, 
 October 30, 1768, was their temporary chapel, where many 
 conversions occurred. The John-street church was rebuilt on 
 the original site in 1817, and again in 1840, and is likely to 
 long remain the monumental cradle of American Methodism. 
 
 The Forsyth street church was founded in 1790, the Duane 
 in 1797, the Allen street and the Bedford in 1810, the Willet 
 street in 1817, the Eighteenth street in 1829, the Green street 
 in 1831, and the Mulberry (now the St. Paul's) in 1834. The 
 Methodist Episcopal Church has now sixty churches and cha- 
 pels on the island, valued at over two million dollars, many of 
 which are large and beautiful structures. St. Paul's, at the cor- 
 ner of Fourth avenue and Twenty-second street, is perhaps the 
 finest edifice yet reared by the denomination on Manhattan. 
 The building is of white marble in the Romanesque order, its 
 length being (including chapel) 146 feet, and the width 75 
 feet. The height of the nave is 45 feet, and the top of the 
 spire 210 feet. The audience room contains comfortable seat- 
 ing for over thirteen hundred persons. The members of the 
 Methodist church in New York, who number about thirteen 
 thousand, retain much of the fervor and simplicity of the by- 
 gone period, while in liberality they probably far excel their 
 forefathers. Besides the churches mentioned above there are 
 about a dozen others, scattered over the island under various 
 Methodist titles, and offshoots from the parent body. 
 
 JEWS. 
 
 Some families of Jews are said to have been among the 
 early settlers of Manhattan, but at what time they first estab- 
 lished their worship is not certainly known. It is probable 
 
JEWS. 
 
 151 
 
 that about 1706 they erected their first synagogue on Mill 
 street, which was twice rebuilt and constituted their only place 
 
 JEWISH TEMPLE. 
 
 {Fifth avenue, corner Forty-third street.) 
 
 of worship for over one hundred years. During the last forty 
 years their numbers have greatly increased, and the twenty- 
 seven well-ordered synagogues of our day attest their steady 
 adherence to the faith of their fathers. Many of their syna- 
 gogues are situated in rich and eligible localities, and the 
 one recently erected on the corner of Forty-third street and 
 Fifth avenue is one of the largest and richest structures on 
 the island. 
 
152 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 HOMAN CATHOLIU. 
 
 The first Eoman Catholic families entered New York dur- 
 ing the administration of Governor Thomas Dongan, but 
 
 CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL. 
 
 {Fifth avenue, between Fifty-first and Fifty-second streets.) 
 
 they were not allowed to establish their system of worship un- 
 til after the Revolution. They first worshipped in a public 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC. 
 
 153 
 
 building in Yauxhall garden, situated on the Hudson river 
 between Warren and Chambers streets. Their first church 
 edifice was on the site of the present St. Peters church in Bar- 
 clay street, mass being first performed within its walls Novem- 
 ber 4, 1786. No other Catholic church was erected for more 
 than thirty years. St. Peter's was rebuilt of granite on a greatly 
 enlarged scale in 1836, and still remains a substantial monu- 
 ment of the denomination. Its front is ornamented with six 
 massive Ionic columns, and a monument of St. Peter with the 
 keys. In 1815 they erected " St. Patrick's cathedral," on the 
 corner of Mott and Prince streets, and in 1826 they purchased 
 of the Presbyterians a small edifice on Sheriff street, between 
 Broome and Delancey. About the same time they purchased 
 a church edifice from the Episcopalians in Ann street near 
 Nassau, which was destroyed by fire in 1834, when the society 
 divided, one section building the "St. James' church "on James 
 street, the other purchasing a building of the Presbyterians 
 on Chambers street, which they named the " Church of the 
 Transfiguration." In 1833 they erected " St. Joseph's church " 
 in Barrow street; in 1S40 they purchased the Universalist 
 church in Duane street, and in 1841 they purchased the ''Se- 
 cond avenue Presbyterian church." The Catholics have pur- 
 chased nearly every church offered for sale in the city for 
 many years past, their communicants being composed largely 
 of the laboring classes, and occupying sections where Protes- 
 tant churches have found it difficult to sustain themselves. 
 This sect has wonderfully increased on Manhattan during the 
 last fifty years, not to any considerable extent from the con- 
 version of Americans, but from the very extensive immigra- 
 tion of foreigners to this country, many of whom linger in 
 the cities. They have now forty churches on the island, most 
 of which are large, and their services are usually crowded 
 without any regard to time, season, or weather. 
 
 The late Archbishop Hughes projected the largest and 
 richest enterprise in church architecture ever undertaken in 
 New York. He laid the corner-stone of the immense " St. 
 
154: 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Patrick's Cathedral," on Fifth avenue, between Fifty-first and 
 Fifty-second streets in 1858, since which the work of construe- 
 tion has slowly progressed. The extreme length of the structure 
 is 332 feet with a general breadth of 132, and at the transept 
 of 174 feet. The foundation is of Maine granite and the side 
 walls of Westchester marble. The style of the building is 
 decorated Gothic, with two lofty spires, and when completed 
 is expected to be the finest architectural monument of its kind 
 on the continent. 
 
 The labors and sacrifices of the Catholics for the advance- 
 ment of their church interests are proverbial. Their exces- 
 sive liberality amounts to almost a crime (1 Tim. v. 8), giv- 
 ing so extensively that when overtaken by sickness or misfor- 
 tune vast numbers of them fall at once a burden upon the 
 city charities. Being also a unit in politics they have found 
 ways and means unknown to the Protestant denominations. 
 
 OTHER DENOMINATIONS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 
 
 The " Church of the Strangers " originated with the present 
 pastor, Rev. Chas. F. Deems, D.D., formerly of North Caro- 
 lina, who preached the first sermon in the small chapel of the 
 University, on the twenty-second day of July, 1866, to fifteen 
 persons. Service was held weekly until the chapel was filled, 
 and in May, 1867, the congregation removed to the large 
 chapel of the University and organized a Sabbath-school. 
 Temporary organizations to conduct the business were 
 formed, and on Jan. 5, 1868, a church organization was 
 effected and twenty-two communicants enrolled. The mem- 
 bership now numbers two hundred. Members are required 
 to subscribe to the Apostles' Creed and profess an earnest 
 " effort to be saved from their sins through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." In October, 1870, the congregation removed to 
 
OTHER DENOMINATIONS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 155 
 
 the old Mercer-street Presbyterian church, which had been 
 purchased and generously presented to the society by Corne- 
 
 THE CHURCH OF THE STRANGERS. 
 
 lius Yanderbilt, Esq. The temporal affairs are conducted by 
 the Monthly Meeting, composed of all communicants and 
 subscribers. The seats are free, and all members aud resi- 
 dent attendants are expected to subscribe a weekly amount. 
 Annual expense of church, §10,000 
 
 The Moravians were first organized in New York in 1748, 
 
156 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and have at this time two churches. The Universalists be- 
 gan in 1796, and have at present three churches and four 
 missions. The Unitarians organized in 1819, their first ser- 
 mon being preached by Dr. Channing, of Boston ; they have 
 at this writing five congregations. The Friends opened their 
 first Meeting House in 1703, and have now five congrega- 
 tions on Manhattan. The members of the Greek church have 
 just opened a temporary chapel, and are soon to erect a church 
 on Lexington avenue. The churches and chapels of the Pro- 
 testant denominations now number four hundred and thirty, 
 with seating for nearly 400,000 persons. The church pro- 
 perty exclusive of endowments amounts to at least $30,000,000. 
 About one and a half million dollars are annually required 
 to support the Protestant churches, and these contribute, be- 
 side their current expenses, five millions to other charities. 
 
 The New York City Mission and Tract Society was organ- 
 ized nearly fifty years ago. In 1835 it employed twelve gen- 
 eral missionary laborers and the number has been steadily in- 
 creased until it now exceeds forty. The missionaries have 
 not, until recently, attempted to form societies. There are 
 three missionary societies operating in the City, under the di- 
 rection of the Protestant Episcopal church, and one con- 
 nected with the Reformed Dutch church. There has been 
 also for many years a city missionary society connected with 
 the Methodist Episcopal church, which was reorganized and in- 
 corporated in April, 1866. Under the presidency of the late 
 "W". W. Cornell, Esq., whose munificence and unaffected piety 
 have rarely if ever been excelled, this organization became 
 the most vigorous for city evangelization of any in the me- 
 tropolis. During the last few years three of its missions have 
 developed into self-supporting churches, with good houses of 
 worship ; a number of fine chapels have been erected, and 
 nearly twenty new societies organized. There are over 260 
 city missionaries at work in New York under the direction of 
 the Protestant churches, beside scores of agents and visitors of 
 the numerous benevolent societies. These missionaries make 
 
OTHEE DENOMINATIONS AND MISSIONARY SOCEETTES. 157 
 
 about 800,000 visits per annum ; they carry gladness and sun- 
 shine into many caverns of darkness and poverty, dissemin- 
 ate religious knowledge, relieve the suffering, and gather the 
 wayward into the sanctuaries. Though much is said and 
 written about the neglect of the masses in large cities, it is 
 nevertheless certain to those who are in circumstances to 
 know, that few sections of Christendom are more thoroughly 
 canvassed by the pious than the lanes and streets of Manhat- 
 tan. 
 
 12 
 
VII. 
 
 PARKS AND SQUARES. 
 
 SQUATTER SETTLEMENT, 1855.— NOW CENTRAL PARK. 
 
 There are eighteen public and several private parks and 
 squares on Manhattan, covering in all over a thousand acres 
 or one-fourteenth of the entire island. Many of the early- 
 parks have either disappeared or been greatly changed during 
 the last few years. The Battery, which now contains twelve 
 acres, was originally somewhat smaller, and was early pro- 
 fusely set with Lombardy poplar trees, all of which have now 
 disappeared. This park, affording a fine view of the bay, 
 and fanned with the cool breezes from the ocean, was for 
 many years the most popular resort of the city for all classes. 
 
 It is being again improved with walks and trees, after be- 
 ing long neglected. Bowling Green, so named because the 
 
PAKKS AND SQUARES. 
 
 159 
 
 favorite bowling place of the military officers of King George, 
 is a small oval enclosure at lower Broadway. It was fenced 
 with iron before the Revolution, and the heads of the posts 
 were broken off and used as cannon balls during the war. 
 The City Hall Park contains ten acres. Many great and 
 beautiful trees in this were cut down after the erection of the 
 Marble Hall, to enable the populace from all quarters to get 
 a view of the edifice. St. John's Park, which contained four 
 acres, is said to have once presented, besides its beautiful 
 fountain and beds of rare flowers, a greater variety of trees 
 and shrubbery than any other spot of its size in the world. 
 It is now covered with the Hudson River R. R. freight de- 
 pot, ornamented with the costly bronze statue of the present 
 railroad king, who has just demolished a fine church, and 
 many other costly structures in another part of the city, to 
 make place for the erection of another immense depot, the 
 largest on the continent. Stuyvesant square contains four 
 acres, and was presented to the city by the late Peter G. 
 Stuyvesant. 
 
 Tompkins square contains ten acres, and is much used as 
 a place of military parade. It contains few ornaments. 
 Washington square was formerly the Potter's Field, and was 
 thus used during the Yellow Fever periods of 1797-1798, 
 1801-1803. It contained until recently nine and a half 
 acres, and is believed to have received the bodies of 125,000 
 strangers. The recent extension of Fifth avenue has some- 
 what marred this beautiful park, by forcing a wide street 
 through its center. 
 
 Union and Madison are very attractive centers, surrounded 
 with high iron enclosures, containing beautiful fountains 
 seats for visitors, and a fine growth of young trees. 
 
 Murray Hill Park, adjoining the distributing reservoir, is 
 being much improved, though the absence of shade has hith- 
 erto prevented it from being a place of general resort for the 
 neighborhood. New parks are being formed on the upper 
 parts of the island, among w T hich we mention Observatory 
 
160 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Place, containing 26 acres ; Manhattan square, containing 19 
 acres ; and Mount Morris, containing 20 acres. 
 
 Central Park, the largest of all, was laid out in 1857; is 
 two and a half miles long, three-fifths of a mile wide, con- 
 tains 81:3 acres, and is twice as large as the renowned Hyde 
 
 CENTRAL PAHK PLAYGROUND. 
 
 Park of London. It has cost in the purchase of land, and its 
 improvements, over $11,000,000 ; and is now maintained and 
 steadily improved, at an annual expense of $250,000. It 
 has twelve grand entrances, contains five and a half miles of 
 bridle path, nine and a half of carriage roads, twenty-seven 
 miles of walks, so admirably arranged with arched passage- 
 ways, that the pedestrian is never obliged to step on the car- 
 riage or bridle ways. Near the south-east corner stands a 
 large three-story stone building, formerly a State arsenal. 
 This lias been purchased by the Park Commissioners, and 
 was, until recently, filled with animals and serpents, with 
 
PARKS AND SQUARES. 
 
 161 
 
 many ancient and modern curiosities. It has recently been 
 rejuvenated, and adapted to the convenience of a Society lately 
 incorporated, and known as the " American Museum of Nat- 
 ural History." This society has in a short time collected an 
 
 CENTRAL PARK CHILDREN'S SHKLTKR. 
 
 astonishing number of stuffed and mounted birds, serpents, 
 mammals, fishes, insects, and other curious skeletons, valued 
 at more than $100,000 ; and rendering their Museum one of 
 the most attractive centres for the naturalist, the antiquarian, 
 or the curious, on the entire island. The building contains 
 three stories, and the collection is so arranged for exhibition, 
 that the visitor is enabled to contemplate by progressive 
 stages the various phases of animal life from its lowest to its 
 highest developments. On the first floor he finds sponges 
 from the East Indies, dome-shaped corals, and specimens of 
 
162 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the lowest known orders of animal existence. lie next finds 
 hundreds of specimens of fishes, including the dolphin, blad- 
 der fish, etc. Reptiles follow, with a fine exhibit of the boa 
 constrictor. Cases are devoted to conchology, exhibiting the 
 principal mollusca found in the different parts of the world. 
 10,000 specimens of Lepidoptera, presented by C. T. Robin- 
 son, exhibit all known varieties of American and European 
 moths and butterflies. 4,000 varieties of beetles and other 
 insects have been presented by Baron Osten-Sacken. Birds 
 from all countries, exhibiting nearly every variety of size, 
 habit, and plumage, from the humming-bird to the eagle, are 
 interestingly grouped. The collection of mammals exhibits 
 the kangaroo, fox, tiger, wild boar, ibex, leopard, lion, camel, 
 stag ; all crowned on the upper floor with a large variety of 
 monkeys, which form the climax of the lower tribes, and ap- 
 proach nearest to man. The entire collection of the late 
 Prince Maximilian, comprising 7,000 specimens, and various 
 large and small collections, have been here classified for the 
 study of the people. The first reception was given by the 
 managers of the Museum on the 27th of April, 1871, to a 
 thousand delighted visitors. A large and eligible structure 
 is soon to be erected on Manhattan square for this Museum 
 of natural history ; also appropriate accommodations for the 
 Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Department of Public 
 Works has been empowered to proceed with the arrangement 
 of these structures, at an expense not exceeding $500,000 for 
 each. The trustees of the Museum of Natural History de- 
 sign it to equal, if not surpass, any similar institution in the 
 world. 
 
 Around the arsenal are buildings and cages with bears, 
 eagles, serpents, and numerous other varieties of animals. 
 The collection of rare living animals, reptiles, and birds is 
 very large, numbering in all about six hundred, or over one 
 hundred and thirty varieties. 
 
 On the northern extremity of the Park, stands what was 
 originally St. Vincent's Convent. The chapel of this has 
 
PARKS AND SQUARES. 
 
 163 
 
 been remodeled and decorated, and now contains the statuary, 
 one of the most attractive collections in the country. A little 
 north-east of this building are the nursery grounds, covering 
 two and a half acres, where choice trees and shrubs are grown. 
 Contiguous thereto is a vegetable garden, containing speci- 
 mens of most of the esculents that will thrive in this climate, 
 properly arranged, and the name of each so conspicuously 
 placed, that a person passing by can readily recognize it. A 
 spacious greenhouse, with approved heating apparatus, has re- 
 cently been added, to preserve the tropical collection which 
 has recently been greatly increased, 353 valuable plants being- 
 donated at one time by James Lenox, Esq., and 71 by Dr 
 Wood. 
 
 A large zoological garden is being constructed, with un- 
 derground accommodations for bears, seals, the walrus, bea- 
 ver, etc. 
 
 The best meteorological observatory in the country has been 
 established, and a fine astronomical observatory is soon to be 
 completed. 
 
 A Palaeozoic Museum, containing life-size representations 
 of most of the animals believed to have existed in America, 
 during the secondary and post-tertiary geological periods, is 
 being prepared. This will certainly be a cabinet of great 
 interest. 
 
 A line of stages now carry visitors through the Park, halt- 
 ing at its chief places of attraction. No pains or expense are 
 spared to make the Park all the most fastidious could desire. 
 A bronze figure for a fountain has just been cast in Munich 
 for the Commissioners, and the basin for the same is a block 
 of polished Westerly granite, seventeen feet square. Several 
 costly and ornamental structures for the sale of pictures, re- 
 freshments, and mineral waters, have recently been erected. 
 
 The site of this Park was originally perhaps the most bro- 
 ken of the island, and considered by many irredeemable : 
 yet the toil of thousands of men, aided by powerful machin- 
 ery, has crushed the rocks, so graded and enriched the sur- 
 
164 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 face, as to have made the "desert blossom as the rose." 
 Verdant lawns spread away, where only rocks and poisonous 
 laurel once appeared. Trees from all countries wave in the 
 breeze and the broken places still remaining are so artfully 
 
 CENTRAL PARK CASCADE. 
 
 concealed with dense rows of choice shrubbery, that the de- 
 lighted visitor rarely discovers them. Appropriate space is 
 laid out for ball play and military parade. Placid lakes cov- 
 ering forty -three acres, dotted in summer with pleasure boats 
 and snow-white swan, are no less attractive to skating par- 
 ties in winter. The Commissioners offered §4,000 for the 
 best plan for laying out this plot of ground, and thirty-five 
 studies were presented, some of which came from Europe. 
 Mr. F. L. Olmsted and Mr. C. Yaux proved the successful 
 competitors. The millions already invested in this undertak- 
 ing have by no means completed the improvements of this 
 imperial park. Thus far they have made wonderful pro- 
 gress. The portion completed is so finely ornamented with 
 
parks and squares. 
 
 165 
 
 fountains, terraces, stairways, arcades, sculpture, statuary, 
 rustic arbors, and pavilions, that one wearies with the re- 
 peated yet ever-diversified exhibitions of genius, beauty, and 
 taste. It is the favorite resort of all classes, and is visited by 
 about ten millions annually. 
 
 CENTRAL PARK MINERAL SPRINGS. 
 
 _ A stranger, spending a day in New York, should pass 
 through Broadway, Washington market, ascend Trinity stee- 
 ple, and visit Central Park. In the first, while he thinks of 
 a Vanity fair," his attention will be perpetually attracted to 
 objects of unrivaled and substantial costliness ; and at the mar- 
 ket will behold such an accumulation of commodities, and 
 commingling of nationalities, as none can well describe. From 
 Trinity steeple, two hundred and fifty feet above the pavement, 
 he obtains a bird's-eye view of neighboring cities, of the broad 
 rivers and bay whose waters are whitened with ten thousand 
 sails ; he hears the distant roar of innumerable wheels, and 
 looks down upon the masses of diminutive creatures that are 
 ceaselessly surging below. At the Park everything is charm- 
 ing, nature on parade in her gayest and sweetest attire. 
 
VIII. 
 
 HOW NEW YORK IS SUPPLIED WITH WATEH. 
 
 EFORE the introduction of the Croton, the 
 inhabitants of Manhattan suffered perpet- 
 ual perils from fires, drought, and the im- 
 purities of their daily beverage. 
 
 A liberal supply of pure water is one of 
 the first conditions of health and happiness, 
 any people ; but how to thus supply a vast 
 city has been a question that has agitated the 
 Solomons, the Caesars, and the Montezumas. 
 For many years the inhabitants of Manhattan de- 
 pended upon public and private wells. In 1659, there were 
 eleven public wells in the little city— two in Wall street, three 
 in Broadway, four in Broad street, and two on the East river 
 side. These were used for watering horses and extinguish- 
 ing fires, the families mainly depending upon private wells in 
 their own yards. As the city enlarged, the demand for 
 water increased ; various schemes were discussed and experi- 
 ments vainly tried, during half a century, until a board of 
 Commissioners finally took the matter resolutely in hand, and 
 after eight years of study and toil, completed in 1842 the 
 most extensive and magnificent enterprise of the kind in 
 modern times. A dam thrown across Croton river raised the 
 water forty feet, forming Croton lake. The aqueduct proper 
 is constructed of stone, brick, and cement, arched above and 
 below, is seven and a half feet wide, and eight and a half 
 high, with an inclination of thirteen inches to the mile ; the 
 flow of water for some years was about twenty-seven million 
 gallons daily, but at present reaches nearly sixty millions, its 
 full capacity. In Westchester county it crosses twenty-five 
 
HOW NEW YORK IS SUPPLIED WITH WATER. 
 
 167 
 
 streams, averaging from twelve to seventy feet below the line 
 of grade, besides numerous brooks furnished with culverts. 
 The water is carried across Harlem river in vast iron 
 pipes on a bridge of granite, 1450 feet long, which is sup- 
 ported by fifteen arches, the crown of the highest being 100 
 feet above high-water mark, to prevent interference with 
 navigation. Two deep valleys are ingeniously crossed, be- 
 tween this river and the receiving reservoir opposite Eighty- 
 sixth street, which covers thirty-live acres, and contains 
 150,000,000 gallons. Several years since a retaining reser- 
 voir was added, covering over 100 acres, and thirty-eight feet 
 deep, capable of holding one billion and thirty million gal- 
 lons. Two large reservoirs have just been constructed — the 
 " Storage reservoir," and the " High Service " at Carmansville. 
 From the receiving to the distributing reservoir, a distance 
 of two and one-fourth miles, the water is conducted through 
 several lines of iron pipe three or four feet in diameter. The 
 distributing reservoir for the principal part of the city stands 
 on Murray Hill, between Fortieth and Forty-second streets, 
 fronting on Fifth avenue. It covers more than four acres, is 
 divided into two parts, is 40 feet above the pavements, 115 
 above tide-water, and holds twenty million gallons. The 
 entire distance from Croton lake to Murray Hill is forty-one 
 and a half miles. Three hundred and forty miles of main 
 pipe have been laid, to carry the water through the city. 
 The water has been introduced into 67,000 dwelling-houses 
 and stores, into 1,624 manufactories, 307 churches, into 290 
 buildings used as hospitals, prisons, schools, or public build- 
 ings, and into 14 markets. Seventy-two drinking hydrants 
 are now in use in the city. The Croton water supplies Sing 
 Sing prison, all the Institutions of Blackwell's, Randall's, and 
 Ward's Islands, forms the numerous artificial lakes and ponds 
 in Central Park, the fountains in all the other parks, is used 
 for sprinkling the streets, and extinguishing fires. Its origi- 
 nal cost was about nine millions, but the continual expense of 
 repairs, building of new reservoirs, and of pipes, have swelled 
 
168 
 
 NEW YOKE AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the amount to nearly forty millions, a great but never-to-be 
 regretted expenditure. 
 
 A water tax is imposed on every building supplied, which 
 is graduated according to the size of the structure. A one- 
 story of sixteen feet width is taxed $4, a live-story with a 
 width of twenty-five feet, $12 per annum. In manufacto- 
 ries, the Commissioners design to collect one cent for every 
 one hundred gallons used, as nearly as may be. The water 
 tax during 1871 amounted to $1,254,735,29, and since its in- 
 troduction in 1842 to over $19,752,354. In November, 1868, 
 the water was shut off for five days, for the inspection and re- 
 pairing of the aqueduct. During the suspension of the flow 
 of water, the reservoirs were reduced over nine feet, remind- 
 ing us that if the supply should be cut off, our hydrants would 
 fail in about fifteen days. The Croton ranks among the pur- 
 est streams of the world. Its waters are collected in a 
 district of 352 square miles. Mountains and hills of azoic 
 gneiss receive the rainfall, which is filtered by the pure sili- 
 cious sands and gravels, to gush out in numberless springs and 
 brooks, which flow in sparkling transparency to the lake, the 
 great reservoir. Here the sediments are mainly deposited, 
 before the aqueduct is reached. A stone wall has been 
 thrown around the lake, to isolate the drainage from the sur- 
 rounding farms. A careful analysis of the water shows that 
 the amount of impurity during a whole summer amounted 
 to but 4.45 grains per gallon, or 7.63 parts in 100,000. 
 
 Dublin is the only city in Europe supplied with water as 
 pure as the Croton, and Boston, Philadelphia, and Trenton, 
 only in America. Nine old wells were filled and covered in 
 1868, though two or three hundred still exist. Their waters are 
 greatly polluted, and are fruitful sources of disease, the only 
 remedy— -filling them all — should be promptly attended to. 
 
 By means of a new purchase of water-right in the spring 
 of 1870, the volume of water during the dry season has been 
 much increased, and the city saved from any anxiety in re- 
 lation to the supply of this indispensable element. 
 
IX. 
 
 THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS OP NEW YORK BOARD OF EDUCATION. 
 (Corner Grand and Elm.) 
 
 The early Dutch settlers of Manhattan were educated in 
 the first common schools known in Europe, and have the 
 immortal honor of establishing the first on this continent, for 
 the education of all classes of society, at the public expense 
 
170 
 
 NEW YOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Dutch government bound the company to support minis- 
 ters and schoolmasters, and the company imposed the same 
 obligation on the patroons, in their respective agricultural 
 colonies. Here, as in the mother-country, the schools were 
 under the direction of the established church ; the importance 
 of a secular education for all, controlled by the state, ana 
 untrammelled by denominationalism, was not yet understood. 
 The offices of minister and schoolmaster appear to have 
 been united in one person, during the reign of Peter Minuits, 
 the first governor, but were divided at the advent of his suc- 
 cessor, in 1633. During the first forty years, the schools 
 were held in such premises as could be obtained. An effort 
 indeed appears to have been made to erect a school-house in 
 16-12, but the funds raised for this purpose were again and 
 again diverted for the common defence against the Indians, 
 who roamed over nearly the whole island, so that no building 
 for school purposes was probably erected until after the Eng- 
 lish occupation. Peter Stuyvesant evidently took considera- 
 ble interest in education, for at his surrender of the colony 
 to the English, there were in New Amsterdam, a town of 
 fifteen hundred inhabitants, twelve or fifteen private, and 
 three public schools, besides a Latin school established in 
 1659, whose reputation had attracted students from various 
 parts of the continent. With the transfer of the government 
 from the Dutch to the English, the public support of the 
 schools (save to the Latin, which continued but a few years) 
 was withdrawn. The sturdy Dutch, however, kept on the even 
 tenor of their way for many years, both in church and school. 
 The " School of the "Reformed Protestant Dutch Church,'- 
 now conducted at No. 160 West Twenty-ninth street, dates 
 back in its origin to the Dutch dynasty, and is probably the 
 oldest educational institution in the country, its managers 
 having, however, imbibed the enlightened sentiments of their 
 cotemporaries. Early in the eighteenth century, English 
 schools became somewhat common in New York, and on 
 Long Island. In 1710, the school still existing and known as 
 
THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 171 
 
 " Trinity School," was established by William Huddlestone, 
 under the direction of a society connected with the English 
 church, and in 1754, King's College (now Columbia) was es- 
 tablished. The Dutch struggled long and zealously against 
 the extinction of the language and customs of their country, 
 and as late as 1755 imported a zealous Holland schoolmaster, 
 who served them with great acceptability for eighteen years, 
 but was mournfully compelled ere his death to introduce 
 English studies in the school, and to listen to preaching in 
 the English language in the church. The capture of New 
 York by the British, in 1776, was the signal for closing the 
 schools, which continued until the evacuation, seven years 
 after. 
 
 It was not until near the close of the last century that the 
 public mind was aroused to the importance of providing the 
 means for the general education of the people. From the 
 establishment of the English government in 1664, down to 
 1795, all efforts to educate the masses were made by individ- 
 uals, or by local churches ; but in the year last named, in 
 compliance with the recommendation of that enlightened 
 governor, George Clinton, the New York Legislature passed 
 an act, appropriating $50,000 a year for five years, for the 
 maintenance of schools in the several cities and towns of the 
 State, in which the children should be taught English gram- 
 mar, arithmetic, mathematics, and such other branches of 
 knowledge as are necessary to complete a good English 
 education. In 1805, the State government set apart the net 
 proceeds from the sale of 500,000 acres of vacant lands, for a 
 permanent fund, for the support of common schools, to be 
 securely invested until the interest thereof should amount to 
 $50,000 per annum, which sum was to be annually divided 
 between the several school districts, according to the number 
 of their scholars. This fund was further increased by the 
 proceeds of certain bank stocks and of the lotteries author- 
 ized by the Act of 1803. The first distribution occurred in 
 1815. A little previous to this movement in the Legislature, 
 
 13 
 
t 
 
 172 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 organizations began to spring up, both in Europe and Amer- 
 ica, for the education of the poor and the neglected. The 
 " Manumission Society," to improve the condition of the 
 colored race, organized in 1785, was the first in our country, 
 and two years later it established a school in Cliff street, and 
 soon gathered one hundred pupils. This society continued 
 its work for forty years, firmly established several schools, 
 but in 1834, voluntarily surrendered its charge with consid- 
 erable valuable school property to the State government. 
 These are now the Colored Schools, under control of the 
 Board of Education. A " Eemale Association for the Relief 
 of the Poor," was organized, and in 1802 opened a school 
 for white girls. This society existed about half a century, 
 proved the feasibility of such undertakings, and led to the 
 organization of the " Free School Society," which afterwards 
 became the " Public School Society of the City of New 
 York." The " Lancaster system," viz. : that five hundred or 
 a thousand children could be properly instructed by a single 
 teacher, then very popular in England, was introduced into 
 this city, and in due time failed. In 1827, a number of 
 ladies organized the " Infant School Society," and the next 
 year the same was introduced into Boston, Charleston, and 
 other places. The movement now looks to us supremely 
 silly. Children were received into these schools in New 
 York at from two to six years of age, and in Boston, always 
 in the advance, at from eighteen months to four years. The 
 system of instruction adopted was the " Pestalozzian," and 
 does not differ materially from the course pursued at present, 
 by most infant-class teachers, in our Sunday schools. 
 
 The " Free School Society," afterwards the " Public School 
 Society," incorporated in 1805, managed by many of the 
 wisest and purest men of the State, was for nearly half a 
 century the great educational power of the city, if not of the 
 country as well, and its managers deserve the lasting praise 
 of posterity. Singularly wise in counsel, and economic in 
 management, collecting vast sums among its friends, employ- 
 
THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 173 
 
 ing millions from the public treasury without ever inten- 
 tionally squandering a dollar, it ran the most unselfish and 
 
 NEW YORK FREE SCHOOL BUILDING, OPEXED IN 1809 IN TRYON ROW. 
 
 brilliant career in the annals of popular education. Still, 
 it came to be questioned whether the work of a whole com- 
 munity should be surrendered to the few, and whether the 
 State did wisely in committing the funds for the education 
 of the children, and the erection of suitable buildings, into 
 the hands of a private corporation, whose affairs might not 
 always be managed by men as wise and good ; and after 
 considerable agitation, in April, 1842, the Legislature passed 
 an act, by which the Board of Education, whose members 
 were, until recently, elected by the people, was organized. 
 During the next eleven years, the two organizations continued 
 their independent operations, but the Public School Society, 
 shorn of its former income from the State treasury, found 
 its embarrassments continually multiplying, until it finally 
 accepted a proposition from the Board of Education, to con- 
 solidate the two interests, which was practically accomplished 
 
174 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 in 1S53. The property transferred by this society to the 
 Board of Education, though somewhat encumbered, amounted 
 to $600,000, but the fruit of their toil, evinced in the intel- 
 ligence and virtue of the generations they instructed, was 
 their noblest monument. At the close of the first eighteen 
 years of their operations, they asserted that of the 20,000 
 poor children instructed in their schools, but one had been 
 traced to a criminal court. During the forty-eight years of 
 its continuance, it had under instruction no less than 600,000 
 children, of whom over twelve hundred became trained teach- 
 ers, and one acquainted with its workings declares, that of a 
 class of thirty-two boys in 1835, two have since been judges 
 of the Supreme Court, one a member of the Legislature, one 
 a City Register, several Principals and Assistants in the 
 schools, one an Assistant Superintendent, one a clergyman, 
 and several distinguished merchants. A very remarkable 
 record indeed ! 
 
 The advantage of thus uniting these great educational 
 interests, and of combining the wisdom and skill of those 
 trained veterans, who had so thoroughly solved these prob- 
 lems, appears in the present condition of the schools of our 
 city, which in discipline and scholarship are second to no 
 other in the world The Board of Education consists of 
 twelve Commissioners, who have the general supervision of 
 the schools, the appropriation of the moneys set apart for 
 their maintenance, the purchase of sites, and erection of new 
 schools, the furnishing of supplies, books, stationery, fuel, 
 and lights. There are also one hundred and ten Trustees, 
 until recently elected by the people, rive for each ward, one 
 being chosen each year for a term of five years. There are 
 also twenty-one Inspectors of schools, who were, until very 
 recently nominated by the Mayor, and confirmed by the 
 Board of Education. The members of a late Legislature, 
 madly intent on the one-man power, vested the entire school 
 authority of the city in the Mayor. lie is henceforth to 
 appoint the Board of Education, the Inspectors, and all the 
 
THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. 175 
 
 Trustees in the several wards, completely absolving the 
 people from all responsibility in directing and regulating a 
 
 GRAMMAR SCHOOL NO. 56 FOR FEMALES. 
 
 ( West Eighteenth street ; erected 1S69.) 
 
 matter, more than any other, connected with the happiness 
 and success of their children. 
 
 There are now ninety school-buildings owned by the city, 
 besides numerous hired ones, which cover more than twenty 
 acres of ground, and the floors above the basements of the 
 same, about seventy acres additional. The old buildings 
 were plain as will be seen by the accompanying cut, but 
 many of those recently erected cover several lots of ground, 
 are lofty and elegant structures, with several fire-proof stair- 
 ways, and all necessary apartments for the complete accom- 
 modation of two thousand scholars. The second cut repre- 
 
17G 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 sents the new building in West Eighteenth street, and 
 contrasts favorably with the one erected in 1809. 
 
 There are now besides the thirty-six corporate schools of 
 the several benevolent societies, and which are partly under 
 the control of the Board of Education, sixty-three Grammar 
 schools, which are divided into forty-six departments for 
 male scholars, forty -four for female, and six for colored 
 students. There are fifty-six Primary departments, fifteen 
 evening schools for males, eleven for females, and three for 
 colored children. There are two Normal Schools, and one 
 High School. The Board of Education employs over twen- 
 ty-four hundred teachers, over two thousand of whom are 
 females. The number of scholars on register during 1871 
 was 235,405, with an average attendance of about 103,000. 
 The annual expense of the public schools amounts to about 
 §3,000,000. The Board of Education appoints its President 
 and Clerk, also the City Superintendent, and his assistants. 
 The Superintendent grants two grades of certificates, to 
 persons of suitable age, who have completed the course of 
 study, after which they may be appointed to teach. The 
 books and other requisites are purchased by the board in 
 large quantities, stored at a central depot, and distributed to 
 the several schools when needed. 
 
 In I860, the Free Academy was, by Act of Legislature, 
 erected into the College of the City of New York, and be- 
 came a separate corporation, the members of the board of 
 Education being ex officio members of its board of trustees. 
 Advanced students from the public schools are admitted with 
 free scholarship, and the trustees are authorized to draw on 
 the Board of Supervisors, who shall raise by general taxation 
 a sum not exceeding SI 25,000 per annum, to defray the ex- 
 penditures of the institution. Besides these general provi- 
 sions for the benefit of advanced students, there are several 
 Academies and Colleges belonging to the Roman Catholics, 
 taught by Jesuits, and various orders of Brothers and Sisters. 
 Columbia College, the oldest in the State, is situated on 
 
THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 177 
 
 Fourth avenue and Fiftieth street. It has departments for 
 law and mining, and a separate college for Physicians and 
 Surgeons. It is under the control of the Protestant Episco- 
 pal church, and has a property of several millions. The 
 New York University, a large four-story Gothic structure of 
 free-stone, at Washington square, was founded in 1S31, has 
 the several departments, and has graduated many students. 
 There are two extensive theological seminaries in the city. 
 
 KUTGEKS FEMALE COLLEGE. 
 
 (Fifth avenue and Forty-first street.) 
 
 The " Union Theological Seminary " (Presbyterian), founded 
 in 1836, and open for students from all denominations who 
 have graduated at a college. The trustees of this Seminary 
 last year purchased four acres of ground on St. Nicholas 
 avenue, between One Hundred and Thirtieth and One Hun- 
 dred and Thirty-second streets, and are now erecting new 
 and more commodious buildings, which it will require several 
 
178 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 years to complete, and will involve an expense of about 
 half a million. The students will occupy buildings distinct 
 from the Professors. The library room is to be tire-proof, 
 and will contain about 28,000 rare and valuable works. The 
 city contains also the " General Theological Seminary of the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church," established at New Haven in 
 1819, afterwards removed to this city, and located on Twen- 
 tieth street, between Ninth and Tenth avenues. There is 
 prospect of this being removed to Westchester or to some 
 other location out of town. There are beside these, ten Med- 
 ical Colleges and Academies, several Business Colleges, and 
 a number of institutions of a high order for girls, Rutgers Fe- 
 male College, on Fifth avenue, opposite the reservoir, rank- 
 ing among the first. An effort is being made at this writing 
 to secure an endowment of $500,000, to greatly enlarge and 
 improve the facilities of the Institution. Much has already 
 been secured, and the complete success of the undertaking is 
 confidently expected by the friends of the enterprise. 
 
 Besides the schools just enumerated, there are over 320 in- 
 dependent ones, large and small, of a sectarian and miscella- 
 neous character, with more than 1,500 teachers. It is to be 
 regretted that so many parish and other schools, not con- 
 trolled by the Board of Education, have come into existence 
 for the perpetuation of antagonistic creeds and nationalities. 
 The school property of the Board of Education has cost over 
 five millions, and is now worth twice that amount. A care- 
 ful examination has proved that 40,000 more scholars than 
 ordinarily attend could be seated in the present buildings ; 
 this is probably as many or more than are taught elsewhere. 
 We need but one system, and one organization, to control the 
 ordinary branches of education. Our " Free " " Public" 
 and "Common" schools, notwithstanding all these diver- 
 sions, have been the chief glory of our city for sixty years, 
 and are eminently so to-day. Every movement toward the 
 division of the School Fund, for the promotion of sectarian 
 interest, should be zealously resisted by every thoughtful 
 
THE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES OF NEW YORK. 179 
 
 American. Sectarian schools of a high order supported by 
 private corporations, for a few advanced students, are emin- 
 ently proper ; but the State should always control the secular 
 education of all the children, compelling their attendance. 
 Our children, representing, as they do, nearly every national- 
 ity, should study the same books, in the same buildings, and 
 play in the same yards. Thus only can that homogeneity be 
 secured that shall give security and permanency to the Re- 
 public. The State also should ever, as now, encourage the 
 reading of the Bible in the schools, that great and only true 
 educator of the conscience ; not, indeed, in any sectarian 
 spirit, but from great and manifest civil considerations. 
 
X. 
 
 PUBLIC SECURITY. 
 
 METROPOLITAN" POLICE DEPARTMENT — METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPART- 
 MENT THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT — QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT — 
 
 MARITIME DEFENCES UNITED STATES NAVY YARD. 
 
 METROPOLITAN POLICE HEADQUARTERS. 
 
 (300 Mulberry street.) 
 
 The Metropolitan Police service has grown, from small and 
 imperfect beginnings, to be a great and effective department 
 of the city government. Many experiments and numerous 
 changes of government and reorganizations have contributed 
 
PUBLIC SECURITY. 
 
 181 
 
 to bring the force to its present efficiency. Twenty-eight 
 years ago, portions of the city were patrolled at night by la- 
 borers, porters, cartmen, &c, each carrying a lantern. When 
 a regular police force was at length provided, it fell under 
 the control of corrupt officials and rings, and was of uncer- 
 tain service to the city, until the Legislature in 1857 took 
 the matter in hand, and provided for the appointment of Po- 
 lice Commissioners, independent of all city control. Since 
 that, the department has rapidly improved in discipline and 
 efficiency until now; but as the new charter of 1870 has 
 again lodged the appointing power in the Mayor of New 
 York, it remains to be seen whether the same untrammeled 
 efficiency in the maintenance of public order shall be con- 
 tinued. The metropolitan district was, until 1870, composed 
 of the cities of New York and Brooklyn, and of portions of 
 Richmond, Kings, and Westchester counties, which were 
 divided into 43 precincts and several sub-precincts. At the 
 close of 1869, there were on duty in New York, 2,232 ; in 
 Brooklyn, 446 ; in Richmond Co., 29 ; and in Westchester. 
 22 ; making a grand total of 2,729, including captains, subor- 
 dinates, and patrolmen. These patroled incessantly about 
 500 miles of open streets in New York, 350 in Brooklyn, the 
 villages of Yonkers, Tremont, and Morrisania, while a few 
 on horseback scour the suburbs of the two cities mentioned, 
 and others floated around the rivers and bay. 
 
 A squad of forty-five are on service at the various halls of 
 justice, called the Court Squad, and thirty-two are detailed for 
 special service. Five are in charge of the House of Deten- 
 tion, at No. 203 Mulberry-street. This is a prison for the 
 detention of witnesses who are to give evidence in the trial of 
 culprits, and one of the rankest legal abominations of New 
 York. During 1872, 227 men and 55 women, or 282 wit- 
 nesses, were detained in this gloomy tenement an aggregate 
 of 12 years, 10 months, and 8 days. During the fourteen 
 years just passed, 4,814 persons have here been detained as wit- 
 nesses, and the aggregate of such detention has amounted to 
 
182 
 
 NEW YOKE AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 83,173 days,or nearly 228 years. One poor victim of this op- 
 pressive law was detained 269 days awaiting the trial of the 
 case, about which he was supposed to know something, leav- 
 ing his family, wholly dependent upon him, to suffer every 
 form of destitution. lie was an honest mechanic, charged 
 with no crime, but unfortunately knew something of the 
 crimes of others. During 1872, 5 persons were detained 
 over 100 days each, 18 over 60 days each, 31 over 40 days 
 each, and 51 over 20 days each. It is due to the Commis- 
 sioners to say, that they have again and again appealed to the 
 Legislature for the modification of this system, by allowing 
 the depositions of these witnesses to be taken in due form, 
 after which they might be allowed to return to their homes 
 and occupations. 
 
 The Sanitary Squad consists of a captain, three sergeants, 
 and forty-eight patrolmen. A detachment of these look 
 after the safety and workings of the numerous ferry lines 
 communicating with New York, and tell us that about ninety 
 million people cross on these lines to or from the metropolis 
 in a year. Others test hydrostatically at intervals, and by 
 course, every steam boiler on the island ; causing defective 
 ones to be repaired or removed. They examine and license 
 suitablre persons as engineeers. Others execute the orders of 
 the Board of Health. Still another detachment looks after 
 truant children, compelling thousands to return to school, and 
 conveying some to the Juvenile Asylum. Some members of 
 the Sanitary Squad have ranked among the most pious, bene- 
 volent, and useful men of New York. The Detective Squad 
 consists of a captain and twenty-six subordinates. These are 
 all shrewd, adroit, and skillful men of good reputation, whose 
 business it is to unravel the deepest schemes, ferret out the 
 darkest crimes, and entrap the shrewdest villains. Their 
 knowledge of polite thieves, counterfeiters, forgers, and bur- 
 glars, is very extensive. Great thieves are continually 
 watched by them, so that they know at once whether they 
 were in a city at the time of a robbery or not. They scent 
 
PUBLIC SECURITY. 
 
 1S3 
 
 crime across a continent, even across the ocean. A man 
 hitherto considered reputable is arrested for forgery or 
 burglary, and it comes to be known that the detective can 
 tell how much money his wife has expended in the city for 
 twelve months. Though living in private quarters all her 
 movements have been watched, and all her purchases ascer- 
 tained and recorded. They grasp at every clue, and follow 
 it to its result, often discovering the perpetrator of crime 
 from the slightest accident. When men who have spent 
 their money set up the plea of having been robbed, the de- 
 tective is sure to search them out, and expose them. Mil- 
 lions of dollars worth of stolen goods are annually recovered 
 by this force, but with all their art, some great rogues escape. 
 Horrible murders and bold robberies remain veiled in im- 
 penetrable mystery. Much of this detective work is per- 
 formed by the " Merchants' Independent Detective Police," 
 established in 1858, and by members of the several other de- 
 tective organizations. 
 
 The headquarters of the Police department are a fine mar- 
 ble structure, at No. 300 Mulberry street, containing elegant 
 offices for all the officials, with telegraphic communications 
 with every station-house in the department ; rooms for the 
 instruction of candidates for the force, and for the trial of 
 offenders. The Commissioners are very strict with the mem- 
 bers of the force, fining and discharging many for derelic- 
 tion, intemperance, or other vicious habits. The pay of a 
 patrolman is $1,200 per annum, but as he has no Sabbath, or 
 other privileges, such as most men enjoy, his compensation is 
 not large. Men are selected and distributed according to 
 their fitness for the different undertakings. The tallest are 
 stationed along Broadway, those with mechanical knowledge 
 tend toward the Sanitary, and those of penetration and 
 adroitness, toward the Detective squads. Their appearance 
 is always that of tidy, well-dressed, courteous officers, erect and 
 manly in bearing, and in the prime of life, the average age 
 being about thirty-five years. 
 
184 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 During the last eleven years, the police have returned over 
 73,000 lost children to their parents or homes, and found 
 above 40,000 houses left open, through the carelessness of in- 
 mates, affording unembarrassed opportunities for the entrance 
 of thieves and burglars. That policemen are sometimes rash, 
 unduly severe and evil, we doubt not ; yet the regulations 
 and discipline of the department are so severe, as to render 
 them generally effective, and without them nothing would 
 be safe for a day. They are distinguished for their valor, 
 and their numerous bloody encounters with rioters, and vil- 
 lains of every grade, are well known and startling. During 
 1872 they arrested no less than 60,179 males, and 24,335 fe- 
 males, making a total of 84,514. 
 
 METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Manhattan has several times been sadly impoverished with 
 conflagrations. On September 21st, 1776, while the British 
 were in possession of the city, a fire broke out in a wooden 
 grogshop, near Whitehall Slip, and as there were then no en- 
 gines in the city, and the men were mostly in the army, little 
 resistance could be offered. 493 buildings were destroyed, 
 reducing the impoverished population to great suffering. 
 
 On the ninth of August, 1778, the second great conflagra- 
 tion occurred. This began in Dock, now Pearl street, and 
 consumed nearly 300 buildings. In May, 1811, another fire 
 broke out in Chatham street, when nearly 100 houses were 
 destroyed. In 182S a large fire occurred, and nearly a mil- 
 lion dollars of property was destroyed. The most destruct- 
 ive fire, however, occurred in 1835. It began on the night 
 ox the sixteenth of December, in the lower part of the city. 
 The weather was colder than it had been known for over 
 fifty years. The Croton had not yet been introduced, little 
 
METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 185 
 
 water could be obtained, and that little froze in the hose be' 
 fore it could be used. The buildings were mostly of wood , 
 
 HEADQUARTERS NEW YORK FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 (127 Mercer street. ) 
 
 greatly favoring the work of destruction. For three days 
 and nights the flames raged furiously, sweeping away 648 
 houses and stores valued at $18,000,000, and leaving 45 acres 
 of the business portion of the city a desert of smoking ruins. 
 To crown the disaster, the insurance companies unanimously 
 suspended. On the 19th of July, 1845, another great con- 
 flagration occurred, second only to the one just described. 
 It began in New street, near Wall, sweeping onward in a 
 southerly direction, until 345 buildings were consumed, in- 
 flicting a loss of at least five millions. 
 
 The Fire Department of New York has, in some form, ex- 
 isted since 1653, but never attained to any eminence in 
 
186 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS . 
 
 point of discipline or quiet efficiency, until within the last 
 few years. For many years it was composed of volunteer 
 forces, who served gratuitously ; the engines were worked by 
 hand ; the force, though large, was undisciplined, frequent 
 collisions occurred between the different companies, and the 
 noise, riot, and plunder at the fires became intolerable. On 
 the 30th of March, 1865, the Legislature created the paid 
 " Metropolitan Fire Department," the commissioners of 
 which, after some litigation and much opposition, proceeded 
 to reorganize and suitably discipline the force. This has 
 gone steadily forward until New York can at length boast of 
 as intelligent, disciplined, and vigilant a Fire Department as 
 can be found in any city in the world. 
 
 The force, at this writing, consists of a Chief Engineer, 
 an Assistant Engineer, ten District Engineers, and five 
 hundred and eighty-seven officers and men. Each Company 
 consists of a Foreman and his Assistant, an Engineer, and 
 nine firemen. Each Company is provided with a house, with 
 appropriate rooms for rest, drill, and study. The basement 
 of the building contains the furnace which keeps the water 
 in the engine hot ; the horses are harnessed, and everything 
 ready so that when the signal of a fire is received, ten or 
 fifteen seconds only elapse before the whole company is 
 flying to the scene. These twelve men accomplish with six 
 times the dispatch, and with no noise, insubordination, or 
 theft, what forty but poorly accomplished under the old 
 regime. "When on duty they have the right of way, taking 
 precedence of everything, save the U. S. Mail, and their smok- 
 ing engines go dashing through crowded streets at a fear- 
 ful pace, but as everybody takes pains to clear the track, 
 few collisions occur. The men undergo the most rigid 
 examination, both physical and moral, before they are ad- 
 mitted, and are only discharged on account of failing health 
 or bad conduct. No nationality, political sentiment, or 
 religious belief is taken into the account; but good moral 
 
METROPOLITAN FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 187 
 
 conduct, tidiness, subordination, and fidelity to duty are 
 always required, and compensated with timely promotions. 
 
 The Department has thirty-seven steam-engines, second 
 size, costing four thousand dollars each, and manufactured 
 by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company of Manchester, 
 Kew Hampshire. It has also a floating engine which throws 
 several powerful streams, which is used to extinguish fires on 
 the piers, or in vessels anchored in the bay. 
 
 The horses, which now number one hundred and fifty-six, 
 are the finest and best-trained in America. They are large, 
 well-formed, fleshy, and perfectly docile. They understand 
 their business as well as the firemen. The sound of the gong 
 puts them on needles until they are fastened to the engine, 
 which they whirl through storm, mud, or snow-banks with a 
 speed which is often surprising. 
 
 Occasionally an unhappy circumstance occurs. A false 
 step in the haste of departure precipitates a poor fireman 
 near the door of the engine-house, just in time to be crushed 
 by the pondrous wheels of the engine in its rapid exit, and 
 his sorrow-stricken comrades toil on for hours against the 
 raging element, before they have a moment to return and 
 shed a friendly tear over his remains. Sometimes Isew 
 Yorkers sit down to their breakfast-tables, and glancing at 
 the morning paper, read of an immense fire that has occurred 
 during the night, where several devoted firemen were 
 crushed beneath the falling walls, or went hopelessly down 
 into a sea of flame from the roof or floor of a building, while 
 in discharge of a perilous duty. Sometimes an engine bursts, 
 spreading terror and death on every side. The means of 
 public safety are attended with private toils and woes that 
 would fill volumes. 
 
 The signals are now mostly given by telegraph, and few 
 people hear of a fire within a few blocks of their door, until 
 all is over. The police have charge of the order to be ob- 
 served in the vicinity of a fire ; they frequently draw ropes at 
 a proper distance, inside of which none are allowed but the 
 
 14 
 
1S8 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 firemen, and those directly interested. Though the city is 
 constantly enlarging, the loss by fires is steadily diminishing. 
 In 1866, there were 796 fires, with a loss of $6,428,000. In 
 
 1867, there were 873 fires, with a loss of $5,711,000. In 
 
 1868, there were 740 fires, with a loss of $4,342,371 ; and in 
 
 1869, there were 850 fires, with a loss of but $2,626,393. But 
 forty-three of the 850 fires of the last year extended to 
 adjoining buildings, which gives some idea of the rapidity 
 with which the work of extinction is conducted. The head- 
 quarters at 127 Mercer street contain the offices of the Com- 
 missioners, Chief Engineer, Secretary, Medical Officer, Tele- 
 graph, Bureau of Combustible Materials, and Fireman's 
 Lyceum. The last-named, organized quite recently, now 
 contains a library of over 4,000 volumes, besides many 
 curious engravings, and relics of the Department. Beside 
 the thirty-seven engine-houses, and fifteen truck-houses, the 
 Department has a repair yard in Elizabeth street, where most 
 of its work is now done, a number of hospital stables in 
 Chrystie street, and eleven bell-towers. All fines imposed on 
 firemen, and all imposed on citizens for violating the hatch- 
 way and kerosene ordinances, go to the " Fire Department 
 Eelief Fund," for the relief of the widows and orphans of 
 firemen. 
 
 THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Every great center of population is occasionally overtaken 
 with pestilence, and with various local and travelling diseases. 
 Manhattan has not been the exception. In 1702, the yellow 
 fever was brought from St. Thomas, of which over six hun- 
 dred persons died, about one-twelfth of the entire popula- 
 tion. In 1732, an infectious disease appeared, of which 
 seventy persons died in a week. In 1743, a bilious plague 
 prevailed, of which two hundred and seventeen died. In 
 
THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT. 
 
 189 
 
 1745, malignant fever prevailed ; and in 1747, the bilious 
 plague reappeared. Yellow fever returned in 1791, 1794, 
 1795, 1797, 1799, 1801, 1803, 1805, 1822, 1856, and 1870. 
 
 Over thirty-five hundred died of cholera in 1832, nine 
 hundred and seventy-one in 1834, five thousand and seventy- 
 one in 1849, three hundred and seventy-four in 1852, and a 
 small number in 1866. There are a few cases of cholera 
 nearly every year. A great city, unless carefully guarded, 
 60on becomes a sink of putrefaction, which not only aggra- 
 vates but engenders disease. To prevent as far as possible 
 this unnecessary waste of human life, the sanitary interests 
 of the metropolis have been for some years committed to the 
 care of a Board of Health Commissioners, vested with large 
 power, who have given their entire attention to this branch 
 of the public service. 
 
 The New Health Department, under the present charter,, 
 consists of the Police Commissioners of New York, the 
 Health officer of the Port, and of four Commissioners of 
 Health, appointed by the Mayor, for the term of five years, 
 with a salary of $5,000 each, two of whom must have been 
 practising physicians in the city, for a period of five years 
 previous to their appointment. The Department is divided 
 into four bureaus. The chief officer of one is called the 
 u City Sanitary Inspector." This officer must be selected 
 from the medical fraternity, having practised ten years in 
 the city. Complaints against fat or bone-boiling establish- 
 ments, or other questionable buildings or practices, are made 
 to this officer. Another is styled the " Bureau of Sanitary 
 Permit." This Bureau grants licenses for burials, without 
 which a dead body cannot be brought into or removed 
 from the city. Another is the a Bureau of Street Cleaning." 
 The chief officer of the fourth Bureau is called the " Register 
 of Records." This is the bureau of vital statistics. He 
 records without charge all marriages, births, deaths, and the 
 inquisitions of the coroners. It is the duty of every clergy- 
 man, or magistrate, solemnizing matrimony, to report the 
 
190 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 same to this officer, and of physicians to report all births and 
 deaths occurring in their practice. The present Board of 
 Health is very vigilant and useful, guarding with scrupu- 
 lous care the sanitary interests of the city, warding off chol- 
 era and various contagious diseases, and rendering the me- 
 tropolis so salubrious as to impoverish many physicians. 
 
 QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Every large city is compelled to provide a Quarantine, 
 as a matter of self-preservation, especially seaport towns. The 
 first measures for a Quarantine in New York were inaugur- 
 ated by the passage of an act in 1758, to prevent the spread of 
 infectious diseases. By Act of May 4th, 1794, Governor's 
 Island was made the Quarantine, and in March, 1797, a laza- 
 retto was directed to be built on Bedloe's Island. The ravages 
 of yellow fever led in 1799 to the purchase of thirty acres of 
 land on Staten Island, five of which were ceded to the United 
 States Government for warehouses, and on the remainder per- 
 manent quarantine buildings were erected. The first build- 
 ings were erected with the material taken from the demolished 
 lazaretto on Bedloe's Island. In 1819, a long brick building 
 was erected ; in 1823, a fever hospital ; in 1828-29, a small- 
 pox hospital ; and such subsequent additions were made as 
 the wants of the Institution required. The great increase of 
 population on Staten Island, and the return of yellow fever 
 in 1856-58, many cases occurring in the vicinity of the quar- 
 antine, the long-cherished desire for its removal burst forth 
 in a frenzy, of which the whole populace seemed to partake. 
 On the evening of the 1st of September, 1858, the buildings 
 were entered by the excited multitudes, the sick carried on 
 their mattresses into the yards, and every building save the 
 women's hospital destroyed by fire. This last-named edifice 
 
QUARANTINE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 191 
 
 was destroyed the following evening, making the ruin com- 
 plete. 
 
 Quarantine is now located on the east of Staten Island, 
 several miles below Castle Garden, on artificial islands con- 
 structed for that purpose. The sick, until a few years since, 
 were kept in vessels stationed in the lower bay for that pur- 
 pose. During 1869, the West Bank Hospital was completed at 
 a cost of over three hundred thousand dollars. This is one of 
 the largest and best-arranged quarantine buildings in the world. 
 The foundation consists of crib-work of heavy timbers fas- 
 tened together, filled with stone and sand, and sunk. The crib 
 contains 15,000 cubic yards of stone, and 56,000 cubic yards 
 of sand. The Hospital is a one-story edifice, divided into 
 eight wards, each 89 feet long and 24: wide, and can accom- 
 modate fifty patients each. The Hospital is supplemented by 
 other buildings, used as baggage house, wash-house, dead- 
 house, and apartments for superintendent, physicians, nurses 
 etc. The buildings are lighted with gas, and connected 
 by telegraph with JSew York. During 1869, 213 vessels ar- 
 rived from ports infected with yellow fever ; and in 1870 no 
 less than 365 such vessels, with at least 470 yellow fever pati- 
 ents on board. 115 vessels carrying about 73,000 persons 
 were detained at Quarantine, having small-pox, during 1872, 
 and four vessels with ship fever, yet so vigilant were the health 
 officers that no panic occurred on shore, and none of these dis- 
 eases spread in the city. Yellow fever, however, broke out in 
 the summer and fall of 1870 among the troops on Governor's 
 Island, eighty-three of whom were prostrated and thirty-one 
 died. The health and prosperity of the Metropolis are more 
 largely dependent upon quarantine vigilance than many sup- 
 pose. Another building for the detention of persons exposed 
 to disease, while on passage in an infected vessel, has been 
 completed at West Bank, and a warehouse for the storage 
 of infected goods will follow, making our Quarantine com- 
 plete and unrivalled. The annual expense of this branch of 
 our measures for public security, exclusive of permanent im- 
 
192 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 provements, amounts to about §50,000. The Quarantine Com- 
 missioners have exclusive control of the Hospital, and are 
 distinct from the Health Department of the city. 
 
 MAKITIME DEFENCES, 
 
 ORTIFICATIOXS erected under the 
 trained skill of cultivated military en- 
 gineers have long been the chief means 
 of defence for all civilized cities and 
 countries. It is therefore a little remark- 
 able, that while Xew York was from the 
 earliest settlement the chief city and 
 heart of the country, no general effort to 
 suitably fortify its' approaches was made 
 until the outburst of the war of 1812. 
 
 Rude fortifications were then placed upon some of the small 
 islands, in the upper bay, and Fort Lafayette was commenced 
 on Hendricks Reef, 200 yards from the shore, in what is 
 known as the Xarrows, the water doorway to the Metropolis. 
 This fort, when completed, had cost about 8350,000, and 
 mounted seventy-three heavy guns. Its chief fame during the 
 half -century has arisen from the fact of its having been 
 made the house of detention for political prisoners during the 
 late civil war, and some who read this notice will require no 
 fuller description of it. The elements were unfriendly to 
 this fortress, however, and on the first of December, 1S68, it 
 was destroyed by fire, leaving only the naked walls. The 
 government is about to rebuild it on a greatly improved scale. 
 
 In 1824, Fort Hamilton was commenced, immediately op- 
 posite the former, standing on an eminence on the Long Island 
 shore. It was completed in 1832, at an expense of §550,000, 
 and mounted sixty heavy guns. It has recently been supple- 
 mented with a strong battery, and now numbers in its arma- 
 ment some of 
 
 the celebrated Rodin an guns, that 
 
 discharge a 
 
MARITIME DEFENCES. 
 
 193 
 
 FORT LAFAYETTE, NEW YORK HARBOR. 
 
 spherical ball weighing a thousand pounds. Several of the 
 other guns throw balls weighing four hundred and fifty pounds. 
 Directly opposite these works, on the Staten Island shore, 
 stand Forts Richmond and Tompkins, both new and improved 
 works, constructed of gray stone, mounting many guns of 
 huge calibre. Fort Tompkins is a water battery of formida- 
 ble appearance^ while Fort Richmond occupies the bluff in its 
 rear, spreading out with its accompanying batteries at great 
 length, and is so arranged as to shoot over Fort Tompkins, 
 and sweep the channel for miles. Batteries Hudson, Morton, 
 North Cliff, and South Cliff have been completed, and another 
 is now being constructed. The channel at this point is but 
 little more than a mile wide, and these fortifications are so ar- 
 ranged that with suitable projectiles and management, such a 
 shower of balls and shells may be rained as to prevent the en- 
 trance of a fleet of iron-clads. 
 
 The upper bay is favored with several islands, admirably 
 arranged for fortifications. Ellis Island, two thousand and 
 fifty yards southwest from Castle Garden, is occupied by 
 Fort Gibson, built in 1S41-44, mounting fifteen or twenty 
 guns, and requiring a garrison of one hundred men. Bed- 
 
194 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 FORT HAMILTON, NEW YORK HARBOR. 
 
 {Long Island side of Narrows.) 
 
 loe's Island, situated 2,950 yards southwest of Castle Garden, 
 is occupied by Fort Wood, erected in 1841, at a cost of 
 $213,000, on the site of a fort built at the beginning of the 
 century. It has space for eighty guns, and a garrison of 
 three hundred and fifty men. A strong battery is now being 
 added to this fort. 
 
 Governor's Island containing seventy -two acres, and situa- 
 ted ten hundred and sixty-six yards from Castle Garden, is 
 also wholly devoted to maritime defence. Its largest work 
 is Fort Columbus, a star-shaped fortification with five points, 
 standing on the summit of the island, with quarters for many 
 troops. Castle William is a three-story round tower, situated 
 on the west shore of the island, six hundred feet in circum- 
 ference, and sixty feet high, mounting over one hundred guns. 
 South Battery fronts on Buttermilk channel, separating the 
 island from Brooklyn (which channel was once forded by 
 cattle, but now affords anchorage for heavy ships), and mounts 
 fifteen heavy guns. An immense barbette battery is now be- 
 
MARITIME DEFENCES. 
 
 195 
 
 ing constructed on this island, which will require several years 
 for its completion. Governor's Island, in time of war, re- 
 quires a garrison of a thousand men. Acres of its surface 
 are covered with heavy cannon, and with pyramids of balls 
 and shells, thoroughly painted to resist the action of the ele- 
 ments. Here recruits are drilled for the service, and deser- 
 ters detained as prisoners. There are also very extensive 
 works at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, calculated to prevent the 
 occupation of the lower bay, as a place of anchorage to an 
 enemy's fleet. 
 
 Fort Schuyler, a large strong fortification, constructed oi 
 gray stone, mounting over three hundred guns, and requiring 
 a war garrison of fifteen hundred troops, stands at Throggs 
 Neck, several miles up the East river, and is designed to pre- 
 vent the approach of armed vessels to New York by way of 
 Long Island Sound. This fortification is being extensively 
 remodelled, at an expense of several hundred thousand dollars. 
 Willet Point unites with Fort Schuyler in guarding this eas- 
 tern channel of approach, which, with the late improvements 
 at Hurl Gate, requires to be more carefully defended than 
 formerly. Willet Point is the principal engineer depot of 
 the Department of the East. Here the surplus stores which 
 accumulated during the war were largely deposited. Here 
 bridge-trains, and equipage, intrenching, mining, and other 
 tools, are preserved for use, in future field service. The de- 
 pot is guarded and cared for, and the property issued by en- 
 gineer troops. This place is also, at present, the Torpedo 
 School of the United States army, and extensive experiments 
 in that line are now being made. Many millions have been 
 consumed on these fortifications and their armament, which 
 cover all the strong points about the harbors, and vast sums 
 are still being expended ; yet, with all this, it is doubtless true 
 that New York is not defended as its importance demands. 
 The old walls, guns, and round shot of the fathers are of lit- 
 tle use in these days of improved projectiles and floating bat- 
 teries. And while we would not encourage a useless expendi- 
 
196 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ture in the arts of war, too much pains can scarcely be taken 
 by the government to prevent the capture of the Metropolis, 
 in the event of a sudden conflict with a maritime power. It 
 should also be remembered that while the nations are beating 
 their ploughshares into swords, and their pruning hooks into 
 cannon and shells, to thoroughly prepare for war is the sur- 
 est promise of peace. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES NAVY YARD. 
 
 'IT* I 
 
 THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD. 
 
 {Marine Hospital in the distance.) 
 
 Having looked in vain for the appropriate niche where a 
 brief account of the United States Navy Yard might be in- 
 troduced, we insert it here. In 1801, the government pur- 
 chased fifty-five acres of ground located on Wallabout Bay, 
 now lying between the Eastern and Western Districts of the 
 city of Brooklyn. Subsequent purchases have increased the 
 amount to about two hundred acres, which cost originally 
 
THE UNITED STATES NAVY YARD. 197 
 
 ENTRANCE TO NAVY YARD, BROOKLYN. 
 
 $40,000, and is now valued at twenty millions. The Navy Yard 
 proper covers about fifty acres, is laid out with paved streets 
 and walks, which are kept very clean. The Dry Dock, begun in 
 1S41, is a vast structure, capable of taking in a ship 300 feet 
 long, and cost between two and three million dollars. It is 
 emptied by steam pumps. The yard contains large buildings 
 to cover ships of war while in process of building, extensive 
 lumber warehouses, great numbers of cannon, pyramids of 
 shot and shell, shops, foundries, etc., etc. A Naval Museum, 
 filled with curiosities sent home by officers, a Marine Hospital, 
 with barracks for troops, cottages for officers, and other neces- 
 sary appendages, are spread around the premises. It is a 
 place of curiosity, and is visited by many thousands annually, 
 but as it occupies nearly the heart of the city, the enterprising 
 property-owners would gladly see it removed. Congress has 
 begun to debate the matter of its removal, and it will probably 
 be accomplished before many more years elapse. 
 
XI. 
 
 NEW YORK ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
 
 TEW YORK is situated in latitude (of 
 City Hall) 40° 42' 43" North, longi- 
 tude 74° 0' 3" "West, and a little south 
 of the centre of the belt described as the north 
 temperate zone. As the city stands in the 
 upper bay, eighteen miles from the Atlantic 
 Ocean, the extreme rigor of the ocean blast is 
 lost ere it reaches the city, calmiug gently down 
 into a bracing and healthful breeze. The cli- 
 mate is quite changeable, often characterized by 
 the extremes of heat and cold, yet, all things con- 
 sidered, is perhaps as salubrious as that in any other part of 
 the world. New York, unlike London and many other cities 
 enveloped half the year in an impenetrable fog, is blest with 
 a clear atmosphere, so that despite the smoke of a hundred 
 thousand chimneys, its inhabitants can nearly every day in 
 the year look upon a sky as blue and fair as the Italian. 
 
 WINTER IN NEW YORK 
 
 New York lias a brief but emphatically a northern winter, 
 the great sheets of salt water lying around it rendering the 
 atmosphere very chilly, and usually making the impression, 
 that the weather is colder than the thermometer indicates. 
 The winter begins properly about the first of December, and 
 continues about three months, but as the mercury seldom falls 
 
WINTER IN NEW YORK. 
 
 199 
 
 below zero (Fahrenheit) the weather may be considered but 
 moderately cold. About once in ten or twenty years, how- 
 ever, the cold becomes intense. The winter of 1740-41 was 
 thus marked. The rivers were frozen, and the snow, which 
 was six feet deep, covered the earth for a long period. Just 
 twenty years later (1760) the cold was so intense that the 
 Narrows were frozen over, and men and teams crossed with- 
 out danger. But the coldest ever known since the settlement 
 of the country occurred in 1779-80. The Hudson River was 
 one solid bridge of ice for forty days, and Long Island Sound 
 was nearly frozen over in its widest part. The bay was so 
 6olidly frozen, that an expedition with eighty sleighs, and as 
 many pieces of artillery, crossed to Staten Island, and returned 
 to New York in the same manner. The city was at that time 
 held by the British garrison, trade almost wholly suspended, 
 and the suffering among the populace became intense. The 
 British commander, under severe penalty, ordered the inhabit- 
 ants of Long Island and of Staten Island to cut their timber 
 and draw it to the city for sale, but even this failed to bring 
 the needed supply. Many families sawed up their tables and 
 chairs to cook their food, and covered themselves in bed day 
 and night to avoid freezing to death. A shipbuilder named 
 Bell cut up a rope cable worth six hundred dollars for back- 
 logs, and a spar equally valuable for fuel. Another severe 
 winter was experienced in 1820, and again in 1835, and the 
 rivers have been again so frozen in our day as to afford safe 
 crossing. 
 
 Occasionally there is a fine run of sleighing, lasting several 
 weeks. This is a gay and brilliant period for the wealthy 
 classes, and a golden harvest for the livery stables, each team 
 and sleigh earning the proprietor from one hundred to two 
 hundred dollars per day. But this period of festivity is one of 
 deep privation and suffering among the poor. A heavy fall 
 of snow suspends all operations on public works, building, 
 grading, etc. It is not unusual to have seventy or a hundred 
 thousand men out of employment at mid-winter, half of 
 
200 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 whom have no money to pay rent, provide the necessaries of 
 life for their families, or to bury their own dead. It is at 
 this season, often characterized by immense losses and suffer- 
 ings, that the deepest religious impressions are made upon 
 the masses by the Churches. An old divine once quaintly 
 said that " the Lord did not enter New York until after the 
 rivers were frozen over." This is not true ; yet such is the 
 rush of business and pleasure, that no general spiritual har- 
 vest is gathered until after the holidays. A cold winter, 
 affording fine opportunities for sleigh-riding and skating, is 
 much relished, and except the suffering among the poor, 
 resulting from insufficient food, clothing, and fuel, is by far 
 the most healthy and desirable. 
 
 SPRING IN NEW YORK. 
 
 Spring may be said to open generally about the first of 
 March, and is considered pleasant to all except those afflicted 
 with pulmonary complaints. To this class the air is moist, 
 harsh, and severe, until near the middle of May. Parks, 
 lawns, and gardens are clothed with the finest green by the 
 first of April, and fragrant flowers bud and bloom in rich 
 luxuriance. 
 
 Spring is the period for projecting new parks, streets, piers, 
 public buildings, letting contracts, opening business, etc. 
 Everything hums with excitement from the Battery to Har- 
 lem bridge, the rivers and bay are white with sloops and 
 crafts laden with brick, lumber, sand, and a hundred other 
 articles of domestic commerce, and everybody plans and 
 hopes for a business harvest. The beauty and toil of this 
 busy period are marred and aggravated by the advent of 
 " May-day." On the first few days of May nearly half the 
 families exchange houses, filling the streets day and night witb 
 
SPRING IN NEW YORK. 
 
 201 
 
 loads of furniture and clouds of dust. The sidewalks are 
 thronged in the meantime with women, boys, and girls, car- 
 rying mirrors, pictures, books, vases, babies, birds, dogs, etc., 
 etc. Half the houses need repairing, and every family " must 
 be served first ; " hence, masons, plumbers, painters, and gla- 
 ziers are in great demand, many of them toiling night and 
 day. After a few weeks the houses are adjusted, the streets 
 swept, the families appear in church, the children in school, 
 and everything assumes a more cheerful aspect. 
 
 * These extensive removals necessitate the annual compiling 
 of a new City Directory, which is gotten out with great dis- 
 
 * " The New York City Directory for 1871-72, just issued, is quite as inter- 
 esting and complete as any of its predecessors. It contains 1,268 pages, ex- 
 clusive of 172 pages of advertisements, and sixty-two pages of miscellaneous 
 matter ; the present volume contains 200,953 names. It is quite amusing 
 to note the singularity of some of the names to be found within its pages. 
 For instance, there are a number of Houses and only one Foundation ; a 
 number of the Goodkind, Corns and Coffins, several Plants, some Lively and 
 some Nott, Long, Short, and Hot. Of the different colors, there are 547 
 Whites, 91 Blacks, 938 Browns, 3 Blues, and 253 Greens. Then there are 
 30 Whiteheads and 2 Redheads ; 22 Bulls, 3 Cowards, 1 Happy, 1 Hen, and 
 1 Chick. Of the Seasons, there are 32 Winters, 24 Springs, and 5 Sum- 
 mers ; of household utensils, 5 Pitchers, 16 Bowles, 1 Broker, 2 Allwell, and 
 one Sick ; of horse-fare, 4 Oats, 3 Straws, and 33 Hays. There are, also, 60 
 Lords, 21 Dukes, 321 Kings, 10 Queens, 20 Princes, 14 Barons, and 24 Earls. 
 The O's occupy seven columns, and the M's 85 columns. The ancient name 
 of Smith occurs 1806 times. There are 36 Barbers to 1 Shaver, 5 Shoe- 
 makers, 7 Tinkers, and 1 Blower; 56 Pages with only 1 Blot; 1 Untied, 2 
 Loose, and 1 Blind ; 3 Lawyers against 28 Judges, and 2 Juries with no Ver- 
 dict. Then again there are 40 Popes, 11 Priests, and 81 Bishops, 12 Pea- 
 cocks and 2 Heads ; 2 Books, 4 Bound ; 16 Coffees, with 18 Beans ; 26 
 Shepherds with 11 Flocks ; 1 Ship, 2 Masts, and 64 Seamen. Of the differ- 
 ent nations, there are 5 Englands, 18 Irelands, 4 Wales, 2 Chinas, 2 
 Germanys, 2 Frenchmen, 8 Germans, 2 Dutch, 1 Irish, 32 English, 99 
 Welsh, and only 2 Americans, and 7 Turks. Of the different fruits, 
 there are 3 Apples, 4 Peaches, 7 Plums. Then come 7 Moons, 1 Morning- 
 star, and 1 Gentleman. The name of George Washington occurs 9 times, 
 that of Thomas Jefferson twice, John Quincy Adams four times, and Sly, 
 Smart, and Slick once each. There are 2 Clocks, and 39 Hands ; 1 Lion, 3 
 Bears, and 96 Wolfs ; followed by 14 Divines, and 9 Deacons. The shortest 
 name in the Directory is Py." 
 
202 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTION S. 
 
 patch. The note on preceding page appeared in the New 
 York Tribune, June 17, 1871, and will explain itself. 
 
 SUMMER IN NEW YORK. 
 
 This period, the loveliest of all in many parts of the world, 
 is here, to all classes, the most unpleasant and trying of the 
 whole year. During July or August, nearly every year, the 
 heat becomes intense, sickness greatly prevails, and death 
 reaps an abundant harvest. Business, with few exceptions, 
 is almost wholly prostrated, many large houses not selling for 
 months sufficient to pay their rents. Merchants, bankers, 
 clerks, ministers, nearly all who have means, fly with a part 
 or all of their families to the country, visiting the watering 
 places, the White Mountains, the Catskills, their farmer- 
 relatives, the conventions, and camp-meetings, and not a few 
 cross the Atlantic. Schools are suspended, churches deserted, 
 and many of them closed. Beer-gardens, soda and ice-cream- 
 saloons, ice-dealers, and a few others reap their annual har- 
 vest. Physicians, druggists, and undertakers find little 
 time for relaxation, and the few clergymen remaining in the 
 city have incessant calls to minister to the sick, and to bury 
 the dead. 
 
 The ferries, excursion-boats, and railroad-trains are crowded 
 with eager thousands, anxious to snuff the breezes of the coun- 
 try or bay, if it be but for a day or an hour. The parks, 
 squares, and suburbs are thronged on Sabbath with countless 
 thousands unable to proceed to any greater distance from the 
 scorching city. 
 
 This period is particularly fatal to infant children. Men 
 and women, from sultry tenements, may be seen all hours of 
 the night, walking the streets with pale, gasping infants in 
 their arms, most of whom with a change of air might 
 
SUMMER IN NEW YORK. 
 
 203 
 
 recover, but who soon find a narrow cell in the neighboring 
 cemeteries. The mortality among the laboring classes is 
 often great during the heated term. On the 17th of July, 
 1866, the mercury stood at 104° in the shade, and 135° in 
 the sun. One hundred and sixty-nine cases of coup de soleil, 
 or sunstroke, were reported in New York alone, besides a 
 large number in Brooklyn and Jersey City, a large per cent- 
 age of which proved fatal. Over twenty head of fat cattle 
 in the market-yard on Forty-fourth street died of heat, and 
 scores of horses fell dead in the streets. Laborers and quiet 
 citizens were alike prostrated. A carpenter at work in the 
 gallery of a church fell to the audience-room, and was 
 carried home by his fellow- workmen to die. A huckster 
 was overcome in his wagon on the same block, the same day. 
 A young lady, oppressed with heat, started with some friends 
 for New England, by one of the Sound steamers, but expired 
 soon after leaving the pier. A seamstress in the upper part 
 of the city, without any exercise or fatigue, fell from the 
 • chair in which she was sitting, and instantly expired. A 
 wealthy lady on the east side of the city entered her private 
 coach to visit a sick friend. On entering her friend's house, 
 she felt a sense of faintness stealing over her, and after 
 making some hasty inquiries, remarked that she did not feel 
 well, and would not sit down. She returned to her carriage, 
 and ordered the coachman to drive home quickly. He did 
 so, but on opening the carriage door found only her lifeless 
 form. 
 
 This excessive heat never continues more than a few weeks, 
 and rarely above a few days. The perils of such seasons are 
 frightful, especially to dissipated and careless people. The 
 burning rays pour down for weeks without rain or dew, upon 
 leafless streets, until the pavements glow with heat like a 
 fiery furnace, in which humanity is sweltered and baked 
 alive. It is not proper at such times for strangers to enter 
 the city, and many of those who do, after remaining a short 
 time in the Morgue, are deposited by the authorities in an 
 
 15 
 
204 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 unknown grave. The summer of 1869 was unusually cool, 
 and that of 1870 warmer than any experienced in more than 
 twenty years. Fewer sunstrokes, however, occurred than in 
 1S66, as many of the laborers wore cabbage-leaves under 
 their hats, a simple experiment which probably saved the 
 lives of thousands. 
 
 AUTUMN IN NEW YORK. 
 
 September brings the return tide of a surging population. 
 The great heat of the season has passed, vacations are ended, 
 and nearly every resident is anxious to see how it looks in 
 New York. Teachers of the public schools, and scholars 
 who have been luxuriating amid the shades and glens of the 
 green mountains, return to resume their labors and studies. 
 Churches, refitted and refurnished, are opened with impressive 
 and attractive services, and glad pastors and people exchange 
 their mutual congratulations. The wholesale dry-goods trade 
 has already opened, crowding many of the down-town streets 
 with such piles of new boxes that the pedestrian can scarcely 
 pass. New stores are opened with brilliant windows, new 
 books and styles announced, and handbills profuse as the 
 leaves of autumn spread in every direction. The markets 
 abound with fruits and vegetables of eveiw description, and 
 from every part of the country, rich and luscious ; but, how- 
 ever plentiful, through the perverseness of the middlemen, 
 they are always costly here. Autumn is preeminently the 
 season for music, promenade, and parade. Music is much 
 cultivated in New York. Singing is taught in the public 
 schools, the Sab bath -schools meet twice, devoting most of one 
 session to singing, so that children with little talent in that 
 line, by this long-continued drilling, nearly all learn to sing. 
 In autumn one is attracted by music at the park, music at 
 the school, music at the church, concert, theater, in the 
 
AUTUMN IN NEW YORK. 
 
 205 
 
 drawing-room, and in the public street. Military organiza- 
 tions, target companies, and the members of various societies, 
 parade the streets, or ride after richly caparisoned horses, 
 wearing unique uniforms, filling the air witli strains of 
 music. Organ-grinders, from every nation, and of every age, 
 multiply at every corner, to the disgust of merchants and 
 householders. At this season hundreds of persons from the 
 surrounding country flock to the city in quest of situations, 
 but failing to obtain them, depart in disappointment, or linger 
 to swell the ranks of vagrants and criminals. Cold weather 
 seldom arrives earlier than December, leaving three delight- 
 ful months for business, study, and pleasure. The climate 
 during the whole of autumn is bracing, cheerful, and bland 
 beyond all description. 
 
XII. 
 
 THE LIBRARIES, MONUMENTS, AND MARKETS OF 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 MERCANTILE LIBRARY— ( LINTON HALL. 
 
 {Alitor Place and Eiyhtli (street. ) 
 
 THE LIBRARIES. 
 
 The libraries of Manhattan far excel those of any other 
 city on the continent. The first public library was established 
 in 1729, when Rev. John Millington, Eector of Newington, 
 England, bequeathed 1622 volumes to the " Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." Rev. John 
 Sharp, chaplain of Lord Bellamont, having some years previ- 
 ously presented a collection of books, they were now arranged 
 
THE LIBRARIES. 207 
 
 and offered for the public use under the title of the " Corpo- 
 ration Library." But the librarian soon died, and the library 
 was neglected. In 1754, a few enterprising minds organized 
 the " Society Library," and by grant of the Common Council, 
 added this old library to their own collection. The society 
 was chartered by George III. in 1772, and still nourishes 
 with a library of about 50,000 volumes. 
 
 " The New York Historical Society," which has done 
 more than any other to preserve the reminiscences of early 
 New York, was founded in 1S04. Its rooms contain, besides 
 the library, many choice and rare curiosities. 
 
 "The Mercantile Library Association" has held its fif- 
 tieth anniversary, and is, perhaps, the most popular institution 
 of its kind in the city. It owns its fine edifice, Clinton Hall, 
 on Astor Place, has a property valued at half a million, and 
 a library of one hundred and twenty thousand volumes, 
 which increases at about ten per cent, per annum. Its read- 
 ing-room contains four hundred papers and magazines. 
 
 The "Astor Library" is the largest in New York, and 
 contains one hundred and thirty-five thousand volumes, 
 mostly solid works. It is emphatically the great library of 
 reference for scholars, and fills an important place in the 
 literary facilities of the metropolis. The cut presents a view 
 of the original structure, as provided for by the bequest of 
 John Jacob Astor, but which has been enlarged by his son, 
 William B. Astor. The present building and library form a 
 worthy monument of two worthy men. 
 
 Besides these we may mention the " Apprentices' Library," 
 of fifty thousand volumes, the u Library of the American In- 
 stitute," the " New York City Library," the " Printers Free 
 Library," the " Women's Library," the " Harlem Library," the 
 "Mott Memorial Medical Library," the "New York Law 
 Institute Library," and the immense libraries connected with 
 the large institutions of learning. Honorable Peter Cooper 
 has also daring this year, on the occurrence of his eightieth 
 birthday, surprised the community with the gift of §150,000, 
 
208 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 to found a complete library for working men. To these will 
 also soon be added the "Lenox Library," founded by the dis- 
 tinguished philanthropist whose name it bears, who has just 
 set aside land and $300,000 for the erection of appropriate 
 buildings, opposite Central Park, to which he adds his entire 
 collection of statuary, paintings, and books, said to be the most 
 valuable in the country, and money sufficient to make it com- 
 plete and unrivaled. Besides these, there are numerous read- 
 ing-rooms judiciously distributed through the city, furnished 
 with all the periodical literature of the day, opened by 
 the Young Men's Christian Association, and other benevolent 
 societies. 
 
 MONUMENTS. 
 
 Some portions of New York and vicinity are thickly 
 studded with monuments, commemorating the names and 
 deeds of the great, the patriotic, or the admired. Some 
 reared by private enterprise over the remains of friends have 
 cost large fortunes, and money which might have blessed the 
 world lias, in more than one instance, been foolishly thrown 
 away. Some very laudable efforts in this line have, however, 
 been undertaken. Churches have reared chaste monuments 
 in memory of devoted pastors, students to eminent men of 
 letters, and soldiers to attest their respect for fallen comrades. 
 The soldiers' monument, which lifts its modest head on the 
 western elevation of Greenwood cemetery, and the one 
 erected by the Seventh regiment in Central Park, are 
 very imposing testimonials of patriotic regard. The beauti- 
 ful monument of Columbus, the peerless navigator, and that 
 of the learned Humboldt, and one of Shakspeare, all recently 
 placed in Central Park, are worthy of mention. 
 
 Old Trinity church-yard contains several, the most impor- 
 tant of which is — 
 
New York Historical Society— Second Avenue, cor. Eleventh Street. 
 
 New York Society Library— 67 University Place. 
 
Columbia College— Fiftieth Street, between 4th ana 5th Avenues. 
 
 I 
 
 College of Physicians and Surgeons— Cor. 23d Street and 4th Avenne. 
 
MONUMENTS 
 
 209 
 
 The Martyrs' Monument, erected by the Trinity corpora- 
 tion in 1 852, to the memory of those patriots who died in the 
 old Sugar House and in other prisons during the Revolution. 
 
 MARTYRS' MONUMENT. WORTH MONUMENT. 
 
 {Trinity Church Cemetery.) (Jfculison square and Fifth avenue.) 
 
 It is a chaste Gothic structure of brown stone, standing on a 
 granite foundation, about forty-five feet high, appropriately 
 inscribed, and crowned with the American eagle. 
 
 The Worth Monument, erected on the west side of Madi- 
 son square by the corporation of the city of Xew York in 
 1857, is the only one completed at the public expense. The 
 monument is a four-sided chaste granite obelisk ; its sides, be- 
 sides presenting the equestrian image in high relief, are 
 nearly covered with inscriptions, setting forth the career of 
 
210 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the hero of Cherubusco and Chapultepec. Handsome bronze 
 reliefs are introduced between the several inscriptions. 
 
 The Washington Monument stands at the south-east por- 
 tion of Union square, and is a colossal bronze equestrian 
 
 WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 
 (Union square and Fourteenth street.) 
 
 statue, executed with great artistic skill by Browne, and was 
 erected through the laudable efforts of Colonel Lee. The 
 figure is fourteen and one-half feet high, and stands upon an 
 immense granite pedestal of the same height, making the 
 whole twenty-nine feet. This representation of the Father 
 of his country has been universally admired. The means for 
 its erection were contributed by the inhabitants of the neigh- 
 borhood. It is said that the gentlemen who circulated the 
 subscription called one day on a property-owner, noted alike 
 
MONUMENTS. 
 
 211 
 
 for his wealth and avarice. The subject being presented, the 
 miser stated that he could give nothing, and remarked that 
 no monument was necessary. Laying his hand upon his 
 breast he exclaimed, with emphasis, " / keep the Father of 
 his country hereP " Well," responded the intrepid collector, 
 " if the Father of his country is there, he is in the tightest 
 place he ever found." 
 
 The Lincoln Monument, erected in September, 1870, by 
 the Union League Club, stands at the south-west corner of 
 Union square, and corresponds in position with the Washing- 
 ton monument on the opposite corner. The pedestal consists 
 of three Dix Island granite stones, which weigh in all over 
 forty tons, and is twenty-four feet high. The statue, which 
 represents the deceased statesman in citizen's dress, but cov- 
 ered with a Roman toga, is of bronze, nearly eleven feet high, 
 and weighs three thousand pounds. The design was formed 
 by II. K. Brown, Esq., and is a faithful representation of the 
 martyred President. In his left hand he holds the Proclama- 
 . tion of Emancipation, and a galaxy of stars on the pedestal 
 represent the States of the Union. 
 
 The Vanderbelt Monument, erected in 1869, and crown- 
 ing the western wall of the immense freight depot which 
 covers the old St. John's Park, is by far the most elaborate 
 and costly undertaking of its kind on Manhattan. It was 
 conceived, and carried forward to completion, mainly through 
 the untiring exertions of Captain Albert De Groot. The 
 whole scene in bronze is one hundred and fifty feet long, and 
 over thirty feet high, with admirable groupings of ancient 
 and modern representations, and is designed to allegorically 
 exhibit the brilliant and successful career of the dashing 
 Commodore. The central and chief figure is the Railroad 
 King, a life-like and correct statue, twelve feet high, weigh- 
 ing over four tons. On the left of this central figure every- 
 thing is seafaring, representing his early beginnings on the 
 New York Bay, his later travels, and his patriotic munificence. 
 In the distance JNeptune in bold relief is seen, in a half -re- 
 
212 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 dining posture, looking seaward, while a schooner, a steamer, 
 a steamship, and miscellaneous aquatic groupings, complete 
 the center of the picture. On the right terra < fir?na, the 
 theater for a king of railroads, spreads away. At the extreme 
 right, corresponding to Neptune, stands the figure of Liberty, 
 while the intermediate space exhibits forests, cultivated fields, 
 railroad track with tools, tunnels, switchmen, and dashing 
 trains. The whole weighs over fifty tons, and cost half a 
 million dollars, which was contributed by New York bankers 
 and capitalists. It is an appropriate recognition of the per- 
 severance and thrift of a modern Knickerbocker, who, with- 
 out patrimony or schools, has carved out his own diploma, 
 and compelled the world to sign it. 
 
 THE MARKETS. 
 
 The marketing on Manhattan seems to have been, for 
 some years, a system of general huckstering. For the better 
 security of seasonable supplies the authorities ordered in 1676, 
 that all country people bringing supplies to market should be 
 exempt from arrests for debt, and that the Market-house, a 
 small building devoted to that use, and the green before the 
 fort (the present site of Bowling Green), should be used for the 
 city sales. In 16S3 markets were appointed to be held three 
 times a week, to be opened and closed by ringing a bell. In 
 1692, a market-house for meat was ordered at the foot of 
 Broad street, and subsequently nearly every slip on the East 
 river side, where the city mainly lay at that time, had its mar- 
 ket-house. " Bear Market " (Washington), so called from the 
 fact that bear meat was first sold in it, was the first on the 
 west side. The present structure was erected in 1813, and 
 though low, gloomy, and in a decayed condition, has for 
 many years been the principal wholesale market of the city 
 
THE MARKETS. 
 
 213 
 
 The market proper contains five hundred and three stands 
 (with many outside), and furnishes employment and subsis- 
 tence for about 10,000 persons. Its annual business is be- 
 lieved to exceed §100,000,000. The market buildings, num- 
 bering seventeen, are judiciously distributed through the city ; 
 most of them are still owned by the corporation, and bring 
 an annual income of several hundred thousand dollars. 
 Several fine market buildings have recently been erected by 
 private parties. The Manhattan Market Company, chartered 
 several years since, have now erected the largest and fin- 
 est market building yet undertaken on the island. It stands 
 on the block between Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth streets, 
 Eleventh and Twelfth avenues. The main structure, which is 
 of iron, stone, and Philadelphia brick, is 800 feet long and 
 200 feet deep, and will contain 800 stands. The interior of 
 the structure is 80 feet high, well lighted, and if Washington 
 is ever removed, this appears certain to become the principal 
 wholesale market of the city. 
 
XIII 
 
 THE CEMETERIES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 HE bustling glittering cities of the living 
 stand in such close proximity to the silent 
 but more populous ones of the dead, that 
 this sketch of Manhattan would be quite 
 imperfect, were no mention made of the 
 places where rest the eight generations 
 that have successively peopled the gay metropolis. 
 
 The Burial-places of Manhattan were for many years con- 
 nected with the separate churches, and as late as 1822 there 
 were twenty-two of these church burying-grounds south of 
 the City Hall. In 1794 the Potter's Field was located at the 
 junction of the Greenwich and Albany roads. This was at a 
 later period removed to what is now Washington square, 
 from whence it was removed to Randall's, then to Ward's, and 
 finally to Hart's Island. The negro burying-ground was 
 long at the corner of Broadway and Chambers street, on the 
 site now occupied by A. T. Stewart's wholesale store. In 
 1729, a Jewish cemetery was laid out near what is now Chat- 
 ham square. The land was given by a Mr. Willey of 
 London to his three sons, then New York merchants, to be 
 held in trust as a place of burial for the Jewish nation 
 "forever" But so uncertain are the securities of earth, that the 
 place has now long been covered with stores and warehouses. 
 In 1813, all burials below Canal street were prohibited. The 
 plan of erecting marble cemeteries farther up town was now 
 proposed, and two were constructed between Second and 
 Third streets, Bowery, and Second avenue, with 231 and 156 
 vaults respectively. They were constructed entirely of stone, 
 and calculated to receive a large number of bodies. It was 
 
THE CEMETERIES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 215 
 
 however, soon discovered that this plan must be a failure. In 
 1842, the plan of rural cemeteries was fully inaugurated by 
 the laying out of Greenwood, which had been incorporated 
 in 1838. In 1847, a general law was enacted by the Legisla- 
 ture, conferring upon voluntary associations the right of 
 establishing rural cemeteries, which was soon followed by 
 the laying out of Cypress Hill, Ever Green, New York Bay, 
 Calvary, and others. In 1842, the Trinity corporation pur- 
 chased thirty-six acres of ground, on Tenth avenue and One 
 Hundred and Fifty-fifth street, of Mr. Carman, for a ceme- 
 tery, which is the only one now in use on the island. This 
 cemetery has recently been much injured by the laying out 
 of the Public Drive, which passes through it, ruining many 
 of its vaults, and convincing us that the land should never 
 have been devoted to a cemetery. The grounds are richly 
 shaded and kept in good cultivation. Here sleep the remains 
 of Bishops Wainright and Onderdunk, of Philip Livingston, 
 one of the signers of the Declaration, of Madame Jumel, 
 Aaron Burr's last wife, of Audubon, the renowned naturalist, 
 of John Jacob Astor, and many other distinguished per- 
 sonages. The vault of President Monroe is seen, though his 
 remains were several years since removed to Virginia. 
 
 John J. Cisco, of Wall street, and other living capitalists, 
 conscious of coming doom, have here erected granite or mar- 
 ble structures for their last earthly homes. Land has now be- 
 come very valuable in this locality. The grounds were origi- 
 nally obtained for $14,000, but the corporation has refused 
 $80,000 for the water front simply. 
 
 In 1851, an ordinance was passed prohibiting all burials on 
 the island south of Eighty-sixth street, except in private, 
 vaults and cemeteries. 
 
 New York Bay cemetery is situated, as its name implies, 
 on the New York Bay, in the State of New Jersey, two and 
 one-half miles from the Jersey City ferry. The cemetery 
 now comprises about fifty acres of level land, is nearer the 
 
216 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 City Hall than any other, and contains the mouldering forms 
 of over 55,000 persons. 
 
 Greenwood, the oldest and most noted of all our rural 
 cemeteries contains four hundred and thirteen acres of land, 
 purchased of over sixty different owners. The grounds are 
 situated in Brooklyn on Gowanus heights, about two and a 
 half miles from South ferry, the higher portions of which 
 were crimsoned with the blood of the slain at the noted bat- 
 tle of Long Island, fought August, 1776. 
 
 The surface, graded at immense expense, is beautifully un- 
 dulating and diversified, producing constant and gratifying 
 changes of scenery. Seventeen miles of broad carriage-roads 
 constructed of stone, and covered with gravel, bordered with 
 paved gutters, and fifteen miles of foot-paths, nearly all oi 
 which are covered with Scrimshaw concrete pavement, free 
 from duet, mud, and weeds, conduct the visitor to every part 
 of the grounds. The entrance-ways are all elegant, the 
 northern, completed in 1863, being the most imposing. Its 
 outer gate, closed only at night, opens on Fifth avenue, and 
 is the principal way of access to the vast population of New 
 York and Brooklyn. The gateway, reached by an approach, 
 graded at great expense, is an elaborate Gothic edifice, mas- 
 sively constructed of the best New Jersey sandstone, is 132 
 feet long, 40 feet deep, terminating above in three pinnacles, 
 the central of which is 106 feet high. The deep triangular 
 recesses of the pediments above the gateways are filled on 
 both sides with groups of sculpture formed of Nova Scotia 
 sandstone, representing the Saviour's entombment and re- 
 surrection, the resurrection of the Widow's Son, and the 
 raising of Lazarus. Still higher are figures in relief represent- 
 ing Faith, Hope, Memory, and Love. A bell tolls with eacli 
 passing procession, and a clock marks the speed with which 
 we are gliding to eternity. The grounds are being enclosed 
 with an iron fence, and otherwise constantly improved. 
 About six thousand are annually interred here, and at the 
 close of 1870 the whole number of interments amounted to 
 
THE CEMETERIES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 217 
 
 161,376. It is the most favorite resort outside of New York, 
 its finely wrought vaults and over 2,000 monuments, some of 
 which have cost large fortunes, attracting much attention. 
 The monument of Charlotte Cauda is perhaps the most noted 
 of all, though those of D. H. Lewis, De Witt Clinton, Colonel 
 Vosburgh, and others, are very imposing. Here clergymen, 
 merchants, bankers, and common laborers find a space and think 
 not of the amount of marble that marks their resting-place. 
 Mr. Peter Cooper, Rev. H. W. Beecher, and many others, 
 have selected the place for their final repose beneath the 
 shades of the sighing willows. The receipts last year amount- 
 ed to over $319,000, and the expenditures to $314,000. The 
 permanent fund for the improvement of the cemetery, aris- 
 ing from the sale of lots, legacies, donations, etc., amounts to 
 over three-quarters of a million, and is certain to be consid- 
 erably increased. 
 
 Cypress Hill cemetery is situated on that elevated ridge 
 north of the Brooklyn and Jamaica turnpike, known as the 
 P backbone of Long Island." It lies partly in Kings and 
 partly in Queens counties, is about five miles from the ferry 
 at Peck Slip, and comprises 400 acres. About half of the 
 grounds are still covered by a natural forest, and the other 
 portions profusely set with trees and shrubbery, thus blend- 
 ing witht he wild luxuriance of nature the chaste embellish- 
 ments of art. A brick arch, surmounted by a statue of Faith, 
 and supported by two beautiful Lodges, forms the front, or 
 southern entrance. The view from the elevated portions of 
 this cemetery is very extensive, presenting, besides nearly 
 every variety of landscape scenery, a bird's-eye view of the 
 surrounding country, and the neighboring cities. Brooklyn, 
 New York, Jersey City, the majestic Hudson, and the Pali- 
 sades are spread out with panoramic grandeur; farther to 
 the north rise the hills of Connecticut, and to the south, far 
 as the eye can extend, stretches the broad Atlantic, bounded 
 by the horizon. Over 100,000 interments have been made in 
 these grounds since 1848. The forms of 4,060 of our brave 
 
218 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 soldiers lie sleeping here, in a section set apart exclusively 
 for them. About 35,000 bodies have also been transferred 
 to these grounds, from old burying-grounds in New York 
 city and Brooklyn. The Sons of Temperance, the Odd Fel- 
 lows, the Masons, and the Metropolitan Police have set 
 apart sections for the members of their fraternities. Family 
 lots measuring 16 by 25 feet may be secured here on the 
 payment of from §125 to $250, according to location. 
 
 The Cemetery of the Evergreens, situated east and about 
 three and a half miles from Williamsburgh, covers the wes- 
 tern termination of the mid-island range of hills, and affords 
 numerous varieties of surface and natural ornament. The 
 eye of the visitor is greeted with hills, dells, lakes, lawns, in- 
 terspersed with a rich growth of cultivated and forest trees. 
 This cemetery, which is also one of the largest, has not yet 
 become as noted as the two preceding, but is sure to increase 
 in popularity. 
 
 Calvary Cemetery, laid out in August, 1848, and situated 
 in Newtown, Long Island, is owned by and devoted exclu- 
 sively to the Roman Catholic church. The grounds comprise 
 seventy-five acres, and already over 200,000 interments have 
 been made. 
 
 Wood Lawn cemetery, situated in Westchester County, eight 
 miles north of Harlem Bridge, was incorporated December 29, 
 1863, and contains over 300 acres. The late Rev. Absalom 
 Peters was the chief agent in the laying out of these beauti- 
 ful grounds. The rapid march of the city northward led 
 him to seek the establishment of a large cemetery, which 
 should be to upper New York and Westchester what Green- 
 wood had long been to lower New York and Brooklyn. 
 This cemetery is easily reached by the Harlem Railroad. 
 It was laid out in 1865, since which over 12,000 interments 
 have been made. The grounds are now being rapidly im- 
 proved, and the last report showed an increase of 65 per 
 cent, over the interments of the previous year. Several other 
 cemeteries are also in use. To these silent monumental cities 
 
The Fountain— Greenwood Cemetery. 
 
THE CEMETERIES OF NEW YORK. 
 
 219* 
 
 of the dead, about 25,000 are being annually consigned, 
 whose places in the gay and busy world are filled by others, 
 who, after a brief and uncertain struggle, yield in turn to the 
 great destroyer. An occasional visit to these spots of solemn 
 grandeur, linked so closely to our very being, must be at- 
 tended with tbe best results, to a reflective mind. One can- 
 not linger amid such scenes, and consider that beneath this 
 surface of exquisite adornment moulder the remains of the 
 brilliant, the wealthy, the good, and the gay, without having 
 his ambitions for worldly advantage greatly sobered, and his 
 whole mind improved. 
 
 11 Here are the wise, the gen'rous and the brave ; 
 The just, the good, the worthless, the profane ; 
 The downright clown, and perfectly well-bred ; 
 The fool, the churl, the scoundrel, and the mean ; 
 The supple statesman, and the patriot stern ; 
 The wreck of nations, and the spoils of time." 
 
 * The lapse of 60 pages after 219 is accounted for by the omission to 
 number the illustrations in their order. 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 INSTITUTIONS OF NEW YORK ISLAND AND WEST- 
 CHESTER COUNTY. 
 
 NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOR THE INSTRUCTION OF THE 
 DEAF AND DUMB. 
 
 ( Washington Heiglits, One Hundred and Sixty -second street.) 
 
 HAT deaf-mutes have existed in the world since the 
 early ages, is a fact clearly established by both sacred 
 and profane history. Speechlessness appears for the 
 most part to have been the result of deafness ; articu- 
 lation resulting from imitation, a matter to which the mind 
 of the deaf is not naturally directed. For many ages it was 
 confidently believed that these persons were inexorably shut 
 off from all social intercourse with their race, and the idea 
 of restoring these faculties or of repairing their loss by educa- 
 tion seems never to have occurred to the ancients. The civil 
 authorities in many instances appear to have openly approved 
 of, or connived at, the practice of destroying such children as 
 did not bid fair to be of service to the State. If allowed to 
 live, they were deprived by statute of their inheritance, of all 
 right to buy or sell, make a donation or will, and were classed 
 with the insane and the idiotic. The ameliorating influences 
 of Christianity finally intercepted the blow, and they were no 
 longer murdered as useless incumbrances of society; yet 
 pitiable indeed was their condition through all the medieval 
 ages, locked up to their own untutored musings, and enduring 
 the most cruel neglect. In the seventh century John, Bishop 
 of Hagulstad, is said to have with much pains taught a deaf- 
 mute to speak a few sentences, and in the sixteenth and seven- 
 teenth centuries numerous private efforts were made with 
 some success. A Spanish monk, Pedro Ponce, who died in 
 15S4, was the first teacher of deaf-mutes. Another Spanish 
 monk, named Juan Pablo Bonet, published about 1620 the 
 first treatise on deaf-mute instruction, and is believed to have 
 invented the dactylology, or one-hand alphabet, used so gene- 
 rally in France and America. The numerous treatises on the 
 
282 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 education of deaf-mutes issued in various parts of Europe 
 during this century show a general awakening on the subject 
 amoug the learned. Dr. John Wallis, mathematical professoi 
 at Oxford, deserves the credit of being the first practical in- 
 structor of the deaf and dumb in England. He never had a 
 large number of pupils, but continued it for nearly fifty years 
 with tolerable success. The first school of this kind supported 
 by government was established in Leipsic, in 1778, under the 
 patronage of the Elector of Saxony, which continues to this 
 time. Early in the present century John Braidwood, a mem- 
 ber of a family who for sixty years had carried on a system 
 of instruction for the deaf and dumb in England without dis- 
 closing its principles to the public, came to this country and 
 attempted the establishment of a school. He was warmly 
 supported by several gentlemen of wealth, but the enterprise 
 soon failed through his habitual dissipation. 
 
 The year 1816 is memorable for the organization of a so- 
 ciety in New York for the instruction of the deaf and dumb. 
 Samuel L. Mitchell, LL.D., the Rev. John Stanford, and Dr. 
 Samuel Akerly, who at a later period rendered such efficient 
 service in founding the Institution for the Blind, were its 
 chief promoters. The wisdom of the undertaking was by 
 many questioned, because a similar institution was just then 
 being opened at Hartford, one being supposed amply suffi- 
 cient for the whole country. An inquiry, however, 60on dis- 
 closed the fact that over sixty deaf mutes were then living 
 in the city of New York, and subsequent investigations 
 have proved that while one in twenty-three hundred of the 
 general population is blind, one in about two thousand is 
 deaf and dumb. The act of incorporation bears date of 
 April 15, 1817, and in the following May the school was 
 formally opened in one of the rooms of the City Hall, with 
 four scholars. During the first eleven years of its operations 
 the society had no building of its own, but in 1829 the school 
 was removed to East Fiftieth street, to the grounds now occu- 
 pied by Columbia college. The success of the system of in- 
 struction led to an annual increase of students, and made 
 necessary the enlargement of the building, which was three 
 times accomplished during the quarter of a century spent at 
 this location. The prudent sagacity of the board of manage- 
 ment secured the title of two entire blocks of ground, lying 
 between Forty-eighth and Fiftieth streets, Fourth and Fifth 
 avenues. This valuable property, purchased at different 
 
NEW YOEK INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB. 283 
 
 periods for about $54,000, was afterwards disposed of at about 
 $325/ K)0. The rush of the rapidly expanding city now began 
 to disturb the operations of the Institution, and the managers 
 began ti^ cast about in quest of more eligible quarters. J'an- 
 wood, at Washington Heights, nine miles north of the City 
 Hall, wa3 finally selected, and thirty-seven and one-half acres 
 of ground purchased in 1853, at a cost of $115,000. The 
 buildings, which are the largest and finest in the world for the 
 instruction of the deaf and dumb, cover about two acres, are 
 of brick, with basement, copings, and trimmings of granite, and 
 have cost several hundred thousand dollars. A mortgage 
 of $175,000 has just been removed by the sale of nine and 
 one-half acres of the land for $263,000, leaving a balance to 
 complete other needed improvements. The front walls, 
 which are panneled, are faced with yellow Milwaukie brick, 
 to save the expense of painting. The main edifice, which 
 contains the apartments for the officers and teachers, the re- 
 ception-rooms, offices, the library, and mineralogical cabinet, 
 etc., is flanked by two vast and well-arranged wings, one of 
 which is devoted to the male, and the other to the female 
 pupils. A central building, separated in construction from 
 the others, but united to them with covered passageways, 
 contains in the basement kitchen and appendages, on the 
 first floor the dining-room, and on the next the chapel. 
 The aexes are carefully separated, and meet only for meals, 
 instruction, and divine worship, under the oversight of their 
 instructors. The buildings are capable of accommodating over 
 five hundred pupils, and are about equal to the demands of 
 the deaf and dumb of this State, which are believed to amount 
 to about two thousand one hundred of all ages. They occupy 
 one of the most commanding locations on the entire island, 
 overlooking the beautiful Hudson, and have been universally 
 admired for their beauty and exquisite arrangement. 
 
 This Institution was at first designed for a private charity, 
 but the good sense of the public soon awoke to the fact that 
 the State owed the means of instruction to all its children, 
 whether blind, deaf and dumb, or possessed of all the five 
 senses. As these unfortunates are widely scattered, and to 
 enjoy the advantages of an institution are compelled to reside 
 far from home in an expensive city, it becomes the duty of 
 the State to provide for their maintenance during the period of 
 their instruction. From these considerations it was early taken 
 under State patronage, which has since formed its principal 
 
284 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 support. The annual cost of the Institution amounts to about 
 §300 per inmate, exclusive of permanent improvements. 
 Application for admission as a State pupil must be made to 
 the Superintendent of Public Instruction at Albany, accom- 
 panied by a certificate from the Overseer of the Poor in the 
 town where the applicant resides, certifying that his parents 
 or guardian are unable to pay for his board and tuition. 
 State pupils must be between the ages of twelve and twenty- 
 five. Pupils are admitted at the charge of counties between 
 the ages of six and twelve. Pay pupils are also received 
 from families of means. The regular course of instruction 
 lasts eight years, with three years additional for those selected 
 for good conduct and capacity for higher studies. An un- 
 taught deaf-mute is the most ignorant creature in the human 
 family. To him all the past is a blank, all the present an 
 inexplicable mystery, and all the future a profound uncer- 
 tainty. He has no proper conceptions of the Supreme Being, 
 which affords one of the clearest evidences of the necessity 
 of a Divine revelation. There have been three principal 
 systems employed in their instruction: 1. Articulation, or 
 the theory that articulation is indispensable to the clear com- 
 prehension of thought. This system is believed to have been 
 founded by Pedro Ponce, long practised by Wallis, Pereira, 
 and the Braidwoods, has been for a century the common 
 system taught in Germany, but has not been much practised 
 in this country until quite recently. 2. Gesticulation, or the 
 theory that every idea of which the mind is capable may be 
 expressed by signs. This was taught by Sicard, Bebian, and 
 others. 3. The American system, which combines the best 
 fundamental principles of the two preceding, with practical 
 additions. The language of gestures is clearly the only uni- 
 versal channel of intelligent communication in the world, and 
 savages from all countries have in this way been able to hold 
 some conversation. This can be learned by deaf -mutes spon- 
 taneously, and in all s} T stems is more or less employed. At 
 the New York Institution the beginner, when introduced 
 into the class-room, finds placed before him cards containing 
 the printed names of objects. Either the object or its picture 
 is placed by the side of the card. The teacher points first to 
 the name and next to the object, and thus the connection 
 between names and things soon becomes familiar. They are 
 then taught to spell with their fingers by the Manual Alpha- 
 bet a few short words, and the names of familiar objects. 
 
NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOE THE DEAF AND DUMB. 285 
 
 When about fifty words have been thus learned, embracing 
 all the letters of the alphabet, short phrases containing an 
 adjective and a noun are formed, which they are required to 
 write on large stationary slates, placed all around the class- 
 rooms, and thus they are advanced until able to transfer their 
 knowledge of signs to the printed page. The progress made 
 by these hitherto untaught children of silence is surprising, 
 and those who complete the full course attain to high scholar 
 ship. The language of signs is much more definite than 
 many suppose, and these speechless brethren are here taught 
 to discern between the things that differ. At a recent exami- 
 nation, with no previous intimation, a class was called upon, 
 in sign language, to write and explain the difference between 
 the nearly synonymous terms of " conceal and dissemble," 
 " antipathy and hatred," " courage and fortitude." In every 
 instance the proper English word was instantly written on the 
 slate by each member of the class in answer to the sign, and 
 the nice distinctions of signification made. Several years 
 since the more advanced students organized themselves into 
 the "Fanwood Literary Society," which now numbers over 
 one hundred members. The society meets every Saturday 
 evening, and is characterized by animated discussions and 
 lectures in the pantomime of the Institution. 
 
 The three last days of August, 1867, will long be remem- 
 bered by these silent brethren ad the national convention of 
 deaf-mutes, held at the New York Institution. Four hun- 
 dred of the former pupils of the Institution, and over one 
 hundred graduates of others, assembled, and took part in the 
 interesting exercises. Seven of these national conventions 
 have now been held. More attention than formerly has 
 recently been given to the matter of articulation. This, the 
 Principal believes to be an accomplishment, and a matter of 
 decided value in certain cases, though of little service to 
 most congenital mutes, and a system that can never super- 
 sede the more enlarged and cultivated language of signs. 
 To keep the Institution, as it has long been, in the forefront 
 of this benign movement, Mr. Engelsman, a German expert 
 in this system of instruction, has been employed, and such 
 semi-mutes and others as by experiment exhibit talent for 
 articulation are placed under his instruction. This class at 
 present numbers over fifty students. 
 
 A new brick building, one hundred feet by thirty, and three 
 etories high, has just been erected for the better accommoda- 
 
 17 
 
286 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tion of the mechanical department. In addition to a good 
 education, the students, unless wealthy, are taught trades, so 
 that maintenance will not be a difficult problem when they 
 return to the outside world. Shoe-making, cabinet-making, 
 tailoring, dress-making, printing, bookbinding, and engraving, 
 have been taught with success, in addition to horticulture 
 and gardening. 
 
 Less than twenty per cent, of the whole number, but nearly 
 forty per cent, of the adult deaf mutes of the State, marry 
 and rear offspring, not more than one in twenty of whom 
 inherit the infirmities of their parents. The Institution is 
 free from sectarian bigotry, the minds of the pupils being 
 wisely directed to the Bible, without which there can be no 
 complete culture of mind or heart. Prayer is offered by one 
 of the teachers in the sign language every morning and even- 
 ing in the chapel before the whole school. On the Sabbath 
 a sermon suited to their capacities is delivered in the same 
 manner. 
 
 At table, when all are seated, one tap of the drum, the 
 vibrations of which none hear but all feel, calls the vast family 
 to silence, after which a blessing is invoked with signs by a 
 teacher standing in one of the aisles, and at the close of this 
 another tap is the signal for turning plates and beginning the 
 dinner. 
 
 The sanitary condition of the Institution is all that can be 
 secured in our day, less sickness and fewer deaths occurring 
 in it than among the more hardy population around it. 
 
 The library contains about two thousand volumes, three 
 hundred of which are rare books on deaf-mute instruction. 
 About two thousand three hundred pupils have been edu- 
 cated since the opening of the Institution. The professors 
 have always ranked among the best educated men of the 
 State. Half of those now employed are graduates of the 
 Institution. Dr. Harvey P. Peet was called to the office of 
 Principal in 1831, and filled this position with great ability 
 for thirty-six years. He is the author of many of the text- 
 books in this and other American institutions. Weary with 
 the toil of years, he resigned his position at the close of 1867, 
 and was succeeded by his son, Isaac Lewis Peet, A.M., who 
 had been the Vice-Principal for fifteen years, and who bids 
 fair to attain to the celebrity of his excellent father. 
 
INSTITUTION FOR THE IMPROVED INSTRUCTION OP DEAF 
 
 MUTES. 
 
 (Broadway, between Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth streets.) 
 
 fFFEKENT systems foi the instruction of deaf mutes 
 aave been adopted in different countries. The French 
 nave practised upon the sign language, while the Ger- 
 mans have long made a specialty of the system of 
 articulation. Several years ago, Bernhard Engelsman, a 
 learned German skilled in the art of teaching deaf-mutes in 
 this latter system, came to New York, and on the organization 
 of this Institution was appointed its Principal, and thus became 
 the founder of this system of deaf-mute instruction in this 
 country. The new Institution was opened March 1, 1867, 
 with ten pupils, at No. 134 West Twenty-seventh street. The 
 building soon became too small for the increasing number of 
 scholars, so that in May, 1868, the school, having nineteen 
 pupils, was removed to No. 330 East Fourteenth street. The 
 •number of students steadily increased, amounting in 1869 to 
 about thirty — all the building could accommodate. The 
 society was incorporated under the general act of Legislature 
 in 1868, and on the 12th of April, 1870, the Legislature, by 
 special act, placed it on a level with the New York Institution 
 at Washington Heights, so that indigent students, if they pre- 
 fer, may be instructed here, as at the other institution, at State 
 expense. The sum of §10,000 was also given by the State for 
 the establishment of the Institution, and several thousand had 
 previously accumulated in the treasury of the society, from 
 the donations of its friends. The demand for increased accom- 
 modations led the trustees to lease two large and eligible 
 houses on Broadway in the summer of 1870, where the school 
 is at present conducted. 
 
 A desire existing in many minds to obtain from the city a 
 site on which to erect buildings, a formal application was ac- 
 cordingly filed in June, 1870, with the Commissioners of the 
 Sinking Fund of the city of New York, asking a grant of land 
 for the purpose above named ; and accordingly, on or about 
 August 1st, 1870, the president had the gratification of re- 
 ceiving the deed of a grant of land, situated on the westerly 
 6ide of Lexington avenue, and extending from Sixty-seventh 
 
288 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 to Sixty-eighth streets, a distance of two hundred feet and ten 
 inches, being the entire front of a block, consisting of eight 
 lots, besides four lots on the rear of these, being two on Sixty- 
 seventh and Sixty-eighth streets, respectively, and forming 
 one plot, at the annual rental of one dollar, for the period of 
 ninety-nine years. " This land to be devoted to the purposes 
 of this Institution, and for such purposes only." 
 
 Plain and substantial buildings are to be erected on these 
 grounds as soon as possible. 
 
 The Institution is directed, and in part supported, by an 
 association of several hundred gentlemen, mostly of German 
 extraction, who are annual contributors. On the 15th of 
 July, 1869, Mr. Engelsman, who had been for two years its 
 Principal, severed his connection with the Institution, and 
 was immediately engaged as teacher of articulation at the 
 New York Institution at "Washington Heights. The prac- 
 ticability of imparting instruction by both the French system 
 of signs and the German system of articulation in one Insti- 
 tution will therefore be fairly tested, and differences of opin- 
 ion upon this question be finally settled. The Association 
 now resolved to bring their Institution more prominently 
 before the public, and to obtain the recognition and aid of 
 the State. Professor F. A. Rising, A.M., a graduate of 
 Williams College, who had been an instructor in the Ohio 
 Institution, and also in the ]STew York Institution for the 
 Deaf and Dumb, and had been for several months the Vice- 
 Principal with Mr. Engelsman, was appointed Principal of 
 the Institution. He is a gentleman of talent and energy, 
 entirely devoted to his calling, and since his assuming charge 
 of the Institution it has secured the patronage of the State,, 
 and now ranks favorably with sister institutions throughout 
 the United States. 
 
 Previous to their removal to Broadway thirty-four pupils 
 had been received, about half the number being day-scholars. 
 At the close of 1871 there were six lady teachers, and there 
 had been admitted during the year seventy-five pupils, fifty 
 of whom were boarders. Three large houses are now well- 
 nigh filled, and the applications for admittance are still 
 numerous. 
 
THE NEW YORK INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND. 
 
 (Ninth avenue and Thirty -fourth street. ) 
 
 A striking exhibition of the wisdom and benevolence of 
 the Creator is seen in his raising up, from time to time, agen- 
 cies to guard and foster every interest of society. For many 
 ages the blind remained wholly untaught, and sat mournfully, 
 Bartimeus like, along the crowded thoroughfare of human 
 life. Nothing was undertaken in America to ameliorate their 
 condition, until within the last half century. Dr. Samuel 
 Ackerly, Samuel Wood, and Dr. John D. Ross have the 
 honor of being chiefly instrumental in inaugurating a move- 
 ment for this long-neglected class, which will crown their 
 memories with undying renown. Early in 1831, through 
 their influence, a society was organized in New York, for the 
 purpose of founding an institution for the education of the 
 blind, and on the 21st of April, the same year, the State Legis- 
 lature passed an act incorporating the society, with the title 
 of " The New York Institution for the Blind."> A school with 
 six pupils was opened May 19, 1832, at 47 Mercer street, 
 under Dr. Russ, which was the first of its kind on the conti- 
 
290 
 
 NEW YOKE ANT> ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 nent. By the aid of fairs and donations, a piece of ground 
 and buildings on Eighth avenue were obtained of James 
 Boorman, at a nominal rent, with covenant to sell. An in- 
 structor in the mechanic arts was procured, and on December 
 2d, 1833, their first public exhibition was held in the City Hall. 
 The proficiency of the sixteen pupils present, in reading from 
 raised letters, their knowledge of geography, arithmetic, of 
 music, and the skill of their workmanship in mats, mattresses, 
 and baskets, excited great interest. 
 
 In the inception of the movement, the managers only con- 
 templated the instruction of the blind of their own city ; but 
 as applications continued to pour in from abroad, they soon 
 felt the necessity for enlarged and better accommodations. 
 The present site of the Institution was obtained of Mr. Boor- 
 man at a reduction of $10,000 below its market value. On 
 the 30th of April, 1836, $12,000 were given by the State, on 
 condition that $8,000 more would be raised by the managers ; 
 and in 1839 another grant of $15,000 was made, to assist in 
 erecting the buildings. When the site was originally ob- 
 tained, it was far outside of the improved portions of the 
 city, but is now in the midst of a densely-populated section. 
 It is situated between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets, 
 fronting on Ninth avenue, is two hundred feet wide and 
 eight hundred feet deep. The building was originally a 
 three-story, constructed of Sing-Sing marble, strongly but- 
 tressed and surmoimted with turrets, presenting an imposing 
 f acade of one hundred and seventy-five feet, with a north and 
 a south wing one hundred and twenty-five feet each. The 
 building has been greatly improved during the last year by 
 the addition of a mansard story, enlarging the accommoda- 
 tions, and enhancing its general appearance. 
 
 A broad yard of fine cultivation is spread in front of the 
 Institution, and the workshops occupy the rear. The society 
 is a private corporation, and elects its board of twenty man- 
 agers annually, which are divided into four committees ; one 
 on finance ; one on supplies, repairs, and improvements ; one 
 on music and instruction ; and one on manufactures. Each 
 committee has charge of the department indicated by its 
 name, and holds a weekly meeting, while as a board of man- 
 agers they meet monthly for the transaction of regular busi- 
 ness. The managers serve gratuitously, many giving much 
 valuable time to the interests of the Institution. It has never 
 been the design of the managers to make this a permanent 
 
NEW YOEK INSTITUTION FOR THE BUND. 
 
 291 
 
 " Home " or " Asylum " for the blind, nor yet a " Hospital " 
 for the treatment of optical diseases, neither is it a Prison 
 where persons are involuntarily detained, but emphatically a 
 school for instruction, to be entered or abandoned on mutual 
 agreement. Only about seventeen per cent, of the blind were 
 born without sight, the rest having lost it by disease or acci- 
 dent. 
 
 During the forty-one years of its operations, the Institu- 
 tion has had under its instruction something more than one 
 thousand different persons, most of whom have been young. 
 On January 1, 1873, its students numbered 166, though 195 
 names had been on the roll during the year, none of whom 
 had been in the Institution over seven years. In 1834 the 
 managers began to receive State pupils, i.e., the indigent blind, 
 who have since been educated at the public expense. Only 
 those are now received and educated as New York State 
 pupils who are residents of the counties of Suffolk, Queens, 
 Kings, and New York. Application for admission must be 
 made to the Superintendent. Pay pupils are also received 
 at $300 per year. About ninety-four per cent, of all received 
 have been New York State pupils ; the remaining six per 
 cent, have been pay pupils, and those admitted from New 
 Jersey. 
 
 The total expenditures of the society during the first thirty- 
 eight years amounted to $2,025,000. The managers thank- 
 fully acknowledge the generous aid received from the Legis 
 lature, which has amounted to over $20,000 per annum on an 
 average ; yet to their credit be it remembered that sixty per 
 cent, of all their expenditures has been obtained through their 
 own management and liberality. The society was for many 
 years encumbered with debt, which was at length removed, 
 though the improvements of the last year, amounting to about 
 one hundred and twenty-five thousand dolWs. have again 
 somewhat involved the Institution, which indebtedness the 
 managers have secured by mortgaging the property. The 
 annual expense of the Institution at present amounts to about 
 $55,000, which appears at first view like a large sum ; but 
 when we consider the unavoidable expenditures of its triple 
 instruction departments, literary, musical, and industrial, the 
 extra service necessary to care for so many who walk in per- 
 petual darkness, and the wastes of material in their in- 
 struction, our opinions are greatly modified. Books for the 
 
292 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 blind are expensive. The American Bible Society furnishes 
 a Bible to those who have sight for forty-five cents, but the 
 same society charges, for the cheapest Bible for the blind, $32. 
 
 A map of the United States, suited to an ordinary school- 
 room, may be obtained for $3 or $4 ; but one of the kind 
 adapted to the blind costs $75 ; and so on to the end of the 
 chapter. 
 
 Books, however costly, are required in all branches of study. 
 The literary department embraces a thorough English course, 
 including higher mathematics, philosophy, chemistry, history, 
 etc. 
 
 Particular attention is given to music, in which the blind 
 often excel. In the Industrial department, mat, broom, and 
 mattress making, and many kinds of fancy work, are taught. 
 Much material is unavoidably wasted in the workshop, 
 where so many clumsy fingers must feel their way to knowl- 
 edge and usefulness. The course of instruction pursued by 
 each pupil is the one for which he appears to be best 
 adapted. Some pass through all three departments, others 
 but one. The most gratifying results have crowned the 
 thoughtful endeavors of this benevolent association. It has 
 supplied the means of culture, of subsistence, in some cases 
 of affluence and of great usefulness, to a large portion of the 
 community who otherwise must have remained a burden to 
 themselves and their friends. Among the students of 
 former years may now be numbered merchants, manu- 
 facturers, Mfe and fire insurance agents, organists, teachers, 
 farmers, and clergymen. 
 
 During the last few years, the use of the sewing machine 
 has been introduced among the girls, some of whom have 
 already proved themselves adepts in its management, per- 
 forming the finest and most difficult tasks with great facility. 
 Every encouragement to industry is afforded. As soon as 
 one becomes a successful workman, he receives some wages, 
 when he is encouraged to open an account with a saving 
 bank, which many have done. The last year of their stay, 
 they receive full journeyman's wages for all they do, to 
 enable them to start business for themselves when they 
 return to the outside world. 
 
 The Institution is under Protestant management, but per- 
 sons of any creed are received, without designedly interfering 
 with their religious faith. About one-third of the teachers 
 in the Institution are blind, and have been educated within 
 
BLOOMDTGDALE ASYLUM FOE THE INSANE. 293 
 
 its walls. Among the number is Mr. Stephen Babcock, who 
 is a cultivated Christian gentleman. The principal difficulty in 
 the matter of educating the blind has been in the lack of a 
 system of writing and printing adapted to the touch of all. 
 Carefully compiled statistics show that, with the line-sign 
 system mostly employed in this country, not more than forty- 
 eight per cent, of the blind pupils have ever been able to read 
 with tolerable facility. The Superintendent of the New York 
 Institution, Mr. William JB. Wait, has had this matter for sev- 
 eral years under examination, and after the most thorough 
 analysis of the principles of the language, and of the wants 
 and capacities of the blind, has finally invented, and intro- 
 duced into his school, a new point-sign system, which all can 
 readily learn, which may be written by the blind, and which 
 will greatly aid in their education. 
 
 At a convention of Superintendents of the various Insti- 
 tutions for the blind in the United States, held in Indianapolis 
 in August, 1871, this system, after thorough discussion, was 
 unanimously adopted as the system of point writing and 
 printing for all the American Institutions. Mr. Wait is now 
 engaged in adapting the system to the writing of music. 
 
BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM FOR THE IXSANB. 
 
 AMONG all the diseases that afflict our fallen world, 
 none is so dreadful as insanity. The wretched maniac not 
 only suffers the waste and collapse of his physical organism, 
 but is often tortured with the greatest conceivable agonies 
 of mind. We can trace this disease back to the early 
 ages. The Israelites were threatened with madness if they 
 disobeyed the Divine command. — Dent, xxviii. 28. David 
 feigned madness when he visited Achish. Nebuchadnezzar 
 lost his reason ; and Jesus of Nazareth wrought many miracles 
 on the insane. The causes of insanity are various. Nearly 
 one-third of all the insanity in the world is hereditary. The 
 exciting causes from whence much of it springs are both 
 physical and moral. In France the largest number of cases 
 by far are said to result from moral excitement, but in 
 England and the United States, from physical. Insanity, to 
 a great degree, is an evil attending high civilization. Dr. 
 Living-tone found but one or two instances of it among all 
 the African tribes he visited, but one of the Bakwains, who 
 was to accompany him to Europe, became insane from the 
 throng of new ideas that entered his mind, and committed 
 
BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM FOE THE INSANE. 295 
 
 suicide. Insanity was a rare thing in China under a galling 
 despotism, but since the rebellion it is said to have much 
 increased. In India and Japan there are few lunatics. In 
 Italy, Austria, and Spain, less than in the more enlightened 
 countries of Europe. In France one in a thousand is insane, 
 in England one in seven hundred and eighty-three, in Scot- 
 land one in five hundred and sixty-three, in the United 
 States one in seven hundred and fifty. These facts do not 
 argue in favor of ignorance and despotism, but of a more 
 serious attention and conformity to the established conditions 
 of life and healthy activity. 
 
 The Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane is a branch of 
 the New York Hospital. The old South Hospital, erected in 
 1806, was for fifteen years wholly devoted to the insane. 
 The Legislature assisted in the organization of this branch of 
 the hospital from the first, and in 1816 increased the annual 
 appropriation to §22,500, on condition that the treatment of 
 the various forms and degrees of insanity should be con- 
 tinued. 
 
 The propriety of removing the insane to a more quiet 
 retreat than could be afforded in a great city was early felt 
 by the " governors," and a committee to select a suitable loca- 
 tion was appointed. The purchase of the present site and 
 grounds, consisting of forty-five acres, was early recom- 
 mended. Some considered the land at Bloomingdale too 
 remote from the city, and the attention of the committee 
 was called to several other sites ; but, after examining each, 
 they adhered to their original recommendation, saying that 
 within forty years from that time it would be rather wished 
 that the establishment were at a greater distance from the 
 centre of population, a prediction that has been literally 
 fulfilled. The Hospital at that early day was managed by a 
 board of liberal and large-minded governors, who, without 
 established precedents to guide them in their difficult under- 
 taking, founded an institution for the insane, which, in its 
 appointments and treatment, was far in advance of any in 
 un\ or in any other country. The Institution is situated on 
 One Hundred and Seventeenth street, between Tenth and 
 Eleventh avenues, seven miles north of the City Hall. The 
 main edifice, capable of accommodating seventy-five patients, 
 was completed and ready for the reception of inmates in 
 June, 1821, and was at that time the finest building of its 
 kind in the world. The "governors" resolved to give the 
 
296 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Asylum the appearance of a palace rather than a jail, and 
 contracted to have the walls of marble, but, failing to obtain 
 this, hewn brown stone was substituted. The ceilings are 
 high, the stories furnished with ample corridors, the window 
 frames are of iron, ingeniously concealed, the apartments 
 spacious and exquisitely furnished with every comfort of 
 the best-regulated home. Books, papers, pictures, music, 
 indeed, everything calculated to awaken lofty and pleasant 
 sentiments, are collected and grouped together in the happiest 
 manner in this building. Lectures and exhibitions are at 
 times added. The inmates are not closely confined here, as 
 only the quiet and convalescent remain in this building. 
 The edifice contains also the apartments for the warden and 
 assistants, the reception and reading rooms, which are as 
 quiet as if no lunatic were on the premises. A building for 
 the more violent of the male sex was erected in 1830, at 
 some distance to the north-west of the main edifice, and in 
 1837 another for females was added, situated in an opposite 
 direction from the main building. These were originally 
 sixty by forty feet, three stories high, constructed of brick, 
 but were in 1854 much enlarged and improved. The orig- 
 inal cost of the property somewhat exceeded $250,000. The 
 laundry is a separate building, seventy-five by forty feet, and 
 three stories high. The washing is performed with machin- 
 ery in the lower story, the second floor contains drying, 
 ironing, and store rooms, and the third the dormitories for 
 the domestics. The Asylum is capable of accommodating with- 
 out undue crowding, which is never resorted to, about one 
 hundred and seventy inmates, and is always full. The 
 patients are classified and separated according to the form 
 their mental ailments have assumed, whether monomania, 
 mania, dementia, idiotism, or delirium a potu. Harsh treat- 
 ment is never resorted to, and the appearance of the largest 
 liberty is granted all except the most violent. The general 
 treatment is arranged so as to recover from physical disease 
 when necessary, and restore mental self-control by dissolving 
 all morbid associations. 
 
 A part of the grounds is devoted to gardening, and a great 
 variety of trees and ornamental shrubbery adorn the premises, 
 making them a terrestrial paradise during the sultry season. 
 The buildings are surrounded with separate and appropriate 
 yards, where the patients enjoy prolonged out-door recreation 
 during pleasant weather, without destroying the distinctions 
 
BLOOMTNGDALE ASYLUM FOE THE INSANE. 
 
 297 
 
 established in their medical classification. Religious services 
 are conducted every Sabbath by the chaplain, and are attended 
 by many of the patients. The warden and matron appointed 
 by the " governors " have charge of the buildings, supplies, 
 kitchen, servants, etc. The superior officer of the Asylum is, 
 however, the resident physician, who is required to be a 
 married man, reside on the premises, give his undivided 
 attention to the Institution, and who is solely responsible for 
 the treatment of the patients. Patients are received from 
 any part of the State, on such conditions as can be agreed 
 upon, from eight to thirty dollars per week being required, 
 according to their circumstances, three months' board being 
 required in advance. The expense of conducting the Institu- 
 tion the last year was $110,985, and the receipts from the 
 patients §115,179. The laying out of the Boulevard, which 
 has become the great pleasure drive of the island, passing 
 within a hundred and twenty feet of the Men's Lodge, where 
 the most disturbed are domiciled, has laid upon the society the 
 necessity of removing the Asylum to a more retired location. 
 The experienced physician, D. Tilclen Brown, who has been 
 connected with the establishment since 1852, has recom- 
 mended that the new Institution be located where it can re- 
 main undisturbed by any large settlement for at least fifty 
 years; that such ample grounds be secured that fifty acres 
 may be appropriated for the exercise of each sex, leaving 
 sufficient for gardening and farming purposes, and a still 
 further extension for long walks and drives on the asylum 
 property alone. He further recommended that the premises 
 be not only supplied with an abundance of good water, but 
 be as beautiful in their location and surroundings as could 
 be obtained. The " governors " have recently purchased nearly 
 three hundred acres of land at White Plains, with a view of 
 erecting at no distant day at that place, unless a more eligible 
 lot can be procured, large and commodious buildings, in 
 eeping with the most advanced theories of treatment in this 
 age. tt will probably take a number of years, however, to 
 remove the Asylum. The whole number of inmates under 
 treatment during a year average from 275 to 335, from fifty 
 to eighty of whom are said to recover ; from thirty-five to 
 fifty are pronounced " improved / " a smaller numbei art 
 returned as " not improved; " and twenty-five or thirty die. 
 The largest number are females, and the majority of all received 
 between the ages of twenty and thirty years, after which the 
 
298 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 number decreases with every decade up to eighty years. 
 Early admission into an asylum is considered desirable, afford- 
 ing not only physical safety to the patient and his family, 
 but greater probability of permanent recovery. The presence 
 of relatives often greatly irritates the poor sufferer, enforced 
 submission always proves sadly injurious, and but few possess 
 the mental and moral faculties to successfully control the 
 insane. The undertaking is the most difficult and dangerous 
 in the world, requiring great sagacity, skill, and delicacy of 
 treatment. 
 
 i 
 
THE NEW YORK ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 " The Orphan Asylum Society in the city of New York " is 
 the oldest and one of the best endowed of its class in the 
 United States. Mrs. Joanna Betlmne was the original pro- 
 poser of its plan, and has been pronounced the mother of 
 the institution. This lady, before the Orphan House was 
 planned, had been deeply interested in a society that cared 
 for widows and young children, and as these widows died 
 leaving helpless little ones, her kind heart often grieved that 
 these, by rule, should be excluded from the assistance of the 
 society, which they now more than ever required. Hence the 
 step between a widows' society and an orphan asylum became 
 to her natural and necessary. The first call for the Orphan 
 Asylum Society was from the pen of Mr. Divie Betlmne, 
 written at the request of his wife. Mrs. Bethune continued 
 her earnest exertions in behalf of the society for more than 
 fifty-four years, serving successively as trustee, treasurer, 
 second directress, and first directress. She died in peace 
 July 28, 1860, aged ninety-two years. 
 
 The act of incorporation passed the Legislature April 7, 
 1807, granting privilege to hold personal and real estate to 
 
 18 
 
300 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the amount of $100,000, for the legitimate uses of the society. 
 The power to bind out children was granted by a special act 
 passed February 10, IS 09, and in 1811 an act was passed 
 granting the society $;'00 per annum from the fund arising 
 from auction duties. This annuity was continued forty-two 
 years, but was discontinued in 1853. The original charter 
 was limited to twenty-one years, and has since been twice 
 renewed. The business of the society is conducted by a 
 board of (lady) trustees, annually elected by the society, of 
 which all ladies contributing one dollar and fifty cents per 
 year are members. The operations of the society began in 
 a small hired house in Raisin street, and in April, 1807, the 
 society held its annual meeting in the City Hotel, on Broad- 
 way. The orphan children, more than twenty in number, 
 were presented to the view of the public on this occasion, 
 and an appeal made for means to provide enlarged accom- 
 modations. The public generously responded, four lots of 
 ground in Greenwich were purchased, and the same year a 
 brick building fifty feet square, and designed to accommodate 
 nearly two hundred children, was completed, at an expense 
 of $15,000. Mr. Philip Jacobs bequeathed to the society two 
 houses and lots on Broadway, a house and lot in Warren 
 street, one in Pearl street, and a tract of wild land, the annual 
 income of all amounting to about $4,000. The litigation 
 attending the acquisition of this property cost $15,000, but 
 in 1833 the court confirmed the bequest, which laid the 
 foundation of the permanent prosperity of the society, and 
 forms still the basis of its invested resources. The devasta- 
 tion produced by the cholera in 1834, which swept away the 
 female teacher and a number of the children, induced the 
 society to abandon the city and build an asylum in the 
 country. Nine and a quarter acres of land were purchased 
 west of Broadway, between Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth 
 streets, and the corner-stone of the new edifice laid with ap- 
 propriate services June 6, 1836. 
 
 The building was one hundred and twenty by sixty feet, 
 with three stories and basement, and cost $45,000. In 1855 
 two spacious wings, corresponding in size and style with the 
 first building, were added at a cost of $40,000, affording ac- 
 commodations for more than have ever been received. The 
 buildings are of brick, stuccoed in imitation of yellow 
 marble ; the yards and play -grounds are ample ; the location 
 
THE NEW YORK ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 SOI 
 
 being on high ground, and near the Hudson, is one of the 
 finest on the island. 
 
 The land purchased for §17,500, with the growth of the 
 city and the laying out of the new Public £>rive, has in- 
 creased in value to at least a million, and the managers have 
 recently sold three aud a half acres of their grounds for the 
 handsome sum of §300,000. 
 
 The society has purchased thirty-seven acres of land at 
 Hastings, and contemplates the removal of the Asylum to 
 that place at no very distant day. 
 
 Orphan children under ten years of age are admitted from 
 any locality ; they are clothed, boarded, educated, and 
 trained to habits of industry, the girls in the several depart- 
 ments of the house, and the boys in the garden and yard. 
 None admitted are allowed to depart until they have spent 
 one year in the Institution, and have made some progress in 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic. Children are indentured 
 to married persons, keeping house in the State of New York, 
 
 mended by their pastors. 
 
 During the first thirty years of its existence the society re- 
 ceived 931, and had an annual average of 170 inmates, 
 which were supported at a trifle less than $i2 per annum 
 for each child. Its family has at no time since much ex- 
 ceeded two hundred, but the doors of the Asylum have never 
 been closed against a proper applicant. One room is devoted 
 -to infant orphan children, who are reared with great care- 
 fulness. No death has occurred in the Asylum in three years. 
 The invested funds of the society bringing an income of 
 about §10,000, less than half the annual expense of the Insti- 
 tution, while on the one hand a blessing, have nevertheless 
 proved a bar to shut away the donations of the benevolent, 
 leaving the managers to annually struggle with their expendi- 
 tures. The Superintendent, Mr. Charles S. Pell, is an educated 
 gentleman, formerly principal of Public School No. 8, New 
 York city, and has successfully conducted the affairs of the 
 Asylum for twenty years. 
 
 regular attendants 
 
 recom- 
 
COLORED ORPHAN" ASYLUM. 
 
 ( One Hundred and Forty-third street and Tenth avenue. ) 
 
 This Institution was the "first established in the city for the 
 relief of the colored people, who had been for ages crushed 
 under the tyranny of caste, and excluded from nearly every 
 public and private charity. But the period arrived for a 
 change in public sentiment. The emancipation of the colored 
 population in the West Indies was followed by marked results 
 in this country. About 1833 Miss Anna II. Shotwell and 
 Miss Mary Murray boldly took in hand the matter of estab- 
 lishing a Home for colored children. Their earnest and 
 continued appeals to the public secured in small sums at 
 length about two thousand dollars, and in 1836 a board of 
 twenty-two lady managers were elected, with an advisory 
 
 and the enterprise fully launched, under the title of the 
 " Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans." But so 
 violent was the prejudice against the colored race, that three 
 long months were spent in a fruitless search for a suitable 
 building. Property-owners could be induced, on no conditions, 
 to lease an empty dwelling for such uses. A small frame 
 cottage was at length purchased on Twelfth street for $9,000, 
 
 A constitution was 
 
COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 303 
 
 which the friends of the enterprise furnished with their half- 
 worn furniture, a mortgage of $6,000 remaining for some 
 years on the property. In 1838 the society was duly incor- 
 porated by act of Legislature. The building purchased soon 
 proved too small, and after repeated applications to the Com- 
 mon Council, a grant of sixteen city lots on Fifth avenue, be- 
 tween Forty-third and Forty- fourth streets, was made, to 
 which several were subsequently added by purchase, and a 
 suitable edifice erected at an expense of $7,000. Here the 
 operations of the society were successfully conducted for six- 
 teen years, amid the waning prejudices of the people. But 
 one last great storm gathered and finally broke upon this 
 excellent Institution. The frenzied rioters of July, 1863, burst 
 open its doors, heaped together its light furniture, which was 
 saturated with highly inflammable material, and despite the 
 efforts of a few brave friends to save it, was set on fire, and 
 in twenty minutes the edifice was a smoking ruin. Thirty 
 minutes previous to their entrance the matron had no appre- 
 hensions of danger. The Asylum at that time contained 233 
 children, who under the prudent management of the officers 
 of the Institution, and covered by a special providence, nearly 
 as striking as when the Hebrews were in the furnace, were 
 marched through the midst of this screeching mob to the 
 station-house in Thirty-fifth street, without receiving the 
 slightest harm. Here they remained three days, crowded 
 together to make place for the bleeding, groaning ruffians 
 arrested by the policemen. When order was again restored, the 
 children, under a strong guard, were removed to the almshouse 
 on Black well's Island. When the children were marched out 
 of their loved Asylum, so soon to be destroyed, a little girl 
 picked up the large family Bible in the dining-room, from 
 which she had been accustomed to hciar read twice each day 
 those lessons of Heavenly wisdom, and putting it under her 
 arm she carried it to the station-house, and thence to Black- 
 well's Island. The apparel of the children, the clothing and 
 private effects of the officers and teachers, and the record* 
 of the society, kept by the same secretary for twenty-seven 
 years, were nearly ail destroyed. 
 
 The managers now wisely resolved to remove the Institu- 
 tion to a more retired locality. Their grounds, with the rapid 
 growth of the city, had now greatly increased in value, which 
 they were enabled to sell for $175,000 ; and a beautiful plot of 
 ground, at One Hundred and Forty-third street and Tenth ave* 
 
304 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 nue, was purchased for $45,000. The children remained in the 
 almshouse, attended by their officers and teachers, receiving 
 such instruction as the circumstances would admit, from July 
 16, to October 19, 1863, when they were removed to the 
 Fields mansion, now the Home and School for Soldiers' Chil- 
 dren, at Washington Heights. A large bowling-alley was 
 converted into a school-room, and the main edifice extensively 
 repaired. The corner-stone of their new Asylum was laid 
 in August, 1867, and the buildings completed in September, 
 1868. They are constructed of brick, in the Rhenish order, 
 three stories with basement, with a frontage of two hun- 
 dred and thirty-four feet, and a depth of one hundred and 
 twenty-five feet, surmounted with three unique, octagonal 
 towers, and have accommodations for over three hundred 
 children. The first floor contains reception-room, parlor, 
 private apartments for officers, infant class-room, and chapel, 
 which is very large and beautiful, used during the week for 
 the general school-room for the larger scholars. Adjoining 
 is a spacious veranda, the favorite resort of the children 
 during brief intermissions. Immediately over the chapel, on 
 the west side of the building, is the principal dormitory for 
 the girls, containing eighty-six tidy single beds. Two other 
 apartments are set apart for the same use for the girls, and 
 two for the boys. The buildings are for the most part fire- 
 proof, the stairs being constructed with stone steps, and part 
 of the windows furnished with sheet-iron blinds. The wash- 
 ing, drying, cooking, and pumping are performed with steam, 
 and the edifice heated with the same element. The parlor 
 very appropriately contains the picture of Miss Shotv\ ell, its 
 principal foundress. 
 
 The fiends who meanly sought the destruction of the Insti- 
 tution had no conceptions of the splendid future certain to 
 dawn upon the enterprise. Driven from an edifice of $7,000, 
 they soon entered one worth §130,000. " The memory of the 
 just is blessed; but the name of the wicked shall rot." The 
 cosey wood cottage formerly occupied by the owner of the 
 premises still stands, and is occupied as an infirmary. The 
 ample lawns, yet unadorned by art, are excpiisitely beautiful, 
 the architecture faultless in style and proportions, the view 
 from the observatory so rich and extensive that one cannot 
 visit this peerless place, and contemplate its saintly charities, 
 without feeling himself improved and drawn perceptibly 
 nearer to Heaven. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL ORPHAN HOME AND ASYLUM. 305 
 
 The Asylum contains at this writing 282 children, about 
 1,650 having been received since its opening, June 9, 
 1837. Children are received between the ages of two and 
 ten years, and are retained until they complete their twelfth 
 year, when they are apprenticed, generally to farmers. Much 
 of the lighter work of the establishment is performed by the 
 older girls, and a number are employed permanently in 
 the sewing-room, and in special service in different parts of 
 the house. The board of children received and again with- 
 drawn by their parents is placed at the moderate rate of 
 seventy-five cents per week. The schools are well conducted, 
 and the usual per capita appropriation from the State educa- 
 tional fund is received. An appropriation of $25,000 was re- 
 ceived from the Legislature in 1869, and the sum of §6,570 
 from the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections. The 
 annual expenses of the Institution exceed §30,000. Service is 
 conducted every Sabbath, generally by a city missionary. The 
 matron, Miss Jane McClellan, has had charge of the Asylum 
 many years, and merits special credit for the tidy and sys- 
 tematic arrangement of all its departments. 
 
 ORPHAN" HOME AND ASYLUM OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL 
 CHURCH IN NEW YORK. 
 
 pi 
 
 HE society having control of this Institution was or 
 ganized in 1851, its affairs being under the direction 
 of a board of trustees and managers, composed of 
 ladies representing nearly every Episcopal church in 
 the city of New York. There is, as usual, an advisory com- 
 mittee of gentlemen, to whom in cases of difficulty they 
 appeal. Any member of the Protestant Episcopal church may 
 become an annual member by the payment of three dollars, 
 or a life member on the payment of fifty dollars at one time. 
 The object of the Asylum is the care, support, and religious 
 training of orphans and half-orphans. Children are received 
 into the Institution between the ages of three and eight years 
 only, and may be retained, the boys until they are twelve, and 
 the girls until they are fourteen. Children taken without 
 charge must be entirely given up to the Institution, otherwise 
 
306 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the sum of seventy-five cents per week is charged for their 
 support. The committee on receiving and dismissing chil- 
 dren meets every Friday, to whom application may be made ; 
 but their by-laws declare that admissions shall be regulated 
 invariably by the amount of funds in hand, or by anticipated 
 receipts that are reasonably certain, so that the finances may 
 never be embarrassed. Children are indentured, or adopted 
 only to married persons keeping house, members and regular 
 attendants of the Protestant Episcopal church, and recom- 
 mended by their pastor. Girls are not bound in families 
 where there are apprentices, and neither boys nor girls are 
 permitted to go to a tavern, a boarding-house, or where 
 liquors are sold. Children are taken from the Institution on 
 trial for three months, when, if the employer is dissatisfied, 
 he is allowed to choose again, or if the child has just cause 
 of complaint it may be recalled. All indentures expire with 
 the eighteenth year of the child, and none are allowed to go 
 so far from the city that some one of the managers cannot 
 visit them annually. The Asylum stands on Forty-ninth 
 street, between Lexington and Fourth avenues, is two stories 
 high, besides basement and attic, is in the Gothic order, and 
 has accommodations for one hundred and sixty-five children. 
 In 1868 a rear wing, containing an infirmary, was added to 
 the main building, at an expense of $32,000, which contrib- 
 uted greatly to the safety of the children and the convenience 
 of the Home. The Institution has, besides the matron and 
 three female teachers, a nurse and six domestics. The chil- 
 dren number, on an average, from one hundred and forty to 
 one hundred and sixty ; and the Institution is supported at an 
 annual expense, exclusive of repairs, of about $15,000. Only 
 two deaths have occurred in the Institution during the last 
 six years. A religious school, similar to Sunday schools, is 
 conducted iu the Institution every Friday, many young ladies 
 consenting to teach on that day, and one of the pastors in the 
 city devotes some time to catechising the children. In 1868, 
 the heart of the matron was made glad in receiving the 
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper from one once an orphan boy 
 in the Asylum. It has long been the custom of the managers 
 to meet at the Home every Friday, to cut and make gar- 
 ments for the children. Many friends of the society have 
 gladly attended these meetings, furnishing as they do an 
 opportunity to gratify that yearning desire in every true 
 woman's heart, to minister to the helpless and suffering. 
 
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL ORPHAN HOME AND ASYLUM. 307 
 
 This is the only orphan house of the denomination in the city, 
 and has completed its twenty-second year without receiving 
 anything from the city authorities, and but a small amount 
 from the State. Its permanent fund from legacies is rapidly 
 increasing, and now amounts to forty-four thousand dollars. 
 
THE SHELTERING ARMS. 
 
 {Manhattanville. ) 
 
 INSTITUTIONS for the relief of orphans, half-orphans, 
 the aged, siek, and blind, have greatly multiplied in New 
 York during the last fifty years ; yet a few observing minds 
 diseovered that there still existed a large and helpless elass 
 in the community, to whom no door of generous hospi- 
 tality was open. Each Institution being established for 
 the relief of a single class, always sufficiently numerous to 
 tax it to its utmost, others, equally needy and worthy, were 
 necessarily excluded. The asylum for the blind, and the 
 one for the deaf-mute, received inmates at a certain age, 
 but where were the poor homeless children to spend their 
 earlier years? There were hospitals for sick and crippled 
 children, as long as surgeons pronounced them curable, but 
 incurables could not be admitted. Some institutions received 
 half-orphans, or poor children, free, on condition that they 
 were surrendered to the institution ; but many parents, in 
 pressing need of temporary relief, were unwilling to irrevo- 
 cably surrender their children. The half-orphan asylum could 
 not receive the children of the father deserted by his wife, of 
 the wife abandoned by her husband, nor of parents who were 
 both sick, in the hospital. These considerations led to the 
 founding of the Sheltering Anns, an institution which pro- 
 posed to extend the arm of relief and defence to multitudes 
 not hitherto provided for. "When the enterprise was first sug- 
 
THE SHELTERING ARMS 
 
 309 
 
 gested, some regarded it as a useless undertaking, and sug- 
 gested that it would be difficult to find children not hitherto 
 provided for, while others, more considerate, thought it too 
 vast, if not quite Utopian. The society having been organ- 
 ized, the President, Rev. Thos. M. Peters, D.D., generously 
 offered his own house, situated at the corner of One Hun- 
 dredth street and Broadway, free of rent for ten years, which 
 was opened on the 6th of October, 1861:, and forty children, 
 all the building could accommodate, immediately received. 
 The first child received in anticipation of opening the Insti- 
 tution, was a little deserted blind girl of four or five years, 
 and soon after, a helpless crippled boy, unable to gain admit- 
 tance into any hospital, because incurable, was received, and 
 after seventeen months, flew away to that land where the 
 inhabitants no more say, " I am sick." The operations of 
 the first eighteen months proved two things. First, that 
 their accommodations were inadequate to the demands made 
 upon them; and secondly, that the genercsity of the public 
 would support a larger family. In 1866. another building 
 was erected by the trustees, at an expense of $10,000 ; the 
 number of children increased to ninety, and the annual ex- 
 penses of the Institution from $6,000 to S11,000. But a 
 new difficulty soon confronted them. The Boulevard, in its 
 wide sweep up the island, cut through their grounds, taking 
 nine of their twenty-two lots, leaving the remainder in two 
 pieces, and too small for their use. After examining several 
 pieces of property, the trustees purchased an acre of ground, 
 situated on One Hundred and Twenty-ninth street and Tenth 
 avenue, in what is called Manhattanville. Their plan of 
 building is partly modeled after the rough house of Wichern, 
 near Hamburg, on the Horn, i.e., to erect cottages, so that the 
 children may be divided into families of equal number ; but 
 the great value of ground on Manhattan has compelled 
 them to unite several under one roof, instead of scattering 
 them around the field as at Hamburg. Their new building 
 was completed, and the children removed to it on the 5th of 
 February, 1870. It is a two-story brick, with basement and 
 attic, in the Gothic order, with slated French roof, and is com- 
 posed of five sections. The central portion, rising a little 
 above the rest, is thirty-six by forty- seven feet, and contains 
 office, parlor, kitchen, linen and work rooms, infirmary, and 
 all necessary sleeping apartments for adults. The two wings 
 are each fifty by forty feet ; each contains two cottages, with 
 
31 ) 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 accommodations for thirty children each, affording space for 
 one hundred and twenty in all. Each cottage contains its 
 separate dining-room, play-room, wash-room, and dormitory. 
 An appeal was made for $5,000 donations, the amount neces- 
 sary to erect a cottage, the name of the donor to be given to 
 the building. Mrs. Peter Cooper generously furnished the 
 sum to erect a cottage for girls ; Mr. John D. Wolfe, one for 
 boys ; another friend gave the amount for the third, and the 
 Ladies' Association have undertaken to pay for the fourth. 
 The school-house is a separate building. The ground and 
 buildings have thus far cost about $75,000, and the trustees 
 purpose to duplicate these buildings, as soon as their finances 
 will admit, and increase the number of inmates to about three 
 hundred. A small Episcopal church stands in the rear of the 
 Institution on the adjoining street, where the children attend 
 service. The president of the society is an Episcopal clergy- 
 man ; representatives of other denominations are, however, in 
 its board of management. Children are received without re- 
 gard to creed or nationality, and the managers acknowledge 
 donations from Jews, Gentiles, and all denominations of 
 Christians* The internal management of the Institution was, 
 from its commencement until the spring of 1870, committed 
 to the Sisterhood of St. Mary, of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church. Six of them took charge of the four families of 
 children, and found time to write articles for their monthly 
 paper, conduct fairs, collect subscriptions, and attend to sun- 
 dry other matters. Their habit strikingly resembled that 
 worn by the orders of the Romish faith, and, as they were be- 
 lieved by many to be too closely allied to them in many points 
 of faith and practice, it was considered best by the board of 
 management to remove them from the Institution. Miss 
 Sarah S. Richmond, an estimable lady of piety and culture, 
 has at present the charge of its internal management, and is 
 assisted by hired help. These lady managers are deserving of 
 great credit for the sacrifice and toil bestowed on these home- 
 less children, many of whom are " rough casts of unculti- 
 vated humanity," but are soon subdued by gentle treatment 
 and faithful instruction. The Institution -has, at this writing, 
 one hundred and thirty-five children, ten of whom are in- 
 curable invalids who could gain access to no other institution. 
 
 Children are received at any age, from infancy to fourteen 
 years, subject to the call of their parents or relatives; but if 
 left to the managers, are retained until farther advanced in 
 
THE SHELTERING ARMS. 
 
 31i 
 
 years than in most institutions, that their habits of virtue may 
 be more thoroughly confirmed. In addition to an English 
 education, they are to be taught trades as far as possible. 
 Board is charged of such as are able to pay, but all received 
 from this source has not exceeded one-sixth of the current 
 expenses of the Institution in any year. The State has con- 
 tributed some small sums to the Institution ; but the city au- 
 thorities, giving unnumbered thousands to others, have not 
 been importuned* by the Sheltering Arms to impose heavy 
 burdens on the public for its support. Their president and 
 managers have taken the wise, Christian, and statesman-like 
 view, that private charitable corporations should be supported 
 by those especially interested, and that public officials should 
 not be invoked to compulsorily draw supplies from those 
 who might disapprove of their principles or practices. All 
 honor to the Sheltering Arms for this most wholesome 
 example, so eminently worthy of imitation. They have 
 wisely sought, by the dissemination of knowledge relating to 
 their work, to develop a charity in their friends, affording 
 abundant supplies not easily affected by the caprices of leg- 
 islation. The undertaking of the society has thus far proved 
 a magnificent success. 
 
 * The policy has been somewhat; changed since writing the Above, 
 
ROMAN CATEIOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM, BOYS 1 BUJLDINGS, FIFTH AVENUE. 
 
 THE ROMAN CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 ( Corner Mott and Prince streets. ) 
 
 In April, 1817, the " Roman Catholic Benevolent Society" 
 was incorporated by act of Legislature, the Right Rev. 
 Bishop Connolly being its first president. 
 
 The Institution for several years consisted of poor wooden 
 structures located at what is now Prince street, but was at 
 that time far out of the city. The present edifice, at the cor- 
 ner of Mott and Prince streets, stands on the original site, and 
 was erected in 1825. It is a large four-story brick, with 
 accommodations for three hundred and fifty children It 
 now stands in the midst of a dense population, and is occu- 
 pied by about two hundred of the larger girls, who are em- 
 ployed in needle and laundry work, and other industrial 
 pursuits. These are adopted or indentured at from fourteen 
 to seventeen years of age. A few, regarded as more than 
 ordinarily brilliant, are sent to the academy in Forty-second 
 street, where they pass gratuitously through a three years' 
 course of instruction. The Asylum has been from the first 
 under the charge of the Sisters of Charity, who superin- 
 tend the studies of the children, instruct the girls in the 
 
THE KOMAN CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 313 
 
 various industrial arts, and attend to all the interests of 
 the household. In 1 846, the Asylum being inadequate to the 
 demands, the society obtained from the Common Council, for 
 one dollar a year, a grant of 450 feet of the west end of the 
 block lying between Fifty-first and Fifty-second streets, front- 
 ing on Fifth avenue. Upon this site was completed in Novem- 
 ber, 1851, a beautiful four-story brick edifice, since known as 
 the boys' buildings. The building consists of a central portion 
 sixty feet by thirty, with front and rear enclosed balconies, 
 fifteen feet wide on each story, and of two wings of the same 
 height. In the rear of the northern wing is a building fifty 
 by twenty-five feet, used for kitchen, laundry, etc. The 
 ceilings are high, the entire building well ventilated and 
 warmed, and well arranged with class-rooms, dormitories, 
 chapel, etc. In the rear is a large play-ground, while the 
 grounds in front are richly cultivated, and profusely set with 
 choice shrubbery and flowers. 
 
 In 1857, the authorities granted the remaining portion of 
 the same block of ground, extending to Fourth avenue, for 
 additional buildings. Madison avenue, having since been 
 extended, forms at present its western boundary. A plan 
 was now formed for the erection of one of the largest, and 
 finest orphan houses in the country, for the reception and 
 training of the smaller girls. The northern wing, two hundred 
 feet in length aud five stories high, was begun in 1866, and 
 sufficiently completed for the reception of the children on the 
 23d of August, 1868. The basement contains the kitchen, 
 laundry, heating appliances for the whole establishment, etc. 
 The cooking, washing, and heating are performed with steam. 
 The first floor contains a dining-room of immense capacity. 
 All the additional stories of this wing are to be devoted to 
 dormitories, after the other portions are completed. These 
 floors afford ample space for one hundred and fifty single 
 beds each, and even more could be introduced. 
 
 The high price of building materials at the time of its 
 erection, and the purchase of the needed machinery, swelled 
 the cost of this first section of the enterprise to nearly §150,000. 
 In March, 1869, the main edifice fronting on Madison avenue 
 was begun, and completed in the space of a year. This con- 
 tains the parlors, school-rooms, the private apartments, and 
 was completed at a less expense than the preceding. Another 
 immense wing, the counterpart of the one first erected, is soon 
 to follow, which will contain the chapel, infirmary, and vari- 
 
314 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ous needed accommodations. The buildings are all five sto- 
 ries above the basement, constructed with excellent taste, of 
 pressed brick and freestone; in the Gothic order, with French 
 roof, and will afford accommodation for one thousand children. 
 This establishment, both for its colossal proportions and the 
 beauty of its architecture, greatly exceeds the two preceding, 
 which had previously been considered large and model asy- 
 lums. About three hundred of the smaller girls, composed 
 of orphans and half-orphans, are here domiciled at this 
 writing. A regular English course of study is taught on five 
 days of the week, a portion of Saturday and the Sabbath 
 being devoted to the Roman catechism, and other exercises 
 of religion. 
 
NEW YORK ASYLUM FOR LYING-IN WOMEN. 
 (No. 83 Marion street. ) 
 
 The condition of many virtuous and worthy women, 
 left homeless and friendless, in the most critical period 
 of their history, led several humane physicians and a num- 
 ber of excellent women, in 1822, to organize a society for 
 the purpose of establishing a lying-in asylum. Then, as 
 now, desertion from intemperance, destitution arising from 
 long sickness, the unkindness of some husbands, or the lose 
 of a partner by death, made such an asylum necessary. A 
 ward had been devoted to these patients for twenty years 
 in the New York Hospital, but a more private asylum was 
 considered desirable. The act of incorporation passed the 
 Legislature March 19, 1827. The business of the society is 
 conducted by a board of thirty-three female managers, annu- 
 ally elected by the society, which is composed of such females 
 as contribute the sum of §3 per annum toward the support 
 of the Institution. The work of the society began in some 
 rooms in Orange street, leased for $275 per annum, where it 
 continued eight years. The sixth annual meeting, of the 
 
 19 
 
316 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 organization was held in the lecture-room of the Brick Church, 
 on the 12th of March, 1829, and the report was read by Dr. 
 J ames C. Bliss. In this he stated that thirty-four patients 
 had been received during the year, that their accommodations 
 were entirely inadequate to meet the wants of the class they 
 were seeking to benefit, and recommended the plan of build- 
 ing a suitable asylum. Rev. Dr. Macauly and Dr. Cock fol- 
 lowed with addresses, in which they approved of the plan of 
 erecting a new building. A subscription paper was immedi- 
 ately prepared, and the sum of $550 subscribed during the 
 day. Three lots were purchased far out of the city, and in 
 1830 the Asylum now standing at No. 85 Marion street was 
 erected. The three lots cost §2,750; and the building, which 
 is a substantial three-story brick, forty-five by sixty feet, 
 capable of accommodating fifty patients, $8,707. The Asylum 
 has been supported by private subscriptions, with small excep- 
 tions. In presenting their sixth report, in March, 1829, the 
 managers gratefully acknowledged the reception of $200 from 
 the corporation, which is a singular paragraph to read in these 
 days, when millions are donated to similar charities. To 
 remove a debt, at a later period, $1,500 were granted, and 
 during the half century of its operations about $7,000 have 
 been received from the city, and nothing from the State. 
 
 The hospitalities of the Asylum are given without charge 
 to virtuous, indigent women only, evidence of bona fide mar- 
 riage being invariably required. 
 
 The Institution was established when foundling hospitals 
 were not appreciated in this country, and when many be- 
 lieved such institutions calculated to encourage vice. It has 
 been the opinion of the managers that to throw the Institution 
 open to all who should claim its assistance would unavoid- 
 ably very soon confine its operations to the vicious alone, as 
 virtuous married women would not become the associates and 
 fellow-pensioners of the degraded and abandoned. Hence, 
 to make the charity of value to the most worthy class, for 
 which it was chiefly undertaken, none but the virtuous could 
 be received. But in declining to receive those considered 
 improper subjects, they did not abandon them to absolute 
 destitution, for about the year 1830 a system of out-door 
 charity was established. The city was divided into nineteen 
 districts, and a physician appointed to each, who visited 
 gratuitously by day and night all persons not admitted into 
 the Institution, whenever application was made at the oifice 
 
NEW YORK MAGDALEN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 317 
 
 in the basement of the Asylum. This arrangement, with 
 some modification, still continues. Since the opening of the 
 Asylum, 3,797 inmates have been received, and over 13,021 
 out-door patients have been attended by the district physi- 
 cians. The number of applicants is not as large as in former 
 years, 70 only being admitted during the last twelve months. 
 
 The Institution is the most purely charitable of any on the 
 island, as no board or other fee is required ; yet, situated in a 
 retired nook at the head of Marion street, though one of the 
 oldest, it is really the least known of any in the city. The 
 managers, unwilling to be entirely supplanted by other insti- 
 tutions, are now considering the propriety of removing the 
 Asylum to a better locality. The matron, Mrs. Hope, has 
 taken charge of the Asylum eighteen years, and proved 
 herself an intelligent and conscientious Superintendent. The 
 Asylum has furnished hundreds of wet nurses to families in 
 need of them, aud situations to hundreds of others, who 
 would otherwise have gone back to abodes of destitution, if 
 not to ruin. Mrs. A. O. Hall is one of the active managers 
 of the Institution. 
 
 NEW YORK MAGDALEN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 
 
 {Fifth avenue and Eighty-eighth street.) 
 
 ^ iffN the year 1828, several Christian ladies, representing 
 *$m3L different religious denominations, established a Sun- 
 scnoo l m tne female penitentiary at Belle vue among 
 those committed for variouscrimes, and others who 
 required medical treatment. Interesting facts resulting from 
 these efforts were communicated to the public, and such an 
 interest awakened in the community that on the first day of 
 January, 1830, the New York Magdalen Society was organ- 
 ized. 
 
 Two years later the society was for some cause disbanded. 
 The interest awakened, however, did not decline, for on the 
 extinction of the old organization three new ones sprang up, 
 one in Laight, one in Spring, and one in the Carmine Street 
 Churches. About the same time a society of gentlemen was 
 organized, called the "Benevolent Society of the City of New 
 York." In January, 1833, these societies were all again dis- 
 
318 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 banded, and the " New York Female Benevolent Society" was 
 organized, its officers and members being largely composed 
 of persons who had given inspiration to the earlier organiza- 
 tions. Subsequently the term " Female " was stricken out, 
 and " Magdalen " inserted. The object of the society is the 
 promotion of moral purity, by affording an asylum to erring 
 females, who manifest a desire to return to the paths of virtue, 
 and by procuring employment for their future support. This 
 society issued its first report in January, 1834, and among its 
 list of members stands the name of Mrs. Thomas Hastings, 
 whose life has been largely devoted to the success of this enter- 
 prise, and who, in this, the thirty-ninth year of its operation, is 
 its first directress. The present society began its benevolent 
 work in a hired upper floor in Carmine street, near Bleecker. 
 The inmates did not exceed ten in number at any time pre- 
 vious to 1836. The society early arranged for the permanent 
 establishment of the Institution, and a plot of ground, contain- 
 ing twelve city lots and an old frame building, was purchased 
 at Eighty-eighth street and Fifth avenue, for the sum of 
 $4,000. This location thirty years ago was far removed from 
 the city, but is now becoming a very attractive part of it, and 
 its streets will soon be lined with costly palaces. After occu- 
 pying the old wooden building nearly twenty years, the enter- 
 prising managers (all ladies) resolved to erect a new building, 
 though at that meeting there was not a dollar in the treasury 
 to defray the expenditures of such an undertaking. 
 
 Trusting in the overruling providence of Him who had 
 hitherto directed their efforts, they arranged their plan, and 
 erected a fine three-story brick edifice, the means being pro- 
 vided from time to time by the generous public, to which 
 they have never appealed in vain. Additions have since been 
 made, and the buildings, which can now accommodate nearly 
 a hundred inmates, have cost over thirty thousand dollars. 
 Property has so appreciated in this locality that the Asylum 
 and its six remaining lots are valued at near $100,000. The 
 yard fronting on Eighty-eighth street has a high brick wall, 
 the other parts of the ground being enclosed with a strong 
 board fence. The first floor of the Asylum contains rooms for 
 the matron and assistant matron, a parlor, a large work-room, 
 and a neat chapel, with an organ and seating for a hundred 
 persons. The two upper stories contain the sleeping apart- 
 ments. The girls are not locked in their own private apart- 
 ments, as in the Steenbeck Asylum of Pastor Ileldring, in 
 
NEW YOKK MAGDALEN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 319 
 
 Holland ; but the door leading from each floor is locked every 
 night, and it would perhaps be an advantage if noisy and 
 mischievous ones were always compelled to spend the night 
 in their own apartments. Girls are taken at from ten to 
 thirty years of age, and remain a longer or shorter period, 
 according to circumstances. JSTone are detained against their 
 will, unless consigned to the Asylum by their parents or the 
 magistrates. A Bible-reader visits the Tombs and other 
 prisons, and encourages young women who express a desire to 
 reform to enter the Asylum. Most of them have been ruined 
 by intemperance, or want of early culture. The most hope- 
 less among fallen women are those who have lived as mis- 
 tresses. Many of these have spent years in idleness, affluence, 
 and fashion, holding for their own convenience the threat of 
 exposure over the heads of their guilty paramours, and have thus 
 developed all the worst traits of fallen humanity. Not a few 
 of these have been thoroughly restored to a virtuous life by 
 this society. Industry is one of the first lessons of the Asy- 
 lum, without which there can be no abiding reformation. A 
 pure literature is afforded, with the assistance of an instructor, 
 for those whose education has been neglected. When the 
 inmate gives evidence that true womanhood is really return- 
 ing, a situation is procured for her in a Christian family in 
 the city or country, the managers greatly preferring the 
 latter. The chaplain, Rev. Charles C. Darling, has been 
 connected with the Institution over thirty years, and has re- 
 
 i'oiced over the hopeful conversion of many of its inmates. 
 Svery Sabbath morning the family assembles for preaching, 
 a Bible class is conducted by the chaplain in the afternoon, 
 and again on Thursday afternoon, unless there is unusual 
 religious interest among the inmates, when the service is de- 
 voted to preaching, exhortation, and prayer. The inmates 
 often weep convulsively under the appeals of truth ; a score 
 at times rise or kneel for prayer, at a single service. With 
 some, it is deep and lasting, but with others it passes away 
 like the morning cloud. At times, they hold prayer-meetings 
 among themselves, with good results, and on other occasions 
 their assemblies are broken up with bickerings and conten- 
 tions. Many of them are talented and well favored, formed 
 for more than an ordinary sphere in human life. They have 
 recently formed themselves into a benevolent society, desig- 
 nated " The Willing Hearts," and have sent several remit- 
 tances of clothing to a devoted missionary in Michigan. Tho 
 
320 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 matron, Mrs. Ireland, an esteemed Christian lady, has pre- 
 sided for years with great skill over the Institution. This is 
 the pioneer asylum of its kind in New York ; the numerous 
 similar societies now in operation have grown up through its 
 example, and many of their managers were once associated 
 with the Magdalen Society. The society has nobly breasted 
 the tide of early prejudice, and conquered it. It has met 
 with discouragements, as might have been expected, in every 
 phase of its history, yet these have been of the kind that add 
 momentum to the general movement, and make success the 
 more triumphant. 
 
 The statistics presented at its thirty-eighth anniversary are 
 more than ordinarily interesting. During that year, 188 
 had been in the Institution, with an average family of nearly 
 fifty. It was also stated that during the last thirty-five years 
 2,000 inmates had been registered, 000 of whom had been 
 placed in private families, 400 returned to relatives, 400 had 
 left the Asylum at their own request, 300, weary of restraint, 
 had left without permission, 100 had been expelled, 300 had 
 been temporarily transferred to the hospitals, 24 had been 
 known to unite with evangelical churches, 20 had been legally 
 married, and 41 had died. More than six thousand religious 
 services had been held. But figures cannot express the 
 amount of good done. Every fallen woman, while at large, 
 is a firebrand inflaming others ; an enemy sowing tares in 
 the great field of the world. Her recovery is, therefore, not 
 only a source of good to herself but of prevention to others. 
 
 The Asylum is maintained at an expense of about eight 
 thousand dollars per annum. A permanent fund is being 
 raised for the support of the chaplaincy. 
 
SOCIETY FOE THE BELIEF OF HALF-ORPHANS. 321 
 
 SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF HALF-ORPHANS AND DESTITUTE 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 {No. 67 West Tenth street.) ' 
 
 children have always been considered suit- 
 able objects of compassion and aid ; hence, asylums 
 for their protection and instruction have throughout 
 modern times been favorite establishments of the 
 benevolent. In many cases the condition of the half-orphan 
 is quite as pitiable as the orphan, and has an equal claim on 
 our charity. Its mother may have been left in great destitu- 
 tion or debility, or the father, the only surviving parent, may 
 be insane or crippled. Many children whose parents are still 
 living, but dissipated and reckless, are as badly off as either 
 class before mentioned. No institution in New York opened 
 its doors for the reception of half -orphans until January 14, 
 1836. An affecting circumstance led to the founding of this 
 charity. A young widow of Protestant sentiments, unable to 
 take her two children with her to her place of service, con- 
 signed them to a Roman Catholic asylum, and for a time paid 
 all her earnings for their board. Unwilling to have them 
 trained in a Romish institution, and unable to provide for 
 herself and them in the city, she took them from the asylum 
 and went into the country. The lady with whom she had 
 lived was Mrs. William A. Tomlinson, and the courageous 
 departure of her excellent servant, from whom she never 
 afterwards heard, produced a deep and salutary impression 
 on her thoughtful and pious mind. The relation of the story 
 to several benevolent ladies excited sympathy, and on the 
 16th of December, 1835, seven of them assembled to mature 
 a plan for organizing a society. On the same night the most 
 disastrous hre ever known in the city occurred. The First 
 Ward, east of Broadway and about Wall street, was almost 
 entirely destroyed. The Merchants' Exchange and six hundred 
 and forty-eight of the most valuable stores in the city, and 
 considerable church property, were consumed, inflicting a loss 
 upon the community, besides the suspension of business, of 
 $18,000,000. The society faltered amid these forbidding sur- 
 roundings, but soon rallied, collected a little money, and began 
 its operations. On the fourteenth day of January, 1836, a 
 
322 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 basement having been hired in Whitehall street, the directors 
 threw open their door, and announced themselves ready to 
 admit twenty children, and four were at once received. The 
 conditions of acceptance were these : 1. The death of one 
 parent. 2. Freedom from contagious disease. 3. A promise 
 from the parent to pay fifty cents per week for board, unless 
 satisfactory reasons were given why it should not be required. 
 4. No child received under four nor over ten years of age. 
 The apartments being wholly unsuited, a house in Twelfth 
 street was taken and the children removed to it in May, 1836, 
 and at the end of the first year 74 had been received. The 
 entire expense of the first year, including rent, furniture, 
 salaries, medicine, one funeral, and all other household requis- 
 ites, amounted to $2,759.06. At the close of the second year 
 114 had been received. The act of incorporation passed the 
 Legislature April 27, 1837, vesting the corporate powers of the 
 society in a self perpetuating board of nine male trustees, who 
 were empowered to receive bequests, and hold property to 
 any amount, the annual income of which should not exceed 
 fifty dollars for every child received ; and the appropriation 
 of the income and the internal and domestic management of 
 the Institution were committed to a board of female managers, 
 consisting of a first and a second directress, a secretary, a 
 treasurer, and twenty-six others, residing at the time of their 
 election in the city of New York. 
 
 The board is also vested with power to bind out, to proper 
 persons, children who have been surrendered to the Institu- 
 tion, and all those not known to have friends in the State 
 legally authorized to make such surrender. The children are 
 not kept after they reach their fourteenth year, all being 
 either returned to their parents or sent out to service. Their 
 food is simple, abundant, and nutritious, and though small- 
 pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping-cough, and 
 all the other disease's common to children, have occasion- 
 ally crept into the Institution, but very few have died. Many 
 of them have been vulgar and intractable at their entrance, 
 but have soon yielded to wholesome discipline and example. In 
 May, 1837, the family w r as removed to the Nicholson House, 
 then No. 3 West Tenth street, which had been purchased by 
 one of the trustees, and was sold to the society the following 
 year. This building furnished accommodations for one hun- 
 dred and twenty children, and was soon filled. During the 
 summer of 1840 a house was rented in Morristown, New 
 
SOCIETY FOR THE BELIEF OF HALF-OKPHAftB. 323 
 
 Jersey, and 47 of the children taken there to spend the hot 
 season. In 1840, the society, having received several liberal 
 donations, purchased some valuable lots on Sixth avenue, 
 where a three-story brick edifice sixty-four feet wide was 
 erected, the cost of all but a little exceeding $20,000. In 
 May, 1841, the children were removed to it, and the number 
 again much increased, some of the younger ones remaining 
 in a part of the wood building on Tenth street, called at 
 that time " the Nursery." This new building on Sixth ave- 
 nue was occupied for sixteen years, though never equal to 
 the demands, and after much discussion about removing the 
 Institution out of the city, and other schemes for enlargement, 
 more lots were finally secured adjoining those on Tenth street, 
 the present building erected, and the children removed to it 
 amid the financial panic in the fall of 1857. The edifice is 
 substantially constructed of brick trimmed with brown stone, 
 is four stories above the basement, has a front of ninety-five 
 feet, and cost, exclusive of grounds, over $37,000. The base- 
 ment contains, besides wash-room and laundry, a fine play- 
 room ; the first floor, a kitchen, dining-room, parlor, and rooms 
 for the matron. The second floor is devoted to school-rooms, 
 the third contains dormitories for the girls, and the fourth the 
 dormitories for boys, and an infirmary. The society has dis- 
 charged all its indebtedness, converted its buildings on Sixth 
 avenue into stores which bring a fine income, and now ranks 
 among the most successful and best-established institutions 
 of New York. 
 
 Since its organization, three thousand & two hundred half- 
 orphan children have been admitted to share its advantages, 
 between two hundred and three hundred being the average 
 number for several years past. All are instructed in the rud- 
 iments of English learning, under the inspection of the Board 
 of Education, and the usual percentage of the school fund 
 and the State orphan fund are paid to the Institution. Public 
 prayers are offered with the children every morning and even- 
 ing ; a fine Sabbath-school is conducted in the building, and 
 all attend church. Early rising, industrious habits, great 
 cleanliness, intellectual, moral, and religious instruction, are 
 the chief characteristics of the Asylum. The Institution is 
 Protestant, but not denominational. Mrs. Tomlinson, its chief 
 foundress and promoter, continued its first director for twenty- 
 seven years, and died in 1862. During the year 1869 the 
 only remaining one of the seven who first organized the soci- 
 
324: 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ety, Mrs. James Boorcnan, was also called to her reward. In 
 May, 1870, Miss Mary Brasher, who had held a place of use- 
 fulness in the board for more than twenty years, was also dis- 
 charged by the great Master. 
 
 The toils of these worthy ladies have sometimes appeared 
 thankless. They have ever sought to strengthen the bond be- 
 tween the parent and the child, by insisting on a small pay- 
 ment for weekly board whenever possible, and thus have 
 wisely prevented many parents from drowning their natural 
 affection in idleness and dissipation. Yet their good works 
 have not saved them from being occasionally covered with 
 abuse by the dissolute and ungrateful. Numbers of the chil- 
 dren, however, have given evidence of genuine conversion 
 while in the Institution, and many more after having gone to 
 live in Christian families in the country. Some who had not 
 been heard from for years, when converted, have taken the 
 earliest opportunity to write to the managers, breathing grate- 
 ful emotion for those who had picked them from haunts of 
 penury or dissipation, planted in their tender minds the 
 seeds of truth, which were now developing into a holy life. 
 Surely, He that went about doing good, and who took children 
 in His arms, and blessed them, will not be unmindful of these 
 toils, but in the day of final reckoning will say, " Inasmuch 
 as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it 
 unto me. v 
 
LEAKE AND WATTS ORPHAN HOUSE. 
 
 ( West One Hundred and Tenth street.) 
 
 Many years ago, two young men were engaged in the study 
 of law in the office of Judge James Duane, one of the early 
 celebrities of the New York bar. Their ambitious and thor- 
 ough bearing gave promise of more than ordinary success, to 
 which they both ultimately attained. One was known as 
 John George Leake, the other as John Watts. Mr. Leake in- 
 herited a considerable estate from his father, and a long career 
 as a legal adviser and a prudent business man, brought him 
 at last to the possession of great wealth. He had no children ; 
 and, after making a fruitless search through England and 
 Scotland for some remaining kindred, he experienced the un- 
 enviable sadness of knowing that he was the last of his race ; 
 that, among all the scattered millions of earth, not one existed 
 who was bound to him by ties of consanguinity. His later 
 years were passed in comparative retirement in his own house 
 at No. 32 Park row, visited and known only by several acquaint- 
 ances of his earlier years, among whom was Mr. John 
 Watts. Mr. Leake desired to perpetuate his family name in 
 New York, and after his death, which occurred June 2d, 1827, 
 
326 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 his will disclosed the fact that he had selected Robert Watts, 
 the second son of his old friend, to inherit his estate, on con- 
 dition that he and his descendants should take and forever 
 bear the surname of Leake ; but, in case of his refusal to ac- 
 cept it on these conditions, or of his decease during his min- 
 ority without lawful issue, then the entire estate was to be de- 
 voted to an orphan house, of which he furnished the design, 
 and appointed the seven ex-officio trustees. The last will aud 
 testament of Mr. Leake was found among his papers in his 
 own handwriting, finely executed, with his full name at its 
 commencement, but, unfortunately, he had neglected to add 
 his signature at its close, and to secure the proper witnesses. 
 He named four executors, only two of whom, however, Her- 
 mon LeRoy, and his old friend, John Watts, survived him. 
 The surrogate of the county refused to admit the will to pro- 
 bate, on account of its imperfect execution, and a long and 
 expensive litigation ensued. The authorities of New York 
 claimed that Mr. Leake died intestate, and that his property 
 fell to the city ; but after a series of ably contested suits, in 
 which thirty thousand dollars of his savings were squandered, 
 the highest judicatory decreed that the instrument was a valid 
 testamentary document so far as his personal property was 
 concerned, but that the landed estate, valued at seventy or 
 eighty thousand dollars, escheated to the State. 
 
 Up to the period of this final decision, which occurred 
 about the close of 1829, it was not known whether or not 
 Robert would comply with the conditions, and receive the es- 
 tate, which still amounted to about four hundred thousand 
 dollars. He had waited quietly for the close of the litigation, 
 and then decided to accept it. Application was made to the 
 Legislature for the enabling act, but ere its passage he died 
 suddenly, to the great disappointment of his friends, leaving 
 all his possessions to his father. 
 
 Mr. John Watts, who was also very wealthy, being now far 
 advanced in years, and having no surviving sons, took a most 
 sensible view of the situation, and immediately proceeded to 
 carry out the design of his departed friend, namely, to estab- 
 lish the Orphan House. On the 7th of March, 1831, an act 
 passed the Legislature incorporating the Leake and Watts 
 Orphan Ilouse in the city of New York. The testator wisely 
 directed that the Orphan Ilouse should be erected from the 
 income of the estate, so as to preserve the capital for a per- 
 manent endowment ; consequently, the structure was not 
 
LEAKE AND WATTS ORPHAN HOUSE. 
 
 327 
 
 commenced for several years. A plot of twenty acres of 
 ground was selected at Bloomingdale, One Hundred and 
 Tenth street, and on the 28th of April, 1838, the corner-stone 
 of the building was laid in the presence of a large audience, 
 several distinguished clergymen of New York taking part in 
 the exercises. The edifice, completed November 1843, 
 consists of a large central building and two wings ; the 
 front entrance is reached by a broad flight of sixteen granite 
 steps, while the porticos, front and rear, are supported by six 
 immense Ionic columns. The basement is of granite, the 
 three succeeding stories of brick, well appropriated to school- 
 rooms, dormitories, play-rooms, and all other needed apart- 
 ments, capable of accommodating three hundred children, 
 though the income from the endowment is not sufficient for 
 eo large a family. The eastern wing is devoted to the boys, 
 the western to the girls ; each story is provided with a wide 
 veranda, skirted with a high, massive balustrade, and fur- 
 nished with an outside stairway, affording excellent facilities 
 for escape in case of fire. A one-story building in the rear, 
 connected with the main building by a covered passage-way, 
 has recently been added, and is used as the kitchen and 
 dining-room. The schools are well conducted. The children 
 are all dressed alike ; are well taught in the principles of 
 Protestant Christianity, and appear healthy and happy. 
 Since the opening of the Institution, over one thousand 
 orphan children have here found a happy home, the average 
 number at present being about one hundred and twenty, and 
 are supported at an annual expense of about $26,000. The 
 cost per child has more than doubled during the last fifteen 
 years. The original cost of the land and buildings was about 
 $80,000, which has so wonderfully increased in value that the 
 trustees have recently sold four acres for $130,000. The 
 excellent Superintendent, Mr. W. II. Guest, has spent his 
 whole life in public institutions. He was twenty years con- 
 nected with the nursery departmont of our city charities, and 
 has now closed his eighteenth year in the Orphan House. 
 
 i 
 
NEW YORK JUVENILE ASYLUM. 
 
 (One Hundred and Seventy-sixth street.) 
 
 Every great city contains a large floating population, 
 whose indolence, prodigality, and intemperance are pro- 
 verbial, culminating in great domestic and social evil. From 
 these discordant circles spring an army of neglected or 
 ill-trained children, devoted to vagrancy and crime, who 
 early find their way into the almshouse or the prison, and 
 continue a life-long burden upon the community. It be- 
 comes the duty of the guardians of the public weal to search 
 out methods for the relief of society from these intolerable 
 burdens, and the recovery of the wayward as far as possible. 
 That a necessity existed for the establishment of this Insti- 
 tution, appears from the fact that two companies of distin- 
 guished philanthropists, in ignorance of each other, arose in 
 the autumn of 1849, to inaugurate some movement for the 
 suppression of juvenile crime. Each company applying to 
 the Mayor, they were happily united, and after careful dis- 
 cussion, and repeated appeals to the Legislature, the New- 
 York Juvenile Asylum was incorporated June 30, 1851, with 
 twenty-four managers, the Mayor, the Presidents of the 
 
NEW YORK JUVENILE ASYLUM. 
 
 329 
 
 Board of Aldermen and Assistants, and some other officials, 
 being ex-officio members of its board. After the failure of 
 their first application to the Legislature for a charter, in 1850, 
 a number of Christian ladies formed an association, and 
 opened an " Asylum for Friendless Boys," in a hired build- 
 ing, jSTo. 109 Bank street. They entered this inviting field 
 with considerable enthusiasm, and toiled with marked suc- 
 cess until the chartering of the society, when they volun- 
 tarily transferred their charge, consisting of fifty-seven boys, 
 to the managers of the new Institution. The charter made 
 it obligatory upon the board that the sum of $50,000 should 
 be obtained from voluntary subscriptions, before it should be 
 entitled to ask from the city authorities for a similar sum, or 
 to call upon them to support its pupils. The board was per- 
 manently organized November 14, 1851, and so vigorous 
 were the exertions of its members, that, by the following 
 October, the required $50,000 were pledged, and an appeal 
 to the supervisors was responded to one month later with a 
 similar sum, thus securing $100,000 for a permanent loca- 
 tion and buildings. After taking possession of the building 
 in Bank street, a House of Reception was, at the beginning 
 of 1853, opened on the same premises, and soon after a 
 building at the foot of Fifty-fifth street, East river, was 
 leased, to be occupied temporarily as an Asylum. During 
 the year 626 children were received, and during 1854 no 
 less than 1,051 were admitted, making a permanent family 
 of-two hundred. The buildings being uncomfortably crowded 
 and illy adjusted for such an enterprise, the Institution se- 
 riously suffered in all its branches. After much difficulty 
 the board selected and purchased twenty-five acres of rocky 
 land at One Hundred and Seventy-sixth street, near the High 
 Bridge, where very commodious buildings were erected of 
 stone quarried from the premises, and made ready for occupa- 
 tion in April, 1856, with accommodation for five hundred 
 children. The buildings have been several times enlarged, 
 and now consist of a central five- story, skirted by two 
 vast wings of four stories each, supplemented with rear 
 extensions, and appropriate outbuildings for shops, play, etc. 
 A three-story brick, one hundred and eight by forty-two feet, 
 has just been erected to supply some needed class-rooms, 
 a better gymnasium, a swimming bath, and the appropriate 
 industrial departments. The cost of these buildings has ex- 
 ceeded $140,000. They stand on a lofty eminence, two points 
 
 20 
 
330 
 
 NEW YOKK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 only on the island being higher, surrounded with cultivated 
 gardens, finely-arranged gravel walks and carriage-ways, and 
 with play-grounds covered with asphaltum, and shaded with 
 trees of rare growth. A large platform, with seats, has been 
 erected on the central roof of the main Asylum, affording 
 visitors an extended view of the enchanting scenery of Fort 
 Washington and the High Bridge. The location in summer 
 is one of the choicest in the world, though somewhat bleak 
 in winter. 
 
 The children who come under the care of the society are 
 between the ages of five and fourteen, and may for the sake 
 of brevity be divided into two general classes. First, the 
 truant and disobedient ; secondly, the friendless and neg- 
 lected. The first are either voluntarily surrendered by their 
 parents for discipline, or committed by the magistrates for 
 reformation. The second class found in a state of friendless- 
 ness and want, or of abandonment, or vagrancy, may be com- 
 mitted by the mayor, recorder, any alderman or magistrate of 
 the city. The charter requires that, when such commitment 
 shall have been made, a notice shall be forthwith served on 
 the parent, if any can be found, and that the child shall 
 be retained twenty days at the House of Reception, during 
 which period, if satisfactory assurances or securities for the 
 training of the child be given, the magistrate may revoke the 
 commitment ; but if not, it becomes the ward of the managers 
 of the Asylum, who may indenture the same at discretion to 
 a suitable person. 
 
 The House of Reception, No. 61 West Sixteenth street, is 
 a broad, well-arranged, four-story brick edifice, with iron 
 stairways, first occupied in 1859, and cost, including ground, 
 $40,000. It accommodates comfortably one hundred and 
 thirty children, and is always filled, as most remain here four 
 or five w T eeks before they are sent to the Asylum. The 
 first great lesson inculcated after admission is cleanliness, 
 without which there cannot be self-respect, laudable ambition, 
 or godliness. The child is stripped of its filthy garments, 
 taken by a kind woman to a vast bathing tub, supplied with 
 jets of hot and cold water, and thoroughly scrubbed, after 
 whidi it is clothed with a new clean suit, retained alone until 
 pronounced by the physician free from infectious disease, 
 after which it is assigned to its appropriate class, and enters 
 upon the study and discipline of the Institution. Bathing is 
 
NEW YORK JUVENILE ASYLUM* 
 
 331 
 
 continued regularly twice a week during the year, ample 
 facilities being provided in both Houses. 
 
 The schools, long under the able Principalship of James S. 
 Appley, Esq., are conducted by graduates selected for their 
 skill in discipline, and the children make rapid progress in 
 study while they remain in the Institution. The libraries of 
 the Asylum contain nearly two thousand volumes. Fifty of 
 the boys are at present instructed and employed in the tailor 
 shop ; thirty in the shoe shop, fifteen at a time ; others toil 
 in the gardens, supplying all the vegetables for the family ; 
 while others are made useful in cleaning halls, washing veg- 
 etables, sweeping yards, making the beds in the dormitories, 
 etc. Hours are set apart for family and public religious in- 
 struction and worship, for lectures, instruction in music, 
 temperance meetings, and other opportunities of culture. 
 The children retire at a quarter before eight in summer, and 
 at seven in winter, and are required to rise with the sun or 
 before it. Nine or ten hours are thus given for uninterrupted 
 sleep. The managers secured for a number of years for their 
 Superintendent the services of Dr. S. D. Brooks, an educated 
 physician and a gentleman of fine administrative talent, 
 coupled with a long experience in training truant children. 
 He has recently connected himself with the " New York In- 
 stitution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb," and his 
 place in the Asylum has been filled by Mr. E. M. Carpenter, 
 late of the House of Refuge, at Rochester, New York, 
 another gentleman of large and successful experience. 
 
 The sanitary interests or the Asylum have been so well con- 
 ducted that of the fifteen thousand three hundred and thirty- 
 six children admitted since its opening in January, 1853, 
 only sixty- three have died, and during 186-1-65 but one death 
 occurred. 
 
 The correctives applied are mainly moral, the rod being 
 very rarely employed ; but the hundreds of unruly boys re- 
 ceived annually make more and more necessary the erection 
 of a high enclosure around the premises. The building was 
 long poorly supplied with water from wells, and the danger 
 of fire was a source of deep and constant anxiety, but the 
 construction of the high-service reservoir has at last obviated 
 this difficulty. A steam pump has recently been connected 
 with the general heating apparatus, capable of throwing two 
 hundred gallons of water per minute to any part of the build- 
 ings, with well-arranged iron pipe and hose for the speedy ex- 
 
332 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tinction of fire. The plan of the Institution is the early return 
 of the children to their parents, or their indenture to respon- 
 sible families in the country ; hence few remain over six 
 months. The State of Illinois, the garden of the West, was 
 early selected as the place for the deportation and indentur- 
 ing of the children, and over three thousand have been placed 
 in these Western homes. A House of Reception, under 
 charge of a resident agent, has been established at Chicago. 
 This agent regularly visits the children and corresponds with 
 the families in which they live, taking care that justice is 
 done to all concerned. Children are not indentured without 
 the consent of their parents, except in extreme cases. They 
 are often placed in large numbers in a township or county, 
 and thus allowed to continue their early acquaintance, and 
 rival each other in attainments and worth. Clergymen and 
 other persons of character are requested to instruct and other- 
 wise care for them after their indenture, and very few have 
 turned out badly. More than $250,000 have been contributed 
 by private parties toward the support of this Institution since 
 its establishment, its chief revenue being derived from the 
 city government. It is admirably conducted, and ranks 
 among the best institutions of the age. 
 
THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 
 
 (Eighty -sixth street, North nver.) 
 
 Woman has in all time borne a conspicuous part in work? 
 of benevolence and reformation. There is an intensity in the 
 female nature which generally develops into positive traits 
 of character, either for good or for evil. She loves or hates 
 with all her heart, and can hardly occupy a middle ground. 
 The instincts of a good and true woman are easily aroused by 
 the cries of the wretched and helpless, and her entire nature 
 is at once thrown into efforts for their relief. In the quick- 
 ness of her perceptions, in the depth and constancy of her 
 sympathy and affection, as well as in the sublimity of her 
 faith, she has often excelled her more hardy companion. 
 But alas! an angel corrupted becomes a devil, and a woman 
 abandoned to treachery and lust becomes a mournful wreck, 
 of all others the most difficult to recover. Nature thus 
 abused seeks to avenge itself of the outrage, by sadly invert- 
 ing all her high- wrought faculties, degrading to the deepest 
 infamy all that was formed for sublimity and purity. Only 
 woman can intimately superintend the recovery of her own. 
 
334 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 fallen sex, and the age has produced not a few who have suc- 
 cessfully toiled in this dark and forbidding field. 
 
 The House of Mercy was founded in 1854, through the 
 untiring exertions of Mrs. S. A. Richmond, wife of the late 
 Eev. William Richmond, formerly rector of St. Michael's 
 Church, New York. The act of incorporation was passed 
 February 2d, 1855. The efforts of the society for several 
 ears were on a limited scale, and conducted in private 
 ouses hired or gratuitously furnished by the friends of the 
 enterprise. The zeal and efforts of Mrs. Richmond, who was 
 a Christian lady of rare endowments and great address, dur- 
 ing the infancy of the movement are infinitely above all 
 praise. She not only sought with the most careful training 
 the reformation of the fallen in the Institution, but shrank 
 from no other toil or exposure. For several years she so suc- 
 cessfully plead the cause of the society at the markets, in the 
 streets, and before the counters of the merchants, that the 
 supplies of the House were never exhausted. When her 
 failing health compelled her to resign the superintendency in 
 the Institution, she still conducted the branch office at No. 
 304 Mulberry street, receiving and sending to Eighty-sixth 
 street the women who desired to reform. She was succeeded 
 in the management of the Institution by several members of 
 the sisterhood of St. Mary, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
 who had spent some time at St. Luke's. At first only the 
 internal government was committed to them, but for several 
 years past the financial department, in connection with the 
 trustees, has been in their charge also, leaving the committee 
 of ladies to whom this was at first assigned as merely repre- 
 sentatives from their respective churches. The sisters have 
 succeeded with much satisfaction both to themselves and 
 others. The younger class of fallen women are taken, a 
 large part of them being between twelve and twenty years of 
 age. They are not compelled to remain against their will, and 
 if very refractory are sent away. Deep-rooted virtue is with 
 them a plant of slow growth, hence a period of exclusion from 
 ordinary society for one or two years is considered essential 
 to their thorough reformation. Many return to their friends, 
 after spending a few weeks or months in the Institution ; some 
 depart at the request of the sisters, or without it; others remain 
 long, and then go to service in good families, or enter upon 
 the responsible duties of the conjugal state. Quite a large 
 number of the inmates have been confirmed as members of 
 
THE HOUSE OF MERCY. 
 
 335 
 
 the church by the bishop at his annual visit to the Institution 
 a few of whom have failed in the performance of their 
 religious obligations, but many of them have nobly persevered. 
 The Institution is mainly supported and entirely controlled by 
 the Protestant Episcopal church, one of her clergymen offici- 
 ating as chaplain. 
 
 On the 16th of June, 1859, ten lots of ground, containing a 
 large country mansion, were purchased at a cost of about 
 $12,000. The property is situated between Eighty-fifth and 
 Eighty-sixth streets, near the Hudson river. Six lots have 
 since been added. Several successful fairs have been held, 
 and a number of State and city donations received, the 
 largest of which was granted by the Legislature of 1867, 
 amounting to $25,000. The earnings of the inmates have 
 thus far been small, and the society depends upon its annual 
 subscribers and the gifts of the benevolent for the support 
 of the House. When the mansion was purchased it was said 
 to be able to accommodate one hundred inmates besides the 
 ladies in charge, but like too many other estimates it fell 
 short just one half. It has never afforded the space or ar- 
 rangement for suitably classifying and dividing its forty-five 
 or fifty inmates, a matter of vital importance in such an insti- 
 tution. For several years the society sought for means to 
 enlarge their buildings. The State grant of 1867, supple- 
 mented by liberal subscriptions from the friends of the enter- 
 prise, enabled them in 1869 to carry forward this much-de- 
 sired project. 
 
 The corner-stone of the new building was laid by Bishop 
 Potter of Xew York on the 16th of October, 1869, in the 
 presence of Bishops Southgate, Lay, Quintard, and a large 
 number of clergymen and friends of the Institution from the 
 city. An interesting address, containing valuable reminis- 
 cences of the past, was delivered by Eev. Dr. Peters. The 
 building occupies a beautiful site, almost overhanging the 
 Hudson, fronting on Eighty-sixth street, and at a pleasant 
 remove from the new Boulevard. It is built of sandstone and 
 red brick, relieved with dressings of Ohio stone. On entering 
 the principal door, access is had to a spacious hall ; opening 
 out of this are offices, and beyond a broad staircase of iron 
 ascending to the upper stories. On the floor above is a cor- 
 ridor, ninety feet in length, lighted by windows taken from 
 the old oratory, thus connecting the old building with the 
 chapel, dining-hall, and school-rooms. The chapel is fifty feet 
 
336 
 
 NEW "SOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 in length, terminating at the eastern end in a circular apse ; 
 the altar and reredos are of carved stone, supported by pillars 
 of polished marble, the sanctuary being laid with encaustic 
 tile. At the west end, on either side of the door, are apart- 
 ments for the Sisters, and above these, behind an open arcade, 
 are two concealed galleries, one for visitors and the other for 
 the sick. In the second story are placed the infirmary, a 
 Sister's room, bath-room, and a mortuary; over these a dormi- 
 tory, divided into little rooms by low wainscot partitions and 
 curtained doors. A slender bell-turret surmounts the roof, 
 rising to the height of eighty-eight feet. The basement con- 
 tains laundry, kitchen, pantries, and store-room. The stained 
 glass for the windows was imported from England. The 
 edifice cost $30,000, and the sixteen lots, with their buildings, 
 are now valued at $100,000, and are free from debt. The 
 number of inmates is now to be increased from forty-five to 
 one hundred, and the managers propose to eventually remove 
 the old frame mansion and complete a large quadrangle, in- 
 closing the property of the Institution with permanent build- 
 ings in the style of the one just erected. 
 
 HEBREW BENEVOLENT AND ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY OF 
 THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 (Seventy -seventh street and Third avenue.) 
 
 N the 8th of April, 1822, a number of gentlemen of 
 the Jewish persuasion, residents of the city of New 
 York, organized the " Hebrew Benevolent Society," 
 which was incorporated by act of Legislature Febru- 
 ary 2, 1832, granting power to hold real and personal estate, 
 the annual income of which should not exceed $2,000. The 
 objects of the society were stated to be "charitable, and to 
 afford relief to its members in cases of sickness and infirm- 
 ity." 
 
 In January, 1845, the " German Hebrew Benevolent 
 Society," a rival organization, sprang up, which was the same 
 year incorporated, and exerted a large influence for fourteen 
 years. The objects of this organization, as set forth in its act 
 
HEBREW BENEVOLENT AND ORPHAN ASYLUM SOCIETY. 337 
 
 of incorporation, were — "to assist the needy, succor the help- 
 less, and protect the weak." The proceedings of this society 
 were transacted and the minutes kept in the German lan- 
 guage. In 1847 this society voted 81,500 out of its general 
 fund, and a portion of its annual receipts, toward the erection 
 of a hospital. The Hebrew Benevolent Society promptly 
 united in this movement, but, as the wealthier congregations 
 withheld their support, the enterprise failed for lack of means. 
 In 1859 the German Society having voted to appropriate the 
 hospital fund for the establishment of an orphan asylum, and 
 a home for aged and indigent Jews, and the opinion having 
 become general that the cause of charity would be promoted 
 by a union of the two societies, they were happily united, and 
 a supplementary act of incorporation passed April 12, 1860, 
 under the title of the " Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan 
 Asylum Society of the City of New York." The new or- 
 ganization proposed " to relieve the sick, succor the poor and 
 needy, support and comfort the widow, clothe, educate, and 
 maintain the orphan." This was to be done by the establish- 
 ment of a well-regulated system of out-door relief for the 
 poor ; by founding and maintaining an asylum for Jewish 
 orphans ; and by establishing a home for the support of the 
 aged poor. Any Israelite may become a member of the 
 society on the payment of one hundred dollars. The busi- 
 ness of the society is conducted by a president, vice-presi- 
 dent, a treasurer, and eighteen trustees, six of whom are 
 annually elected at the meeting of the society in April. 
 
 The last act of incorporati6n granted power to hold estate, 
 the income of which should not exceed $15,000 ; authorized 
 the city to grant land to the society for the erection of suit- 
 able buildings ; and clothed it with the same power to man- 
 age and indenture orphans that had been given to other 
 societies. In 1861 the Corporation granted a beautiful plot 
 of ground on the corner of Seventy-seventh street and Third 
 avenue, and the sum of $30,000 toward the erection of an 
 asylum. The corner-stone of the building was laid Septem- 
 ber 30th, 1862, and the edifice formally dedicated November 
 5, 1863. The Asylum consists of a main building and two 
 wings, the principal front, on Seventy-seventh street, being 
 one hundred and twenty feet, with a depth of sixty, and cost 
 $40,000. It is constructed of brick, is three stories high, 
 besides a high basement and sub-cellar. The ceilings are 
 high, the halls wide, the apartments conveniently arranged 
 
338 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 with all the modern improvements, and crowned everywhere 
 with completest order and tidiness. The lecture-room (or 
 miniature synagogue), like every other part of the Institution, 
 is replete with Jewish taste and trimming. A yard one hun- 
 dred and twenty-five feet by one hundred and two, lying be- 
 tween the Asylum and Third avenue, is devoted to a beautiful 
 flower-garden, and ample play -grounds are furnished in the 
 rear. 
 
 The Superintendent, Louis Schnabel, is a Jewish rabbi, and 
 conducts the services of the Institution. At the opening of 
 the Asylum fifty-six orphans, who had been provided for by 
 the society in various places, were transferred to it, and the 
 number has since reached one hundred and fifty-eight, the 
 full capacity of the building. The children attend the 
 public schools daily, where they generally excel in their stud- 
 ies, and when promoted to the grammar department they 
 also take up the study of Hebrew in the Asylum. These 
 Hebrew scholars are divided into five classes, and many of 
 the students attain a fine education. Experimental work- 
 shops have recently been added, which if successful will soon 
 be greatly enlarged. One hundred and six of the two hun- 
 dred and twent} T -one in the Institution during 1872 were born 
 in Xew York, and the remaining 115 represented eleven of the 
 American States, and seven of the countries of Europe and 
 Asia. Eight were admitted at the age of five, two at seven- 
 teen ; the larger portion are, however, received between the 
 ages of seven and twelve years. Indentures are made only 
 to Hebrews of good standing. 
 
 Eight members of the board of directors are constituted a 
 committee of charity and relief, who investigate by personal 
 visitation the circumstances of all applicants. During 1869, 
 3,926 persons were relieved at an expense of S13,425. One 
 hundred and forty-six persons were assisted to go West, South, 
 or to return to friends in Europe. 
 
 The Hebrew fair, held during the winter of 1870 and one of 
 the most succesoful ever held on Manhattan by any society, 
 netted the Asylum §35,000, and the Mount Sinai Hospital 
 over $100,000. 
 
HOUSE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 
 
 {Ninetieth street and East river.) 
 
 This Institution was commenced on the 2d of October, 
 1857, by five members of the "Order of Our Lady of 
 Charity of the Good Shepherd," belonging to the Mother 
 House of Angers, in France. The operations of the society 
 began in a house in Fourteenth street, but in 1861 they 
 erected a convent and chapel at the foot of Ninetieth street, 
 East river. In 1864 a five-story brick building, fifty feet 
 by ninety, was reared on Eighty -ninth street, one hundred 
 and twenty-five feet from the convent, and in 1868 and 
 1869 another of the same size was joined to the end of the 
 former, stretching across to Ninetieth street. The cost of 
 their buildings has now exceeded $275,000, and another 
 edifice is still to be added to complete their plan. 
 
 The order was founded by Pere Eudes in 1661, with the 
 avowed object of affording a refuge for fallen women and 
 girls who desired to reform. Being an enclosed order, a veil 
 of secrecy is thrown over most of their doings. The Lady 
 Superior converses with the outside world through an iron- 
 grated ceiling, inside of which the curious are seldom per- 
 mitted to step, and the order, except a few outside Sisters, are 
 
840 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 forever concealed in the shadows of the cloister. By recep- 
 tion of novices, the order now numbers ninety members, 
 besides the out-door Sisters ; twelve of these are engaged in 
 founding an order in Brooklyn, and eleven in Boston. The 
 Institution is a house of correction, seeking the reform of 
 abandoned women, some of whom come voluntarily, others 
 by persuasion, some are sent by the courts, and some are 
 placed here by their friends. 
 
 The Sisters declare that moral means alone are employed 
 for the reformation of the inmates, and that those who come 
 voluntarily can depart at pleasure ; but some who have escaped 
 have told doleful stories about the discipline and fare, upon 
 the merits of which we shall not attempt to decide. The 
 Sisters dwell in the convent, but some of them are said to be 
 always with the inmates both night and day, in recreation, 
 toil, devotion, and slumber. The inmates are divided into 
 four classes, each of which is entirely separated from all the 
 rest, with whom they are never allowed to communicate. 
 The first class consists of penitent magdalens, who have been 
 converted from the error of their ways, and who have been 
 admitted to a low grade of the order. The second class is 
 composed of penitent women and girls, received into the 
 Asylum but not } T et converted. The third is a preservation 
 class, composed of children who are in danger of falling, 
 most of whose parents are bad. The fourth consists of girls 
 between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, who have been 
 committed by the magistrates, and who remain during the 
 term of commitment. About twenty-nine hundred have been 
 received into the Institution since its founding, very many 
 of whom are said to have reformed, though the screen which 
 prevents public inspection leaves greater place for distrust 
 than with almost an}' other institution in New York. In 
 February, 1870, no less than seven hundred inmates were 
 concealed within those walls, three hundred of whom had 
 been sent by the magistrates, and the superioress informed 
 us that one hundred and fifty more could be well accommo- 
 dated. Their chief occupation is machine and hand sewing, 
 embroidery, with various other species of remunerative 
 handicraft, and laundry work. The Institution has a priest 
 who conducts service every morning in the chapel, where all 
 attend. This institution is noted as the place of the involun- 
 tary confinement of Mary Ann Smith, the daughter of a 
 Romanist, who had embraced Protestantism. Many of the 
 
ST. BARNABAS HOUSE. 
 
 341 
 
 girls received remain permanently through life, a few after- 
 wards marry, some after their reformation go out to service 
 in good families, and not a few descend again to old practices 
 and "wallow in the mire." The Public Authorities have 
 dealt very liberally with this Institution. 
 
 ST. BAKNABAS HOUSE. 
 (No. 304 Mulberry street.) 
 
 iBjP HIS House was originally opened by Mrs. William 
 Richmond, under the name of the " Home for Home- 
 wijl l ess Women and Children." Before her death it was 
 purchased by the New York Protestant Episcopal 
 City Mission Society, and opened in June, 1865, under the 
 name of the St. Barnabas House. In 1866 the society pur- 
 chased the adjoining building, No. 306 Mulberry street, in the 
 front of which the chapel was located, leaving the basement, 
 second story, and attic of this building, as well as all of the 
 building No. 304, for the purposes of the Home. A rear 
 building, connected with No. 306, furnished convenient rooms 
 for the clergy and committees. The buildings are of brick, 
 of moderate size, and contain fifty beds, sixteen of which are 
 for children. 
 
 The House was opened by the above-mentioned society as 
 a 6ort of experiment, and an executive committee was 
 appointed for its management, who relied mainly on special 
 contributions for its support. The House is designed as a 
 place of refuge for homeless women and children, applying 
 irom the streets or wandering in from the country ; also for 
 women discharged from the hospital, cured, but requiring a 
 few days of repose to recover strength, but destitute of home, 
 friends, and money. It is however intended only as a tempo- 
 rary resting-place, hence most of those admitted are sent to 
 situations during the first week. The average stay of 2,150 
 women in the House during 1869 was three and one-fifth 
 days. During 1865 there were but two months that there 
 were over eighty inmates received. In November, 1866, the 
 
342 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 number reached 166, and in December 196. Each month 
 in 1868 brought over two hundred, the largest number in 
 any month being 262. A little family of sixteen children 
 who have no homes are kept as steady inmates, clothed and 
 instructed. One room is set apart as a wardrobe department, 
 where garments are made and repaired. Nearly six thou- 
 sand persons have been received during the last three years, 
 of whom 3,602 were Protestants, 2,203 Koman Catholics, and 
 7 Jews. Of this number, 1,924 were sent to situations, 1,456 
 to other institutions, and 1,835 returned to their friends. 
 But one death occurred in the House during that time. 
 During the same time the Ilouse afforded 46,958 lodgings 
 to the homeless, and supplied 188,163 gratuitous meals to 
 the hungry. The annual expenses of the Institution amount 
 to about §7,000. The business of the House has outgrown 
 its accommodations, and the managers have appealed for 
 means to greatly enlarge their borders, and supply several 
 desirable apartments never yet provided. 
 
 Destitute and afflicted families in the neighborhood almost 
 daily apply at the Institution for assistance. A visitor is sent 
 to investigate the case, and if found to be one of real distress 
 relief in some form is administered. Some are allowed to 
 come to the House for meals, others are supplied with coal, 
 garments, or money for rent. Much attention is given to the 
 sick. 
 
 The House for three years has been managed by the " Sister- 
 hood of the Good Shepherd," a new order of females in the 
 Protestant Episcopal church. Several Sisters were organized 
 under the above title by the bishop of the diocese, in St. 
 Ann's church, on the second Tuesday after Easter, 1869. At 
 the time of the organization there were three Sisters received, 
 also three visitors, and one associate. Some of these have 
 since retired from active service, and as these organizations 
 are not popular among Protestants, only enough have been 
 received to keep good the original number. 
 
 The habit worn by this order is the most simple of any we 
 have yet seen, and hence less objectionable. They are much 
 devoted to their undertaking, and abundant in toil, making 
 several hundred visits to those sick or in prison per year, be- 
 sides conducting the House of St. Barnabas. A small room 
 on the third floor has been set apart for an Oratory, where the 
 Sisters all retire at twelve o'clock each day for prayer, which 
 is offered by the superioress, all others joining in the responses. 
 
ST. BARNABAS HOUSE. 
 
 343 
 
 The room is neatly carpeted, has chairs and a small reading 
 desk, but contains no images, pictures, or ornaments of any 
 kind. Family prayer is also daily conducted in the House, 
 and all the inmates are required to attend. A chaplain con- 
 ducts service every Lord's Day. A number of ladies and 
 gentlemen from the surrounding parishes conduct a Sunday- 
 school for the benefit of the children in the House, and those 
 of the neighborhood. The register contains the names of 
 over two hundred scholars, less than half of whom attend 
 regularly. There is also connected with the Institution an 
 industrial society, composed of twenty-two ladies, who hold 
 a weekly sewing school, with an average attendance of sixty- 
 five girls. The Institution is located in a neighborhood greatly 
 needing its influence, and has been already a rich fountain of 
 blessing to thousands. 
 
THE INSTITUTION OF MERCY (BOYS' BUILDING). 
 
 THE INSTITUTION OF MERCY. 
 (No. 33 Houston street.) 
 
 This Institution is situated at No. 33 Houston street, ad- 
 joining and controlled by the Convent of the Sisters of 
 Mercy. The society was incorporated in 1848, under the 
 general act of May 12th of that year, and the three-story 
 brick building comer of Houston and Mulberry streets pur- 
 chased at a cost of $30,000. This is the Convent, or home of 
 the Sisters of Mercy. The same year the edifice known as the 
 Institution of Mercy, a plain four-story brick, forty feet by 
 seventy-two, was begun, on lots adjoining the purchased build- 
 ing, and sufficiently completed to receive inmates in Novem- 
 ber, 1849. The Sisters of Mercy are a religious order of Ro- 
 man Catholics, founded by Catharine McAuly, a lady of for- 
 tune of Dublin, in 1827, and the order was approved by 
 Pope Gregory XVI. in 1835, and confirmed in 1841. The 
 order lias in view the visitation of the sick and prisoners, 
 the instruction of poor girls, and the protection of virtuous 
 women in distress. The first community in the United States 
 was established in Pittsburg in 1843, but none entered New 
 York until 1846, when Archbishop Hughes invited them to 
 
THE INSTITUTION OF MEECY. 
 
 345 
 
 come from Ireland and establish an institution. The Sisters 
 are subject to the bishops, but have no general superior, each 
 community being independent of the rest of the order. The 
 Sisters are divided into two orders : choir sisters, who are em- 
 ployed about the ordinary objects of the order; and lay sis- 
 ters, who attend to the domestic avocations of the convent, etc. 
 Candidates for admission into the order undergo a " postul- 
 ancy " of six months ; they then receive the white veil and 
 enter the novitiate, which lasts two years, being permitted at 
 any time to return to the world before the vows are finally 
 taken. The presiding mind in each community is the Mother 
 Superior. Agnes O'Conner was the first in New York, and 
 the present one is the fourth. The community at present 
 numbers 49, 12 of whom are at the Industrial Home at Eighty- 
 first street. The Sisters teacli a select school of day scho- 
 lars at the Convent, and another in Fifty-fourth street for 
 their own support, so as not to be an expense to their Insti- 
 tution. 
 
 The Sisters are a corporate body, holding their own prop- 
 erty, and elect annually their board of eight trustees from 
 their own number. Archbishop Hughes ordered each Catho- 
 lic pastor in New York to collect $500 to assist them in found- 
 ing their Institution in 1848, and a number of private dona- 
 tions were also received. The Roman Catholic churches in 
 the city continued for several years to take collections for this 
 cause, but this is no longer considered necessary. Virtuous 
 girls of any age, out of employment, are received into the In- 
 stitution, and remain a longer or shorter period, according to 
 circumstances. Machine and hand sewing, embroidery, and 
 laundry work, form the chief employment of the inmates. 
 Many young females from other countries, just landing on 
 our shores, with little or no means, have been picked up by 
 this society and raised to industry and respectability, who 
 would otherwise have soon sunken into pits of infamy. Since 
 the opening of the Institution, over eleven thousand girls have 
 been admitted, and the Sisters have found places of employ- 
 ment for about twenty thousand. This last number includes 
 some from the House of Protection at West Farms, and 
 many who have not been received into either institution. 
 The earnings of the girls go toward the support of the Insti- 
 tution, deficiencies being provided for by private and public 
 donations, and by fairs. The Institution has accommodations 
 
346 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 for about seventy-five, though in times of great destitution 
 one hundred and twenty have been crowded into it. 
 
 The Sisters do also a vast amount of outside visiting every 
 year. Clad in their sable habit, they glide like shadows through 
 the crowded streets, finding their way to abodes of sickness 
 and poverty in garrets and cellars. They search the prisons 
 of this and of neighboring cities, " prepare " the Catholic 
 culprit for the scaffold, administer as far as means will permit 
 to the w r ants of the destitute, and prepare for the sacraments 
 ten times more children than the same number of priests. 
 However much one may criticise their work, or pity their 
 delusions, they are certainty abundant in self-sacrifices, untir- 
 ing in toil, and rank among the best of their denomination. 
 They are well informed, especially in matters of their own 
 church, polite in their attentions to literary visitors, and if 
 disrobed of the habit of the order, and dressed for the draw- 
 ing-room, a few of them would be pronounced handsome. 
 
 For several years past the Sisters have been engaged in the 
 erection of a building for an " Industrial School for the Des- 
 titute Children of Soldiers and Others." This was finally 
 completed and occupied in the autumn of 1869. It stands on 
 a block of ground contributed by the authorities, bounded by 
 Madison and Fourth avenues, Eighty-first and Eighty-second 
 streets. It is situated on high ground, is an imposing four- 
 story and attic structure, in the Gothic order, with stone cop- 
 ings, and has accommodations for five hundred children. It 
 has a front of one hundred and sixty feet, a depth of sixty, 
 and a rear extension for the engine which heats the building, 
 for wash-room, laundry, and other conveniences. It cost, with 
 its furniture, $180,000, $105,000 of which were contributed by 
 the State, always liberal to prodigality to the Institutions of 
 Roman Catholics. It had at our visit to it, February 22d, 
 1870, 80 children. The children of soldiers are to be taken 
 free, as are all others twelve years of age, some pay or cloth- 
 ing being required with those received at an earlier age. 
 
ORPHAN ASYLUM OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL. 
 
 {Thirty-ninth street, near Seventh avenue.) 
 
 )Um*TLE society by which this Institution has been estab- 
 '^J^sr lished began its work in the year 1859, in a hired 
 house in West Twenty-sixth street, where it continued 
 until January, 1870. The building was capable of 
 accommodating sixty girls and thirty boys, and was always 
 well filled. A band of Catholic females (fourteen at present), 
 known as the Sisters of the Holy Cross, whose Mother House 
 is in the north of France, have had charge of the Asylum 
 from the first, instructing the children, and performing all 
 the labor of the household. Several years since, the man- 
 agers purchased several valuable lots of ground, situated on 
 Thirty-ninth street, near Seventh avenue, at a cost of $38,000. 
 In 1868 the first half of the Asylum was begun, and sufficient- 
 ly completed to become tenantable early in January, 1870. 
 The portion erected is sixty feet square, leaving space for an 
 addition of the same size, which will doubtless be added at 
 no distant day. The building is a French Gothic, constructed 
 of pressed brick, with Ohio free-stone trimmings, is five stories 
 above the basement, including two attic Mansard stories. 
 The kitchen, laundry, and children's dining-room are in the 
 basement. The first floor contains reception-room, parlor, 
 dining-room for the sisters, and the large sewing-room where 
 the girls are taught needle-work. The upper stories are 
 appropriately divided between school-rooms, dormitories, and 
 storerooms. The building, which is a model of neatness and 
 taste, has thus far cost $74,000, and when completed will be 
 an architectural ornament to that portion of the city. The 
 cut represents the building as it will appear when fully com- 
 pleted. The children represent, in their nationality, Italy, 
 Germany, Poland, England, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, 
 France ; and America. They are taken from any country, of 
 any religion, and at any age not below four years, and are 
 retained, the boys until they are eleven or twelve, and the 
 girls until they are sixteen. The English text-books employed 
 in the public schools are used, to which are added a course 
 of study in French, the Catholic catechism, etc. The girls 
 are all taught trades, and fitted for self -maintenance when 
 
348 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS., 
 
 they leave the Institution. The Asylum has at present nearly 
 two hundred children, and when completed will afford space 
 for about four hundred. A donation of $15,000 was in 1870 
 received from the city. The ladies in charge, though not 
 fluent in English, are prepossessing in appearance, polite to 
 visitors, and deserving of credit for the order and vigor with 
 which their affairs are conducted. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORr (BOYS' BUILDING). 
 
 SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF DESTITUTE ROMAN CATH- 
 OLIC CHILDREN. 
 
 (West Farms.) 
 
 The plan for organizing this Society, and founding this 
 Institution, originated with the late Levi Silliman Ives, D.D., 
 LL.D., formerly bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 of North Carolina, but who joined the Roman Catholics 
 while on a visit to Rome, in 1852. The act of incorporation 
 passed the Legislature April 14, 1863, making it the duty of 
 the courts that " whenever the parent, guardian, or next of 
 kin of any Catholic child about to be finally committed 
 shall request the magistrate to commit the child to the Cath- 
 olic Institution, the magistrate shall grant the request." 
 
 The management of this Institution is committed to a 
 board of about twenty-five laymen of the Roman Catholic 
 church, the Mayor, Recorder, and Comptroller of New York 
 being annually added as members ex officio. The Society began 
 its labors soon after its organization, in a hired house in the 
 upper part of the city, receiving at first only boys ; but after a 
 
350 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 few months a girls' department was added. Their first plan 
 was to apprentice the children after a very short detention 
 at the Protectory, but their Third Annual Report pronounces 
 the apprenticeship system, as then practised, a " great evil" 
 and fur two reasons: 1. Because the children were not pre- 
 pared by previous discipline and education to ensure content- 
 ment, obedience, and fidelity. 2. That the avarice of the 
 persons to whom they were apprenticed caused most of them 
 to be overworked, their education neglected, and the neces- 
 sary supplies of food and clothing withheld. Three-fourths 
 of those apprenticed up to that time, it was stated, had " be- 
 come perfectly worthless." The crowded condition of their 
 buildings, and the manifest necessity of retaining the chil- 
 dren until sober and industrious habits had been formed, 
 induced the managers to purchase a farm of one hundred 
 and fourteen acres (since increased to one hundred and forty 
 acres), at West Farms, three miles above Harlem bridge. On 
 the first of May, 1866, their lease having expired at York- 
 ville, the family of four hundred boys was transferred to 
 West Farms, and quartered in farm-houses, and such other 
 buildings as could be secured, until a wing of the present 
 building could be completed. This wing was greatly crowded 
 for two years previous to the completion of the main build- 
 ing, seven hundred or eight hundred boys, with their over- 
 seers and instructors, having constantly occupied it, it fur- 
 nishing all their apartments, besides appropriating space for 
 workshops, offices, etc. The main structure is now com- 
 pleted. The original wing is two hundred and fifteen feet 
 long, forty feet wide, and four stories high, while the front 
 and main edifice, which forms a transept or colossal cross, 
 presents a handsome f acade of two hundred and thirty feet, is 
 fifty feet wide, and five stories high, with attic. It is a truly 
 imposing structure, surmounted by a lofty tower, is built of 
 brick, with marble trimmings, in the French Gothic style of 
 architecture, and cost $350,000. They are now able to in- 
 crease the family of boys to about twelve hundred, and afford 
 them much better accommodations than ever before. 
 
 The boys are wholly committed to the control and educa- 
 tion of the Christian Brothers, belonging to the society origin- 
 ally organized in France by Jean Baptiste De La Salle, in 
 1681. They are a society of laymen organized for the gratui- 
 tous education of the poor, giving themselves wholly to the 
 church as teachers, laboring, wherever appointed, with a salary 
 
SOCIETY FOE PROTECTION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CHILDREN. 351 
 
 just sufficient to meet their expenses. When they take the 
 vows of the order they renounce all plans of business, and all 
 thoughts of entering the priesthood. In 1844 some of the 
 fraternity emigrated to Canada, and in 1847 found their way 
 into the United States. Brother Teliow, the Rector (superin- 
 tendent), an educated Prussian, a gentlemen of modest bear- 
 ing, but of wise and decided administrative ability, has had 
 control of the House since its opening. He is assisted by 
 twenty -two of the brothers, who eat and sleep in the rooms 
 with the boys, superintend their toil and studies, attend them 
 at worship, and in their recreations. The brothers are 
 usually mild and generous in their treatment, seldom inflict- 
 ing corporal punishment, but more wisely appealing to their 
 honor and interests. Neither the grounds nor the buildings 
 have any formidable enclosures, and the boys are often sent 
 to the village, and sometimes to New York, entrusted with 
 horses and other responsible matters. True, some forget to 
 return, but the policy of trusting them is believed to do 
 immensely more good than evil, and when one absconds a 
 hundred are ready to volunteer as detectives, to compel his 
 return. They carry on the manufacture of ladies', misses', and 
 children's shoes on quite a large scale, the boys mastering 
 every branch of the business, though this has not yet been 
 made as remunerative as at the House of Refuge. Particular 
 attention is paid to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, and 
 some are employed in the manufacture of hoop-skirts, others 
 in tailoring, baking, and printing. They manufacture their 
 own gas, do all their kitchen and laundry work, so that celi- 
 bacy here is a practical thing, from superior to minion. The 
 boys make the shoes for the girls' department, but ask and 
 receive no favors in return. Their ages vary from five to 
 seventeen years, a large portion of them being quite young 
 and mostly of Irish parentage. Nearly one-half are unable 
 to read when committed, but, several hours per day being 
 always devoted to study, many attain to respectable scholar- 
 ship, and a few enter upon the study of the classics. Music 
 is also taught. There are no definite rules governing the 
 period of detention. Most of them are returned to their par- 
 ents, and many return the second time to the Institution. 
 Parents who have neglected children to their ruin, rarely ex- 
 hibit much improvement on a second trial. 
 
 About one hundred and fifty yards from the premises just 
 described stands the girls' building, two hundred and sixty- 
 
352 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS 
 
 nine feet long, varying in width from forty-five to seventy 
 feet. It is built in the .Romanesque style, with high basement 
 and three stories of brick, and two attic stories of wood and 
 slate. Its foundation stone was laid July 4th, 186S, and was 
 sufficiently completed to receive its inmates November 1, 
 1860. It is admirably adapted to its use, and cost over 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC PROTECTORY (GIRLS" BUILDING). 
 
 $200,000, though it is but about half the size of the original 
 design. The cut represents the building as it is, whereas the 
 one in the City Manual presents the one in prospect. The 
 basement contains the kitchen, dining room, laundry, furnace- 
 room for heating the building, etc. The cooking is done with 
 steam. The first floor contains reception rooms, offices, 
 work-rooms, etc. ; the second is divided into a series of 
 school-rooms, with folding partitions, so arranged that the 
 whole can be thrown into a vast hall for religious exercises, 
 with seating for two thousand persons. The third floor is 
 the dormitory, with three hundred and fifty beds, a row of 
 cells being constructed at each end of the room for the 
 accommodation of the Sisters. The fourth floor is divided into 
 several dormitories arranged for hospital purposes, with baths 
 and closets, and is supplied witli hot and cold water. The 
 1ifth is for storage. The management of the girls' depart- 
 ment is committed to the Sisters of Charity of Mount Saint 
 Vincent Convent, twelve of whom, when we visited the Insti- 
 
SOCIETY FOR PROTECTION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CHILDREN. 353 
 
 tntion, had charge of its family of two hundred and fifty 
 girls, and taught all branches of study and toil, except a few 
 iutricacies of skirt-making and handicraft. The girls, like 
 the boys, are nearly all received from the courts, as vagrants 
 or criminals, are ignorant and spoiled children, and make 
 large demands on the patience of their teachers. Their new 
 building has accommodations for six hundred inmates, which 
 will doubtless soon be filled without making any appreciable 
 change in the seething masses of the great city. Skirt-making 
 is the principal employment of the girls, each being taught 
 every part of the business, and each in turn takes her part in 
 the duties of the kitchen, laundry, and chamber. During 
 the first seven years of its operations the society received over 
 three thousand five hundred truant children, many of whom 
 have been recovered from a life of crime, and now bid fair 
 to be industrious and good citizens. Its work, however, has 
 but just begun. 
 
 The buildings are large and beautiful, but everything 
 around and within gives evidence of great economy. But 
 while the children at the Ilouse of Refuge are supported at 
 an annual expense of less than seventy dollars per capita above 
 their own toil, the managers of this Institution declared that 
 during 1867 the net cost of maintaining the boys, exclusive of 
 their own labor, the interest on land, buildings, etc., was one 
 hundred and thirteen dollars per head, and ninety-six dollars 
 for the girls. The entire expenditures of the Societv, up to 
 January, 1868, amounted to §469,034.02, of which $164,807.49 
 had been given by State and city grants, the remaining 
 $304,226.53 having been provided by private donations, the 
 labor of the children, and by public fairs, one of which, in 
 1867, yielded a profit of over $100,000. We have been unable 
 to obtain the last published report of the Society. 
 
 The principal motive in founding the Institution was to 
 save the children of Catholics from the influence of Protest- 
 antism, which prevailed in most other institutions. It, how- 
 ever, makes no attempt to proselyte, and has refused to receive 
 some children who had Protestant parents or guardians. The 
 farm cost $60,000, and is now valued at $150,000. A dairy 
 of forty cows is kept, and most of the vegetables consumed 
 are grown on the premises. The girls' building was destroyed 
 by fire in 1 872. 
 
THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING ASYLUM. 
 
 (Lexington avenue and Sixty-eighth street.) 
 
 tOIJNDLING hospitals have been common in many 
 countries of Europe for several centuries. The first 
 is believed to have been established at Milan, in the 
 year 787. In the seventeenth century they were 
 placed on a common footing with other hospitals in France, 
 and in the following century they were established in England. 
 More than one hundred and forty are said to exist in France 
 at this time, two in Holland, seventeen in Belgium, many in 
 Prussia, one of which covers an area of twenty-eight acres. 
 The Child's Hospital of New York has received many of 
 these stray waifs of humanity for several years past, yet an 
 Institution devoted exclusively to this class, founded and man- 
 aged on the most open and liberal scale, has been considered 
 necessary by many, and has finally been established. 
 
 The INew York Foundling Asylum was incorporated Octo- 
 ber 9, 1869, and a hired brick edifice, No. 17 East Twelfth 
 street, was opened two days later, by the Sisters of Charity 
 connected with the convent of Mount Saint Vincent, near 
 Yonkers. Sister Mary Irene was placed at the head of the 
 Institution, and has since been assisted by ten other members 
 of the order. The first child was left at the Institution on the 
 22d of October, 1869, and up to the 25th of April, 1871, nine- 
 teen hundred and sixty had been received, sixty-two per cent, 
 of whom had died. The Institution was at length removed to 
 No. 3 North Washington square, into a large building contain- 
 ing twenty-eight fine rooms, where it will remain until the 
 Hospital is erected. A cradle is placed in the vestibule where 
 the little stranger is silently deposited, and a ring of the bell 
 announces its presence. They are brought in by physicians, 
 nurses, midwives, and mothers, at all hours of day and night. 
 The children are numbered according to their admission ; their 
 names and those of their parents, if known, are entered in a 
 large book kept for that purpose, but if nothing is known of 
 them they are named by the Sisters. Sometimes a letter ac- 
 companies a child, the contents of which are entered with the 
 number and name of the infant. Sometimes a ring, a ribbon, 
 or some other little valuable by which it may hereafter be iden- 
 
Hospital of Saint Francis. (East Fifth Struct, bet. Avenues A & B.) 
 
THE NEW YORK FOUNDLEN"G ASYLUM. 
 
 355 
 
 rified accompanies it ; these are all numbered and preserved. 
 Infants are taken without charge or fee, without regard to 
 color, nationality, or parentage. No questions are asked unless 
 there is a disposition to communicate, and statements made 
 are not disclosed. The cradles are long, with a babe at each 
 end, and an attendant to every three children or a little less, 
 some of whom are on duty in every room at all hours of day 
 and night. The author looked through the several apart- 
 ments at the half-a-hundred little creatures scattered in cribs, 
 on the floor, in the arms of the nurses, some laughing, some 
 crying, some asleep in blissful ignorance of the clouds that 
 darken their infant horizon, and concluded there were 
 as many handsome babies among them as could be selected 
 from an equal number in any community. Children are 
 given out to healthy women to nurse, who are remunerated at 
 the rate of ten dollars per month. These nurses are required 
 to bring the children to the Institution twice each month for 
 inspection, and are frequently visited at their homes by the 
 Sisters. The Sisters refuse to adopt them even in the best 
 families, which we pronounce a decided mistake. Certainly, 
 if charity to the children only influenced the movement, 
 nothing better could be hoped for than to see them adopted 
 into respectable families. 
 
 During the last year a part of the children have been housed 
 at West Farms, the house in the city serving as a place of re- 
 ception. More than four hundred different women have been 
 employed as nurses, and the superioress reports the expendi- 
 tures of the Institution as exceeding §6,000 per month. 
 
 The city authorities last year leased the Asylum, for ninety- 
 nine years, for the annual rental of one dollar, a plot of 
 
 § round two hundred by four hundred feet, lying between 
 ixty -eighth and Sixty-ninth streets, and fronting on Lexing- 
 ton avenue. The tax levy of 1S70 also contained a clause 
 granting the managers one hundred thousand dollars toward 
 the erection of buildings as soon as a similar sum should be 
 collected by private subscription. 
 
 A grand metropolitan fair was accordingly planned and 
 held in the Twenty-second Regiment Armory hall during 
 November, 1870, the proceeds of which amounted to over 
 $71,000. Mrs. R B. Connolly also collected $20,575, which, 
 with some other subscriptions, brought the sum to the required 
 figure, so that the legislative appropriation became available. 
 This Foundling Hospital is now rapidly rising to completion. 
 
356 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Sisters are very enthusiastic about their enterprise. Pre- 
 cisely what effect the establishment of this Institution will 
 have upon the dissolute portion of society is yet to be seen ; 
 but that the crime of infanticide has been already greatly 
 lessened appears from the police statistics. From one hun- 
 dred to one hundred and fifty dead infants per month were 
 before the opening of this Institution found in barrels and 
 vacant lots, in various parts of the city, whereas not more 
 than one-tenth of that number are now reported. That it 
 will greatly increase the social crime, we hardly believe. This 
 has existed in all ages, unawed by shame, law, and other con- 
 sequences, and will only decrease as the principles of a pure 
 religion are more generally and more thoroughly imbibed. 
 
 THE SHEPHERD'S FOLD. 
 
 (Eighty -sixth street and Second avenue.) 
 
 j 1 |f HIS association, composed of members of the Protest- 
 4J§ ant Episcopal church, was incorporated under the 
 general act of April 12, 1848, on the ninth day of 
 March, 1868. The object of the society, as set forth 
 in the certificate of incorporation, is " The care of orphan, 
 half-orphan, and otherwise friendless children." The object 
 is similar to that of the " Sheltering Arms," to provide for a 
 class of children who, through drunkenness, desertion, crime, 
 or other causes, are practically parentless, yet excluded by 
 rule from regular Orphan Asylums. The management of 
 the Institution is committed to a board of twenty-one trustees, 
 nearly half of whom are ministers. The internal manage- 
 ment of the house is under the immediate supervision of an 
 association of ladies, who report monthly to the executive 
 committee appointed by the trustees. Children are admitted 
 at any age between twelve months and fifteen years, but 
 must be surrendered to the Institution at admission, unless 
 they are temporarily admitted, to assist a poor parent, at four 
 dollars per month. 
 
 An advisory committee, consisting of two gentlemen and 
 three ladies, meets every Monday, at three p.m., for the ad- 
 
woman's aid society. 
 
 357 
 
 mission and indenturing of children. The operations of the 
 society began in Twenty-eighth street, after which the Insti- 
 tution was removed to Second avenue, between Fifty-first 
 and Fifty-second streets. On the 29th of April, 1870, it was 
 again removed to its present location, corner of Eighty -sixth 
 street and Second avenue, where a three-story wood cottage, 
 with a wing, was leased for five years. The building stands 
 on an eminence and is surrounded by ample grounds, with a 
 broad lawn in front overspread with the branches of noble 
 trees. The location is both healthful and beautiful, affording 
 abundant space for the recreation of the children. The 
 managers hope to secure the means and purchase the prop- 
 erty, after which they purpose to erect buildings similar to 
 those known as the Colored Orphan Asylum. The city 
 authorities gave them last year $5,000, which sum has been 
 set apart as the beginning of a building fund. The Institu- 
 tion has at present sixty-three children, all it can well accom- 
 modate. The matron, Mrs. Russell, has great skill and kind- 
 ness in the management of children ; and the teacher, Miss 
 "Welsh, has managed to throw such a charm around the 
 school-room that many of the children prefer their lessons to 
 play. May the Institution prosper, gathering thousands into 
 its elevating fold who would otherwise ramble in ignorance 
 and infamy, proving a sorrow to themselves and a scourge to 
 society. 
 
 WOMAN'S AID SOCIETY AND HOME FOR TRAINING YOUNG 
 
 GIRLS. 
 
 (Corner Thirteenth street and Seventh avenue.) 
 
 2 ¥ Hi SIS organization was first known as the "Women's 
 Evangelical Mission," and was formed to operate for 
 the recovery of young women in our public institu- 
 tions, and for other fallen women who needed assist- 
 ance in their efforts for reformation. At a later period it 
 was changed to a home for training young, indigent, and 
 inexperienced girls for places of respectability and useful- 
 ness, and the class the managers first sought to reach have 
 been entirely excluded. The inmates received are between 
 
 22 
 
358 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the ages of thirteen and twenty-five, with a few exceptional 
 cases. Many of those received during the last three years 
 have been orphans, or friendless girls exhausted by hard 
 service, and nearly ready to perish. In this Home their 
 health has been recruited, their morals improved, a situation 
 in a Christian family in city or country has been provided, 
 where they have gone with better prospects. 
 
 All persons admitted as inmates must pledge to obey the 
 rules of the house, to remain a month, and accept of such 
 situations on leaving as the matron shall approve. The 
 Society is governed by a board of female managers, members 
 of the several Evangelical churches, nearly all of whom thus 
 far have represented the Presbyterian and Reformed Dutch. 
 The missionary and chaplain is an Evangelical minister, 
 whose duty it is to preach on the island, if necessary, besides 
 conducting the services of the Home. From May, 1868, to 
 1870, the Home was situated at the foot of Eighty-third 
 street, East river, in a fine old family mansion, with invit- 
 ing groves, ample and well-arranged grounds. The location 
 was one of the most retired, airy, and salubrious on the 
 island. The number of inmates has varied from twenty- 
 four to thirty-six during the past three years, 152 being the 
 total for the year closing in 1869, and 114 for the year end- 
 ing in 1870. During the year closing January, 1871, the 
 managers report 188 admissions, 141 of whom were placed 
 in families, seven returned to friends, nine sent to other 
 institutions, eight were dismissed, six left at their own 
 request, and fifteen remained. Some were inexperienced 
 young girls, members of good families, but, chafing under 
 necessary parental restraint, had sought relief in flight. The 
 managers had picked them up j ust in time to save them. 
 
 The Home is now situated at No. 41 Seventh avenue, cor- 
 ner of Thirteenth street, where a four-story brick house has 
 been leased for three years, at an annual rental of $2,000. 
 The building affords accommodations for about thirty in- 
 mates. A school is conducted every afternoon. 
 
 The Society was incorporated under the general act passed 
 April 12, 1848, on the twenty-fifth day of November, 1870. 
 
 The expenditures of the Institution during the last year 
 amounted to $7,180.76. Eev. W. A. Masker is the chaplain 
 and superintendent, and Mrs. Masker the matron. 
 
ST. JOSEPH ORPHAN ASYLUM. 
 
 {Corner of Eighty-ninth street and Avenue A. 
 
 St. Joseph Orphan Asylum was incorporated by 
 ^JM? special act of the Legislature in 1859. It was founded 
 i^^jl through the laudable toil and zeal of Rev. Fathei 
 Joseph Helmpraecht, a Roman Catholic priest. The 
 building was erected in 1860, and is a five-story brick, eighty 
 by forty feet, fronting on Eighty-ninth street, at the corner of 
 * Avenue A. The stories of the building are rather low. The 
 object of the Institution is the support and education of or- 
 phans, half-orphans, destitute and neglected children, con- 
 nected with the Roman Catholic faith and of German origin. 
 The number of inmates averages about one hundred and 
 sixty, and the capacity of the Asylum is equal to about two 
 hundred inmates. 
 
 The office of the Asylum and secretary is at No. 70 East 
 Fourth street. 
 
THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL. 
 
 ( West Fifty-ninth street.) 
 
 This Institution was founded and endowed by the bequest 
 of the late James H. Roosevelt, Esq., of New York city. This 
 gentleman inherited a fine estate from his parents, which he 
 very materially increased during his lifetime, and finally 
 bequeathed it to the founding of one of the most humane and 
 excellent chanties of the world. During his early years he 
 pursued the study of law, graduating with honor after pac- 
 ing the usual course at Columbia College. Some time after 
 ins graduation he was admitted to practice, and expected to 
 marry Miss Julia Maria Boardman, an estimable lady of this 
 city. But one month had scarcely elapsed, after his admissi* m 
 to practise law, ere he was smitten with a stroke of paralysis 
 so severe as to entirely frustrate his most cherished earthly 
 plans, and render him an invalid for life. For more than 
 thirty years he could only walk with the aid of crutches, 
 
THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL. 
 
 361 
 
 spending most of the time at his residence in New York, shut 
 out by his infirmities from the chief circles of business and 
 fashion. During these years he gave quiet attention to the 
 improvement of his fortune, to books, and the cultivation of 
 those tempers so invaluable in time and eternity. Though 
 he never married, the most affectionate relation subsisted be- 
 tween him and the lady of his early choice through all his 
 years, to whom he left at death, which occurred in November, 
 1863, an annuity of $4,000, making her also the executrix of 
 his estate. His estate at his death, which approximated a 
 million, and has since been much increased, consisted in real 
 estate situated in New York and Westchester counties, and 
 in valuable and available stocks. A sufferer through most of 
 his life, his mind was naturally drawn out in sympathy for 
 those as afflicted as himself, and whose condition was even 
 more pitiable because destitute of the means of comfort he 
 enjoyed. Most of his personal estate he therefore left "in 
 trust to the several and successive presidents ex officio, for the 
 time being, of the respective managing boards of those five 
 certain incorporations in the city of New York, known as 
 'The Society of the New York Hospital,' 'The College of 
 Physicians and Surgeons,' ' The New York Eye Infirmary,' 
 ' The Demilt Dispensary,' and ' The New York Institution 
 for the Blind,' and to the Honorable James I. Roosevelt, 
 Edwin Clark, Esq., John M. Knox, Esq., and Adrian H. Mul- 
 ler,_Esq., all of New York, for the establishment, in the city of 
 New York, of a hospital for the reception and relief of sick 
 and diseased persons, and for its permanent endowment." 
 This board of nine trustees has sole charge of the Institution 
 and its endowment, and has power to fill all vacancies occur- 
 ring from death, resignation, or otherwise, of any of the four 
 trustees not before designated by title of office, from male 
 native-born citizens, residents of the city of New York. The 
 use of his real estate he bequeathed to his nephew, James C. 
 Roosevelt Brown, of Rye, N. Y., the same to be also divided 
 equally between his heirs, but in case of his or their demise 
 without lawful issue, then the same was to be disposed of by 
 his executors, and the proceeds added to the Hospital endow- 
 ment. This nephew survived him but forty days, and died 
 without issue, leaving the property to the Institution to which 
 his uncle had devoted it. 
 
 The act incorporating the Roosevelt Hospital was passed 
 by the Legislature February 2, 1864, granting the corpora- 
 
362 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tion power to receive the legacy, and any others that might 
 be added, to purchase and hold property free from taxation 
 in carrying out the directions of the founder of the Institu- 
 tion. In 1868 a whole block of ground was purchased lying 
 between Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth streets, Ninth and Tenth 
 avenues, for the sum of $185,000. This ground is now valued 
 at $400,000. The corner-stone of the Hospital was laid on 
 the last day of October, 1869, Rev. Thomas De Witt, D.D., 
 Edward Delafield, M.D., and other distinguished gentlemen, 
 taking part in the services. When the usual contributions of 
 papers, etc., had been placed in the corner-stone, Dr. Delafield, 
 president of the board, moved it to its place, saying, " I now 
 lay the corner-stone of the Roosevelt Hospital, and may cen- 
 turies pass before what is deposited here will again be re- 
 vealed to mortal eye." 
 
 The Hospital fronts on Fifty-ninth street, and is to consist, if 
 the plan is ever entirely completed, of four pavilions, each 
 one hundred and seventy feet long by thirty wide in the cen- 
 tral part forming the wards, and a front of fifty-six feet on 
 Fifty-ninth street. The pavilions are to be three stories 
 high, of brick, with rich stone trimmings, above a high 
 stone basement, covered with Mansard roof. The wards 
 are each thirty feet wide by ninety-three long, and 
 fifteen feet high, arranged for twenty-eight patients each, 
 affording 1,494 cubic feet of space to each. The base- 
 ment of the one now erected contains an ophthalmic, a 
 children's, and an accident ward, and some small rooms for 
 delirious patients. The main stairways are all to be of iron 
 and stone. Ventilating shafts are to be placed at the end of 
 each ward, to carry off foul air and introduce fresh. The 
 lavatories, supplied with vapor baths, shower baths, basins, 
 etc., are situated at the southern end of the pavilions, sepa- 
 rated from the wards by wide halls. In the center of the block 
 fronting on Fifty-ninth street is the administration building, 
 through which is the entrance to the Hospital. This building 
 contains the offices and apartments for officers, the apothecary 
 room, chemical laboratory, etc. In the rear of this stands 
 another separate building, containing the kitchen, laundry, the 
 heating and ventilating apparatus. This and the pavilion 
 before described are now completed and the other central 
 pavilion and the administration building will soon follow, 
 furnishing accommodations for three hundred patients, and 
 costing about $600,000. These can be completed, leaving an 
 
THE ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL. 
 
 363 
 
 endowment fund of at least $600,000 for the support of the 
 Institution. It is likely that this is as far as the building 
 plan will be carried, unless other legacies are added to the 
 enterprise. The site is an elevated and beautiful one over- 
 looking the Hudson, and as most of the hospitals have been 
 erected on the eastern side of the island, the selection appears 
 to have been well made. The locality will soon be crowded 
 with a dense population, that will need the liberal provisions 
 of this generous benefactor. 
 
 The Hospital was opened for the reception of patients 
 November 2, 1871. Nearly two thousand patients have 
 already been treated. (1873.) 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 (East Seventieth street.) 
 
 On the second day of January, 1868, Mr. James Lenox, a 
 distinguished member of the Presbyterian Church of New 
 York, addressed a circular letter to a number of gentlemen 
 of his own denomination, setting forth the fact that while 
 the Jews, the Germans, the Roman Catholics, and the Epis- 
 copalians had each established a hospital for themselves, the 
 large and influential body of Presbyterians had undertaken 
 nothing of the kind. The envelope contained the draft of 
 an act of incorporation, and of a constitution. The circular 
 further declared that a large and eligible plot of ground, 
 and funds to the amount of $100,000, would be made over to 
 the managers if the enterprise were undertaken. The gen- 
 tlemen addressed were severally invited to act as managers, 
 and informed that a public meeting would be called to fully 
 inaugurate the movement as soon as their concurrence was 
 secured. The letter, with its munificent proposals, received 
 prompt and encouraging replies, and on the 13th of January, 
 18G8, a meeting of these gentlemen was held in the lecture 
 room of the First Presbyterian church, when a temporary 
 organization was effected. On the 28th of February, 1868, 
 the Legislature passed the act of incorporation, authorizing 
 the Institution to hold real estate and personal property to 
 
THE PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL. 
 
 365 
 
 any amount, free from taxation. On the 26th day of March, 
 the board of managers maturely considered and accepted the 
 charter, elected their officers, Mr. Lenox being chosen Presi- 
 dent, and the Presbyterian Hospital became a corporate In- 
 stitution. On the 17th of June, Mr. Lenox conveyed in due 
 form to the board of managers, for Hospital uses, the block of 
 ground lying between Seventieth and Seventy-first streets, 
 Fourth and Madison avenues, valued at two hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars, to which he added the princely sum of 
 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money, paying the 
 exorbitant governmental succession tax on the transfer of the 
 property of twelve thousand dollars. The site so generously 
 contributed is ample in extent, in the vicinity of Central 
 Park, and is considered one of the most salubrious and eli- 
 gible on the island. The recent developments in medical 
 science and hospital hygiene have so greatly modified 
 former theories that, by protracted consideration of the sub- 
 ject, the managers hope to avoid the mistakes into which 
 others have fallen. The sum of $1,300 was expended in ob- 
 taining designs from several distinguished architects, and the 
 one adopted it is believed will secure all known advantages. 
 The Hospital, which is partly completed, consists of three 
 pavilions, an administration building, and a boiler-house, all 
 connected in the basement, first and second stories, by corri- 
 dors of light construction. All the buildings (except the 
 boiler-house) are three stories high, and attic in Mansard roof , 
 with accommodations for three hundred patients. 
 
 The first story and attic will be twelve feet high, respect- 
 ively ; the height of the second and third stories will be four- 
 teen feet and six inches in the clear. The basement story of 
 pavilions will be devoted to the accommodation of hot-air 
 chambers, engine-rooms, fan-rooms, etc. The first floors of 
 pavilions will be occupied by private wards, with all their 
 necessary accessories, while the three upper stories will con- 
 tain the public wards. 
 
 A spacious and well-lighted amphitheater (for surgical op- 
 erations) will occupy the third and fourth stories of the mid- 
 dle portion of the north pavilion in the rear. The dead-rooms 
 will be located in vaulted chambers, just outside, and in the 
 rear of this pavilion. The administration building, one of 
 the three central buildings, fifty feet by ninety-two feet, has 
 the middle portion projecting, in order to gain a carriage- 
 porch to main entrance, above which is located the chapel 
 
366 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 with its spire. Side-entrance porches are also provided. 
 The basement of this building contain the kitchen (which 
 extends through to the second floor), the bakery, scullery, 
 larder, ice, bread, and store rooms. 
 
 Special care has been given to the subjects of heating and 
 ventilation. The wards are heated by indirect radiation ; the 
 remainder by direct radiation. The outer walls of pavilions 
 are double, with an air-space between them. The ventilating 
 and heating flues of glazed earthen-pipe are built in the inner 
 wall, having openings provided with controlling registers at 
 the top, bottom, and midway between the floor and the ceil- 
 ing of the rooms. The fresh air is conducted through shafts 
 from the top of the buildings to the fan-room in the base- 
 ment, whence it is driven to the coil-chambers, which supply 
 the air to rooms above. Other flues conduct the foul air to 
 the lofts above attic stories, where they all unite in spacious 
 ventilating lanterns, heated by steam -coils. The windows, 
 extending from three feet above the floor to the ceiling, are 
 provided with double sashes, for direct ventilation, without 
 exposing the patients to currents of air. 
 
 As regards the exterior elevations, the architectural effect is 
 the result obtained by accentuating certain prominent feat- 
 ures existing in the plan, in a quiet manner, and in using the 
 materials, Philadelphia brick and Lockport limestone, accord- 
 ing to sound rules of construction. 
 
 To the princely liberality of Mr. Lenox many large and 
 small subscriptions have been added by the friends of the 
 enterprise in New York, Messrs. Robert L. & A. Stewart con- 
 tributing fully $50,000. The Hospital will probably be ded- 
 icated free from debt, but with inadequate endowment, leav- 
 ing ample scope for the further exercise of large liberality. 
 
 The Presbyterian Hospital is one of the grandest benevo- 
 lent enterprises of our times, and eminently worthy of the 
 enlightened and generous denomination that has established 
 it. The annual reports of the Institution, replete with his- 
 toric learning, are model publications of their kind, and wor- 
 thy of permanent preservation. 
 
 (1873.) The Institution was opened with interesting exer- 
 . cises October 10, 1872. An endowment fund of $250,000 
 has already been secured, half of which was given by Mr. 
 Lenox. About two hundred patients have been received. 
 
The Broadway Tabeknacle— comer 34th street. 
 (Congregationalist— late Rev. Dr. J. P. Thompson's Church.) 
 
ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 (Fifth avenue <md Fifty-fourth street.) 
 
 ^§pT the year 1846 the Kev. W. A. Mulenberg, D.D., pas- 
 ^}\)3k * or °^ tne C nurc h °f the Holy Communion, deeply im- 
 P resse( ^ * ne ne gl ec ^ of the church generally in 
 making no adequate provision for her sick poor, and 
 believing that a hospital, conducted on more strictly religious 
 principles than any in the city at the time, was greatly needed, 
 presented the subject to his congregation at the festival of St. 
 Luke, and informed them that with their consent he would set 
 apart a portion of their collection that day toward the begin- 
 ning of a Church Hospital. Thirty dollars were accordingly 
 laid aside, and on the return of the festival the next year an- 
 other collection was taken. A parochial institution only was 
 contemplated for several years, but as the enterprise came to be 
 known it met with such unexpected favor, that its friends re- 
 solved to lay the matter before the Episcopalians of the city 
 at large. In the winter of 1850 the two lectures previously 
 delivered by Dr. Mulenberg in the Church of the Holy 
 Communion Were repeated in St. Paul's Chapel, and after- 
 -wards printed and widely circulated. On the first day of May, 
 
 1850, the St. Luke's Hospital was incorporated under the 
 general act of Legislature passed April 12, 1848, committing 
 the control of the Institution to thirteen managers. In March, 
 
 1851, the Legislature amended the charter, increasing the num- 
 ber of managers to thirty-one ; and in February, 1854, it was 
 again amended, granting the corporation permission to hold 
 personal estate to the amount of $250,000, and real estate not 
 exceeding §100,000, over and above the value of buildings 
 and improvements erected thereon for the purposes of the 
 corporation. About the time of its incorporation the man- 
 agers, proposing to carry out their undertaking on a liberal 
 scale, appealed to the public for $100,000. This amount was 
 soon subscribed, and was mostly given in large sums. An 
 eligible site of twenty-four city lots, situated on Fifth avenue 
 and Fifty-fourth street, had been previously, for certain con- 
 siderations on the part of Trinity Church, granted by the city 
 corporation to the Church of St. George the Martyr, on con- 
 
368 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 dition that there should be erected thereon, within three years 
 from the date of the grant, a hospital and free chapel for 
 British emigrants. As the buildings had not been erected, 
 and the land was soon to revert to the city, the managers of 
 St. Luke's applied to the authorities for an extension of the 
 time, which was finally granted, and after considerable negoti- 
 ation the transfer of the title from the Church of St. George 
 the Martyr was effected, on condition that the corporation of 
 St. George should always be entitled to a certain number of 
 free beds in the contemplated Hospital. Eight additional 
 lots were also purchased at an average expense of $1,500 
 each ; a plan for the building prepared by Mr. John W. Ritch 
 was adopted ; and in May, 1854, the corner-stone of the Hos- 
 pital was laid, with appropriate services conducted by Bishop 
 Wainwright. When the building was begun the managers 
 only contemplated the erection of the central edifice and one 
 wing, but they soon resolved to erect both wings, and accord- 
 ingly appealed to the public for an additional hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. On Ascension Day, 1857, the chapel, having 
 been completed, was opened for divine service ; and on May 
 13, 1858, the Hospital proper was opened for the reception of 
 patients. 
 
 The buildings, which form a narrow parallelogram with a 
 wing at each end, and a central edifice with towers, front on 
 Fifty-fourth street, facing the south, extending longitudinally 
 from east to west two hundred and eighty feet. The eleva- 
 tions of the several fronts are of square red brick. The cen- 
 tral building contains on the first floor the office, the examin- 
 ation room, and appropriate apartments for the physician and 
 the superintendent. On the second floor is the chapel, the 
 distinctive feature of the Hospital. This is rectangular in 
 form, eighty-four by thirty-four feet, with a ceiling forty feet 
 high. The roof is elliptical, with bold traverse ribs resting 
 on corbels. A narrow gallery extends around three sides on 
 a level with the floor of the third story, and so supplements 
 the audience room that several hundred persons are comfort- 
 ably seated at the Sabbath afternoon service. The wards ex- 
 tend from the central building in either direction, the western 
 wing being devoted to the male, and the eastern to the female 
 patients, respectively. One ward is also appropriated to chil- 
 dren, and is a very interesting department. The Hospital has 
 spacious and airy corridors for the exercise of convalescent 
 patients, bath-rooms, closets, and separate apartments for 
 
st. luke's hospital. 
 
 369 
 
 the treatment of the delirious or noisy. The buildings have 
 accommodations for over two hundred patients, and have cost, 
 with their furniture, about $225,000. A rear building con- 
 tains the apparatus for heating the whole edifice with steam, 
 the cooking, washing, and drying being performed by the 
 same agent. A fan ten feet in diameter for ventilating the 
 Hospital is also driven by the same machinery, capable of 
 discharging 40,000 cubic feet of air per minute. The same 
 machinery carries the water to the tanks in the attic, from 
 whence it is distributed through the building. The projector 
 of the Institution early conceived that its usefulness would 
 be much promoted by placing its wards under the charge of 
 a band of Christian women. Under his own pastorate such 
 a band had originated in 1845, known as the " Sisters of the 
 Holy Communion," being the first community of Protestant 
 " Sisters of Charity " in this country. They were accordingly 
 fitted for the undertaking. The donations of a few wealthy 
 friends enabled the Sisters in 1851 to erect a dwelling suited 
 to their use adjoining the Church of the Holy Communion ; 
 and in 1854 the building adjoining their own was rented, and 
 converted into an infirmary, with fifteen beds. Here the 
 work of St. Luke's Hospital began, and more than two hun- 
 dred patients were treated ere the opening of the Institution 
 on Fifty-fourth street. The Sisters have had charge of the 
 hospital since its opening, attending to its multiplied toils 
 _with scrupulous exactness through all these years, with no 
 financial compensation. Even their apparel is furnished by 
 an arrangement of their own, so that nothing but board is 
 received at the Hospital. No vows bind them to their work 
 nor to each ether. It is a voluntary association of unmarried 
 Christian females, somewhat akin to the Lutheran Deaconesses 
 of Kaiserswerth, so well known in the hospitals of Germany 
 and Prussia. The Hospital is conducted on the principle of 
 a family. The Superintendent, who is also the chaplain, sus- 
 taining the relation of father, and the lady superior that of 
 mother, to the inmates. One ot the Sisters has charge of the 
 drug department, and saves the Institution annually the wages 
 of an apothecary. 
 
 The ministrations of the gospel, according to the forms of 
 the Protestant Episcopal church, are daily attended to. 
 Scriptures and prayers are read in each ward every morning, 
 and a service is conducted every evening in the chapel, when 
 the doors leading into the long wards are thrown open, and 
 
370 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the large organ breathes forth its melody. The regular 
 church service with preaching is conducted every Sabbath 
 morning, and in the afternoon the chapel is thrown open to 
 the inhabitants of the neighborhood, who attend in large 
 numbers upon the preaching of the Word. 
 
 About nine thousand patients have been treated since the 
 opening of the Hospital, a small fraction of whom only were 
 able to pay their own bills. 
 
 More than thirty beds are now supported by a permanent 
 endowment of $3,000 each, and over a score more by annual 
 subscriptions of from two hundred to three hundred dollars 
 each. The board of the patients was long held at four dol- 
 lars per week, but has since been increased to seven dollars 
 for adults, and four dollars for children. 
 
 St. Luke's Hospital, situated in a central and wealthy 
 neighborhood, with its beautifully cultivated lawns and ele- 
 gant surroundings, if managed with the courtesy and skill 
 that have hitherto characterized it, will long continue one of 
 the finest institutions of the city. 
 
 / 
 
NEW YORK HOSPITAL. 
 
 New York continued for many years without any adequate 
 accommodations for its sick and disabled citizens. Though, 
 its original city charter was granted in 1686, no serious effort 
 appears to have been made toward providing a public hospital 
 until 1770. The population of the city at that time amounted to 
 over twenty thousand. In that year a number of enterprising 
 citizens liberally signed and circulated a subscription for this 
 purpose. On the 13th of June, 1771, the governor of the 
 colony, under George III., granted a charter, in which he 
 named the mayor, the recorder, the aldermen and their assis- 
 tants of the city, the rector of Trinity Church, one minister 
 from each of the other denominations then in the city, the 
 president of King (afterwards Columbia) College, and several 
 other prominent citizens, as members of the corporation. 
 Twenty-six governors were also named for the management 
 of the business of the society. The original charter title was 
 the "Society of the Hospital in the City of New York in 
 America," but by an act in 1810 the name was changed to 
 the " Society of the Xew York Hospital ' Through the efforts- 
 of two eminent English physicians, Drs. Fothergill and Dun- 
 
 23 
 
372 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 can, numerous contributions to the funds of the society were 
 made by persons of London and elsewhere. The following 
 year the provincial Legislature granted it an allowance of £800 
 ($2,000) per annum {or twenty years. Highly encouraged 
 with these prospects of revenue, the governors, in 1773, pur- 
 chased five acres of ground in the outskirts of the city, and be- 
 gan the erection of the edifice. On the 27th of July, 1773, the 
 foundation stone was laid; but on the 28th of February, 1775, 
 when the structure was nearly completed, it was accidentally 
 destroyed by fire. This sudden misfortune inflicted upon the 
 society a loss of over se venteen thousand dollars, and would have 
 entirely paralyzed its efforts had not the Legislature come to its 
 assistance with a grant of $10,000. The toil of rebuilding 
 began amid the outbursts of the Revolutionary war, and con- 
 tinued until the capture of New York by the British, Sep- 
 tember 15, 1776. For seven years it was, in its half-fin- 
 ished condition, occupied by British and Hessian troops as 
 barracks, and occasionally used as a hospital. Independence 
 having been secured, work was resumed, and on January 3, 
 1791, it was so far completed that eighteen patients were ad- 
 mitted. Its colonial revenue, of course, ceased with the 
 breaking out of hostilities, but in 1788 the Legislature directed 
 that $2,000 per annum for four years be paid to it from the 
 excise funds. The funds of the society were now rapidly 
 increased by donations from private citizens, and liberal 
 grants from the Legislature. By an act of 1792, §5,000 per 
 annum were granted; in 1795 the sum was increased to 
 $10,000, and the following year to $15,000 ; subsequently it 
 was made $22,500, which amount was paid annually until 
 1857. An act of 1822 exempted all the property of the so- 
 ciety from taxation. Arrangement was made svith the 
 United States Government in 1799, which continued until 
 recently, whereby sick and disabled seamen in this port were 
 received, and paid for by the Collector of Customs, at the rate 
 of seven dollars per week. 
 
 The Hospital stood until recently on its original site, which 
 is the most elevated and eligible one on the lower part of the 
 island. Its grounds, which were handsomely laid out and 
 ornamented with choice shrubbery, covered an entire block. 
 They are bounded by Broadway on the east, Church street 
 on the west, on the north by Worth, and on the south by 
 Duane streets. 
 
 The central Hospital was a large convenient building of 
 
NEW YORK HOSPITAL. 
 
 373 
 
 gray stone in the Doric order, with accommodations for two 
 hundred patients, besides the numerous rooms appropriated 
 to business, visitors, surgery, medicine, the resident officers, 
 and servants. In 1806, in answer to a growing and general 
 desire, a new building termed the South Hospital was erected 
 for the treatment of insane patients, and devoted to this use 
 until 1821, when this branch was removed to Bloomingdale. 
 After the removal of the insane patients, this building was 
 devoted to the treatment of seamen, and termed the Marine 
 Department. In 1853 it was torn down, and a splendid hos- 
 pital erected on its site at a cost of §140,000, with accommo- 
 dations for 250 patients. In 1841, on the opposite extreme 
 of the grounds, had been reared the North Hospital, with 
 accommodations for 100 patients. From the time of open- 
 ing this Institution, in 1792, to 1856, it is said that 106,111 
 patients were admitted, of whom 77,390 were cured, 4,768 
 relieved, and 10,893 died. The majority of the latter were 
 brought in from the streets in a dying condition. In 1857 
 the annual State appropriation of $22,500 ceased by statute 
 limitation, after which the Legislature occasionally responded 
 to the urgent appeals of the governors with greatly reduced 
 appropriations, nothing being granted after 1866. The city 
 government refused any aid, and private donations and be- 
 quests were also withheld, through a determination to force 
 the governors to lease or sell the valuable grounds around the 
 -Hospital. Daring these years, with the rapid increase of our 
 population, the number of casualty patients correspondingly 
 multiplied. This Hospital, situated so near the crowded cen- 
 tres of the metropolis, had always had the larger number of 
 these unfortunates, no one of whom was ever rejected, and 
 but few of whom were able to pay, however long and expen- 
 sive might be their treatment. The pay patients were also re- 
 ceived at little more than half the expense of their support. 
 The result was that after the withdrawal of the State annuity 
 the governors found their finances continually embarrassed 
 and annually growing worse and worse. In 1S64, witli much 
 effort $80,000 were raised by subscription to relieve the over- 
 burdened treasury, but 1868 left it still in debt about 
 $100,000. About that time the governors decided to lease 
 the grounds and remove the Hospital. In March, 1869, the 
 grounds occupied by the main building and North Hospital 
 were leased, and in May the patients were removed to the 
 South Hospital, where operations were continued until Feb- 
 
374: 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ruary 1st, 1870, when the old New York Hospital entirely 
 suspended. A line of majestic business houses already covers 
 most of the premises. The rent of these grounds, when all 
 are leased, will probably amount to $200,000 per annum; yet 
 it is saddening to see this time-honored Institution, where 
 Dr. Valentine Mott devoted his best attentions forty-eight 
 years, and where a hundred and fifty thousand patients have 
 been treated, crowded into obscurity, when the suffering pop- 
 ulation needs its accommodations more than ever, because 
 more numerous than in bygone years. It is probable that 
 another hospital will be opened by the society somewhere, 
 but no plan has yet been agreed upon. The hospital library 
 and pathological cabinet rank among the finest of the world, 
 and are annually receiving valuable additions. The library 
 contains 9,074 volumes. The office of the society is at No. 
 13 West Eleventh street. 
 
 HOSPITAL OF SAINT FRANCIS. 
 
 {East Fifth street, between Avenues B and C.) 
 
 %M Ij9 HIS Hospital was founded by the " Sisters of the Poor 
 ^0|§j of St. Francis " (an order of Roman Catholic females 
 whose mother house is in Germany), in 1865, and in 
 1866 the Institution was duly incorporated. 
 A brick edifice, fifty feet wide and four stories high, was 
 purchased in East Fifth street and converted into a hospital, 
 where their operations were conducted until the present sum- 
 mer. Lots adjoining this building were purchased in 1869 at 
 a cost of $35,000, and a four-story brick structure, with a 
 front of sixty -six feet, was completed last May, at an expense 
 of over $40^000. After entering the new building, the Sis- 
 ters proceeded to demolish and rebuild the old structure 
 immediately adjoining, in the style of the new building, 
 • though they were heavily in debt on the portion of the struc- 
 ture just completed. A small building situated on East Sixth 
 street, immediately opposite and connected with the old 
 building, contains the patients of extreme age. With the 
 completion of the buildings the Sisters expect to have wards 
 
saint Vincent's hospital. 
 
 375 
 
 for over two hundred patients. Most of those admitted thus 
 far have been German or Irish, though persons of any na- 
 tionality are received. The great feature of the Institution is, 
 that it proposes to be free to nearly all patients admitted. 
 The eighteen Sisters not only propose to do all the labor of 
 the Hospital with their own hands, but to beg from door to 
 door the money to build and support it. This Hospital, though 
 young and unknown to most of our citizens, has received 
 from the Legislature from $5,000 to $7,000 per annum. It 
 is situated in a section of the city where, on the present terms, 
 it is certain to be well patronized, and may be a useful Insti- 
 tution. Two of the Sisters go out incessantly to gather funds 
 and supplies. They claim to have treated eight hundred 
 patients annually, thus far, but as they have as yet issued no 
 annual report, precise information in relation to the Institu- 
 tion is not easily obtained. 
 
 SAINT VINCENT'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 *&/ ( Comer of Eleventh street and Seventh avenue.) 
 
 im|[|hHE society for the founding of this Institution was 
 / *JN§S[ organized in 1849, and the Hospital opened the fol- 
 lowing year. On the 13th of April, 1857, it was duly 
 incorporated by act of Legislature, under the legal 
 title of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. It 
 was first established in Thirteenth street, in a three-story brick 
 building so arranged as to accommodate thirty beds. It 
 needed but a short time to make known the existence of such 
 an institution ; and very soon these accommodations became 
 insufficient to meet the increasing demand. The building 
 adjoining was then rented and fitted up, and room was there- 
 by secured for seventy beds. For a few years this proved 
 sufficient, but as the Institution became more widely known, 
 even this was found inadequate, and a larger building became 
 a necessity. Accordingly, the present Hospital, situated on the 
 corner of Eleventh street and Seventh avenue, then known 
 as the Half-Orphan Asylum, was rented and fitted up. This 
 
376 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 building required extensive alterations and repairs, and was 
 also soon found too small. In 1856 the Sisters held a fair in 
 the Crystal Palace and realized the handsome sum of thirty- 
 four thousand dollars. Their treasury being thus replenished, 
 they purchased two adjoining lots, and erected a large wing 
 to their building. In 1860 a Floral Festival was held in the 
 Palace Gardens, and a sum of nearly twelve thousand dollars 
 was realized. The same year an adjoining lot on the opposite 
 side of the main building was purchased, and another wing 
 erected. The Hospital is situated on high and dry ground, in 
 a comparatively retired and quiet portion of that thickly- 
 populated part of the city. It is three stories high, with base- 
 ment, presenting a front of one hundred and fifty feet on 
 Eleventh street, the grounds extending through to Twelfth, 
 furnishing an ample rear yard for the exercise of convales- 
 cents. The Hospital now contains one hundred and fifty beds, 
 with space for more if circumstances should so require. It 
 is divided into five well-regulated wards, besides which there 
 are several well-furnished private apartments for the use of 
 persons who require special accommodations or care. 
 
 To clergymen or other persons stopping at hotels, or to 
 strangers of means, overtaken suddenly with disease, these 
 rooms offer peculiar advantages, combining the comforts of a 
 home with the advice and treatment of the Hospital. 
 
 The operating theatre connected with the surgical ward is 
 on the third floor of the left wing, the room being furnished 
 with a fine skylight in addition to the ordinary windows. 
 The entire management of the Institution is conducted by 
 fifteen of the Sisters, no female help being employed, and 
 no male except the Board of Physicians, and a nurse in each 
 of the male wards. The entire edifice is heated with steam, 
 and watched over with scrupulous tidiness in every part, 
 though on account of its piecemeal construction it is sadly 
 wanting in that general design which facilitates labor in its 
 management. 
 
 The design of the society at its organization was to make 
 it a self-supporting Institution ; hence it existed several years 
 without any legal incorporation, or asking any grants from 
 the city or State. But the multitude of charity patients that 
 annually knocked at its doors induced the managers to recon- 
 sider and finally change the nature of their enterprise. 
 
 In 1863 the Common Council granted the Hospital $1,000, 
 in 1864, $1,000, in 1865, $2,000, in 1867, $2,000, in 1868, 
 
saint Vincent's hospital. 
 
 377 
 
 $3,000. The Board of Public Charities, in 1867, also gave 
 it $1,000. The last Legislature gave it §5,000. In 1868 the 
 Sisters purchased the main building of their Hospital, which 
 up to this had been leased. The entire expense of their build- 
 ings and grounds has exceeded seventy thousand dollars, 
 upon which there remains an indebtedness of §25,000 se- 
 cured by bond and mortgage. 
 
 Mr. Charles Gibbons, several years since, generously pre- 
 sented the society with an endowment contribution of §5,000, 
 and it is quite remarkable that no wealthy Roman Catholic 
 of the country has undertaken to increase the amount. 
 
 The Institution is, of course, distinctly Roman Catholic in 
 its management; pay patients are, however, taken from any 
 denomination, and allowed to receive the visits of their own 
 spiritual advisers, though the stated services are always con- 
 ducted by a Romish priest. 
 
 Patients were admitted for many years at three dollars per 
 week, always paying one month's board in advance, and free 
 beds were granted associations and clubs for §120 per an- 
 num. But the greatly augmented cost of carrying on the In- 
 stitution, occasioned by the war, led them to increase the price 
 to six dollars for males, and five for female*; per week, and the 
 cost of a free bed to §175 per annum. Many charity patients 
 are still admitted. In 1859 and 1860 over two hundred of 
 this class were admitted, whose average sojourn was six 
 months, at an expense of over twelve thousand dollars to the 
 Institution. During 1872 nearly two hundred and eleven were 
 treated gratuitously. Since the founding of the Hospital, 
 twenty-four years ago, over fifteen thousand patients have 
 received treatment within its walls. The larger portion of 
 those who have died have been afflicted with pulmonary com- 
 plaints. 
 
 It may be doubted whether any hospital in the land is con- 
 ducted on more strictly economical principles. The Sisters 
 serve for life, with no expense to the Institution save board, 
 the mother house, St. Vincent's Convent, furnishing their ap- 
 parel. The dispensary is even conducted by one of the Sis- 
 ters, thus saving the usual salary of an apothecary. The pub 
 lished report of 1860 showed the amount of wages paid for 
 the year to have been §894, and the year closing with 1872 
 to have been §2,509,26. The self-imposed penury and patient 
 continuance in unrequited, life-long toil, and sleepless vigi- 
 
378 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 lance for the advancement of the interests of Mother 
 Church," by many Roman Catholics, notwithstanding all 
 their errors of faith and practice, present a sublime anomaly 
 in the history of the world, and are eminently worthy of 
 imitation. 
 
GERMAN HOSPITAL AND DISPENSARY, 
 
 (Seventy-seventh street and Fourth avenue.) 
 
 _ Until recently, the hospitals of New York have been 
 largely patronized and controlled by citizens of foreign na- 
 tionalities. Hospitals are much more common in Europe than 
 in this country. London alone contains over fifty, many of them 
 of a general character, averaging about three hundred beds 
 each. Americans, for the most part, prefer to be treated at 
 home, even in extreme cases ; but Europeans resort to the 
 hospital when overtaken with slight illness. The hospitals 
 of Europe often treat both the in-door and out-door patients, 
 hence the thoughts of an invalid are naturally turned toward 
 the hospital. It is this early education that has prompted so 
 many foreigners to plan for a hospital soon after taking up 
 their residence in an American city. " The German Hospital 
 of the City of New York " was incorporated by the Legisla- 
 ture April 13th, 1861, and its first board of directors was 
 organized February 15th, 1862. A subscription, opened in 
 1861, slumbered through several years. The treasurer's report 
 shows that up to 1865 less than $14,000 had been received. 
 
380 
 
 NEW TOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The subscriptions of 1866 exceeded $53,000; of 1867, 
 $36,000 ; and of 1868, $28,000. A plot of ground situated 
 on Fourth avenue and Seventy-seventh street was leased to 
 them by the city authorities for fifty years, at a nominal rent, 
 and the directors purchased six additional lots on Seventy-sixth 
 street. The plan at that time was to erect two fine pavilions, 
 extending along Seventy-seventh street, from Fourth to Lex- 
 ington avenues, with an administration building between them. 
 The corner-stone of the western pavilion was laid September 
 3, 1866, and the edifice so far completed that the building 
 committee transferred it to the board of directors October 
 28, 1868. The expenditures of the enterprise at that time hav- 
 ing far outrun its income, the edifice could not be used until 
 the heavy indebtedness could be removed. In the beginning 
 of 1869 the directors, still burdened with debt, and seeing no 
 prospect of receiving large donations, despaired of ever carry- 
 ing through the original plan, and accordingly sold the six lots 
 formerly purchased on Seventy-sixth street. The $25,800 
 thus received enabled them to cancel their most pressing 
 obligations, still leaving a debt of $20,000, and the Hospital 
 unfurnished. At this critical moment, Mr. H. E. Moring vol- 
 unteered to undertake another collection, and with much per- 
 severance succeeded in raising over $11,000, with which sum 
 eighty complete beds and the other furniture were obtained. 
 On the 13th of September, 1869, the Hospital was finally 
 opened for the uses for which it had been erected, since which 
 a large number of patients have been treated. 'The edifice is a 
 beautiful, three-story brick, with French roof. The stories are 
 high, well ventilated, heated throughout with steam, and con- 
 tain one hundred beds. The whole is divided into six wards 
 and five private rooms. The directors were last year very 
 agreeably surprised by receiving the princely gift of $50,000 
 in United States bonds, from Baron Van Diergardt, a noble 
 German philanthropist. This sum has enabled them to can- 
 cel all their indebtedness, leaving $40,000 in the treasury. 
 They now propose to repurchase the lots so recently sold, or 
 obtain others, and proceed with the erection of the other 
 buildings so greatly needed, as the inconveniencies of the 
 present building originate in the fact that all parts of the ad- 
 ministration are crowded into what is but a part of a well-con- 
 sidered plan. The incompleteness of the Hospital appears 
 from the fact that the present building contains no kitchen of 
 sufficient size, no separate room for a pharmacy, no room for 
 
GERMAN HOSPITAL AND DISPENSARY. 
 
 381 
 
 Burgical instruments, no suitably arranged operating theatre, 
 no rooms sufficiently separated from the main building for 
 patients giving symptoms of contagious disease. All these 
 prerequisites are provided for in the general plan. Patients 
 are admitted regardless of color, creed, or nationality. From 
 the time of opening the Hospital until October 1, 1870, 739 
 patients were admitted, of whom 82 died, 600 were dismissed, 
 and 57 remained. Of those admitted, 300 were treated free, 
 19 paid in part, and 420 paid in full. 
 
 In 1866 the German Dispensary previously established 
 was by an amended charter united in interest and manage- 
 ment with the Hospital. This has been transferred to No. 
 65 Eighth-street. During 1872 it dispensed medical aid to 
 12,076 patients, and to a much larger number the year pre- 
 vious. About one-third of these were of American birth, 
 and nearly eight-ninths of the remainder were from Ger- 
 many. The college of physicians connected with this dis- 
 pensary have collected the best library of medical periodi- 
 cals in the United States. 
 
 The German Hospital and Dispensary are conducted by 
 learned and skillful physicians, and with the completion of 
 their new buildings are certain to take rank among our best 
 institutions. 
 
MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL. 
 
 {Lexington avenue and Sixty-sixth street.) 
 
 The many thousand Hebrews of New York took no distinc- 
 tive part in the hospital accommodations of the metropolis 
 until about twenty years ago. The act of Legislature by 
 which the Jewish Hospital was incorporated bears date of 
 January 5, 1852. About that time Sampson Simson, a 
 wealthy Hebrew, donated a lot of ground in Twenty-eighth 
 street, near Eighth avenue, and the society purchased an ad- 
 joining lot and erected the handsome brick Hospital, still in 
 use, at a cost of nearly $35,000. The corner-stone of the 
 structure was laid with appropriate exercises in the presence 
 of a large concourse of citizens on the 25th of November, 
 1853, and the Hospital opened for the reception of patients 
 amid much rejoicing on the 17th of May, 1855. One hun- 
 dred and thirteen patients were admitted the first year. 
 
 The Institution is under the control of twelve directors, 
 three of whom are elected annually by the members of the 
 society and serve four years. Members are admitted on the 
 annual payment of five dollars, or one hundred paid atone 
 time, which entitles them to a voice at all meetings of the 
 society, and to a preference in the benefits of the Hospital. 
 In 1853 Mr. Touro, of New Orleans, increased the capital of 
 the society by a donation of $20,000, and in 18G3 two of the 
 
MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL. 
 
 383 
 
 directors proposed to contribute $10,000 each, on condition 
 that the Board should raise a permanent fund of $50,000, 
 which was soon accomplished. 
 
 During the sixteen years of its operations, it has received 
 6,925 patients; about 5,500 of them have been restored to 
 health, and about 1,400 surgical operations have been per- 
 formed. The design of the society, as set forth at its incor- 
 poration, is to " afford surgical and medical aid, comfort, and 
 protection in sickness to deserving and needy Israelites," but 
 their charities have extended far beyond their own persua- 
 sion. Many sick and disabled soldiers during the war were 
 received and treated in their Institution. When in 1866 the 
 city was threatened with cholera, a ward was prepared and 
 promptly tendered to the Board of Health. Casualty patients 
 have always been received and every possible alleviation 
 afforded, often at considerable expense to the managers ; and 
 whenever a poor unfortunate has lost a limb by amputation, 
 the directors have invariably procured him an artificial one. 
 True to the instincts of their illustrious ancestors, they regard 
 every man in distress a brother, and opening the tent door 
 bid him welcome to the enjoyment of their hospitality. In 
 their printed report they say, " The ear of the Hebrew is 
 never deaf to the cry of the needy, nor his heart unmoved at 
 the suffering of a fellow man, whatever be his creed, origin, 
 or nationality." Several of the Jewish Rabbis give unwear- 
 ied attention to the religious interests of their patients, and 
 suffering Gentiles are allowed to receive visits from their own 
 spiritual advisers. The Hospital contains a small synagogue. 
 They also own a burial-place, and bury the dead without 
 charge to the f riends of the deceased. 
 
 The necessities of the public and the wants of the society 
 some time since outgrew the capacity of their modest build- 
 ing, which has never been able to accommodate over about 
 sixty-five patients. Their surroundings have also sadly 
 changed. At the time of opening the Hospital, the neighbor- 
 hood was clean, airy, and quiet. But during the last few 
 years the building has been surrounded by factories, brewer- 
 ies, and workshops, whose steam-engines are puffing day and 
 night, to the great annoyance of the patients, who sigh for 
 quiet and rest. These factories have brought also a class of 
 families that add greatly to the noise and filth of the neigh- 
 borhood. In October, 1867, a steam boiler exploded w T ithin a 
 hundred feet of the Hospital, and was thrown several hundred 
 
384 
 
 NEW TOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 feet in the air, crushing a dwelling and some of the inmates 
 in its descent. The concussion at the Hospital was terrible. 
 The walls were shaken, windows shattered, and the panic 
 among the poor patients indescribable. This occurrence set- 
 tled the matter of removal, and the directors began to in- 
 quire for a more eligible site. The Common Council granted 
 them a lease of twelve lots situated on Lexington avenue, be- 
 tween Sixty-fifth and Sixty-sixth streets, for ninety-nine } r ears, 
 at a nominal rent of one dollar per annum. 
 
 The corner-stone of the new Hospital was laid in the after- 
 noon of May 25, 1870. After music by Eben's band, the 
 Rev. J. J. Lyons offered an earnest and thoughtful prayer. 
 Mr. Benjamin Nathan (since wickedly murdered), president 
 of the society, after depositing the metal box containing the 
 history of the movement and other documents in the stone, 
 with an appropriate address, presented to Mayor A. Oakey 
 Hall a silver trowel, which had upon one side of it a Hebrew 
 inscription signifying House of the Sick, and on the other an 
 inscription of gift, with the names of the officers and direct- 
 ors. The Mayor, after congratulating the societv and the city 
 upon this new movement of charity, said : 
 
 " Other cities boast of peculiar and familiar titles descrip- 
 tive of their inhabitants. There is the ' City of Brotherly 
 Love,' as Philadelphia is called, and there is Brooklyn, ' The 
 City of Churches ; ' but the city of New York proudly and 
 gloriously boasts of being the great ' City of Charities.' It is 
 therefore doubly appropriate that the Mayor of that city 
 should be here, as it were, the high-priest of these ceremonies." 
 
 He then descended from the platform, and having placed 
 himself near the stone, continued as follows : 
 
 " I now proceed to lay this corner-stone in the name of our 
 common humanity ; in the name of the common mortal life 
 to which we all cling ; in the name of those ills of the body 
 and the mind to which we are all subject ; in the name of 
 universal mercy, which we prayerfully demand ; and in the 
 name of that universal death which we all reverently expect. 
 And Jehovah grant that, as long as time endures, angels of 
 compassion, with healing on their wings, may hover round the 
 site of this Mount Sinai Hospital." 
 
 After the stone had been lowered to its place the Mayor 
 struck it several times with the gavel, and concluded the cere- 
 mony by adding : 
 
 " Lie thou there, O corner-stone, and, according to the sen- 
 
MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL. 
 
 385 
 
 tence of the noble prayer which has been offered here to-day, 
 may est thou ever rest beneath the site of an hospital that 
 shall be the shelter of suffering humanity, without distinction 
 of faith." 
 
 An eloquent and appropriate address was then delivered 
 by the Hon. Albert Cardozo, one of the justices of the Su- 
 preme Court of the State of New York, from which we ex- 
 tract the following paragraph : 
 
 " And now, from its foundation, I dedicate the beautiful 
 edifice about to be erected on this spot to the charitable pur- 
 poses for which it is designed. I dedicate it in the name of the 
 union of these States — may both alike be perpetual ! — whose 
 theory of religious liberty and equality, faithfully maintained 
 from the birth of the nation — may it never be violated ! — has 
 attracted so many to these shores, who have shed lustre upon 
 our race, and who have repaid their adopted country for its 
 protection by devoting treasure and talent, and life itself, to 
 her interests. 
 
 "I dedicate it in the name of the State of New York — may 
 the career of both be upward and onward in prosperity for- 
 ever! — under whose parental and protecting care and benign 
 influence and policy the Institution has thriven and grown, 
 from insignificant and dependent infancy, until it has at- 
 tained its present extended usefulness and proportions. 
 
 " I dedicate it in the name of the City of New York — cath- 
 olic and profuse in its generosity towards all laudable objects 
 — our pride, our home ; with which our dearest interests and 
 hopes are identified, and for whose welfare our heartstrings 
 vibrate with tenderest emotion and sensibility ; whose prog- 
 ress in all that makes a city really great, while only keep- 
 ing pace with our affection, has excited the admiration and 
 amazement of the world, and provoked at times the. envy 
 of her less-favored sisters of both this and the old country ; 
 whose munificence towards this and all deserving charities 
 marks her pre-eminent, as in everything else, for entire free- 
 dom from bigotry, and for devotion to the cause of humanity 
 and the sacred principle of religious liberty. And in the 
 name of all these, speaking for those who cannot speak for 
 themselves — for the helpless, the hapless, and the forlorn — 
 I invoke the aid of all to sustain this admirable charity and 
 make the Institution a perfect and permanent success." 
 
 The work thus happily begun is being rapidly pushed for- 
 ward, and the present autumn will probably witness the 
 
386 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 completion of one of the finest hospitals in our city. The 
 building will front on Lexington avenue, extending across 
 the entire block ; it will consist of a fine central edifice, with 
 two wings, constructed of brick and marble, in the most ap- 
 proved style of architecture. It is three stories high, besides 
 basement and attic, with Mansard roof, heated with steam, 
 will accommodate two hundred beds, and cost, in its construc- 
 tion and furniture, $350,000. The subscription building fund 
 amounts to nearly one hundred thousand dollars at this 
 writing, the old hospital and grounds are expected to bring 
 toward a hundred thousand when vacated, and the Institution 
 has now a permanent endowment fund of another hundred 
 thousand. The Charity Fair inaugurated on the 30th of No- 
 vember, 1870, netted the Hospital the large sum of $101,645, 
 besides the $35,000 appropriated to the Hebrew Orphan 
 Asylum. Surely the Hebrews of New York are making an 
 excellent record. May a kind Providence direct and save 
 them ! 
 
 (1873.) The new structure was dedicated May 29, 1872, 
 with but a small indebtedness. 
 
 BELLEVUE HOSPITAL. 
 
 (Twenty-sixth street. East river.) 
 
 JilE Belle vue Hospital is one of the largest Institu- 
 riwL tions of its kind in the United States, and one of the 
 noblest monuments of municipal charity in the whole 
 * ^ world. In 1816 a stone building fifty feet by one 
 hundred and fifty was erected at Bellevue, as a peniten- 
 tiary for minor offenders. The same year the new alms- 
 house was erected in close proximity to the latter, and in 
 1826 the Hospital was established near the two just described. 
 The three Institutions, and over twenty acres of land, were en- 
 closed with a stone wall, and became known as the Bellevue 
 establishment. The opening of the House of Eefuge in 1825, 
 and the prison at Sing-Sing in 1828, furnished accommoda- 
 tions for criminals, so that at the removal of the inmates of 
 the almshouse to Blackwcirs Island, in 1848, the Hospital 
 interest naturally took the entire possession of Bellevue. 
 The old almshouse, constructed of blue-stone, is now the 
 
24 
 
BELLEVUE HOSPITAL. 
 
 387 
 
 central edifice of the Hospital. Various changes and addi- 
 tions have been made from time to time, until the buildings 
 now present a continuous line of three hundred and fifty 
 feet, all four stories high, the central one crowned with a 
 lofty observatory. The Hospital contains thirty-five wards, 
 and has space for about twelve hundred patients. The ceil- 
 ings are now considered too low and the ventilation quite 
 defective, yet every improvement possible for the comfort of 
 the patients is made. The Hospital is heated throughout with 
 steam, the cooking and washing being performed by the same 
 agent, and the apartments are all lighted with gas. Each 
 building has a piazza with external iron staircases, affording 
 pleasant exercise to convalescents, and ample means of escape 
 in case of fire. 
 
 In the basement of the main building are kept the drugs, 
 the Hospital clothing, and much of the provision stores. 
 Here is also the printing office of the commissioners. The 
 side walls of the wide entrance way of the first floor present 
 on the one hand the stone on which George Washington 
 stood when he took the oath of office as first President of 
 the United States. The stone is appropriately inscribed. On 
 the opposite side the commissioners have placed a beautiful 
 inscription in white marble, to the memory of Dr. Valentine 
 Mott, so long regarded as the chief ornament of the medical 
 fraternity of New York. The office of the warden and the 
 business room of the commissioners are found on the first 
 floor, and on the second are private apartments for the war- 
 den, engineer, apothecary, and matron. The third floor con- 
 tains similar apartments for the resident physicians and 
 surgeons ; while the fourth contains the operating theater, 
 surrounded with circular seats raised in the form of an am- 
 phitheater, with space for several hundred students. This 
 floor contains also the library, and the consultation room. 
 The surgical instruments formerly kept here have been re- 
 moved to the first floor, and placed with other curiosities in 
 a large room adjoining the entrance hall. They are all 
 placed in charge of one person, who is held responsible for 
 their condition. The attic contains the tanks from which 
 hot and cold water is distributed through the building. The 
 Hospital has recently been furnished with spring beds, which, 
 besides lessening the labor, adds greatly to the comfort of the 
 patients. The museum is'being steadily enriched with speci- 
 mens of morbid anatomy, illustrating nearly every variety of 
 
388 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 disease. The Hospital is placed under a medical committee 
 of inspection, who examine it weekly, making such recom- 
 mendations as they think proper. 
 
 This Hospital, as all know, is a municipal institution, con- 
 trolled by the Commissioners of Charities and Correction. 
 Hence all sick poor are entitled to treatment free of charge. 
 
 A surgeon is detailed to examine all applicants, and if 
 they require continuous medical treatment he assigns them 
 to their appropriate ward in the Hospital ; if the illness is 
 slight, they are sent to the Bureau of Out-door Sick. An 
 average of seven or eight thousand are treated annually in 
 this Hospital, about ten per cent, of whom die; a large part 
 of the deaths occur, however, among infants and casualty 
 patients. Though the patients are nearly all paupers, the 
 surgeons employed are second to none, and the treatment 
 throughout is the best science can afford. 
 
 The bodies of the dead, unless taken away by their friends, 
 are interred in the City Cemetery on Hart Island. 
 
 As a school of clinical instruction, Bellevue ranks among 
 the first in the world. The students of all medical schools 
 in the city are granted admission tickets, and several hundred 
 are in constant attendance. 
 
 In 1866 the commissioners added the Medical and Surgi- 
 cal Bureau for the Relief of the Out-door Poor, which is 
 manned by a large corps of physicians, who treated over 17,000 
 patients in one year. During the year a building, 
 similar to the famous Morgue of Paris, was constructed, as a 
 temporary receptacle for the exhibition and identification of 
 the unknown dead. The body is stretched upon a table so 
 that it can be viewed through a glass ceiling day and night 
 for seventy-two hours. If not identified, a minute descrip- 
 tion of the person is recorded, a picture taken, and the gar- 
 ments worn are still kept on exhibition for twenty or more 
 days. A convenient room has been added to this building 
 for the deliberations of the coroners. During 1871 there 
 were received at the Morgue 214 bodies, 127 of whom were 
 recognized by friends, and 87 not identified. 
 
 Several acres of ground are still connected with the Hospi- 
 tal. The yards are finely cultivated and add greatly to tlie 
 beauty and healthfulness of the Institution. 
 
THE NURSERY AND CHILD'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 (Lexington avenue and Fifty-first street. ) 
 
 - Among all the woes of this sorrowful world, perhaps none 
 are more touching to consider or record than those endured 
 by helpless, speechless childhood. If early years are well 
 supplied with the appliances of life and culture, the priva- 
 tions, exposures, and tempests of later years may be tri- 
 umphantly borne ; but neglect and misfortune in the morn- 
 ing of life, if not instantly fatal, may so extend their shadows 
 as to sadden and ruin a noble existence. Many causes 
 conspire to afflict childhood. Death robs many a bright- 
 eyed child, in the earliest dawn of its existence, of her whose 
 love and care can never be supplied. Its father may be at 
 that instant on the Indian Ocean, in Asia, or on the Rocky 
 Mountains. Poverty may drive the mother to give the food 
 nature provided for her own infant to that of another ; thus, 
 to save herself from starvation, she half starves her child. 
 Some mothers are insane, and some suffer with lingering 
 illness, and are themselves conveyed to hospitals. Add to 
 these the numberless illegitimate births, where shame for 
 
390 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 past crimes leads to the commission of another for its con- 
 cealment, and we gain a faint conception of the ills the race 
 encounters at the threshold of its existence. Keflections of 
 this kind, particularly those of wet-nurses, compelled by 
 want of subsistence to neglect their own babes and care for 
 others, led to the founding of the " Nursery and Child's Hos- 
 pital." And is it not eminently fitting that woman, to whom 
 God in His providence has committed the race, and to whom 
 He has given the finest susceptibilities for its culture, should 
 be the founder and manager of this worthy Institution? 
 Early in 1854 Mrs. Cornelius Du Bois, whose mind had 
 become thoroughly imbued with this subject, undertook to 
 interest her friends and the public in behalf of the infant 
 children of the poor, and so successful were her endeavors, 
 that on the 1st of March, less than a month from the time of 
 beginning, a society was organized, with $10,000 subscribed 
 to commence the enterprise. On the first day of the follow- 
 ing May a building was opened in St. Mark's place, which 
 was so soon filled that it was found necessary to add the 
 house adjoining; but, the pressure for room still continuing, a 
 more eligible building was secured on Sixth avenue, where 
 the society carried on its work for two years. 
 
 The original intention was to provide a nursery for the 
 infants of laboring women, and others deprived by any 
 cause of their mothers. The design was to provide for 
 healthy children, but unfortunately disease is not slow to 
 march through the tender ranks of childhood, and it soon 
 became apparent that, in order to the successful maintenance 
 of a nursery, a hospital with physicians, nurses, and all need- 
 ful appliances must be added. Every week the number of 
 applications increased, and the managers soon became con- 
 vinced that the limits hitherto assigned to their undertaking 
 were not commensurate with the wants of the city, and that 
 their borders must be greatly enlarged. 
 
 This could not be done without money. An application to 
 the city authorities finally secured the permanent lease of a 
 lot of land one hundred feet square on Fifty-first street, be- 
 tween Lexington and Third avenues. The Legislature was 
 appealed to in 1855, and again in 1857, and the sum of 
 $10,000 was granted to aid in building. Several public 
 entertainments and many private donations so swelled their 
 building fund that they were permitted, in May, 1858, to 
 complete a fine three-story brick building, at a cost of 
 
THE NUBSEEY A2sD CHILD'S HOSPITAL. 
 
 391 
 
 §2S,000. The main building is sixty feet deep, with a front 
 of one hundred and nineteen feet, with two wings of twenty- 
 seven and forty feet, respectively. Up to this period no ille- 
 gitimate children were admitted, but the large numbers they 
 were compelled to refuse induced a deeper study into the 
 necessities of these most wretched of all infants. The late 
 Isaac Townsend, then one of the governors of the almshouse, 
 was led to the careful consideration of the same subject, and 
 came to the same conclusion, viz., that a foundling hospital 
 should be established in New York. 
 
 In 1S58 the Common Council appointed a select committee 
 to examine and report on the expediency of founding such 
 an Institution. The committee carefully examined the sub- 
 ject, conferred with eminent physicians, collected statistics, 
 and reported in favor of such a Hospital. Their report showed 
 that in one week, out of 503 deaths, no less than 107, or thirty- 
 five per cent., were under one year of age, 5-1 being returned 
 as still or premature births. But these published bills of 
 mortality could not guess at the hundreds and thousands of 
 cases known only to certain women and their physicians. 
 
 The annual report of the Police Department, the observa- 
 tions of thoughtful medical advisers, and others, proved that 
 infanticide had become a widespread and appalling crime in 
 American cities, and extended from the marble palace of Fifth 
 avenue to the dingiest hovel on the island. It was believed 
 that the establishment of foundling hospitals in the principal 
 cities of Europe had prevented the extensive practice of 
 child-murder in those countries. As early as 1670, Louis 
 XI Y. placed the Foundling Hospital of Paris on a common 
 footing with the other hospitals of the city; and in 1778 a 
 lying-in asylum was established by Marie Antoinette. In 1739 
 Thomas Coram founded the London Foundling Hospital, 
 which has since been recognized as one of the most useful 
 charities of England. In our country villages and towns, 
 where every one is known, infanticide is believed to be rare ; 
 hence, many indiscreet girls and women, on pretence of a visit 
 or an offered situation, have in the seclusion of a great city 
 sought concealment, and there blackened their souls with in- 
 fanticide. The statistics gathered in one instance showed that,, 
 out of 195 cases, only 37 belonged to the city. Many young 
 girls are annually thrust from the homes of their parents on 
 the discovery of their sad condition, some of whom enter as a 
 last resort dens of infamy to run a brief career of crime, which. 
 
392 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 terminates in an awful death ; while others, whose desire for 
 concealment is stronger than for life, are drawn from the 
 water by our policemen, and described by the coroner. 
 Through the unceasing exertions of Mrs. Du Bois, aided by 
 the Common Council, a foundling hospital or " Infant Home " 
 was erected in 1861. 
 
 It was a model building of its kind, constructed of brick 
 and freestone, with three stories above a high basement, 
 fronting on Lexington avenue, at the corner of Fifty-first 
 street, and a little removed from the original Nursery and 
 Hospital. About the time of its completion, yielding to the 
 pressing demands of the hour, it was surrendered to the sick 
 and disabled soldiers, who occupied it four years, but at the 
 return of peace it was restored to its founders, and appropri- 
 ated to the uses for which it had been erected. In October, 
 1865, it was formally opened for the reception of inmates. 
 
 Great inconvenience was experienced still for want of suffi- 
 cient room, and from the separation of the two buildings. 
 This led the enterprising managers, in 1868, to erect, at an 
 expense of over thirty-one thousand dollars, a third building, 
 covering the vacant space between the two former, the base- 
 ment of which contains a play-room for the children, the rest 
 being largely appropriated to a lying-in asylum. The build- 
 ings are now entirely completed and paid for. They contain 
 fourteen wards, besides suitable school, dining, and play 
 rooms, and other needful apartments. The aim of the society 
 is not to encourage vice, but to prevent it. Hence females 
 seeking admission are required to furnish certificates from re- 
 sponsible parties, stating that until recently they have sustained 
 virtuous characters. It opens its doors for the relief and re- 
 covery of unfortunates who have no other refuge in the wide 
 world. Each woman admitted is required to nurse and care 
 for one child besides her own, and if her child dies, to nurse 
 two during her stay. On leaving she receives a certificate of 
 recommendation from the managers and house physician, 
 which usually secures her a good situation. Children under 
 four years of age are received, for which the parent is ex- 
 pected to pay ten dollars per month for an infant, seven dollars 
 for a child who can walk, and nine dollars for a hospital or 
 sick child. The great majority, however, pay nothing. The 
 city authorities now pay five dollars per week for every indi- 
 gent lying-in woman, and five dollars per month for each child 
 when nothing can be obtained from the parent. 
 
THE NTJRSEEY AND CHILD^ HOSPITAL. 
 
 393 
 
 During the year closing with March, 1870, 108 mrants 
 were born in the Hospital, and the inmates averaged about 
 three hundred and fifty, two-thirds of whom were children. 
 The expenditures of the Institution during the same time 
 amounted to §55,241. During the last year 208 infants were 
 born in the Institution, 694 persons cared for, and 30 wet 
 nurses provided with situations. The servants sometimes find 
 an infant placed at the door of the Institution in the early 
 jtours of the morning, and others are left by heartless 
 mothers who never call for them. These are kept and in- 
 structed until they are eight or ten years of age, when they 
 are adopted into good families. The infants are fed con- 
 densed milk, preparations of barley, etc., and as they 
 advance eggs and other solid articles of diet are added. An 
 able board of physicians give much time to the care of the 
 sick, and the Institution is watched over night and day by an 
 experienced matron, Mrs. Polman, who possesses rare fitness 
 for the critical position. An annual ball is held in behalf of 
 the Institution. This questionable method of sustaining a 
 worthy charity has nevertheless proved eminently successful, 
 as the managers have realized §10,000 or §15,000 from each, 
 thus drawing large sums from the voluptuous public, which 
 lacks the principle to give until entertained with some frivo- 
 lous amusement. On the 4th of July, 1870, the Society 
 opened on Staten Island a country nursery, for the benefit 
 of the sickly children of the Institution, at an expense of 
 $50,000. The Legislature of 1870 gave §25,000, and in 1871 
 added the other §25,000, thus fully equipping this country 
 retreat for these infant sufferers. The society is now thor- 
 oughly furnished for its undertaking, and will doubtless run 
 a long and useful career. The Institution is Protestant, but 
 uot denominational. 
 
NEW YORK EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY. 
 
 (Corner of Second avenue and Thirteenth street.) 
 
 The disorders of the eye and its appendages are more 
 numerous and diversified than those of any other member of 
 the human body, and some of the operations for its relief re- 
 quire the nicest combinations of delicacy and skill. What- 
 ever knowledge the ancients may have possessed of this sub- 
 ject, certain it is that the medical fraternity, during the mid- 
 dle ages, walked in profound darkness. It was not until the 
 latter part of the seventeenth century that the anatomy of 
 the eye was well understood. The German surgeons have 
 the honor of rescuing from deep obscurity the science of 
 ophthalmic surgery. In 1773 Barthe first founded the 
 Vienna School, which has since become so celebrated. The 
 impulse given to the subject in Germany was soon communi- 
 cated to England, and in 1804 Mr. Sanders founded the 
 London Eye Infirmary, whence have sprung similar charities 
 in various parts of Great Britaiu and the Continent. 
 
NEW YORK EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY. 
 
 395 
 
 In 1816 Edward Delafield and John K. Rodgers, gradu- 
 ates of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York 
 City, sailed for Europe to improve themselves in the knowl- 
 edge of their profession. They had attended the usual course 
 of lectures, each had practised a year in the New York Hos- 
 pital, but as the institutions of our country were yet in their 
 infancy they hoped by foreign study to render themselves 
 better fitted for the responsible duties of the medical profes- 
 sion. While pursuing their studies in London they were in- 
 duced to become pupils in the recently established Eye In- 
 firmary. They had given the usual attention to the study of 
 the treatment of the eye, but soon discovered that they and 
 their American instructors were profoundly ignorant of the 
 whole subject. They instantly saw that here was an open 
 field of great usefulness wholly untrodden in their own coun- 
 try, and they devoted themselves with untiring assiduity to 
 this new branch of knowledge. Returning in 1818, they 
 nobly resolved to establish an Infirmary. They were both 
 young, possessed little means, had no reputation as physi- 
 cians, yet in August, 1820, they hired two rooms on the 
 second floor at No. 45 Chatham street, and publicly an- 
 nounced that on certain days and hours of each week indi- 
 gent persons afflicted with diseases of the eyes would be gra- 
 tuitously treated, and furnished with all necessary medical 
 appliances. What was undertaken as an experiment soon 
 proved a success, for in less than seven months four hundred 
 and thirty-six patients had applied and received treatment, 
 and many astonishing recoveries had occurred. Having thus 
 demonstrated the feasibility and utility of the undertaking, 
 they now resolved to bring the matter before the public, and 
 ask for the means to really found an Infirmary. A public 
 meeting convened at the City Hotel on the 9th of March, 
 1821, to consider this subject, was eminently successful. A 
 permanent organization was effected, and a committee raised 
 to solicit subscriptions and temporarily conduct the Institu- 
 tion. 
 
 The members of the society were denominated governors, 
 and they resolved that the payment of forty dollars or up- 
 wards should constitute one a governor for life, or the pay- 
 ment of five dollars per annum a yearly governor, with the 
 privilege of sending two patients to the Infirmary for treat- 
 ment at all times. 
 
 The operations of the society were continued in the same 
 
396 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 rooms until 1824, when a part of the old Marine Hospital 
 was rented for the sum of $500 per annum. .The act of 
 incorporation passed the Legislature March 29th, 1822, and 
 the sum of $1,000 was granted in each of the two following 
 years. In 1845 the accommodations at the Hospital being 
 totally inadequate, a three-story house at No. 97 Mercer 
 street was purchased and fitted up for the Infirmary. But 
 after a few years the number of patients became so great 
 that it became manifest that a larger building must be 
 obtained. In 1854 the Legislature, in answer to repeated 
 memorials, granted the sum of $10,000, on condition that 
 $20,000 more should be raised by the directors and expended 
 in building. Over $30,000 were soon subscribed by the 
 friends of the enterprise, and in 1857 the present building 
 was erected. It stands on the north-east corner of Second 
 avenue and Thirteentli street, is a handsome four-story 
 brown stone, with appropriate apartments and space for sev- 
 enty-five beds for patients. It was a source of deep mortifi- 
 cation to the prime movers in this undertaking, who had in- 
 troduced this system into the country, and had planted them- 
 selves in its largest and wealthiest city, to see two kindred 
 institutions securely founded and richly endowed, one in 
 Boston and the other in Philadelphia, while they were left 
 to toil on in comparative poverty and obscurity for six and 
 thirty years. On their entrance into the new building the 
 society entered upon a new era. Its enlarged accommoda- 
 tions for patients from abroad greatly swelled the numbers of 
 those who sought its remedies. Previous to 1855, therv had 
 been treated 48,52S patients, but during the last eighteen years 
 no less than 118,079 have sought relief at the Infirmary. An 
 army, in all, of 166,007. The Infirmary is open daily, Sunday 
 excepted, from twelve o'clock to one and a half, for the gra- 
 tuitous treatment of eye patients ; and diseases of the ear are 
 treated every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, from two 
 o'clock to four. The poor from all parts of the State are 
 entitled to its privileges. The cost of the building, with the 
 site on which it stands, has amounted to $65,000, and is now 
 valued at nearly twice that amount. At its opening there 
 remained a debt upon it of $10,000. This has since been 
 removed, and commendable exertions have since been made 
 by the directors and surgeons to secure an adequate 
 endowment, to establish free beds, and to furnish the patients 
 gratuitously with glasses, artificial eyes when needed, etc. 
 
NEW YORK EYE AND EAR INFIRM A RY. 
 
 397 
 
 The State long since withdrew all pecuniary support, though 
 patients are freely received from all parts of it, and the Com- 
 mon Council grants it but $1,000 per annum. Of the 10,127 
 treated during 1873, 7,730 were for diseases of the eye, and 
 2,397 for diseases of the ear. Of the 465 patients kept in 
 the Infirmary, 244 were at the expense of the Institution. 
 
 The endowment fund, contributed by Mr. Grosvenor, Mr. 
 Burrall, Dr. Harsen, Chauncey and Henry Rose, Madame De 
 Pou, Mr. Alstyne, and others, has been carefully invested and 
 now yields an income of $11,000. 
 
 Though several new institutions of this kind have recently 
 been established in this city and Brooklyn, the surging tide 
 of sufferers has not been diverted from this old and well- 
 known Bethesda. 
 
 This society has certainly accomplished an excellent work, 
 and is justly entitled to the lasting gratitude of the public. 
 Its whole history has been an example of the most rigid 
 economy and self-sacrifice, but the fruit of its benevolent 
 exertion has been rich and abundant. Frequently has the un- 
 willing occupant of the almshouse recovered through its exer- 
 tions. His family, long scattered or consigned to a home of 
 wretchedness, has been collected and raised by industry to 
 comfort and independence. Here the infant, born blind, has 
 first opened its eyes upon its mother's face, and the few re- 
 maining days of the old man have been cheered by the 
 returning light of day. From these rooms the broken-down 
 student has returned to his books, and the lone female to her 
 employment, happy in the recovery of sight, the loss of which 
 made poverty a double calamity. Here many an anxious 
 mother has shed tears of joy over the recovery of a long- 
 affiicted child. If it is praiseworthy to educate and support 
 the blind, is it less so to prevent blindness ? Surely it is much 
 cheaper to prevent pauperism than to support it, all other con- 
 
 country, through the better education of the medical frater- 
 nity, is not the least advantage to be considered from the 
 founding of this Institution. The knowledge acquired has 
 been freely offered to humanity at large. Clinical teaching 
 and courses of lectures have been regularly given at the In- 
 firmary for years, and every facility afforded to all medical 
 students to perfect themselves in this branch of surgery ; thus 
 affording the public a better protection against the mistakes 
 
 siderations 
 
 benefits accruing to the whole 
 
398 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS ESSTTTTTION3. 
 
 and unskillfulness of their medical advisers. Dr. Edward 
 Delafield, its chief founder, whose name and toils have been 
 conspicuous in nearly every part of its history, still survives, 
 to mark with peculiar satisfaction the increasing success of 
 this cherished Institution. 
 
THE WOMAN'S HOSPITAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 
 
 {Fourth avenue and Fiftieth street.) 
 
 The advances made in almost every branch of medicine and 
 surgery during the present century have far exceeded those 
 of any similar period in the history of the world, yet woman, 
 borne down by peculiar and loathsome sufferings, has sighed 
 in vain for relief until within the last few years. In 1852, 
 Dr. J. Marion Sims, originally from Alabama, made known 
 to the profession the result of his long and patient investiga- 
 tions of some of those hitherto incurable ills that afflict 
 woman. He had discovered the surgical remedy whereby 
 with one or more operations a disease of the most distressing 
 character, that had for ages baffled the skill of Europe, was 
 radically cured. The announcement was hailed with high 
 satisfaction by the medical fraternity. The successful treat- 
 ment of these cases, it was found, required the careful man- 
 agement in minute detail of such trained nurses as are rarely 
 found in private houses. Secondly, the operator, in addition 
 to the knowledge and skill of a good surgeon, must possess 
 peculiar adroitness of manipulation, the gift of very few, re- 
 quiring large and constant experience not often attained in a 
 
400 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS . 
 
 general hospital. Third, the successful treatment of many 
 patients could be conducted nowhere but in a hospital. 
 From these considerations it was deemed expedient to estab- 
 lish an institution where this treatment could be made a spe- 
 cialty. The subject being laid before a number of wealthy 
 benevolent ladies of New York, they entered upon the task of 
 founding an Institution with a very commendable zeal. 
 
 In February, 1855, the Woman's Hospital association was 
 formed, with a board of managers consisting of thirty-four 
 ladies, a work of woman for the benefit of her own sex. On 
 the 4th of May, 1855, the association opened a hospital in a 
 hired building, with forty beds, and conducted its operations 
 for over twelve years on this limited scale. During that 
 period, however, over twelve hundred patients were discharged, 
 either cured or greatly relieved, besides the hundreds of out- 
 door patients treated. The city generously contributed a 
 block of ground lying on Fourth avenue and Fiftieth street, 
 and in May, 1S66, the corner-stone of the Woman's Hospital 
 was laid. On the 10th of October, 1867, the new building was 
 thrown open for inspection and for appropriate services, and 
 on the 15th for the reception of patients. While the build- 
 ing was being erected, the property occupied on Madison 
 avenue was sold, and the patients removed to Thirteenth 
 street, where they continued eleven months. The new Hos- 
 pital is one of the prettiest buildings on the island. Its base- 
 ment is of polished stone, the four additional stories of brick, 
 with angles and pilasters ornamented with finely wrought ver- 
 miculatcd blocks. The windows are beautifully arched, the 
 ceilings higher than in any other hospital in the city, and an 
 elevator ascends from basement to fourth floor, to the great 
 convenience of patients, nurses, and visitors. The building 
 contains 75 beds, and cost, with its furniture, §200,000. The 
 upper fLor is devoted to charity patients from New York 
 State only, who are required to render some service in the 
 labor of the house, if able. 
 
 The price of board on the third floor is six dollars per 
 week, on the second floor eight dollars, the first floor being 
 divided into private rooms which rent for fifteen or twenty 
 dollars per week. During the year closing November, 1869, 
 236 patients received treatment in the Institution ; of these, 
 151 were cured, 13 improved, 6 discharged as incurable or 
 unsuitable for this treatment, 6 died, leaving 60 still in the 
 Hospital. The expenses of the Institution during the year 
 
THE WOMAN'S HOSPITAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 401 
 
 amounted to $22,000, of which sum $14,000 were received 
 from the pay patients, and the remainder raised by subscrip- 
 tions and donations. The surgical department, under the 
 direction of the skillful Dr. Emmet, has been so organized 
 that out-door patients are gratuitously treated three days in 
 the week, and during the year 1,369 of this class had been 
 admitted. The report of the year closing November, 1870, 
 showed that 262 patients had been under treatment in the 
 wards, of whom 167 were discharged cured, 17 improved, 12 
 received no benefit, and 9 died, leaving in the Hospital 57. 
 Over eighteen hundred out-door patients had also received 
 medical treatment. The annual expenses had slightly de- 
 creased, as had also the receipts from the patients and from 
 donations. Ovarian tumors of astonishing magnitude have 
 been successfully removed at this Hospital. 
 
 The business of the association is conducted by a board of 
 males styled governors, and an associate board of females 
 termed supervisors. A hundred ladies have pledged to sup- 
 ply the annual deficiency in the finances, the liability of each 
 not to exceed one hundred dollars. They deem this course 
 preferable to fairs, lotteries, etc. The State, city, and com- 
 munity have honored themselves in contributing toward the 
 establishment of this much-needed Institution. 
 
 Thousands of physicians from all parts of our country have 
 attended on clinical days, and returned to their own fields to 
 put in practice the knowledge acquired. 
 
 The founder of the Institution has introduced the discovery 
 into England and France, receiving distinguished honors 
 from those nations, but, what is more desirable still, the satis- 
 faction of knowing that his system for the amelioration of 
 human suffering is being reduced to practice in all parts of 
 Europe. 
 
 During 1869 a modest gentleman, Mr. Baldwin, whose 
 name was withheld until after his death, contributed the 
 princely sum of $84,000 toward the erection of another 
 pavilion, similar to the one in use. The association is still 
 somewhat in debt on the present building, but this munifi- 
 cent donation has imposed the duty of raising an additional 
 $50,000 to complete the project, which will probably be ac- 
 complished at no distant day. In 1868 Mr. Henry Young 
 contributed $3,000 for the endowment of a bed which he is 
 allowed to assign to such patients as he shall choose at all 
 times. During the year 1870 Mrs. Kobert Eay and Mrs. H. 
 25 
 
402 
 
 NKW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 D. Wyman have each contributed a similar sum. The 
 managers desire to have these excellent examples followed 
 until half of the beds in the Institution are free, and if a suf- 
 ficient endowment could be secured it would be their pleasure 
 to make the Woman's Hospital entirely free to every suffering 
 female who may need its treatment. 
 
 The fame of the Woman's Hospital has spread through all 
 the land. In the spring of 1870 the wife of an army officer, 
 suffering under a malady pronounced incurable, came from 
 Arizona. With the courage of a brave and true woman, 
 stimulated by the love of life that she might still minister to 
 husband and children, she travelled incessantly fourteen days 
 and nights, through the three thousand miles that separated 
 her from the goal of her hopes. When presented to the 
 surgeon-in-chier, he informed her with marked kindness that 
 the chances were sadly against her. She calmly scanned his 
 face for a moment, and then replied, " Before I saw your face, 
 sir, I feared I should die ; but now I know I shall live." 
 Faith and skill wrought together, she recovered, and carried 
 to her distant home grateful memories of the Woman's 
 Hospital. 
 
 (1873.) The surgical arrangement of the Institution was 
 changed in 1872, four surgeons being now charged with its 
 management. 
 
INSTITUTION FOR THE RELIEF OF THE RUPTURED AND 
 
 CRIPPLED. 
 
 {Corner of Lexington avenue and Forty -second street.) 
 
 "The generations of the last two centuries have been re- 
 nowned above all others for those discoveries and inventions 
 which minister to the wants of suffering humanity. The 
 physical sciences have always been slow in their development, 
 yet with these the art of healing is most intimately connected. 
 It is sometimes said that little progress has been made in 
 literature during the last two thousand years. 
 
 Modern authors do not surpass the ancient classics, modern 
 orators have not equalled Demosthenes and Cicero, and the 
 volumes of modern poets are laid aside for those of Homer 
 and Virgil. Euclid, who flourished three centuries before 
 Christ, has not been excelled by geometricians ; astronomers 
 have improved little on La Place, and law has improved but 
 slowly since the days of Blackstone and Mansfield. 
 
 Medical science, however, has advanced with rapid strides in 
 our day, diminishing suffering and greatly lengthening the 
 period of human life. Statistics show that longevity has in- 
 creased in Paris, since 1805, seventy-one per cent., and that 
 
404 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 while the annual deaths of London in 17S0 were one in 
 twenty of the population, in our day they are reduced to one 
 in forty. The great increase of hospitals, infirmaries, and 
 dispensaries, during the last quarter of a century, has evinced 
 decided progress in the right direction, exhibiting on the one 
 hand a thoughtful generosity among the wealthy, and timely 
 relief from the woes that afflict the indigent on the other. 
 But while much was accomplished for the blind, the deaf- 
 mute, for eye and ear patients, there still existed a very 
 numerous class of ruptured and crippled for whose relief no 
 institution had been founded. In 1804 a society was formed 
 in London for the relief of the ruptured, which gave advice 
 and trusses to poor persons properly recommended. Several 
 others have since sprung up from this example, but it is 
 believed that the citizens of New York have the honor of 
 founding the first institution for the gratuitous and thorough 
 treatment of hernia and all classes of orthopedic surgery. 
 The prime mover in this laudable enterprise was Dr. James 
 Knight. In 1842, when public clinics were first introduced 
 in our medical colleges, Dr. Valentine Mott, Professor of 
 Surgery in the University Medical College of New York, ap- 
 pointed Dr. Knight, who had devoted much attention to the 
 construction of surgical apparatus and the treatment of 
 deformity, to take charge of the orthopedic branch of the 
 Institution. Yast numbers of poor cripples and ruptured 
 persons applied for treatment, and Dr. Knight supplied 
 not a few of them with surgical apparatus at his own expense, 
 which drew heavily on his slender means, but which never- 
 theless greatly enlarged his practice, and became in the end 
 a source of wealth. At a later period Dr. Knight became 
 one of the visitors of the New York Association for Improv- 
 ing the Condition of the Poor, and on these visits he often 
 found helpless cripples whom he believed might have been 
 made useful and self-supporting if they had received proper 
 treatment in early years. Dr. Knight had long felt the 
 necessity of a society to undertake the improvement of this 
 class of sufferers. He at different times issued circulars to 
 the benevolent of the city, setting forth the subject, urging the 
 importance of an organization, but received no response. He 
 next prepared a paper which he presented to the principal sur- 
 geons, the mayor, and to several other distinguished gentle- 
 men, who gave it their signatures. With this encouragement 
 he next sought the co-operation of Mr. R. M. Hartley, the cor 
 
rN"STlTC*njN FOE BELIEF OF EUPTUEED AND CELl PLED. 405 
 
 responding secretary of the Association for Improving the Con- 
 dition of the Poor. This thoughtful philanthropist had long 
 felt the necessity of such an institution, but had been deterred 
 from any movement in that direction from want of profes- 
 sional aid. He instantly recognized in Dr. Knight the aid 
 he had so long needed, and on the 10th of April, 1862, he 
 brought the subject before the managers of the Association 
 for the Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, and intro- 
 duced the Doctor to that body. After due consideration, the 
 Society was, on the 27th of March, 1863, incorporated under 
 the act of 1848. The private residence of Di Knight, 
 Xo. 97 Second avenue, was rented at a moderate price, 
 the managers pledged to defray the expenses of the enter- 
 prise for three years, and on the first day of "May the 
 Institution was opened with Dr. Knight as resident physician 
 and surgeon. During the first month 66 patients were 
 treated, 10 of whom- were taken into the Institution, and at 
 the close of the year the number amounted to 828. With 
 each succeeding year the number has increased, amounting in 
 the year just closed to 4,023 or 21,814 during the first ten 
 years; and even this number would have been increased but 
 for the lack of accommodations. It has been ascertained that 
 at least one in fifteen of the population is ruptured ; persons of 
 all ages, from the youngest infant to the octogenarian, being 
 thus afflicted. These cases are largely among the poor and 
 laboring classes, unable to purchase trusses and other surgical 
 appliances. The children in the Institution present many sad 
 examples of deformity. There are cases under treatment for 
 lateral curvatures, spinal and hip diseases, deformed limbs, 
 paralytic affections, club-feet, weak ankles, weak knees, bow 
 legs, and white swelling. Scores of astonishing recoveries 
 occur annually of those who a few years since would have 
 been pronounced incurable, and left to limp or crawl to an 
 early grave. Another class of patients are thoyo suffering 
 from varicose veins, which are relieved by the laced stocking, 
 which, like suitable trusses, spring supporters for hip diseases, 
 and utero-abdominal supporters, have always heretofore been 
 far hevond the reach of the poor on account of their costli- 
 ness. The society manufactures its own instruments at less 
 than one-fourth the price hitherto paid All indigent persons 
 applying receive counsel, and any of these instruments needed, 
 gratuitously. The building in Second avenue was purchased 
 in 1866, but was never able to accommodate over thirty, and 
 
406 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 as most of those admitted are compelled to remain from six 
 to eighteen months, and a few even longer, hundreds were 
 annually turned away, who, with careful in-door treatment, 
 could have been saved from a life of deformity and suffering. 
 The manifest necessity for the movement, and its auspicious 
 beginnings, led the managers to appeal to the public for the 
 means to found, on a firm basis, a suitable institution. This 
 has been responded to by a number of benevolent gentlemen, 
 among whom may be mentioned Chauncey Rose, Esq., who has 
 contributed the handsome sum of ninety thousand dollars. 
 The Legislature, in 1867, enlarged their charter, granting 
 power to hold real estate to the amount of two hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars, and personal to the amount of one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand dollars. It also granted, through the 
 Supervisors of New York county, twenty-five thousand dollars 
 toward building. The new edifice was entered by the sur- 
 geon and patients in the spring of 1870, and formally opened 
 with appropriate exercises on the eleventh of the following 
 November. 
 
 When the edifice was finished, an indebtedness of $50,000 
 remained on the property. John C. Green, Esq., the president 
 of the society, nobly proposed to donate the sum of $50,000, 
 if the board of managers would within thirty days collect a 
 similar sum, which was soon accomplished, sweeping away 
 all encumbrar.'.-es with a stroke, and leaving $50,000 as the 
 foundation of a permanent endowment fund. 
 
 The building occupies five lots of ground on the north-west 
 corner of Lexington avenue and Fort} 7 -second street. The 
 ground plan consists of a central portion one hundred and 
 fifteen by forty-five feet, to which are attached semi-circular 
 wings of twenty two feet radius at three angles, two facing 
 the south on Forty-second street, and one at the north-east 
 angle on Lexington avenue. A wing, rectangular in form, 
 thirty-two by twenty-two feet, is also attached to the north- 
 west angle. The heavy walls, which are seventy-nine feet 
 high, are of brick, trimmed with Ohio free and Connecticut 
 brown stone, their blended colors forming a grateful relief to 
 the eye. The basement, which is ten feet high, contains a 
 reception hall, with seats for one hundred out-patients, consulta- 
 tion-rooms, kitchen, dining-room, store-rooms, laundry, and the 
 manufacturing department for the construction and repairs 
 of surgico-mechanical appliances. The first floor, reached 
 by a broad flight of steps, is bisected by a spacious hallway, 
 
INSTITUTION FOR BELIEF OF RUPTURED AND CRIPPLED. 407 
 
 while a narrower one, running at right angle with this, divides 
 it into squal parallelograms. This floor contains a reception- 
 room, a spacious hall for the meetings of the managers, ap- 
 propriate rooms for the family, and several apartments for 
 patients. The second and third floors, which have walls 
 eighteen feet high, are each divided into three longitudinal 
 divisions, to be occupied by the children ; the central one on 
 each floor is a clear space where they receive their food and 
 instruction ; the others contain their beds, clothing, etc. The 
 fourth floor is an open expanse for convalescent patients to 
 enjoy the sunlight, free air, and amuse themselves with suit- 
 ably limited calisthenics. This story is eighteen feet high, 
 covered with a large central and several smaller domes, 
 through which the invigorating sunlight pours its mellow 
 rays upon the pale but hopeful patients. The building con- 
 tains an admirable system of ventilation, is heated throughout 
 with steam, and well supplied with bath-rooms, hot and cold 
 water. The spacious stairway is fire-proof, and the building 
 is furnished with a fire-proof elevator, worked with steam, 
 which carries patients' food and all other appliances from the 
 basement to the fourth floor. The edifice lias been completed 
 at an expense of §250,000, including the site, and has ample 
 accommodations for two hundred patients. The Institution is 
 now prepared to receive pay patients, both children and adults, 
 and the society has entered, we trust, upon a new era in its 
 useful career. Its labors in the past, aside from all humane 
 and moral considerations, have been abundantly successful, 
 relieving the city of hundreds who must have been beggars 
 and paupers, and supplying the means of comfort and inde- 
 pendence to many worthy families. The children are in- 
 structed in English and German, and many who never saw a 
 book at home make surprising progress. The Institution in 
 its management is Protestant, though not denominational, and 
 sound Christian morals are inculcated in the minds of its in- 
 mates, who represent all creeds and nationalities. Without 
 disparagement to any, we can but regard this as among the 
 very first institutions of this great metropolis. 
 
THE HOUSE OF REST FOR CONSUMPTIVES. 
 
 {Tremont, iV. Y.) 
 
 ^ b EHE idea of founding an institution for the better 
 'Ofi treatment of consumptives, we are told, originated in 
 the mind of Miss E. A. Bogle, of White Plains. Her 
 mother having died with consumption, she was led to 
 reflect much upon the nature of the disease, and having spent 
 fifteen months in a camp hospital at David's Island during 
 the war, and taken charge of the Home for Incurables at West 
 Farms after her return, she conceived the idea of establishing 
 an institution where pulmonary complaints should be made a 
 subject of special study and treatment. She communicated 
 the idea to the Rev. T. S. Rumney, D.D., of White Plains, 
 who entered with spirit into the movement and became the 
 founder of the Institution. The society was organized in 
 September, 1869, and on December 1st a House of Pest for 
 Consumptives was opened at Tremont, with one female 
 patient. The author visited the Institution on the last day of 
 January, 1870, and found five patients, three male and two 
 female. The building leased at Tremont is a very eligible 
 one, with fine surroundings, on the line of the Harlem Pail- 
 road, though it is the purpose of the trustees to purchase land 
 and erect suitable buildings at White Plains at no distant 
 day. It is designed to be a charitable institution, receiving 
 patients afflicted with pulmonary complaints from any and 
 every denomination, supplying all with medical treatment and 
 nursing ; also " with the ministrations of the Gospel according 
 to the forma and doctrines of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church." Any person or society may establish a free bed, to 
 be constantly occupied by any invalid he shall designate, on 
 the annual payment of three hundred dollars. 
 
 It is the desire of the managers to have as many of the 
 beds free as possible. Persons become members of the 
 society on the annual payment of ten dollars, or a life mem- 
 ber on the payment of one h.mdred at one time. 
 
 It may be doubted whether the best location has been 
 selected, a dry atmosphere being thus far considered the most 
 important desideratum for consumptives. 
 
 While it is too early in the history of the Institution to 
 
THE HOUSE OF BEST FOE CONSUMPTIVES. 409 
 
 make any safe prediction concerning it, may we not, how- 
 ever, rejoice in the undertaking, and hope that new light 
 may be shed on this hitherto dark subject, and that thou- 
 sands who would otherwise sink pale and lifeless into prema- 
 ture graves may be spared for years of toil and usefulness. 
 
 Other diseases that successfully baffled the skill of the 
 medical fraternity for ages have been conquered by the in- 
 vestigations of modern times. The small-pox was the raging 
 scourge of the world until Dr. Jenner, by long study and 
 careful experiments, disrobed it of its power. Certainly, in 
 a climate like ours, where three-fourths of the people are 
 afflicted with pulmonary diseases in some of their forms, and 
 all are liable to be, no more important subject can challenge 
 the researches of the physician, or the charities of the benevo- 
 lent. 
 
 (1873.) This society has recently purchased and refitted a 
 fine building at Tremont at an expense of about $25,000. 
 Whole number of patients received during the first three 
 years, 111 ; of whom 43 have been discharged cured or 
 benefitted, and 41 have died. Miss Bogle, the' first lady in 
 charge of this charity, deceased during i872. 
 
NEW YORK INFIRMARY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 
 
 (No. 128 Second avenue.) 
 
 Until very recently it has been difficult, if not quite im- 
 possible, for a woman to obtain a complete medical and sur- 
 gical education, either in this or in any other country. 
 That she possesses the talent, and should by instruction 
 secure the fitness to successfully treat the delicate cases of 
 her own sex, is to us a matter of plainest common sense ; yet 
 such has been the prejudice of the medical fraternity and of 
 the world at large, that for ages she has been debarred from 
 the halls of the medical college, and from the operating 
 theater at the hospital. A growing desire to enter this wide 
 field of usefulness has been evinced by the female sex for 
 the last fifty years, and is becoming more and more conta- 
 gious as opportunities in this direction are afforded. Some- 
 thing more than twenty years ago, Misses Elizabeth and 
 Emily Blackwell managed to press their way through a 
 medical course, and graduated at a medical college in Cleve- 
 land. Several years were subsequently spent in the prosecu- 
 tion of these studies in Europe, after which they returned, 
 
NEW YORK INFIRMARY FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN. 411 
 
 and with the aid of a few friends founded the first medical 
 charity conducted by female physicians, and the first hospital 
 in the world for the instruction of women in medicine and 
 surgery. The Institution was incorporated in December, 
 1853, under the general act of 1848, with a board of eigh- 
 teen trustees, among whom stand the names of H. Greeley, 
 H. J. Jlaymond, Charles A. Dana, Elizabeth Blackwell, etc. 
 Their first movement was to open an infirmary or dispensary in 
 a single room near Tompkins square, with a capital of fifty 
 dollars, to be attended three times a week by Doctor Eliza- 
 beth Blackwell. Three years later, reinfoiced by the return 
 of Doctor Emily Blackwell from Europe, and by Marie E. 
 La Krzewska, a lady of medical attainments, a hospital de- 
 partment was added. This last step was taken amid many 
 fears and doubts on the part of sundry trustees and friends 
 of the cause, lest, through the prejudice of the public, the 
 death certificates signed by a woman should not be recog- 
 nized by the authorities, and the means necessary to defray 
 the expenses of the enterprise should fail. But the faith of 
 woman discovered light ahead and pressed on. The names 
 of several distinguished practitioners were secured as a con- 
 sulting board, and in the fourth year the infirmary was by 
 the State and city placed on the list receiving governmental 
 assistance, which official recognition was considered more 
 valuable than the financial aid secured. In 1862 a subscrip- 
 tion was started, which resulted in the purchase of the four- 
 story brick building, twenty-six by seventy feet, situated at 
 Bo. 128 Second avenue. The building cost §17,000, but the 
 improvements and other changes have since doubled its mar- 
 ket value The society in addition to about §1,000 annually 
 received from the Stat.?, has recently received §10,000 from 
 the city, which has enabled it to remove the mortgage on its 
 property and to least? for a term of years the adjoiuing build- 
 ing, thus greatly enlarging its accommodations. During the 
 first five years that the infirmary was located on Second 
 avenue, 31,657 sick persons were treated, the greater portion 
 being out-door patients. On account of their limited accom- 
 modations, but 640 were received into the house, 353 for the 
 practice of midwifery, only five of whom died, an average of 
 one per year. The small percentage of deaths establishes 
 the capacity of woman to successfully conduct a hospital. 
 Their business is rapidly increasing, as no less than 6,413 
 were treated or supplied with medicine during 1869. More 
 
412 
 
 NEW YOKK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 than one hundred have been received into the house annually 
 for several years past, the mo jority being obstetrical cases, 
 though all other patients in the general practice are treated. 
 The poor are furnished gratuitously with medicines, and vis- 
 ited at their homes by the physicians. 
 
 The instruction of young women for nurses, and for the 
 practice of medicine, had been from the first a leading 
 feature in the Institution, yet the managers desired to make 
 satisfactory arrangement with some medical school for the 
 graduation of their students, and thus avoid the necessity of 
 establishing a separate college. Failing to complete such 
 arrangements, an application to the Legislature for a college 
 charter was made in 1865, and in due time granted. The 
 course of study is rigid, lasting three years, and requiring 
 the students to be present in the Institution at least eighteen 
 months during that time. The faculty of professors and 
 lecturers, like the board of trustees, is composed of males 
 and females. Fifteen or twenty students taking the regular 
 course have been in attendance since the organization of the 
 college, besides other ladies who have simply attended lec- 
 tures. An educational fund amounting to §100,000 has been 
 called for, to which appeal the late Chauncey W. Hose, 
 whose name is connected with so many benevolent undertak- 
 ings, responded with a donation of §5,000. The fund at this 
 time amounts to above $30,000. The annual expense of the 
 Institution had not exceeded $7,000 up to the period of open- 
 ing the second building, and five hundred dollars have never 
 been received in any year from pay patients. The society 
 performs a work of great charity among the poor, adminis- 
 tering in times of greatest need to hundreds of widows, and 
 to others who by desertion or deception are rendered equally 
 forlorn, and richly deserves the unstinted support of the 
 benevolent. All honor to this pioneer college of female 
 physicians. 
 
NEW YORK MEDICAL COLLEGE AND HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN. 
 
 (Corner of Twelfth street and Second avenue.) 
 
 The great and multiplied difficulties which every lady has 
 been compelled to encounter in the study of medicine and 
 surgery has by no means dampened the ardor of the sex for 
 such an undertaking. In all parts of Europe, as well as in 
 America, women are loudly knocking at the door of the 
 college and the hospital. The University of Zurich, in 
 Switzerland, conferred the degree on its first female medical 
 student in 1867, and the number of Russian women applying 
 for admission into the college of medicine at St. Petersburgh 
 has been so numerous, that the subject was several years 
 since brought up for discussion in the Imperial Council of 
 Education. These applications have been numerous in 
 England, and in some recent instances, in France, ladies have 
 received opportunities in hospitals and colleges not hitherto 
 granted. Ten native female physicians have recently gradu- 
 ated in India. But no country affords such opportunities to 
 women as America, and no city to female medical students 
 as New York. The prevalence of liberal sentiments has of 
 late thrown open to them the great city hospitals and dispen- 
 
414 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 saries, with their admirable clinics; and colleges, encouraged 
 by the first medical talent of the age, have been erected with 
 every appliance for their especial culture. The infirmary 
 established by the Blackwell sisters, and so successfully con- 
 ducted, proved the practical capacity of woman as a medical 
 adviser, and was an indispensable prerequisite to a successful 
 appeal to the public for means to establish an institution for 
 such education. This having been clearly demonstrated at 
 that infirmary, the projectors of this Institution established 
 first the college, leaving the practical matters of hospital and 
 dispensary to be added at a later period. The origin of this 
 Institution should perhaps date from A pril, 18(5*3, when a 
 series of lectures were delivered to a class of females by Mrs. 
 Losier of this city, in her own private parlor. This lady had 
 graduated some sixteen years previous 1 }' at a well-known 
 medical college, and in these lectures was assisted by Doctor 
 I. M. Ward. In the autumn of the same year, rooms were 
 rented at No. 724 Broadway. Two or three years were 
 subsequently spent at No. 74 East Twelfth street, and in 
 June, 1868, the present eligible building, corner of Twelfth 
 street and Second avenue, was purchased. The society was 
 incorporated as a medical college in 1863, and the following 
 year the act was amended adding the term u Hospital." The 
 trustees are all females. The main building is a fine four- 
 story bruwn stone, twenty-six by eighty-one feet, and cost 
 $43,000. A rear addition, fronting on Twelfth street, twenty- 
 four by fifty-five feet and three stories high, has been added, 
 containing dispensary, anatomical, lecture, and dissecting 
 rooms. The hospital department was not opened until 
 September, 1869, since which about four hundred female and 
 children patients have been received. The dispensary has 
 also treated several thousand indigent applicants. The 
 Homeopathic system is principally taught, with a liberal 
 leaning to all other good practice. The course of study lasts 
 three years, and aims at great thoroughness, the students 
 being required to practise in the dispensary and diagnose in 
 the Hospital. Great pains are taken to perfect their attain- 
 ments in obstetrics, a field in which they are expected to find 
 their largest practice. In order to matriculation, the appli- 
 cant must present an approved certificate of good moral 
 character, be eighteen years of age, have a good English 
 education, including elementary botany and chemistry, and 
 be under the instruction of a respectable medical practitioner. 
 
HAHNEMAITN HOSPITAL. 
 
 415 
 
 A free scholarship is offered to one graduate from each 
 chartered female college in this State. The expense of 
 tuition does not exceed $130. Students are not boarded 
 in the Institution. About thirty students are now in attend- 
 ance, and nearly sixty have been graduated. After gradua- 
 tion, one or two years are usually given to the further pursuit 
 of their studies, before they really begin practice. Two of 
 the graduates of this Institution are now conducting a lucra- 
 tive practice in this city, and may be seen daily riding in 
 their carriages to the dwellings of their patients. Others 
 are practising in other places, and proving that the practice 
 of medicine is at present die most remunerative calling open 
 to a woman. The Institution received $10,000 from the 
 State in 1869, about $7,000 having been previously received 
 from the city. It has also received many private donations, 
 among which we may mention one from Mrs. Losier, M.D., 
 one of its founders, of $10,000. 
 
 HAHNEMANN HOSPITAL OF THE CITY AND STATE OP 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 (Fourth avenue and Sixty-seventh street.) 
 
 ,t|]p]IIS is the only homeopathic hospital in the city and 
 'ijyjP* State of New York, and the first in its inception in the 
 ^iSSJ United States. It was founded by and through the in- 
 fluence of its medical director, Dr. F. Seeger, who ad- 
 vanced from his own funds the first thousand dollars toward 
 launching the enterprise. Its organization and incorporation 
 took place early in the fall of 1869. The inaugural exercises 
 were held in the rooms of the Union League Club, on the 
 15th of December, 1869, and Dr. John F. Gray presided. 
 Addresses were made by William Cullen Bryant and George 
 C. Barrett, the latter at that time president of the Hospital. 
 Some choice pieces of music were sung by Miss Clara Louise 
 Kellogg. A temporary hospital was opened in a hired build- 
 ing, is o. 307 East Fifty-fifth street, where it still continues. 
 During 1870 forty patients, all but one charity cases, were 
 treated. There are now many more applicants than can be 
 
416 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 admitted with their limited space. Measures were early 
 taken toward the erection of large and permanent hospital 
 buildings. The Legislature of 1870 granted the corporation 
 twelve city lots lying on Fourth avenue, between Sixty- 
 sevebth and Sixty-eighth streets; also the sum of $20,000 
 toward the erection or buildings, on condition that an equal 
 amount be raised by private subscription. About $15,000 at 
 this writing have been secured, and an effort is being made 
 to secure $50,000 more from the Legislature. The new 
 structures will consist of a fine administration building, front- 
 ing on Fourth avenue, and of two fine pavilions extending 
 one hundred and twenty-five feet along Sixty-seventh and 
 Sixty-eighth streets. The entire front on Fourth avenue will 
 be two hundred feet ten inches. The pavilions, besides high 
 basement, will have two stories each, and a Mansard story, 
 will accommodate one hundred and seventy-five patients, giving 
 over 1,300 cubic feet of space to each. The buildings are 
 expected to cost, when completed, about $200,000. All the 
 newest developments in the science of hospital constructure 
 have been embodied in the plan, and it is believed the Insti- 
 tution will be a worthy representative of its kind. 
 
 In the autumn of 1868 Dr. Seeger was chiefly instrumental 
 in founding and securing the incorporation of the North- 
 eastern Homeopathic Medical and Surgical Dispensary, which 
 still continues at No. 307 East Fifty-fifth street. He has 
 been from the first its chief physician. Since its opening 
 over forty thousand patients have been treated, over eighty- 
 five thousand prescriptions made, and more than two thou- 
 sand visits made gratuitously to the sick at their homes. 
 State and city aid has been received in defraying the ex- 
 penditures, and liberal contributions have been made by 
 prominent gentlemen of the city. The dispensary is a sepa- 
 rate Institution from the Hospital, though several of the offi- 
 cers serve in both boards. 
 
THE STRANGERS' HOSPITAL. 
 
 (Corner Avenue D and Tenth street.) 
 
 jW|jiuIE number of great and good men who industriously 
 ^4^^[ gather fortunes that they may thereby advance civil- 
 WS^J ization, remove or assuage human suffering, is be- 
 lieved to be happily upon the increase. The policy 
 of appropriating wealth during the lifetime of the giver, 
 under the economy and direction of his own guiding mind, is 
 also a valuable improvement on the old legacy system. Mr. 
 Peter Cooper, Mr. James Lenox, and Mr. Daniel Drew have 
 furnished the wealthy of New York with some excellent ex- 
 amples of this kind. It is also our pleasure to record another 
 in the founding of the Strangers' Hospital. Mr. John H. 
 Keyser, a New York merchant, and the architect of his own 
 fortune, has been able during the last year " to realize a long- 
 cherished desire," in the founding of an institution for the 
 relief of the suffering. Early last summer (1870) he pur- 
 chased the old Dry Dock Bank, at the corner of Avenue D 
 and Tenth street, and began remodelling the structure. The 
 building stands on a plot of ground fifty by one hundred and 
 sixty feet, having in the rear an irregular L-shaped piece of 
 land. The structure is of brick, four stories high ; the three 
 upper of which are divided into wards, and contain space for 
 over one hundred and eighty beds. The first floor contains 
 the offices, a fine reading-room, and a large chapel. The 
 building is well ventilated ; the walls are coated with a prep- 
 aration of india rubber, to avert the absorption of any in- 
 fectious material. The structure is heated with steam ; 
 Eussian, Turkish, and mercurial baths are provided, and 
 every other appliance needful in a well-ordered Hospital. 
 
 The first patient was admitted January 12th, 1871, but the 
 formal dedication did not occur until the evening of the 7th 
 of February. After prayer by Rev. J. S. Holme, of Trinity 
 Baptist Church, the opening address was made by Dr. Otis, 
 president of the medical staff of the Hospital, who, after a 
 few preliminary remarks, indicated the object and scope of 
 the Institution as follows : " It is not intended," said he, " for 
 the benefit of the wealthy, who in times of sickness can com- 
 
 26 
 
418 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 mand the comforts of a well-ordered home and the attendance 
 of a skillful physician or surgeon. Nor yet for the beggar, 
 who leads a life of dissolute idleness, rotating in winter and 
 in sickness about the charitable institutions of this city. It 
 is intended for the succor and restoration of the deserving 
 sick poor, and in an especial manner for that sadly numerous 
 class of people in this great city who have seen better days 
 People to whose sufferings in poverty and sickness, education 
 and refinement put on a keener edge ; strangers — strangers 
 to the homes of plenty and comfort in which they have been 
 born and nurtured, and from which misfortune and disease 
 have parted them. Nor is it alone to the strangers within 
 our midst that the privileges of this great charity are ex- 
 tended. Whoso is in need of the especial aid this Institution 
 is intended to afford — even though afar off — according to the 
 broad rendering of its patron — is entitled to be counted a 
 stranger, and to be taken in. Such as suffer with grave dis- 
 ease, requiring skill and an extended experience not readily 
 attainable in the rural districts, will be permitted to receive, 
 equally with ' the strangers within our gates,' all the bene- 
 fits of the Strangers' Hospital. And yet another class 1 To 
 those, either rich or poor, suddenly stricken down by acci- 
 dent or disease, the doors of this place are open at every 
 hour, by night as well as by day, and every comfort and assist- 
 ance will be afforded them." 
 
 The Institution and its furniture, at the time of opening, 
 had cost over one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, all of 
 which was paid by the generous founder, who also proposes, 
 by the divine blessing, to entirely support it in its operations. 
 The Institution is to be conducted under Protestant auspices, 
 but it is not denominational. Mr. Keyser attends the Baptist 
 church, but is not a communicant. 
 
 The operations of this Hospital at the period of the re- 
 visal of this work (September, 1873) are temporarily sus- 
 pended. 
 
THE NEW YORK OPHTHALMIC HOSPITAL. 
 
 (Corner Twenty -third street and Third avenue.) 
 
 I HE New York Ophthalmic Hospital was incorporated 
 April 21st, 1852, and was opened for the treatment 
 of patients May 25th of the same year. It was 
 founded chiefly by Mark Stephenson, and was first 
 opened at No. 6 Stuyvesant square. The Institution was 
 conducted by a corps of physicians of the Allopathic prac- 
 tice until the year 1867, when at the instigation of certain 
 interested parties a revolution in its management was pro- 
 duced. At the annual election of the board of directors of 
 that year, seventeen of the nineteen elected were inclined to 
 the practice of Homeopathy, and they immediately appointed 
 a board of surgeons of that school to take charge of the Hos- 
 pital. During the four and a half years since the introduc- 
 tion of Homeopathic practice, over five thousand patients 
 have been treated, and the number now amounts to about 
 fifteen hundred per annum. 
 
 The Institution has been for many years at the corner of 
 Fourth avenue and Twenty-eighth street, in a leased building 
 but after much exertion the managers have succeeded in 
 raising funds, and have now erected a fine structure of their 
 -own, situated corner Twenty-third street and Third avenue, 
 at a cost of nearly $100,000. With the entrance of the 
 society into this improved edifice, affording ample accommo- 
 dations for in-door patients, will doubtless come a greatly 
 enlarged business, allowing the public to choose between the 
 two methods of medical treatment. 
 
 NEW YORK OPHTHALMIC AND AURAL INSTITUTE. 
 
 (No. 46 East Twelfth street.) 
 
 HE New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute was 
 incorporated, under the general act of 1848, on the 
 28th day of August, 1869. It was founded and put 
 in working order by the personal efforts and private 
 means of Dr. H. Knapp, of this city, formerly professor in 
 the University of Heidelberg. The premises at No. 46 
 
420 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 East Twelfth street, where the work of the Institution is con- 
 ducted, is his private property. 
 
 The objects of the Institute are: 1. "The treatment of 
 patients suffering from diseases of the eye and ear, belonging 
 to all classes of society. 2. The advancement of medical 
 science, in particular the branches of Ophthalmology and 
 Otology. This is effected by the experience derived from the 
 examination and treatment of patients, by scientific investiga- 
 tion, and systematic medical instruction." 
 
 The Institution, working as a Hospital, was opened for out- 
 door patients on the 18th of May, 1869, and for the reception 
 of in-door patients in the following June. At the issue of 
 their last report it appeared that 12,039 had been treated in 
 the Dispensary, and 977 in the Hospital. 
 
 Three classes of in-door patients are received. The first 
 class pay from three to five dollars per day for board, and the 
 usual prices for professional services. The second class pay 
 from one to two dollars per day, with no additional charges. 
 The third class are indigent patients, and are admitted gratu- 
 itously. The expense of the Institution the last year 
 amounted to $18,751.35 ; of which sum the pay patients con- 
 tributed $8,786.75, the State nothing, the city of New York 
 $1,000, and the remaining $5,625 were generously supplied 
 by Dr. Knapp. 
 
 The society received during the year 1871 a grant of 
 $2,000 from the State, and a similar sum from the city au- 
 thorities. 
 
 The Dispensary is located in the basement of the house, 
 which has a large hall, used as a waiting-room, and capable 
 of seating about sixty people ; a reception-room, in which the 
 patients are treated ; two dark rooms for examinations with 
 eye and ear mirrors, and other instruments ; and a separate 
 waiting-room for severer cases, especially such as have to un- 
 dergo operations. Two wash-hand stands, one in the recep- 
 tion-room and another in the hall, with warm and cold water, 
 offer great convenience and relief to the surgeons and pa- 
 tients. The dispensary is a charity, open to the poor daily 
 from two to three and a half P.M. 
 
 The in-door department, entirely separated from the Dis- 
 pensary, occupies the four stories of the house. The latter is 
 twenty-five feet in front, but widens posteriorly to fifty-two 
 feet, having in the rear a yard sixty feet broad and twenty- 
 five feet deep. A spacious hall, with a large winding stair- 
 
MANHATTAN EYE AND EAR HOSPITAL. 
 
 421 
 
 case in the centre, forms a most excellent natural ventilator, 
 while, in addition, a proper ventilation and light flue runs 
 from the kitchen hall to the roof. The in-door department 
 resembles a private hotel more than a hospital, having a con- 
 siderable number of smaller and larger bed-rooms, a parlor, 
 dining-room, piazza, bath-rooms, etc., with accommodation 
 for thirty patients. The furniture is neat but plain in the 
 top floor, handsome and elegant in the lower stories, thus 
 affording to the inmates all the comforts which are compatible 
 with the objects of the Institution. The beds are of the first 
 quality throughout. A matron has charge of the establish- 
 ment. Experienced and trusty nurses are in constant atten- 
 dance on the patients. The position of resident physician is 
 filled by a competent ophthalmic and aural surgeon. 
 
 MANHATTAN EYE AND EAR HOSPITAL. 
 {No. 233 East Thirty -fourth street.) 
 
 ^WSSHE Manhattan Eye and Ear Hospital was chartered 
 ^\M, by the Legislature of the State of New York, May 5, 
 _ w2^l 1869. The society began its work in a temporary 
 
 * ^ building, No. 233 East Thirty-fourth street, on the 
 15th of October, 1869, by opening a daily clinic for the gra- 
 tuitous treatment of the poor, and providing thirteen beds in 
 suitable wards for such cases as might require surgical oper- 
 ations or other careful in-door treatment. The society, thus 
 far. has neither asked nor received State or municipal aid, its 
 funds being generously provided by the benevolent men who 
 planned the enterprise, and their friends. The board of di- 
 rectors, its officers, and the surgical staff serve gratuitously. 
 
 The directors have purchased a plot of ground on the 
 south-east corner of Park avenue and Forty-first street, hav- 
 ing a frontage of one hundred feet on the avenue and eighty 
 feet on the side street, at a cost of $50,000, and $15,000 have 
 been paid on the same. Upon this they purpose to erect 
 auitable hospital buildings as soon as the funds can be se- 
 cured. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1871, the society issued its 
 
422 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 first printed report, detailing the account of its proceedings, 
 and showing that, during the fourteen and one-half months 
 of its active existence, 1,227 patients with diseases of the eye 
 had been treated, and 430 with diseases of the ear. The 
 Hospital is always open for the reception of in-door patients, 
 and on every secular day at two o'clock p.m.. for such as may 
 attend gratuitously the Dispensary for the out-door service. 
 
 Many cases have occurred in the experience of the year to 
 illustrate the beneficent character of the work done by the 
 Hospital. We append a few : 
 
 " An old man, who was once in affluent circumstances, but 
 had lost his property, so that he was an object of charity, was 
 brought to the Hospital blind. One eye was found to be 
 hopelessly disorganized by disease, and the other fast becom- 
 ing so. An operation was at once performed on the eye least 
 diseased, and in which he could just distinguish light from 
 darkness ; it did not avail much, however, and then, on con- 
 sultation, it was decided to remove the most diseased eye, 
 trusting that this radical procedure might be of benefit to the 
 eye which was rapidly becoming as hopelessly affected. This 
 was done ; in a few days the sight of the remaining eye be- 
 gan slowly to improve, and continued to do so until in about 
 three months he was again able to read and write, and he is 
 now earning his bread. This poor man was so destitute of 
 means that he was not able to pay his board for one day of 
 the three months he was in the Hospital, and but for its cha- 
 rity his eyes would have very soon been beyond all hope. 
 
 " A day laborer, with a family dependent upon him, had 
 been blind for a year. He was led to the Hospital by a 
 friend ; he was found to have a cataract, which was removed 
 by an operation, and in six weeks he was able to leave the 
 Hospital with sight enough for all ordinary purposes, and has 
 now been at work for a year. He was also unable to pay his 
 board. 
 
 " A poor man, a widower, and his four small children, came 
 into the Hospital with Ophthalmia, contracted in their over- 
 crowded tenement from a child that had returned diseased 
 from the Westchester Reformatory. They formed a piteous 
 group, and were in immediate danger of blindness. They 
 were ragged and unclean ; special arrangements were made 
 to cleanse, clothe, and treat them, and after prolonged and 
 painstaking care they were all saved from blindness. 
 
 " An old lady, in reduced circumstances, was brought in 
 
ASSOCIATION FOR RELIEF OF AGED INDIGENT FEMALES. 423 
 
 blind with cataract; she was operated upon, and her sight re- 
 stored, so that she could read and write the finest print or 
 writing. 
 
 " A man who had for many years occupied a fiduciary posi- 
 tion became blind and was brought to the Hospital, where 
 he was operated upon for cataract, and his vision restored. 
 
 " A poor seamstress, blind with cataract, was operated upon 
 and her sight restored. 
 
 "A poor old man, who had for some years been shut up at 
 his house by his relations as hopelessly blind, was brought to 
 the Hospital, operated upon for cataract, and useful vision re- 
 stored. So we might go on to narrate several scores of cases 
 in which blindness was either cured or prevented. 
 
 " What is said of the cases of disease of the eye holds true 
 also with regard to cases of diseases of the ear." 
 
 ASSOCIATION FOR THE RELIEF OF RESPECTABLE AGED INDI- 
 GENT FEMALES. 
 
 (East Twentieth street.) 
 
 im|1pHE society which still perpetuates this noble charity 
 'l^sSf began its career during the last war with England, and 
 has now issued its fifty-eighth annual report. In 
 other lands, where institutions have attained the hoary 
 growth of centuries, this statement would occasion no remark ; 
 but here, amid the rush of new events, and the ceaseless 
 change in nearly every locality, we can but feel that this de- 
 serves the appellation of time-honored. The wants of human 
 nature are identical in all ages, hence an institution to provide 
 for aged females, whose declining years were saddened by 
 poverty, was needed in this city sixty years ago. The com- 
 mon almshouse, filled as it usually is with the dregs of soci- 
 ety, is not a place of comfort to persons of refined sensibili- 
 ties. For the relief of this class, a few benevolent ladies 
 were moved with compassion. Meetings for the discussion of 
 their plans were held, and in the autumn of 1813 an associa- 
 tion was formed, which was the nucleus of this society. The 
 organization of the society occurred on the 7th of February, 
 
424: 
 
 NEW TOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 181 4, in the session room of the Brick Presbyterian Church, 
 when a constitution was adopted, and a board of sixteen man- 
 agers elected. The managers held their regular meetings fcr 
 three years in the same church, after which they were held ia 
 private houses, until the completion of the Asylum in 1838. 
 During the first twenty-four years, the society simply gave 
 pensions to its needy beneficiaries in money and clothing, and 
 thought of nothing beyond. But in 1833 the plan of erecting 
 a suitable Asylum was proposed. In the winter of 1834, after 
 a sermon preached by Dr. Schroeder, in the Church of the 
 Ascension (then in Canal street), setting forth the wants of 
 the society, a collection of $310.20 was taken for the enter- 
 prise. But the impression made on the audience was better 
 than the collection. Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Stuyvesant, who 
 were listeners, soon presented the society with a deed of three 
 lots of ground, the site of the present building. John Jacob 
 Astor nobly headed a subscription with $5,000, on condition 
 that $20,000 should be raised in a year. The ball being now 
 fully in motion, many merchants and persons of wealth were 
 successfully appealed to, and the amount realized. The Asy- 
 lum was commenced in 1837, and the following year com- 
 pleted and thrown open for the reception of inmates. The 
 edifice is a four-story brick, with a fine basement and sub- 
 cellar, with accommodations for about one hundred persons, 
 including resident officers and employes. 
 
 The want of an infirmary was soon apparent, and Mr. Astor 
 again pledged $3,000, which, with numerous smaller sums, en- 
 abled the managers in 1845 to purchase the adjoining lot and 
 complete the desired building. In 1816 the society received 
 from the Common Council $300, and the year following, $250, 
 which, with a recent State donation of $6,000, comprise all 
 sums ever drawn from the public authorities — a fine record, 
 indeed, in this age of public plunder. 
 
 This society, being the pioneer of its kind, has exerted a 
 most healthful influence in the city and country, and its man- 
 agers, being selected from the several denominations, have in- 
 fused its spirit into all the churches. Persons are riot admit- 
 ted under sixty years of age, and are required to furnish their 
 own rooms, pay an entrance fee of fifty dollars, and leave 
 what other property they may inherit to the Institution. No 
 denominational tests are urged in the admission of candi- 
 dates, though the greater number are from the "Reformed 
 Dutch and the Presbyterian churches. It may be interest- 
 
ASSOCIATION FOR RELIEF OF AGED INDIGENT FEMALES. 425 
 
 ing to state that the Asylum at one time sheltered a near rela- 
 tive of President "Washington, and has at this writing, within 
 its walls, a cousin of General Lamb. The Asylum is conve- 
 niently arranged, the rooms are large and cheerful, and per- 
 fect order and tidiness reign in every department. The same 
 cook has had charge of the kitchen twenty-seven years. The 
 inmates have nearly all lived to a remarkable age. The obit- 
 uary record shows that some died at 84, some at 85, others at 
 86, 89, 93, and 97. In 1851 the vestry of Trinity church 
 granted the association a burial plot in their cemetery, and 
 the same year similar donations were received from the 
 trustees of Cypress Hill and of Greenwood. As the Asylum 
 is likely to continue for generations to come, and constantly 
 enlarge its operations, all these plots and many more will 
 probably be needed. 
 
 In the winter of 1822-23 an auxiliary society was formed 
 under the direction of Mrs. E. Mowatt and Miss Ann Dom- 
 inick (now Mrs. Gillett, the First Directress), the object of 
 which was to provide suitable clothing for the pensioners. 
 This arrangement has been continued through all these years, 
 accomplishing an incalculable amount of good. The plan of 
 providing for out-door pensioners did not cease with the 
 opening of the Asylum, but still continues. In 1851 their 
 printed report showed that no less than eighty-seven had been 
 regularly assisted during the year, and that one of these had 
 died at the ripe age of 100 years, who had annually received 
 aid since the formation of the society. 
 
 The inmates of the Asylum have numbered from seventy 
 to one hundred for many years past, and the expense of the 
 Institution has ranged from ten to twenty thousand dollars 
 per annum. Plans for the erection of a new edifice on Fourth 
 avenue and Seventy-eighth street have been adopted. The 
 new Asylum will be of stone, five stories high, surmounted 
 by a Mansard roof, and is estimated to cost $175,000. When 
 this is completed the old Asylum in Twentieth street will be 
 disposed of. Notwithstanding the great multiplication of 
 benevolent societies during the last quarter of a century, 
 hundreds are still knocking at these doors who cannot be 
 admitted until death shall remove the present inmates, or 
 enlarged accommodations are provided. Services are held 
 regularly by the pastors of the neighborhood, and skilled 
 physicians have always freely rendered their services. 
 
LADIES' UNION AID SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL 
 
 CHUBCH. 
 
 (Forty-second street, near Eighth avenue.) 
 
 10 the ladies of the Methodist Episcopal church must 
 be accorded the honor of founding the first denomin- 
 W$f*P at * 01ia l Institution for the support of the aged and 
 infirm members of their persuasion, whose circum- 
 stances especially require it. The Home in East Twentieth 
 street had preceded it twelve years, and proved the necessity 
 and feasibility of such enterprises ; but this was not denomin- 
 ational, and, great as had been its usefulness, there still re- 
 mained a wide field in every religious organization for the 
 largest endeavors of the self-sacrificing, and the charities of 
 the benevolent. Under the profound conviction that a home 
 should be provided for the aged and indigent of their own 
 communion, a meeting was convened on the 4th of March, 
 1850, at 459 Broadway, and was presided over by the vener- 
 able Nathan Bangs. A committee of inquiry was appointed 
 and several subsequent meetings held, which resulted finally 
 in the adoption of a constitution, and the organization of a 
 society, which consists of a board of seventy, or more, female 
 managers, elected annually from the various Methodist 
 churches in New York, and an advisory committee of gen- 
 tlemen. 
 
 On the 1st day of November, 1850, the building No. 16 
 Horatio street was leased at an annual rent of $480, and 
 soon after its doors were thrown open for the reception of 
 inmates. Much of its furniture was contributed by the 
 friends of the enterprise. The act of incorporation passed 
 the Legislature June 19, 1851, seven months after the open- 
 ing of the Institution. During the first year twenty-three in- 
 mates w^re admitted, two of whom died, and the second year 
 ten more were received, and one died, leaving an average 
 family of thirty for the second year. This not only com- 
 pletely filled the building, but forced upon the minds of the 
 managers the necessity oi providing more enlarged accommo- 
 dations. About this time, a fine plot of ground on Sixty-first 
 street and Broadway was purchased, and a plan of a build- 
 ing prepared. A little consideration led to the conclusion 
 
ladies' union aid society of the m. e. church. 427 
 
 that these lots, situated in so eligible a part of the city, might 
 be advantageously disposed of, and a much larger plot ob- 
 tained thereby, farther out of town. In 1853 twelve lots 
 were selected and purchased on the Kingsb ridge road, at One 
 Hundred and Forty-second and One Hundred and Forty -third 
 streets. The increase of the price of building materials, and 
 the want of available funds, delayed for two years longer the 
 commencement of the much-desired edifice. But God, in His 
 inscrutable providence, was preparing them a site for their 
 Bethesda in one of the loveliest portions of the city, where the 
 aged inmates might remain in convenient communication with 
 their churches and friends. In 1855, Mr. William S. Seaman, 
 an aged member of the Allen Street M. E. church, donated to 
 the society two choice lots on Forty-second street, near Eighth 
 avenue, on condition that the annual interest of the estimated 
 value of the property should be paid to him during his life- 
 time. The society promptly accepted this generous gift, soon 
 purchased the lot adjoining, and the following summer began 
 the erection of the Home. Mr. Seaman died nine months 
 after the conveyance of the property, but his last days were 
 cheered with the assurance that the cherished Institution 
 would be immediately erected, on the site he had so benevo- 
 lently contributed. The corner-stone of the new building was 
 laid with appropriate services, September 16th, 1850, and the 
 Institution dedicated by Bishops Morris and Janes, assisted by 
 other clergymen, April 27th, 1S57. The family, after resid- 
 ing six and a half years in Horatio street, was removed to 
 these more eligible quarters on May 1st of the same year. 
 
 The edifice is a substantial brick, sixty-two feet front and 
 eighty-two deep, four stories high, with a brown-stone front, 
 and is constructed in the Gothic order. The main entrance, 
 over which is the chapel and infirmary, projects several feet 
 from the body of the building, and is reached by a broad 
 flight of stone steps. The basement, which is entirely above 
 ground, contains the kitchen, dining-room, laundry, store- 
 rooms, and pantry, besides a broad entrance hall, all conven- 
 iently arranged. On the right of the vestibule, on the first 
 floor, is a commodious parlor for visitors, and on the left, one 
 for committees. A large and airy rotunda adjoins, entered 
 through sliding doors, lighted by a dome of sixteen large win- 
 dows, which may be raised by cords for ventilation. This is 
 surrounded by convenient rooms for inmates, the superin- 
 tendent's being among them, and so arranged as to make com- 
 
428 
 
 NEW YOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 munication easy with any or all of the family. The second 
 and third stories have circular corridors, which are sur- 
 rounded by pleasant apartments, each having one or more 
 windows, and a ventilator. On either side of the front en- 
 trance is a flight of stairs leading to the second story, where 
 over the vestibule and the parlors is the tasty chapel, with 
 seating for one hundred persons, and immediately above this 
 is the infirmary, a large airy room, commanding an extended 
 view of the city and adjacent country. When erected it was 
 said to contain space for the accommodation of one hundred 
 persons, but that number has never been received. It is 
 heated by furnaces throughout, each room having its register. 
 It is well provided with bath-rooms and Croton, has an ample 
 cellar, and at its erection was one of the best ventilated and 
 finest arranged buildings in the city. 
 
 The lot purchased cost $6,400, the edifice $30,000, and in 
 1867 the building adjoining was added at the cost of an 
 additional $20,000. The property is now valued at $125,000. 
 The purchase of the last building made space for the recep- 
 tion of several aged men. Down to the time of entering the 
 new building the family averaged twenty-five, since which 
 it has been at least trebled, and now averages about ninety. 
 Since its opening, in 1850, 209 beneficiaries have shared its 
 generous hospitality, of whom 105 have died, and 24 have 
 been otherwise provided for. 
 
 At the opening of the new building a debt of $23,000 
 remained against the property. The number of inmates soon 
 greatly increased, prices advanced, the war and other provi- 
 dences swept away many of their generous friends, and dur- 
 ing these trying periods the managers were often, like Pro- 
 fessor Francke at Halle, driven in deep anxiety to the Lord 
 with the pressing wants of the Institution. With much exer- 
 tion the current expenses were, however, met, and the debt 
 gradually reduced. In June, 1864, a strawberry festival, as 
 is their annual custom, was held, and on the first of July at 
 the meeting of the managers the proceeds were announced to 
 have amounted to $588. The treasurer inquired, " Shall the 
 money be used in paying the interest due on the debt at the 
 Greenwich Savings Bank ? " At this point Mr. Samuel Hal- 
 sted, a member of the advisory committee, stepped forward 
 and presented a receipt in full from the president of the 
 bank. He and his excellent brother Schureman had silently 
 by subscription, raised the amount necessary to cancel all in- 
 
ladies' union aid society of the m. e. chuech. 429 
 
 debtedness and to thoroughly repair and repaint the building. 
 A thrill of ioy at this delightful surprise ran through every 
 heart, and found expression in the long-meter doxology, 
 which was sung with great zest, all the members rising to 
 their feet. 
 
 Several grants have been received from the Common Coun- 
 cil and the Legislature, though the sentiment now very gener- 
 ally prevails in the denomination that such donations should 
 neither be solicited nor received. The society has held 
 several moderately successful fairs, realized something every 
 year from donations, festivals, and lectures. It has also 
 been remembered with several small legacies, among which 
 we may mention that of Mrs. Bishop Hedding, of $2,300. 
 
 The New York Preachers' meeting annually arranges to 
 supply the Home with preaching, once on each Sabbath, by 
 the pastors stationed in the city. Prayer-meetings, class-meet- 
 ings, and love-feasts are held statedly, and are often seasons 
 of great interest. Many of the inmates are infirm, some have 
 been entirely helpless for years, and most of them live to very 
 advanced age. In 1854 Mrs. Sarah W. Kairns died, at the 
 advanced age of 117 years, and the same year Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Cairns, aged 100 years. " With long life will I satisfy him, 
 and show him my salvation." The New York Conferences, 
 during their sessions in the city, have, at the invitation of the 
 managers, enjoyed some interesting tea-meetings at the 1 
 Institution, and the old ladies have several times been agree- 
 ably surprised by the members of the different churches, who 
 have spread their tables with delicacies, and left other sub- 
 stantial tokens of their regard. The managers now contem- 
 plate the removal of the Institution farther up town, to secure 
 more enlarged accommodations. The resident manager and 
 recording secretary, Mrs. Matilda M. Adams, has held some 
 important position in the board since the organization of the 
 society. She is a lady of solid culture, of genial piety, and 
 possesses in an eminent degree those varied administrative 
 faculties befitting her position, and so rarely blended in the 
 same person. May she and all who have toiled with her in 
 this blessed work, and those whose sorrows they have as- 
 suaged, meet in that Home where " the wicked cease from 
 troubling and the weary are at rest." 
 
HOME OP THE FRTENDLESS, EAST TWENTY-NINTH STKEET. 
 
 THE AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY AND HOME FOR 
 THE FRIENDLESS. 
 
 (No. 29 East Twenty-ninth and No. 32 East Thirtieth streets. ) 
 
 Thirty-nine years ago a number of Christian ladies in New 
 York were moved to begin a work in behalf of the helpless, 
 the exposed, and the forsaken. An organization known as 
 the " American Female Guardian Society " was formed, and 
 its executive committee for some time held their weekly 
 meetings in a small rear basement under the old Tract House. 
 These devoted women visited the city prisons, and the 
 manufactories where hundreds of young girls were employed, 
 distributing religious tracts, papers, Bibles, Testaments, giv. 
 ing counsel to the inexperienced, and providing situations for 
 many out of employment. They also scanned the poorest 
 districts, employed pious female missionaries to visit from 
 house to house, to instruct and encourage the ignorant and 
 desponding. Poor forsaken children, destined for the alms- 
 house, were taken to their own houses and provided for until 
 suitable homes could be obtained for them. At that time 
 there were no " Girls' Lodging Houses," " Working Women's 
 Unions," or " Homes," where innocent, penniless youngfemales 
 could apply for a night's lodging and the necessary helps to 
 
THE AMERICAN FEMALE GUAEDIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 431 
 
 a situation. ~No doors save those leading to the prison, the 
 almshouse, or the brothel, were certain to open to the indi- 
 gent, friendless, unfortunate girl or widow, unexpectedly 
 thrown into the whirl of this great city. To guard young fe- 
 males, to provide for helpless childhood, and to care for the 
 sorrowing widow, seem to have been the leading thoughts 
 of the association. A work so eminently Christ-like, now 
 commended by the most vile, was then watched with in- 
 difference and suspicion by many of the good. The mana- 
 gers of many of the pioneer benevolent associations, in their 
 triumphant contests with the prejudices and calumny of their 
 generations, have fought battles requiring a courage and de- 
 serving the honor of a Wellington or a Washington. The 
 great change wrought in public sentiment, concerning Chris- 
 tian duty to the friendless and fallen, the decided support 
 cheerfully given during the last twenty years, and the num- 
 erous similar charities that have sprung up in every section 
 of the country, are sources of the most profound satisfaction 
 to the surviving early friends of this excellent Institution. 
 During the early years of the movement their records show 
 that more than temporal advantage came to many houses of 
 destitution, scores if not hundreds were converted to God, 
 and drawn into the fold of the great Shepherd. Still their 
 efforts lacked concentration and thoroughness, for want of a 
 building suited to their undertaking. ~No plan for the recep- 
 tion of inmates really commensurate with the aims of the 
 society was adopted until 1847, when a building situated on 
 the corner of Second street and the Bowery was rented. 
 About this time the managers issued a printed appeal for 
 means to erect a Home for the Friendless, calling attention to 
 the numbers of females constantly out of employment, and 
 the scores of orphan or deserted children who, by early care, 
 might be saved from pauperism and prison. The means 
 came, lots were purchased on East Thirtieth street, and in 
 December, 1848, the Home, a fine three-story brick edifice, 
 with accommodations for at least one hundred and fifty per- 
 sons, was dedicated, to the great joy of the managers, who 
 had toiled amid embarrassments so many years. The sphere 
 of usefulness of the society was now greatly enlarged. Hun- 
 dreds were annually fed, instructed, and furnished with situa- 
 tions. This Institution is not a Home for those who are 
 friendless because guilty of crimes against society; nor to 
 adult paupers, of whom the Scriptures sav, " If any will not 
 
 27 
 
432 
 
 NEW YOKK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 work, neither shall he eat ; " nor yet for the aged, infirm, or 
 diseased, for whom other establishments have been erected. 
 It is a temporary asylum for homeless, friendless children, 
 an arched and gilded passage-way from dingy, remorseless 
 poverty, to a home of affection, culture, and elevation. It is 
 a temporary refuge for destitute young women, not fallen, 
 but within the age and circumstances of temptation, needing 
 protection, and willing to live by honest toil. It contains a 
 department for small children also, but such only are taken 
 as afford the prospect of early adoption. Children do not 
 remain at the Home over three months on an average. The 
 plan of the society is a radical divergence from the old or- 
 phan asylum system. Instead of keeping the children within 
 the narrow limits of an asylum for years, forming habits and 
 intimacies which must ultimately be broken, they are early 
 placed in Christian homes, where daily contact with the 
 affairs of common life enters largely into their training. The 
 act of incorporation passed the Legislature April 6, 1849, and 
 was amended requiring magistrates to commit vagrant and 
 deserted children to the care of this society April 3, 1857. 
 
 In 1856 the society erected another fine building on 
 Twenty-ninth street, immediately opposite the Home, connect- 
 ing the two with a bridge. This edifice has a front of seventy- 
 five feet, is four stories high, constructed of brick in the Ro- 
 manesque order, and contains the chapel, the Home School 
 (for the instruction of the children while remaining in the 
 Institution), an Industrial School, the publication, and other 
 offices of the society. The six lots on which these buildings 
 stand cost originally less than $12,000, but are now valued, 
 exclusive of buildings, at $75,000. The property of the so- 
 ciety at present, including the four buildings purchased for 
 industrial schools, is probably worth $150,000, and is free from 
 debt. 
 
 The society began the publication of the " Advocate and 
 Guardian" in 1835, which has been a valuable medium of 
 communication with the benevolent public, bringing hundreds 
 of friends to select children or confer donations, besides bless- 
 ing many with the valuable religious matter with which it has 
 always been filled. Its circulation amounts to about 26,000 
 at present, bringing a small revenue above its expenses. 
 
 The society conducts its business through a president, vice- 
 president, two secretaries, a treasurer, and thirty-five or more 
 managers, annually elected, representing the different Evan- 
 
THE AMERICAN FEMALE GUARDIAN SOCIETY. 
 
 433 
 
 gelical denominations. These are divided into the necessary 
 committees, and give much time to the Institution. Seventeen 
 years ago the society opened its first industrial school, Mrs. 
 Wilson having previously established the feasibility of such an 
 undertaking. It has now eleven of these schools securely 
 founded in different parts of the city, with an average daily 
 attendance of about 1,200 children, while the names of sev- 
 eral thousand are on register. These are emphatically mis- 
 sion movements, as they are established among and gather in 
 the most ignorant and degraded of the population. Thou- 
 sands of ragged, neglected girls treading the slippery glaciers 
 of time, and certain to plunge after a short career of vice into 
 the darkest ruin, are thus annually reached, instructed in let- 
 ters, and trained to useful industry. But the influence ex- 
 tends beyond the children. The parents are reached, and 
 soon a mothers' meeting is established. Women who have not 
 seen the inside of a church in thirty years, perhaps never, are 
 drawn out to a mother^ meeting composed of women as ignor- 
 ant and poor as themselves, where the Scriptures are read, 
 prayer offered, and exhortations given by earnest women who 
 go out to seek and save the lost. Many are awakened, some 
 converted, nearly all are improved. Rum and other evils are 
 partially or entirely abandoned, industry and its attendant 
 blessings follow. The amount of good accomplished in this 
 single branch is incalculable. 
 
 Another branch is the Dorcas Department. This contains 
 the garments, bedding, etc., sent in barrels and boxes from 
 hundreds of churches in various parts of the country, and 
 what is prepared by the benevolent in the city. From these 
 shelves supplies are drawn to cover the half -naked children 
 admitted to the Home, and to fit them for a long journey to a 
 country home with their newly-appointed guardians. Poor 
 widows and deserted women, with children, are also assisted 
 to enable them to keep their families together. The demands 
 on these shelves are enormous. From 1847 to 1863, over 
 12,000 beneficiaries were admitted to the Home ; an average 
 per annum, including readmissions, of 2,000. During the year 
 closing in 1869 the report shows that 5,811 persons had re- 
 ceived aid from the society, 1,000 adults had been provided 
 with situations, and 452 children had been in the Rome. Dur- 
 ing the same period 1,650 loaves of bread had been given to 
 the poor, and 42,000 loaves furnished for the children of the 
 industrial schools. During the year closing in 1870, 619,000 
 
434 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 meals were given away, and nearly as many furnished with 
 situations as during the previous year. 
 
 The society now carries forward its work at an expense of 
 about §70,000 per annum. It has as yet no endowment, and 
 has received but little from either city or State. It is emi- 
 nently worthy of the contributions and sympathy of the pub 
 lie. 
 
 H03IE FOR INCURABLES. 
 
 ( West Farms. ) 
 
 11 R public hospitals are open for the reception of such 
 patients as entertain a reasonable hope of recovery or 
 relief. Were incurables to be admitted indiscrimin- 
 
 ""^ ately, their wards would soon be filled to repletion, 
 and the masses for whom they were designed would be hope- 
 lessly excluded. The general provision made by the city for 
 incurables on Blackwell's Island is entirely insufficient for the 
 wants of the community, leaving ample scope for the exercise 
 of private charity. Many incurables not dependent on 
 charity also prefer the quietude of a private " Home," 
 where the ministrations of religion may be regular^ en- 
 joyed. The Protestant Episcopal church of New York has 
 the honor of organizing the first society for the establishment 
 of such an Institution in the country. The certificate of incor- 
 poration bears date of April 4th, 1866. A board of twenty- 
 four managers annually elected are charged with the admin- 
 istration of the affairs of the society, and any person approved 
 by a majority of the managers may become an annual member 
 on the payment of ten dollars, a life member by the payment 
 of one hundred dollars, or a life patron by the payment of 
 one thousand To secure to the patients greater quietude, 
 purity of atmosphere, and sunlight, the Home was located in 
 the country. A wood dwelling, with choice surroundings, 
 situated at West Farms, two and a half miles above Harlem 
 Bridge, was first leased and afterwards purchased by the so- 
 ciety, and is still occupied for the Home. The residence of 
 the superintendent and chaplain, who is an Episcopal clergy- 
 man, stands in the rear of the Home. Though the Institu- 
 
IIOME FOR INCURABLES. 
 
 435 
 
 tion is under the management of the Episcopal church, some 
 charity patients have been admitted from other denominations, 
 and pav patients come when they can be admitted, from all 
 classes of orderly people. All admitted are said to be taken 
 for life, yet the physician's annual reports give the number of 
 those " withdrawn " and " discharged," — probably those who 
 have unexpectedly recovered. Persons are taken who are 
 afflicted with any incurable disease at any age, but with few 
 exceptions those thus far received have belonged to one of 
 these three classes — paralytics, subjects of malignant diseases, 
 and consumptives. Several dreadful cases of cancer, attended 
 with indescribable sufferings until vitality has been devoured, 
 have been treated at the Home, and the society has found a 
 compensation in the fact that these were cases to which no 
 other hospital offered a suitable asylum. The Home was 
 opened June 8th, 18G6, and during the first year seventeen 
 male and sixteen female patients were received, of whom 
 four died and three withdrew, leaving twenty-six under 
 treatment. At the close of the second year twenty-eight re- 
 mained. During the year ending June 8, 1869, fourteen had 
 been admitted, eight had died, five relieved or discharged, while 
 twenty-nine remained. Seven or eight have since deceased, 
 and as many more have been received. In May, 1869, a cot- 
 tage a short distance from the Home was hired and soon filled, 
 one of the managers generously presenting his own check 
 for the entire rent. Most institutions boast of the numbers 
 admitted and sent away in triumph, but this, from the pecu- 
 liar nature of the charity, can mention only the few who, 
 though far beyond hope of recoveiy, are so nourished and 
 watched over that life is protracted for months and sometimes 
 years. Pay patients are admitted for six dollars per week, 
 unless separate rooms are taken, when the price is increased 
 to eight or ten. 
 
 The Home, considering the limited numbnr received, has 
 been an expensive charity, the patients being for the most 
 part helpless, requiring constant attention and a varied and 
 liberal diet. The expenditures of the Home the first year 
 amounted to $6,849.29, toward which the pay patients contrib- 
 uted $1,844. During the year ending June 8, 1869, the ex- 
 penditures, including some increase of furniture and small re- 
 pairs of buildings, amounted to over $14,000, toward which the 
 pay patients contributed $3,343. The report at close of year, 
 June 8, 1870, showed that besides covering all past expendi- 
 
436 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS 
 
 tures the society had an invested fund amounting to $36,000. 
 The society has neither solicited nor received assistance from 
 the public treasuries, but has been generously remembered by 
 private Christian charity. A single donation from Messrs. 
 Henry and Chauncey Kose amounted to $30,000. From the 
 estate of Peter Lorillard $2*500 have been received, besides 
 numerous smaller sums from many friends of the enterprise. 
 During the last year forty-five patients have been in the In- 
 stitution, of whom thirty remain. The report of 1869 ap- 
 pealed for $100,000 to enable the managers to so enlarge the 
 Home as to accommodate one hundred patients. The last re- 
 port follows in the same strain, recommending the erection 
 of a large hall for the aged. The Institution should be en- 
 larged, and doubtless soon will be. 
 
 THE SAMARITAN HOME FOR THE AGED. 
 
 ( Corner of Ninth avenue and Fourteenth street. ) 
 
 iM$iPHE association for the establishment of this Institu- 
 tion was organized at the residence of Mrs. James 
 W^RI McVickar, April 15, 1866, and the act incorporating 
 the society passed the Legislature March 23, 1867. 
 The enterprise was at first intended to provide for aged 
 and indigent females, and grew mainly out of these two facts : 
 First, the several institutions of a similar character were 
 known to be so crowded that applicants were constantly re- 
 fused for want of room ; secondly, because all others of the 
 kind in the city, with a single exception, were denominational, 
 and their doors closed against applicants, however worthy, 
 from other religious bodies. The printed circular distribu- 
 ted at its organization declared that the " Home " should " be 
 absolutely free from all sectarian bias, and open, in its direc- 
 tion and its objects, to persons of all Protestant denomina- 
 tions." That its " Board of Managers " should " always con- 
 tinue to represent indiscriminately our common Protestant 
 Christianity in all its various forms." At the election of its 
 officers and managers ladies connected with the Episcopal, 
 
THE SAMARITAN HOME FOR THE AGED. 
 
 437 
 
 Dutch Reformed, Unitarian, Baptist, Quaker, Methodist, 
 Universalist, and Presbyterian Churches were elected. An 
 advisory committee of gentlemen, a legal adviser, and a phy- 
 sician, were also appointed. The society began its benevo- 
 lent undertaking in a hired building at 253 West Thirty- 
 seventh street, in May, 1866, ten months before its legal 
 incorporation. None are admitted under sixty-five years of 
 age, except in special extreme cases. An entrance fee of $100 
 was at first required of those admitted, but the constantly 
 increasing expense of living, and the uncertainties of income, 
 have led the managers to advance the price to $250. The 
 first inmate of the Samaritan Home was an American wo- 
 man of seventy, who had always supported herself until by 
 partial paralysis was left helpless and homeless. 
 
 The attention of the society was also early directed to the 
 pitiable condition of many aged and homeless men. Some of 
 these had been once the children of fortune, others for a 
 period successful merchants, but having outlived their fam- 
 ilies and encountered reverses which had swept away their 
 means, were now pining away the evening of their career 
 in saddest destitution and friendlessness. Destitute of all 
 those arts of self-accommodation, that tact and skill in the 
 kitchen and nursery which render the presence of an infirm 
 woman more endurable and less trying to charity, how 
 dreary the lot of old men who have known better days, to 
 find themselves in the last twilight of existence, when retire- 
 ment and comfort are so desirable, wifeless, penniless, friend- 
 less, childless, or, what is still worse, to have ungrateful chil- 
 dren who leave them to eke out their last sad hours in a 
 crowded, squalid almshouse, with heartless officials for their 
 only guardians. In May, 1868, two years after the formal 
 opening of the Home, the department for aged men was 
 opened. This necessitated the hiring and iurnishing of 
 another house, which was taken on the same block, No. 259 
 West Thirty-seventh street. These buildings were, however, 
 unsuited to the enterprise, being old, cold, and without cellars. 
 On the 1st of May, 1869, the managers leased and transferred 
 the Home to the corner of Ninth avenue and Fourteenth 
 street. This building is a large double house, fifty feet front, 
 constructed of brick, with three stories and basement, bisected 
 with halls, and is well adapted to the wants of the Institution. 
 It is surrounded by fine open grounds for gardening, and is 
 leased for five years, at an expense of about five thousand 
 
438 
 
 NEW TOKK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 dollars per annum. It belongs to the Astor property, and 
 that wealthy family could hardly dispose of it better than to 
 donate it to the Samaritan Home. 
 
 Persons are received at the Home on a probation of three 
 months, after which period the board takes definite action in 
 the case. If the applicant is not confirmed as a permanent 
 inmate, the admission fee is returned, deducting board at two 
 dollars per week since the date of admission. Those admit- 
 ted are expected to assist, if able, in performing the light work 
 of the house and garden. No system of labor has yet been 
 introduced to provide income, the inmates being too much 
 broken down to perform much service. During 1868 three 
 of the aged women and one of the men passed away to the bet- 
 ter land. In 1869 two more aged ladies died, and in 1872 four 
 more were laid to rest. Mr. Charles T. Cromwell some time 
 since presented the Home with a fine burial-place at Cypress 
 Hill Cemetery, which is already occupied by the remains of 
 the mouldering dead. Like all societies, this in its beginnings 
 had its struggles with poverty and the indifference of the 
 public, but it has passed the crisis. Its managers have not 
 only met their expenditures, but have established a building 
 fund which already amounts to over §20,000. Its friends are 
 now annually cheered with a few large and many small do- 
 nations, besides its annual subscribers, upon whom it mainly 
 relies for support. The expense of the Institution amounts to 
 §9,000 or $10,000 per annum. 
 
 Living near the Home, we have often visited it and found 
 it always a well-ordered asylum of comfort and refinement. 
 There are now twenty aged men and twenty-four women com- 
 fortably domiciled in their appropriate apartments, with space 
 for several more. The men can be seen any day occupied 
 with light tasks around the garden and yards, or reading their 
 favorite books. The women, seated in easy chairs, spend their 
 day between light needle-work or knitting, and in reading the 
 religious magazines. All appear cheerful and contented. 
 They speak of their matron, Mrs. Jane Sykes, in terms of 
 high appreciation. Divine service is conducted by some 
 clergyman every Sabbath, and religion sheds it hallowed ra- 
 diance among them through all the year. Turning away 
 from the door of this Good Samaritan, w r e can but pray that 
 if may long survive to pour wine and oil into the w T ounded 
 heart of hoary humanity. 
 
THE COLORED HOME. 
 
 (Sixty -fifth street and First avenue.) 
 
 fHE first meeting for the organization of this excellent 
 charity is believed to have been convened at the 
 residence of Mrs. Maria Banyer, at No. 20 Bond 
 street, in the autumn of 1839. The plan for reliev- 
 ing the suffering poor among the colored population is said 
 to have originated with Miss Shotwell, Miss Jay, the first 
 contributor, generously presenting a thousand dollars toward 
 the founding of the Home at their first meeting. At a sub- 
 sequent meeting a board of managers was formed, a consti- 
 tution adopted, and the organization perfected under the title 
 of " The Society for the Kelief of Worthy Aged Colored 
 Persons." It was duly incorporated in 1845, under the title 
 of " The Society for the Support of the Colored Home." 
 Soon after its first organization a building on the North river, 
 known as " Woodside," was opened, and twelve inmates at 
 once received. Through the liberality of Mr. Horsburgh, 
 a property on Fortieth street and Fourth avenue was pur- 
 chased in 1843. The act of incorporation, in 1845, was 
 followed by a grant of $10,000 from the Legislature, which 
 sum had been previously appropriated toward the erection 
 of a State Hospital in this city, but was now transferred to 
 the managers of the Colored Home for t he erection of perma- 
 nent buildings. The next year arrangements were made with 
 the Commissioners of the Poor, which still continues to re- 
 ceive, at a verv low rate, the colored paupers of the city, 
 unless medically unfit for the Colored Home. Forty-four 
 lots of ground on First avenue, between Sixty-fourth and 
 Sixty-fifth streets, were purchased in 1848, and the following 
 year a portion of the buildings now occupied were completed. 
 The Institution consists of four departments — the Home' for 
 Aged and Indigent the Hospital, the Nursery, and the Ly- 
 ing-in Department. The admissions to the Hospital exceed 
 those of the other tnree divisions combined. The buildings 
 at present form a hollow square, with a fine flow T er-garden in 
 the center. Fronting on Sixty- fifth street stands the beauti- 
 ful brick chapel erected in 1858, under the supervision of the 
 excellent chaplain MacFarlan. The first floor of this build- 
 
440 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS 
 
 ing contains a parlor, appropriate apartments for the superin- 
 tendent, steward, physician, matron, and the dispensary. On 
 the floor above is the chapel, well arranged, with galleries on 
 the sides, and seatings for six hundred persons. From either 
 end of this building extend at right angles the male and the 
 female wings, four stories high, capable of accommodating a 
 hundred and twenty persons each. Each floor is a ward ex- 
 tending the whole length of the building, and contains 
 twenty-eight beds. These wings are connected in the rear 
 by another two-story building, divided into smaller apartments 
 containing from five to eighteen beds each. This is devoted, 
 in part, to the nursery and the lying-in department, founded 
 by the bequest of Mrs. Jacob Shatzel in 1847. About fifty 
 are annually received into this last-named department, who 
 leave when they are able, some to service in Christian families, 
 others to their old habits of vice and dissipation. The build- 
 ings are heated with stoves, and baths with hot and cold 
 water have recently been introduced. The nursery contains 
 children over three years of age, who cannot gain admittance 
 into the Colored Orphan Asylum. The average number in 
 this department is about twenty. The Institution is designed 
 for the colored poor of New York county, yet, when space 
 will allow, persons from outside the county are taken, and 
 pay one dollar and eighty-two cents per week if they require 
 medicine, and if not, one dollar and five cents, three months 
 pay being required in advance. The State appropriated 
 $12,000 to this charity in 1866, in 1867 $3,858, and over 
 $4,000 have since been received from the same source. The 
 Commissioners of Charities and Corrections pay a stipulated 
 price for the board of pensioners admitted under their direc- 
 tion, but this is only a moiety of what is actually expended in 
 their support. The excellent Chauncey Rose remembered the 
 Institution with a bequest of $16,000. About one thousand 
 persons are annually cared for, at an expense of about $30,000. 
 Dr. James D. Fitch held the position of resident physician 
 twenty-six years. The Institution has a chaplain, a resident, 
 a house, and an assistant house physician, which receive a 
 trifling pecuniary compensation for much earnest labor. 
 Many of the inmates are very old, some pressing into their 
 second century. Most of the inmates arc pious, and, as the 
 majority of them are Methodists, the chaplain is selected from 
 that denomination, though ministers and missionaries from 
 all evangelical churches are always well received. The in- 
 
THE COLORED HOME. 
 
 441 
 
 mates hold prayer-meetings in their rooms, in addition to the 
 regular services. Every winter a Christmas tree grows up 
 suddenly, whose prolific branches bring forth something nice 
 for every inmate, which is received with great joy. On these 
 occasions addresses are delivered by some of the prominent 
 men of New York, and this holiday period is remembered 
 with much interest all the year. 
 
ST. LUKE'S HOME IN HUDSON STREET. 
 
 ST. LUKE'S HOME FOR INDIGENT CHRISTIAN FEMALES. 
 
 {Madison avenue and Eighty -ninth street.) 
 
 This Institution was originally opened in the city of New 
 York, on May 1,1852. A year or two previous to that, an 
 aged female called at the rectory of St. Luke's church, in 
 Hudson street, and asked the rector, Rev. Isaac H. Tuttle, 
 whether there was not an asylum or a home of the Episcopal 
 church, where a lady of fourscore might find a retreat for her 
 remaining days. The good man replied, " Madam, I am sorry 
 to say our church has none, but by the grace of God it shall 
 have;" and from that day he set about the work of estab- 
 lishing that much-needed Institution. On St. Luke's Day, 
 October 18, 1851, lie preached a sermon on the importance 
 of founding a Home of this kind/ He conferred with some 
 of 1 1 is clerical brethren on the subject, and invited several 
 of li is congregation to meet at the rectory and consider the 
 
st. luke's home foe indigent christian females. 443 
 
 subject. Soon a constitution was adopted, and a subscription 
 liberally signed to support the charity. Two floors in a build- 
 ing were first hired, and several women, who had some em- 
 ployment, were allowed to occupy these furnished rooms 
 gratuitously. Next an entire building was leased, the first floor 
 rented for a store, and the remaining three occupied as the 
 Home. Such as lacked the means of procuring food were 
 assisted by their personal friends, or by members of St. Luke's* 
 church. After a few years, its managers resolved to make 
 the enterprise more genc/a 1 , and to enlarge its plans aud 
 accommodations. 
 
 The Legislature passed an act of incorporation in 1S56 or 
 1857, and it thus passed from a parish to a general institution 
 under the control of the Protestant Episcopal church of New 
 York. The real estate and finances are vested in a board of 
 managers numbering not less than seven or more than twenty- 
 one ministers and laymen of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
 of whom the bishop of the diocese is the president, and the 
 vice-president is the rector of the Institution. An associate 
 board of lady managers has charge of the internal workings 
 of the Institution, and now numbers in its board representa- 
 tives from thirty-eight churches. About the time of its in- 
 corporation a large brick dwelling immediately adjoining St. 
 Luke's church was purchased, the ground being leased for a 
 term of years. This edifice was afterwards enlarged, but was 
 never large enough to accommodate over thirty-two inmates 
 at one time. A desire for a larger edifice led to an effort 
 to collect a building fund, and §19,000 thus collected were 
 deposited in United States securities in the safe of the Hoyal 
 Insurance Company, which was robbed, inflicting a loss of 
 $14,000 on this society. This delayed the erection of the new 
 building several years, but the difficulty has been overcome. 
 On the eighteenth of October, 1870, the comer-stone of the 
 much.-desired structure was la*;d by Bishop Potter, in the 
 presence of a large number of the clergy and citizens of New 
 York. 
 
 The building is located on the north-east corner of Madison 
 avenue and Eighty -ninth street, one block from the Central 
 Park, and two blocks only from one of the principal en- 
 trances to the Park. 
 
 The building is four stories high and in the form of an L, 
 with main entrance on the corner ; it extends eighty feet on 
 Madison avenue and seventy-five feet on the street. The 
 
444 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 style is medieval Gothic, with Mansard roof, and three towers. 
 The materials are Philadelphia pressed brick trimmed with 
 Bnena Vista stone. 
 
 On the first floor is a vestibule, a fine octagonal hall, 15 x 
 15, a large room, 38 x 19, for the meetings of managers, and 
 a dining-room, 33 x 19, intended to seat some sixty or seventy 
 persons ; the whole so arranged that by opening folding-doors a 
 sweep of over seventy-three feet can be obtained. Back of the 
 main entrance hall is a roomy inner private hall and corridors 
 leading to dining-room, etc. On the same floor will also be 
 found the matron's room and office, the infirmaries, the rector's 
 and doctor's office, and five chambers, adapted to the use of 
 such of the inmates as may, through great age or infirmity, 
 find it difficult to ascend the stairs. 
 
 Two elevators ascend to the upper story, and three stair- 
 ways afford means of escape in case of fire. There are 208 
 doors, 114 windows, 67 marble wash-basins, and 77 rooms, 
 affording space for seventy-four inmates. The building was 
 erected with the strictest economy, and cost $55,000. 
 
 On grounds contiguous to the Home, Miss Caroline 
 Talman has just erected a small church, a memorial of her 
 deceased parents, thus securing to the beneficiaries of the 
 Home a convenient place for public worship. 
 
 Applicants for admission into the Home must be persons 
 of respectability in reduced circumstances, and members of 
 churches represented in the board of associate managers, 
 and contributing to the support of the Institution. An ad- 
 mission fee of one hundred dollars is required from each 
 beneficiary, and the person is then received for life. Every 
 inmate, if able, is required to keep her own room in a neat and 
 clean condition, to take her turn in dusting the parlor and in 
 washing the dishes; but if ill, her meals are carried to her 
 room, and the attention of the physician and the nurses 
 promptly provided. The Institution contains a library of 
 pleasant and interesting books, and visitors read to those who 
 are sick or unable to read for themselves. The old ladies at 
 the Home, in March, 1867, formed themselves into a benevo- 
 lent society, to fashion little garments for the children of the 
 " Sheltering Arms," anotherlnstitution of the same denomin- 
 ation. The material they obtain from their friends outside, 
 and do much more than one would suppose The first year 
 after their organization they gave away 25 pairs of hospital 
 slippers, 109 garments, 48 pillow-slips, 2 dresses, and 15 
 
ST. LUKE'S HOME FOR INDIGENT CHRISTIAN FEMALES. 445 
 
 pairs of knit stockings. Thus, while they receive, they find 
 it blessed to give. Many applicants have long been waiting 
 admission into the Home, and a tew years since one actually 
 died of joy on receiving the welcome summons to enter the 
 Institution. The old building in Hudson-street was, in 1873, 
 opened as an institution for u Old Men and Aged Couples," 
 by another organization of the same denomination. 
 
PRESBYTERIAN HOME FOR AGED WOMEN. 
 
 {East Seventy -third street.) 
 
 The first Presbyterian church in New York was erected 
 in 1719, since which many costly structures have been 
 reared, and the denomination now ranks among the most 
 populous, wealthy, and benevolent of the city. But while 
 the members of this church have contributed liberally to 
 many excellent enterprises, it is a little remarkable that no 
 charitable institution distinctly Presbyterian was ever pro- 
 jected until very recently. In April, 1866, several ladies, 
 members of the different Presbyterian churches of the city, 
 moved with the laudable desire to provide for the poor mem- 
 bers of their own communion, invited their pastors to confer 
 with them and consider the propriety of establishing a 
 "Home for Aged Women," in whose advantages Presbyter- 
 ians might specially share, and in whose direction they should 
 have entire control. The meeting was held in the lecture- 
 
PRESBYTERIAN HOME EOR AGED WOMEN. 
 
 447 
 
 room of the First Presbyterian church, and was entirely suc- 
 cessful. The facts disclosed at this conference showed so 
 clearly the want of such an Institution, that the pastors and 
 members present pledged a cordial support in the undertak- 
 ing. A board of thirty- two female managers, and an advis- 
 ory committee of five gentlemen, were accordingly elected, 
 and measures taken to immediately inaugurate the enterprise. 
 On the eighth of June the building No. 45 Grove street, then 
 known as the " Lincoln Home," which had been a temporary 
 hospital for disabled soldiers and sailors, was rented, and 
 after much cleansing pronounced ready for occupation. 
 The first inmate was received on the ninth of July; the next 
 day another was added ; on the twenty-third one more, and 
 the report at the end of the year showed that fifteen had 
 been admitted. No regular matron was appointed until 
 October, and her official relation to the Institution was dis- 
 solved the following spring, and the present incumbent ap- 
 pointed. The society continued its operations in the same 
 house until April, 1870, when, its new and commodious build- 
 ing having been completed, the family was removed to it. 
 The house in Grove street was never able to accommodate 
 over thirty, besides the matron and servants ; hence a small 
 number only of those anxious to gain admission could be re- 
 ceived. During those four years, however, fifty beneficiaries 
 were admitted, three of whom died the second year, six the 
 third, and several the year following. Among the inmates 
 the managers mention the mother of a Presbyterian clergy- 
 man, the widowed mother of a devoted and successful mis- 
 sionary to China, and the daughter of Dr. McKnight, one of 
 the early pastors of the First Presbyterian church of this city. 
 The act of incorporation passed the Legislature December 
 7, 1866. The Institution is called the Presbyterian Home, but 
 its doors are open to Congregationalists, to the Reformed 
 Dutch, and to the several divisions of the Presbyterian fam- 
 ily, making it very general in its character, certain of numer- 
 ous beneficiaries, and of liberal supporters. All applicants 
 for admission must be sixty-five years uf age, residents of New 
 York city, having been three years a member of the church, 
 and recommended by the church session. Three dollars per 
 week must be paid for board, and at death the funeral ex- 
 enses defrayed by the church or party made responsible at 
 er entrance. 
 
 The auspicious beginning of the enterprise led the man- 
 
448 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 agers at the close of the first year to confidently appeal to the 
 benevolence of the denomination for the meana to build and 
 furnish an asylum in some sense adequate to the wants of 
 the churches interested. This was soon responded to by 
 Mr. James Lenox, by the donation of four choice lots of 
 ground on Seventy-third street, between Madison and Fourth 
 avenues, worth $40,000. Donations of money came also 
 from many sources, so that at the end of the year $13,000 
 were invested as a building fund, and the third report showed 
 that $62,000 had been contributed toward building. The 
 building when completed was appropriately dedicated, Drs. 
 Paxton, Murray, Thomson, Hall, and several distinguished 
 laymen taking part in the exercises. The edifice is an elegant 
 four-story brick, trimmed with Ohio freestone, surmounted 
 by a chaste tower, and is charmingly arranged for the accom- 
 modation of the inmates. All its rooms and halls are lighted 
 from the exterior. There are two staircases extending to the 
 upper story, and its heating and ventilating apparatus are of 
 the most approved character. The basement contains kitchen, 
 laundry, and other appropriate rooms. The first floor con- 
 tains visitors' room, committee-room, and well-arranged chapel, 
 with seating for a hundred and fifty persons. The next floor 
 has an infirmary, a ladies' room, and the rooms for the most 
 infirm. The interior is supplied with iron doors, and the 
 entire structure nearly fire-proof, the staircases being of iron, 
 with little wood-work exposed to the action of fire. The 
 edifice cost over $100,000, and is the finest building of its 
 kind yet reared on the island. The Institution will, however, 
 soon be too small to accommodate the aged and worthy poor 
 of the one hundred and sixteen churches connected with the 
 enterprise. May these consecrated homes of piety and rest 
 for the comfort of the worthy poor be multiplied in all our 
 denominations, until saintly pilgrims are no longer left in 
 penury to Buffer alone. 
 
UNION HOME AND SCHOOL. 
 
 {One Hundred and Fifty-first street and the Boulevard.) 
 
 The care of orphan and friendless children is always one of 
 the first duties of Christian civilization; but when the parents 
 of these dependent ones bravely sacrificed their lives in de- 
 fence of their native land, the least that a nation's gratitude 
 can do is to provide maintenance and culture for their helpless 
 offspring. On the 22d day of May, 1861, a few patriotic 
 women, almost without means, but impelled by the pressing 
 necessity of making some provision for the children of those 
 who were certain to be sacrificed in the impending struggle, 
 organized the " Union Home and School for the Maintenance 
 and Instruction of the Children of our Volunteer Soldiers and 
 Sailors.'* The act of incorporation passed the Legislature 
 April 22, 1862. Until 1867 the Institution was carried on 
 in an inconvenient hired building not capable of accommodat- 
 ing over eighty children, and supported by the contributions 
 
450 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of the benevolent, an occasional fair, and some small State 
 appropriations. In 1867 a large festival was planned, from 
 which the handsome sum of $98,998.40 was realized. This 
 enabled the managers to pay all their outstanding indebted- 
 ness, including the mortgage on a building and six lots of 
 land purchased the previous year for $28,000, on Fifty-eighth 
 street, and make other preparations for enlargement. About 
 this time the propriety of removing the Institution to the 
 country, where land was cheap, began to be discussed, and ac- 
 cordingly a large frame building, known as the " Laurel Hill 
 Seminary," at Deposit, Delaware county, was purchased and 
 repaired, at an expense of over $16,000. The building, how- 
 ever, did not prove satisfactory, the children suffered with 
 diseased eyes, and arrangements were made to remove again 
 to New York. In the spring of 1868 the managers purchased 
 the Fields mansion, situated at One Hundred and Fifty-first 
 street and the Boulevard, with ten lots of ground, for $32,000. 
 The property on Fifty-eighth street has since been sold to pay 
 for this new property at Washington Heights. The Fields 
 mansion is a large brick edifice, with stone facings, seventy 
 by eighty feet, and when purchased was three stories high. 
 Over $11,000 were expended in repairs. But when the fam- 
 ily had just settled, the ladies were notified by the Commis- 
 sioners of Central Park that the edifice must be removed at 
 least twenty-five feet, by April, 1869, to make way for the 
 opening of the Boulevard. What would have once been con- 
 sidered an impossibility has been successfully accomplished ; 
 the building was moved forty feet, improved with two addi- 
 tional stories and a Mansard roof, at an expense of about 
 $25,000. When compelled to remove the children for the 
 removal and repairs of the building, it was proposed to trans- 
 fer them to the building at Deposit, but about that time news 
 was received that this building had just been destroyed by 
 lire. Its value was nearly covered by insurance. Happily an 
 old-fashioned country house near Harlem bridge was leased 
 for a few months, until the building at Washington Heights 
 could be put in order. On the 6th of June, 1870, the newly 
 refitted Home and School was reopened with appropriate ser- 
 vices, the children having been previously transferred to it. 
 The building is well adapted to its use, and has accommoda- 
 tions for three hundred and fifty children. The kitchen, 
 laundry, and dining-room are in the basement. The first 
 floor contains the reception-room, a fine committee-room, a 
 
UNION HOME AND SCHOOL. 451 
 
 *arge chapel, and two school-rooms, which can be connected 
 with the former for Divine service. The other stories are de- 
 voted to dormitories, school-rooms, etc. One room is called 
 the armory, and contains the hoys' uniform and miniature 
 sabres, which they are allowed to wear on public occasions. 
 Several acres of ground at least should be connected with the 
 Institution, to afford the play and exercise necessary for the 
 health of the youthful inmates. The location is certainly one 
 of the finest in the world, situated on a lofty eminence, fanned 
 with pure breezes, and surrounded with trees and yards of 
 surprising beauty. The lofty observatory affords a command- 
 ing view of the Hudson and the East rivers, the New York 
 bay, and the surrounding country. Up to January, 1870, 
 three thousand and forty children had been admitted. The 
 only condition required for admission is proper evidence that 
 they are the children of soldiers or sailors, and that the sur- 
 viving parent, if any, is unable to support them. No pay- 
 ment is required for food, clothing, or instruction. No papers 
 of surrender are required of the parent, to whom they are 
 cheerfully returned as soon as able to provide for them, and 
 their vacant places are immediately filled with other needy 
 applicants. The schools appear to be well conducted. The 
 present matron, Mrs. E. M. Cilley, has very creditably con- 
 ducted her work. The Common Council and the Legislature 
 have made several handsome appropriations toward this en- 
 -terprise. The Institution is free from sectarianism, and 
 clergymen of all denominations are welcomed to the Home. 
 Another fair was held in December, 1870, in the Twenty- 
 second Armory, New York city, but, owing to the fact that 
 an unusual number of charity fairs had just been held, less 
 interest than formerly was taken in this, and the proceeds 
 did not exceed twenty thousand dollars. The patriotic ladies 
 who have so nobly carried forward this commendable charity 
 are worthy of all honor, and merit the thanks of more than 
 soldiers or soldiers' children. Mrs. U. S. Grant is the chief 
 officer of the society, having gained the presidential chair 
 several years in advance of he? husband. 
 
THE FEMALE CHRISTIAN HOME. 
 
 (No. 314 East Fifteenth street.) 
 
 HIS Institution was established in the summer of 1863, 
 by an association of benevolent Christian ladies, in a 
 small hired building, No. 180 East Seventeenth street. 
 The object of the organization was to provide a re- 
 spectable Christian home, at moderate expense, for women 
 obliged to earn their own livelihood. The enterprise proving 
 a success, the managers, in 1867, purchased the building No. 
 14 East Thirteenth street for $18,000. The number of in- 
 mates in this building never exceeded thirty-three at one 
 time, and the numerous applications made by worthy females 
 induced the managers to dispose of this property and enlarge 
 their accommodations. In May, 1870, the Home was removed 
 to the newly purchased building, No. 314 East Fifteenth street. 
 The building is a beautiful four-story brown-stone, with 
 high basement, twenty-six by seventy feet, and cost $29,000. 
 From its windows the inmates overlook the Stuyvesant 
 Square park, rendered vocal with feathered songsters, beauti- 
 ful and fragrant with waving branches and blooming flowers. 
 The Home now stands in one of the choicest blocks in that 
 portion of the city, and has the appearance of a private resi- 
 dence. An indebtedness of $10,000 remains on the property 
 at this writing, which the enterprising managers will proba- 
 bly remove ere this volume sees the light. The building 
 contains apartments for fifty inmates, and is far too small to 
 accommodate the multitudes anxious to gain admission. 
 
 The price of board varies from three dollars and a half to 
 five dollars per week, according to the room occupied, use of 
 furniture, food, fire, and light being included. None are ad 
 mitted without satisfactory testimonials to the propriety of 
 their conduct, the respectability of their characters, and theii 
 expressed willingness to submit to the regulations of the 
 Home. 
 
 The matron is charged with the conduct of the house, the 
 keeping of the daily accounts of purchases and donations, 
 and the enforcement of the rules. 
 
 Morning and evening prayer is regularly conducted, and 
 each inmate is required to be present. A Bible-class is con- 
 
THE HOME FOE FRIENDLESS WOjtfEN". 
 
 453 
 
 ducted every Sunday afternoon, and all the inmates are ex- 
 pected to attend. 
 
 The receipts from the boarders during the last year covered 
 the expenses, exclusive of rent, furniture, etc. The inmates 
 consist of students, teachers, sales-women, book-keepers, copy- 
 ists, and those employed in the various departments of needle- 
 work. 
 
 Young ladies from the country, spending a few months of 
 study or business in New York, should apply, and count 
 themselves happy if admitted to one of these Christian Homes 
 established during the last few years for the safety and com- 
 fort of their own class. 
 
 THE HOME FOR FRIENDLESS WOMEN. 
 {No. 86 West Fourth street.) 
 
 i^JSf DEEP and abiding interest during the last few years 
 jimP nas b een manifested in the condition of fallen women, 
 ^k&K and of those who stand on the slippery precipice ready 
 to descend. This interest is not confined to us nor to 
 our country, but is being similarly manifested in all Christian 
 lands. A few years ago, a devoted Christian lady in Glasgow 
 became concerned about the outcasts of her sex, and resolved 
 to go to work in their behalf. Meeting in the street one of 
 the lowest of this class, she procured her lodgings in a poor 
 but pious family, clothed her, and labored with her until she 
 saw a change. Then she procured her employment. Encour- 
 aged with her success, and strengthened with pious asso- 
 ciates, arrangements were made for enlarging the enterprise. 
 Street girls were taken, and soon more applied than could be 
 admitted. In twelve months they reported two hundred and 
 fifty fallen women reclaimed, many of whom gave evidence 
 of saving faith. Only twenty of those admitted had relapsed, 
 eighty-five reformed girls had been restored to their parents, 
 forty were employed as servants, forty-five in miscellaneous 
 employments, and sixty-six still remained under their care. The 
 Home for Friendless Women in New York was organized by 
 
454 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 a number of Christian ladies and gentlemen in 1865, and the 
 building No. 22 West Houston street, having been leased, 
 was opened with suitable religious services on the 27th of 
 December of that year. At the close of the first year their 
 report showed that one hundred and twelve had been admit- 
 ted, of whom fourteen had been dismissed for bad conduct, 
 twelve went out of their own accord to former habits, ten of 
 the thirty-two sent to situations left them, yet after inquiring 
 into the conduct of those returned to friends, and of those re- 
 maining in the Institution the society believed that sixty per 
 cent, of the whole number had been saved. The second year 
 eighty-two were admitted, but one sent away for miscon- 
 duct, two placed there by friends escaped, forty-six were pro- 
 vided with situations, twenty- three returned to their friends, 
 five sent to other institutions, three were honorably married, 
 and thirty-two remained. Eighty-five per cent, this year 
 
 fave evidence of reformation. During the seven years closing 
 anuary, 1873, the whole number admitted amounted to six 
 hundred and twenty-six, about seven-tenths of whom appear 
 to have reformed. The society continued its operations in 
 Houston street until May, 1869, when a more eligible build- 
 ing was taken at No. 86 West Fourth street. The building 
 in Houston street was in the midst of the evil it sought to 
 remove, and consequently many drifted in with little desire 
 to reform, and after annoying the inmates were either dis- 
 missed or else departed of their own accord to join old asso- 
 ciations. The change in location has been followed by a cor- 
 responding change in the character of the applicants. The 
 class hardened by long years of crime less frequently apply, 
 while those drawn away from the path of virtue by uiisplaced 
 affection, sudden temptation, or the most fruitful of ail causes, 
 destitution, are still readily reached. The Home is pleasantly 
 located Its long double parlor on the first floor is also the 
 chapel, where divine service is regularly conducted on Sabbath 
 afternoon and on Tuesday evening by a city missionary, where 
 a Bible class convenes twice each week, taught by the female 
 managers, and where family worship is daily conducted by 
 the superintendent and others. The windows of the upper 
 stories look out upon the beautiful Washington Square park, 
 with its shaded walks, crystal fountain, and waving trees, 
 made vocal with the melody of their feathered songsters. 
 
 Still it is far from being adequate to the demands of the 
 undertaking. It can well accommodate only thirty, beside the 
 
THE HOME FOR FRIENDLESS WOMEN. 
 
 455 
 
 officers, with suitable lodgings and work-rooms, hence scores 
 if not hundreds annually apply in vain, who might be re- 
 formed and saved if suitable accommodations could be se- 
 cured. The managers have felt the necessity of classifying 
 and grading the inmates according to their moral status, of 
 introducing a system of promotions, and of devoting a depart- 
 ment to indigent young women in danger of ruin, who might 
 depart from the Home without necessarily carrying with them 
 a diploma of degradation. A Lying-in Asylum is also a nec- 
 essary appendage of an institution of this kind, without which 
 they are compelled to turn away the class in which the largest 
 number of true penitents is found. This wise, systematic 
 management cannot be successfully executed in a small, ill- 
 arranged, and crowded building. The managers have ap- 
 pealed to the public for §50,000 to build or purchase a suit- 
 able Institution, which we hope will be soon forthcoming. 
 The twenty thousand or thirty thousand fallen women of the 
 city, whose numbers are steadily increasing, should remind 
 us that too few institutions for their recovery have been 
 founded, and those few on too small a scale. That multi- 
 tudes of these might be reformed has been already proved, 
 yet the managers truly say that " those saved during the past 
 ten years by all the institutions of New York working for this 
 class will not equal the number mustered out by death dur- 
 ing a single year." 
 
 Several causes conspire to fill great centers of population 
 with fallen women. 1. Many grow up without the opportu- 
 nities of refinement, crowded together in a miserable tene- 
 ment-house where six or twelve persons sleep in the same 
 apartment. The proprieties of life, if ever known, are soon 
 forgotten. 2. The demoralizing tendencies of public amuse- 
 ments, and the desire for greater display than common in- 
 dustry can support. 3. Destitution. The methods by which 
 their recovery is sought are : 1. Kindness. 2. Toil. 3. Wise 
 and unwearied religious effort. Industry is one of the best 
 appliances for reformation. At the Home, sewing, paper-box 
 making, and other species of toil are prosecuted, and each 
 
 firl, to stimulate her energies, receives half her earnings, 
 'he religious services have been crowned with most gra- 
 cious results. Under the appeals of the man of God, troop- 
 ing memories of that land of early innocency have come 
 rushing through the soul, and many have broken down out- 
 right and wept convulsively. Many have professed religion, 
 
NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 and several after obtaining situations have united with the 
 church. 
 
 The financial affairs of the society are under the control 
 of a board of gentlemen managers, while the internal and 
 domestic management is conducted by ladies. The Home is 
 maintained without any charge to the inmates, at an expense 
 \>i about ten thousand dollars per annum. It is Protestant, 
 but not denominational. 
 
WOMEN'S PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK- 
 
 "THE ISAAC T. HOPPER HOME." 
 {No. 213 Tenth avenue.) 
 
 This Institution was founded in 1845, by the distinguished 
 gentleman whose name it bears, as the " Female Department 
 of the New York Prison Association." It is managed by a 
 board of thirty ladies, who are elected annually by the mem- 
 bers of the society. 
 
 Mr. Hopper belonged to the Society of Friends, was for 
 many years inspector of prisons in Philadelphia, and finally 
 entered into the work of reforming criminals with a love and 
 zeal only less than that of a Howard. He continued the 
 agent of the society up to the period of his death, in 1852, 
 performing an incredible amount of service for the trifling 
 salary of $300 per annum. Known to be in moderate cir- 
 cumstances, the society repeatedly proposed to increase his 
 salary, which he as persistently refused, though his successor's 
 was immediately fixed at $2,500. 
 
458 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 His excellent daughter, Mrs. J. S. Gibbons, the correspond- 
 ing secretary of the society, who partakes so largely of the 
 spirit of her father, is the only surviving member of the orig- 
 inal organization 
 
 Mr. Hopper's long familiarity with prison life led to the 
 profound conviction that nothing could be done for the refor- 
 mation of female convicts without entirely separating them 
 from the opposite sex, and placing them under the exclusive 
 control of suitable persons of their own sex. Hence the or- 
 ganization of " The Women? s Prison Association." 
 
 The work undertaken by this society is the most difficult 
 in the world, requiring a mingled wisdom and tenderness, 
 connected with a moral heroism found nowhere but in culti- 
 vated and sanctified woman. The objects of the society are, 
 " the improvement of the condition of prisoners, whether de- 
 tained on trial or finally convicted, and the support and 
 encouragement of reformed convicts after their discharge, by 
 affording them opportunity of obtaining an honest livelihood 
 and sustaining them in their efforts to reform." It is a death 
 grapple with sin in its strongest dominion — the heart of a 
 disgraced and ruined woman. The sympathy the society 
 received from the public, during the earlier years of its his- 
 tory, was not flattering. The habit of regarding and treating 
 the convict as the irreclaimable enemy of society was too 
 common even with good people, and a holy horror seemed to 
 fill the minds of others that a society to benefit such creatures 
 had been formed, as if humanity and sympathy for criminals 
 were an endorsement of crime. Its principal encouragement 
 came from its fruits. Sometimes the helpless victims of 
 wrong suspicion and unjust commitments were found. Here 
 was an easy victory for the right, accompanied with the in- 
 describable joy of lifting up a crushed and despairing soul. 
 Many were found who from childhood had been utterly per- 
 verted by example and instruction, so that all the springs of 
 motive and action needed purifying. But having never known 
 the path of life, or felt the full power of sacred truth, they 
 soon melted under the softening appliances of reclaiming 
 mercy. 
 
 Others, after years of grossest error and shame, gave evi- 
 dence that the moral sense was not entirely obliterated, that 
 there remained still a spring that responded to the touch of 
 human kindness. In the melting atmosphere of Christian 
 tenderness, nourished by saintly example, and encouraged by 
 
women's prison association OF NEW YORK. 459 
 
 the voice of religious instruction, in many instances the lat- 
 ent seeds of early culture have budded into a life of blessed 
 fruit and promise. In some instances melancholy victims of 
 drunkenness, bloated, loathsome, friendless, and apparently 
 hopeless, after spending a u term " in the cell, have returned 
 to this " Home " for amendment. The kind appeal has 
 brought the irrepressible tear, the encouraging smile, the 
 blush of animated hope; reproof and caution have been 
 responded to with confession and promise of amendment. 
 The boisterous tone is subdued to mildness, the defiant eye 
 quails before sympathy and interest, a tide of pent-up emo- 
 tion and affection bursts out to gladden the deliverer, who 
 feels it infinitely " more blessed to give than receive." 
 
 But there have been also many lamentable failures. Some 
 ran well for a time and then relapsed into old habits, to pass 
 through the same processes of arrest, trial, and commitment, 
 and then to plead successfully again at the <; Home " for oppor- 
 tunity of amendment. Some have been so positive in evil 
 courses that more restraint was necessary to preserve the 
 order of the Home than the managers were willing to exer- 
 cise, and so have been dismissed. It is confidently believed, 
 however, by those longest connected with the Institution, that 
 over sixty per cent, of all sent out from it have done well. 
 Many have married and now fill respectable stations in society, 
 sending frequent and grateful communications, and some- 
 times donations of money, to the Home. 
 
 For several years after organizing, the society carried on 
 its operations in a hired house, trying to raise the means to 
 build. Failing in this, it finally purchased the house it had 
 occupied at No. 191, now No. 213 Tenth avenue, for $8,000, 
 paying down only one- fourth of the amount. The building 
 was sadly out of repair, and about $8,000 more have been 
 expended in improvements. It is now a commodious, four- 
 story brick, with brown-stone basement, with accommodations 
 for fifty persons. The Common Council has made them a few 
 small appropriations, but the society claims, and we think 
 justly, that these have been most meager, since their whole 
 labor and expenditures have been for those who would other- 
 wise have been a permanent pest and expense to the city. 
 There are no special tests for admission. All are received 
 on trial, and if sincere in the matter of reformation receive 
 every encouragement. If faithful and contented for one 
 month, the society pledges to provide them a situation and 
 
460 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 furnish them with comfortable apparel. If refractory they 
 are dismissed, but taken at the next application, for another 
 trial. Scores are sent away to service every month, and as 
 many more received from the prisons. Many remain con- 
 nected with the Home, and go out as seamstresses by the week 
 or month. These spend their Sabbaths at the Institution, 
 where their washing is done for them, and pay fifty cents per 
 week to the society, and retain the residue of their wages. 
 
 Those in the Institution are employed at sewing and laun- 
 dry work, which always gives the best satisfaction to cus- 
 tomers, and which the managers make remunerative. In 
 1852, when 154 were received, the receipts from labor amount- 
 ed to §1,090. In 1866, when 286 were received, the receipts 
 from labor amounted to $1,155.47, and in 1872, when 358 
 were admitted, the receipts from labor amounted to $2,000. 
 
 Since the organization of the Home, in 1845, the society 
 has received 5,800 persons, an annual average of 195, the 
 larger number of whom, notwithstanding all their discour- 
 agements, have gone out to lead virtuous and useful lives. 
 
 The expenditures of the Institution now amount to from 
 six to eight thousand dollars per annum, and the income is 
 about able to balance them. Prudent management has 
 enabled the managers to cancel all their indebtedness. In 
 1865 the Home received a legacy of $50,000 from Charles 
 Eurrell, Esq., of Hoboken, New Jersey ; and during 1869 a 
 becpiest of $500 was received from Miss Louise C. Parmly 
 of this city, daughter of Dr. E. Parmly, one of the originators 
 of the Men's Prison Association. The interest only on these 
 sums is used. The Institution is preeminently Protestant, 
 though the largest number by far who have shared its 
 benefits have been Roman Catholics. One evening in each 
 week is devoted to a general prayer-meeting, and two public 
 services are conducted every Sabbath by the city missionaries, 
 the pastors of the vicinity, or by theological students from 
 one of the seminaries. The managers, physicians, and clergy- 
 men, have always served gratuitously. An evening school 
 is also conducted in the Institution by a competent instructor, 
 with very good results. 
 
ROMAN CATHOLIC HOME FOR THE AGED POOR. 
 
 {No. 447 West Thirty-second street.) 
 
 JglMQE. many years the young have been industriously 
 sought out and carefully educated by American 
 Catholics, but, until recently, their aged poor of both 
 sexes have been almost wholly neglected in all 
 schemes of denominational charity. Their convents, institu- 
 tions of learning, and cathedrals have risen rapidly in every 
 part of the country, but not an institution for the infirm and 
 indigent, who had given all their savings through life to the 
 Church, was undertaken until about three years ago. About 
 that time several members of the community known as the 
 " Little Sisters of the Poor," organized in France in the year 
 1840, came to this country and established the first institution 
 of their order in the city of Brooklyn. Eleven have now 
 been organized in different parts of the country, and others 
 are in contemplation. 
 
 The Sisters hold and manage their institutions, collecting 
 and begging the means for their maintenance from door to 
 door. The Institution in New York was opened at No. 443 
 West Thirty-fourth street, in a hired building, on the 27th of 
 "September, 1870, and removed to No. 447 West Thirty-second 
 street on the 15th of the following December. There are 
 twelve sisters connected with the enterprise, four of whom 
 go out almost constantly gathering money and supplies from 
 any and all available sources. The superioress, Mother Sidonie 
 Joseph, is one of the group that came from France as before 
 stated. The Sisters began without a chair or table, and with 
 no money, we are told, but so pressing have been their im- 
 portunities that the public has been compelled to heed their 
 demands, and they now occupy three fine brick buildings 
 adjoining each other, which they have leased for two and 
 one-half years for the yearly rental of $1,700 each. Besides 
 paying the rent of over $400 per month, they have managed 
 to plainly furnish their buildings, and are now providing for 
 a family of nearly one hundred aged and afflicted persons. 
 Besides providing accommodations for the Sisters, the build- 
 ings contain space for about one hundred and ten persons, 
 which will doubtless soon be filled. The Sisters occupy the 
 
462 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 central building, No. 447, the second floor of which has been 
 converted into a chapel, where mass is said regularly by a 
 priest. No. 445 is devoted to the aged men, and No. 449 to 
 the aged women. Persons of good moral character in indi- 
 gent circumstances are taken for life without money or 
 goods, and without regard to sex or nationality. Several of 
 the inmates are not active Roman Catholics, though they are 
 not Protestants. We gladly chronicle this auspicious begin- 
 ning of denominational charity for the relief of the aged 
 and destitute of this sect, so populous in all our great cities, 
 and hope these enterprises may be still more widely ex- 
 tended. Every society should, if possible, provide for the 
 relief of the unfortunate and destitute of its own faith. 
 
 CHAPIN HOME FOR THE AGED AND INFIRM. 
 
 V^H&p VERY denomination of Christians and Jews in New 
 fl§6* York city has found it necessary to make provision 
 Jw€F for the poor and unfortunate of its own pale, and the 
 march of benevolent enterprise in this direction for 
 the last few years has been exceedingly gratifying. Some- 
 thing more than four years since, a society, composed prin- 
 cipally of members of the Fifth Avenue Universalist church 
 (Rev. E. H. Chapin, pastor), was organized, for the purpose 
 of founding and maintaining a home for the aged indigent 
 of their society and acquaintance. The society encountered 
 such discouragements as usually attend enterprises of this 
 kind. During the year 1870 several lots were purchased by 
 the managers, situated on Sixty-sixth and Sixty-seventh 
 streets, between Lexington and Third avenues. A fair to 
 aid in the accomplishment of the enterprise was held in the 
 armory of the Twenty-second Regiment, for a number of days, 
 beginning April 10th, 1871, winch netted the society about 
 $10,000. Subscriptions have been vigorously circulated, and 
 abouteighty thousand have at this writing been thus realized. 
 The Legislature has also recently favored the Institution with 
 a donation of $10,000. With these sums the managers have 
 
THE BAPTIST HOME FOR AGED AND INFIRM PERSONS. 463 
 
 erected a very commodious structure, which was formally 
 opened in the spring of 1873, and has at present about fif- 
 teen inmates. Mrs. C. F. Wallace is the matron. 
 
 THE BAPTIST HOME FOR AGED AND INFIRM PERSONS. 
 
 ,m|pHE "Ladies' Home Society of the Baptist churches 
 of the City of New York" was duly organized, and in- 
 Wj^i corporated, March 19, 1869, with the design of provid- 
 ing aged, infirm, and destitute members of their de- 
 nomination with a comfortable home in which to spend the 
 last years of life. The payment of three dollars or more con- 
 stitutes a person an annual member of the society ; fifty dol- 
 lars constitutes a life member, and one thousand, a life patron. 
 The constitution provides that eighty female managers, mem- 
 bers of Baptist churches or congregations in the city of New 
 York, shall control the Institution, and shall hold their offices 
 three years respectively, one-third retiring each year. Appli- 
 cants as beneficiaries must be recommended by their pastor, 
 and the deacons of the church to which they belong, as in 
 good standing, and without the means of support. An en- 
 trance fee of $100 is required. 
 
 The first anniversary of the society was held in the Madi- 
 son Avenue Baptist church, March 31, 1870, when a vigorous 
 and successful effort was made to complete the subscription 
 of $100,000, which had been asked for at the commencement 
 of the enterprise, for the purpose of purchasing grounds and 
 erecting buildings. Noble responses were not only made to 
 this permanent fund, but liberal subscriptions also toward the 
 annual support of the Home. Encouraged by these expres- 
 sions of interest, the managers leased for two years the 
 building No. 41 Grove street, at an annual rent of $1,800, 
 which they furnished, and on the 30th of June formally 
 opened with thirteen inmates and a temporary matron. As 
 no part of the permanent fund, or its interest, could be ap- 
 plied for current expenses, the ladies planned a fair which 
 was held in the following November, in Apollo Hall, corner 
 of Twenty-eighth street and Broadway, and which netted the 
 society $10,689. 
 
 29 
 
464 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Legislature, during a late session, passed an act direct- 
 ing the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of the city of 
 New York to lease to the society ten lots of ground, situated 
 on Lexington avenue, between Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth 
 streets, for the nominal rent of one dollar per annum. The title 
 to this ground was promptly accepted by the trustees of the 
 society, though the wisdom of the measure was seriously ques- 
 tioned by many friends of the enterprise. Several public 
 meetings, to discuss the matter, were held by the subscribers, 
 and other members of the denomination, in which strong 
 men were arrayed on either side, but at the final vote of the 
 members of the Home Society a majority sanctioned the ac- 
 tion of the trustees. This unfortunate measure has, however, 
 greatly disturbed the harmony of the society and unsettled 
 its plans of building, some of the subscribers refusing to pay 
 their subscriptions. This deliberate and emphatic protest 
 against State and municipal endowments of denominational en- 
 terprises, entered into by so many earnest and thoughtful men, 
 is an earnest of the sentiment rapidly developing in all the 
 Protestant denominations, and certain to, sooner or later, con- 
 trol the Legislation of this country. While we can but regret 
 that this false step has been taken in the early history of this 
 society, we still wish it great prosperity, with many and lib- 
 eral supporters. 
 
 We are gratified to state in revising this chapter, Septem- 
 ber, 1873, that the new and beautiful structure on the above 
 mentioned grounds is nearly completed, and will be occupied 
 as soon as the street improvements are finished. In the 
 meantime the Home is well-conducted in Grove-street, with 
 over twenty inmates. 
 
 HOME FOR AGED HEBREWS. 
 
 'the autumn of 1848, Mrs. Henry Leo, a devoted 
 JkM^ Jewess of New York, was called to visit an afflicted 
 \wk woman of her own faith. She not only found her a 
 great sufferer, but enshrouded in deepest poverty and 
 destitution. While affording relief in this case, her mind was 
 impressed that some general movement should be inaugurated 
 for the relief of agecl indigent Hebrews. Attending service 
 
HOME FOR AGED HEBREWS. 
 
 4t55 
 
 at the synagogue soon after, she laid the matter with great 
 earnestness before a number of the ladies of the congrega- 
 tion, and on the 21st of November, 1848, the " B^nai Jeshu- 
 run Ladies^ Hebrew Benevolent Society" for the relief of 
 indigent females, was formed, and rules foi its government 
 adopted. Mrs. A. H. Lissak, and Mrs. David Samson, de- 
 ceased, were among its presiding officers, and the Rev. Ansel 
 Leo acted for many years as honorary secretary. On March 
 20, 1870, at a meeting of the board of directresses held in 
 the Thirty-fourth Street synagogue, the President, Mrs. Henry 
 Leo, the chief foundress of the society, presented a report 
 calling attention to the number of destitute aged and infirm 
 Hebrews in the city, who were constantly making application 
 for relief which the society was unable to confer ; also urging 
 the ladies to devise some practical measure which, when adop- 
 ted, might furnish permanent relief to these distressed and 
 suffering co-religionists, without interfering with the original 
 objects of the organization. 
 
 After a full discussion, it was determined to call a general 
 meeting of the society, which was held on the 13th day of 
 March at the B'nai Jeshurun synagogue, a large attendance of 
 lady members attesting the interest they felt in the cause and 
 the subject which had brought them together. The object of 
 the meeting having been fully stated and explained to them, 
 the following resolutions were offered : 
 
 WJiereas, It is quite evident that we must provide some 
 means to care for the aged and infirm of our persuasion who 
 are increasing in numbers, and are destitute of the common 
 necessaries of life, many without friends and any visible 
 means of support ; therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved, That it is incumbent upon us, bearing in mind 
 the sacred tenets of our holy faith, to care for all such ; and, 
 viewing also the misery now endured by Hebrew women, 
 unable to earn a livelihood, unacquainted with any trade, 
 or when able to sew, etc., refused work ; therefore, be it 
 
 Resolved, That we hereby authorize our board of direc- 
 tresses to provide for all such destitute co-religionists ; open, 
 establish, and maintain a Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, 
 and adopt all rules and regulations for the government of the 
 same ; also a school of industry, where sewing and the like 
 may be taught to those unskilled, and where work obtained 
 shall be given out to such poor women as need it to manufac- 
 ture, the profits arising from same, after deducting certain ex- 
 
466 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 penses, to be given to them for their benefit. And, be it 
 also 
 
 Resolved, That we authorize our president and board of 
 directresses to make expenditures from the treasury of our 
 society, and adopt any measure they think proper for carry- 
 ing out the objects and purposes expressed in the foregoing 
 resolutions. 
 
 A quorum being present, the resolutions on motion were 
 unanimously adopted. 
 
 In compliance with the foregoing, a committee was ap- 
 pointed from the board of directresses, who after much trouble 
 succeeded in obtaining a lease of the building No. 215 West 
 Seventeenth street for one year, and on the twenty-fourth 
 day of May, 1870, the house was declared formally opened 
 and dedicated as a Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, it 
 being the first and only Institution of the kind in the State of 
 New York. 
 
 The industrial school formed has given remunerative em- 
 ployment to hundreds of Hebrew women, and to some of the 
 Christian faith also. The Home in Seventeenth street is a 
 brick cottage, capable of accommodating about fifteen per- 
 sons. A building fund has been established, and besides dis- 
 bursing $5,000 during the year in support of the Home, 
 and on other charities, several thousand dollars have accumu- 
 lated toward the purchase of permanent buildings. The soci- 
 ety is composed of several hundred ladies who pay an annual 
 subscription of five dollars each. As the adherents of this 
 faith in New York are not lacking in wealth, enterprise, or 
 liberality, we presume it will not be long ere a large and 
 well-ordered home for the aged shall have been provided. 
 
THE LADIES CHRISTIAN UNION, OR YOUNG WOMEN'S HOME. 
 
 (Nos. 27 and 28 Washington square.) 
 
 HE benevolent of New York have been much en- 
 gaged during the last fifty years providing asylums 
 and homes for orphans, half-orphans, the aged, blind, 
 deaf, and for many otherwise afflicted. The morally 
 fallen have received recently such attentions as were hitherto 
 unknown. But amid these multiplied charities a numerous 
 and interesting class of virtuous persons, much in need of 
 care and help, was long overlooked — that class of girls and 
 young women, who, by the death of parents, the reverses of 
 fortune, the loss of a situation, or of health, are either thrown 
 suddenly upon their own resources or the uncertain charities 
 of a calculating world. In large cities, where fortunes are 
 suddenly lost, and where most of the casualties of society oc- 
 cur, this class of persons is always unpleasantly large. In 
 November, 1858, a number of Christian women, representing 
 several different denominations, convened for the purpose of 
 forming the " Ladies Christian Association of the City of New 
 York," their special object being " the temporal, moral, and 
 religious welfare of women, particularly of young women 
 dependent upon their own exertions for support." 
 
 In May, 1860, the first "Home" in America for virtuous 
 " Young Women" was opened by this society in a hired dwell- 
 ing at No. 21 Amity place. Here it continued two years, 
 when it was removed to No. 160 East Fourteenth street, where 
 three more years were spent, when it was removed to Nos. 
 174 and 176 of the same street. 
 
 The act of incorporation passed the Legislature April 5, 
 1866, under the name of "The Ladies Christian Union of the 
 City of New York." The need of a permanent building, 
 larger and better arranged than any hitherto occupied, had 
 been long felt. The importance of the undertaking had been 
 demonstrated from the first; more had thronged the doors 
 than could be admitted. During the first four years one 
 hundred and sixty-one had been admitted. During the fifth 
 year seventy-five persons were admitted. An earnest appeal 
 for funds to purchase or build a suitable edifice, published in 
 the report for 1866, brought the noble response of $1,000 
 
468 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 from an unknown friend, with a pledge for $4,000 more, 
 afterwards increased to $9,000 more, on condition that 
 $50,000 should be procured within a given time. The 
 amount was finally subscribed, though owing to some reverses 
 it has never all been collected. On the first of May, 1868, 
 the Home was removed to its present location, on the north- 
 east corner of Macdougal street and "Washington square. 
 The managers purchased two four-story brick houses, with a 
 front of fifty-five and one-half feet, the lots being one hun- 
 dred and twent} r -five feet deep (containing brick stables in 
 the rear), for the sum of $50,000. The buildings front on 
 Washington Square park ; they are substantially built, with 
 high ceilings, are well arranged and ventilated, and for con- 
 venience of access, purity of air, and pleasant surroundings, 
 could scarcely be excelled on this portion of the island. The 
 basement furnishes a fine kitchen and laundry, a dining, and 
 a sewing room. The first floor contains two fine parlors, a 
 committee room, the apartments for the superintendent, and 
 others for transient boarders. The upper stories are devoted to 
 lodging-rooms, with baths on each floor. The carpeting, bed- 
 ding, and furniture all display neatness and taste ; the walls 
 are ornamented with pictures and various specimens of art 
 wrought by the inmates. The ladies contemplate adding 
 another story, with Mausard roof, as soon as their funds will 
 admit of it. A small debt still remains on the property. 
 The Home at this writing contains eighty-seven inmates, and 
 is always, except in the extreme heat of the season, full. 
 
 It is not purely a charitable Institution. Each inmate pays 
 a weekly board of from $3.50 to $6, according to her cir- 
 cumstances and the room she occupies. A relief fund has 
 been established to assist those who through sickness, loss of 
 employment, or other causes, find themselves unable to pay 
 their board. When the buildings are owned and furnished 
 the income from the boarders will about pay the expenses. 
 The girls are all of an interesting class. Many of them are 
 the daughters of clergymen and other distinguished gentle- 
 men. Every inmate is required to be either engaged in 
 something useful or fitting for it. Of 29 inmates, in 1865, 
 18 were artists, one a copyist, three were teachers, eight dress- 
 makers and seamstresses; 203 different inmates were re- 
 ceived during 1869, of whom 19 were artists, 33 teachers, 70 
 seamstresses ; the remaining 81 were saleswomen, book-keep- 
 ers, copyists, etc. Many young ladies tarry here while com- 
 
THE LADIES' CHRISTIAN JOTON. 
 
 469 
 
 pletiug their education. Some teach in private families, 
 some in the public-schools, some are pupils in the school of 
 design, others work at embroidery or some other species of 
 ingenious handicraft. There are hours for receiving com- 
 pany, when both sexes are admitted, but all are required to 
 depart at ten in the evening. The Home is well supplied 
 with books and periodicals. The house committee holds 
 a meeting every Friday from twelvemo one o'clock, when 
 applications for admission are received and acted upon. 
 Satisfactory testimonials of character are required in all 
 cases, and valid reasons for their remaining in the city. 
 Unmarried women only are received, preference being 
 given to the younger class. The Institution being an 
 outgrowth of the great awakening of 1857, and the third 
 article of the constitution making advancement in active 
 personal piety the first duty of the members, it is not surpris- 
 ing that the religious element has always been a marked feat- 
 ure in the movement. Family prayer is daily conducted. 
 Every Thursday evening a Bible class is taught at the Home, 
 and on Wednesday at eleven a.m. a ladies' prayer-meeting is 
 held at the social parlors, over the chapel of the Broadway 
 Tabernacle, corner of Thirty-fourth street and Sixth avenue. 
 Sectarianism is ignored, all attend the churches of the neigh- 
 borhood on the Sabbath, and many of the young women teach 
 in the Sunday schools. The Home has been the spiritual 
 birthplace of many thoughtful young ladies, and from its 
 well-ordered circle some have ascended to the " House of 
 many mansions " on high. 
 
 The superintendent, Mrs. S. F. Marsh, formerly the wife 
 of a clergyman, a lady of rare executive and social qualities, 
 with a nature too kind to be soured and too brave to be dis- 
 couraged, has presided over the Institution with very great 
 success for the last eight years. May she, with that associa- 
 tion of pure spirits which established this model and pioneer 
 Home, and who have so long and successfully toiled to ele- 
 vate the young women of our day, reap the richest fruit of 
 Christian toil on earth, and an imperishable crown beyond 
 the grave. 
 
HOTEL FOR WORKING WOMEK. 
 
 {Fourth avenue and Thirty -third street.) 
 
 $%J|r MERICA presents greater attractions to the laboring 
 jjSlg classes than almost any other country in the world, 
 ^fel Its abundance of cheap, but valuable land, its free 
 schools, Republican government, and religious liberty, 
 coupled with the liberal remuneration of toil, and the respect 
 of the laborer, rendering it of all countries most desirable for 
 ambitious industry. There is a benevolence, also, which finds 
 expression in the opening of "boarding-houses," "homes," 
 and " hotels," for the comfort and advancement of those who 
 toil singly and alone for an honest subsistence. 
 
 Mr. Alexander T. Stewart, who has hitherto done little 
 toward placing his name among the benevolent of the metrop- 
 olis, has recently, we are told, set aside six millions of dollars 
 for the erection of two immense structures, one for working- 
 women, and the other for working-men. The structure for 
 working-women, which is now nearly completed, stands on 
 Fourth avenue between Thirty-second and Thirty-third streets. 
 The building, which is of iron, and fire-proof, has three fronts; 
 that on Fourth avenue being one hundred and ninety-two feet 
 six inches, those on Thirty-second and Thirty-third streets, two 
 hundred and five feet respectively. The area covered by the 
 structure is forty-one thousand square feet. The main build- 
 ing will be six stories high, with an additional story, in Mansard 
 roof, and over the central portions of each front, a space of one 
 hundred feet, there will be an additional story with a super- 
 imposed Mansard roof, making the centre of each front eight 
 stories. At the extremities of these central elevations, and 
 also at the street angles, are turreted towers, twenty-four feet 
 in width and height. The entire central height will be one 
 hundred and nine feet. 
 
 The grand entrance on Fourth avenue has a width of forty- 
 eight feet ; the portico is two stories high, with massive clus- 
 ter iron columns, resting on octagonal-shaped pedestals, and 
 supporting foliated capitals. The design of the structure, 
 with its different stories, their piers, columns, pilasters, and 
 arches, crowned with the unique towers, presents a finished 
 
THE WATER- STREET HOME FOR WOMEN. 
 
 471 
 
 architectural design. The first story contains twenty-four 
 fine stores, each fifty-two feet wide and seventy feet deep. 
 A wide stairway conducts to the interior. A portion of the 
 halls are covered with marble. A steam elevator, running to 
 the upper floor, ascends on either side of the staircase. The 
 stories are high, averaging from nineteen feet six inches to 
 eleven feet five inches. There is a large interior court-yard, 
 ninety-four feet by one hundred and sixteen, which is to be 
 ornamented with fountain, gold fish, etc. The whole struc- 
 ture is heated by steam coil, the engine being so arranged as 
 to work the elevators, drive in hot weather an immense fan 
 for cooling the apartments, and afford mechanical appliances 
 to the kitchen and the laundry. The dining-room is thirty 
 by ninety-two feet, and another room of the same size is to be 
 used for concerts, lectures, etc., and still another of similar 
 dimensions will contain the library, and be the reading-room. 
 The inmates are to pay a fixed price for the use of rooms ac- 
 cording to their size and location, and the board will be con- 
 ducted on the restaurant plan. If the proprietor really deals 
 as liberally with the inmates as some now suppose, this Insti- 
 tution, situated in an eligible portion of the city, will be a 
 valuable acquisition to the toiling women of Manhattan. 
 
 THE WATER STREET HOME FOR WO]MffiN. 
 
 (No. 273 Water street.) 
 
 fc^j^y UKENG the summer of 1868 the reading public was 
 ^IvfS startled with a series of well- written articles published 
 J^E^a in Packard's Monthly, and partially reprinted and 
 commented upon by most of the papers, purporting 
 to set forth the career of the " Wickedest Man in New York." 
 The attention of the city was thus called to the condition of 
 society in Water street and its vicinity, and so profound was 
 the conviction, in many thoughtful and pious minds, that 
 something should be undertaken for this sin-blighted locality, 
 that it resulted in a noon-day prayer-meeting, established in 
 the dance-house of John Allen, and conducted with much 
 fervor for a considerable period. Though the effort did not 
 
472 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 result in the conversion of a large number from the neighbor- 
 hood, it considerably sobered many, and had an excellent 
 effect upon Christians of all denominations who took part in 
 the undertaking. 
 
 Water street contains a few wholesale business houses, con- 
 ducted through the day by amiable gentlemen residing in other 
 places, but the resident population of the locality is perhaps 
 the most depraved and infamous on the entire New York 
 island. Murder and robbery have never been as frequent 
 here as during the worst days of the Five Points, but for low 
 groggeries, scandalous brothels, and dance-houses, where 
 every sentiment of decency is ignored, and the whole popu- 
 lace reduced to the lowest scum of moral degradation, the 
 locality has long been unrivaled. Sailors and roughs of the 
 lowest order, whose means will not admit them to houses 
 equally disreputable but higher up on the ladder, here assem- 
 ble nightly to waste their money and lives in drink and fran- 
 tic revelrjr. The dance-house girls, also, are the most ignorant 
 and helpless of their class. Many of them, reared in the 
 neighborhood, have little knowledge of anything better, 
 and little compunction for a life of crime. Some of them 
 have never seen the better parts of the city, attended school 
 or church, or been in any manner reached by the ministra- 
 tions of religion. 
 
 They are the slaves of the proprietor in whose miserable 
 shanty they dwell. He claims as his property the miserable 
 garments they wear, so that, when one attempts to escape from 
 brutal treatment, she is not unfrequently arrested for theft, 
 and thrown into prison. 
 
 It was in this slum of moral putrefaction, after the excite- 
 ment of the noon-day meeting had subsided, and religious 
 efforts in the locality had been mainly suspended, that the 
 Rev. William II. Boole, a member of the New York East 
 Conference, and pastor of one of the city churches, under 
 the inspiration of " a profound and responsible conviction,' , 
 opened this Home and refuge for fallen women. The founder 
 believed that greater good would result from an institution 
 founded in the midst of this sea of social crime than from 
 one removed from the locality, because of the ready access 
 afforded those for whose benefit it was opened, and the 
 reformatory influence it would exert in the neighborhood. 
 Like the ladies at the Five Points, he was enabled to seize 
 upon one of the chief citadels of corruption in the locality. 
 
THE "WATER-STREET HOME FOR WOMEN. 
 
 473 
 
 The " Kit Burns Dog-Pit," rum, carousal, and brothel shop, 
 had obtained a world-wide notoriety, the proprietor gathering 
 lucre from the most brutal and corrupting expedients ever 
 tolerated in a civilized town. The proprietor of this estab- 
 lishment, with no sympathy in the object of the mission, was 
 strangely moved to oner his building for the moderate rent 
 of one thousand dollars per annum, obligating himself to con- 
 tinue the lease for six years. The lease was at once taken, 
 and the work of cleansing and remodeling the premises un- 
 dertaken. The building is a four-story brick, twenty-five by 
 thirty-four feet, with a rear extension which originally con- 
 tained the " pit," but which has since been changed into a 
 kitchen and several bath-rooms. On February 8, 1870, in 
 presence of a vast concourse of people that crowded the 
 building, the "pit," and the adjoining street, the Insti- 
 tution was solemnly dedicated by the Rev. Bishop Janes, the 
 Revs. S. H. Tyng, G. W. Woodruff, S. W. King, and W. 
 McAllister taking part in the exercises. The addresses con- 
 tained many pungent utterances, and produced a profound 
 impression. The Home was not formally opened for the 
 reception of inmates until the 10th of March, 1870, and in a 
 short time the applications for admission were so numerous 
 that many were turned away for want of room to accommo- 
 date them. 
 
 In projecting the Institution, it was believed that some dif- 
 ficulty would be experienced in drawing these abandoned 
 creatures into it, and it was proposed to hold evening meet- 
 ings in the hall set apart for public worship, to which it was 
 hoped they might be attracted, and so impressed with truth 
 as to be led to seek refuge and aid in this Christian Home. 
 But as more than could be admitted have from time to time 
 presented themselves, without solicitation, no plans for reach- 
 ing them have been necessary. 
 
 The internal management of the Home is under the direc- 
 tion of two resident matrons and a missionary, who are con- 
 stantly employed in self-sacrificing labors of love, and who are 
 heartily identified with the movement, receiving no stated 
 salary, but trusting entirely to the unsolicited contributions of 
 the friends of the cause for their supplies. The matrons have 
 charge of the domestic department, direct the girls in their 
 household duties, and conduct the religious meetings when 
 held exclusively with the inmates of the Institution, in which 
 they are assisted by Christian ladies from the city. The mis- 
 
474 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 sionary, Mr. Fred. Bell, has charge of the Sabbath preach- 
 ing, the daily and evening prayer-meetings held in the hall, 
 and acts in concert with the matrons in the general admin is- 
 tion of the Home. The duties of the day begin and end with 
 prayer, in which all join. 
 
 A general prayer-meeting is held on Tuesday evening, and 
 another on Thursday evening, of each week, when the mis- 
 sionary is assisted by Christian brethren from the up-town 
 churches. These services are designed to reach the vile young 
 men of the neighborhood, and have in some instances been 
 crowned with marvelous results. Men so dissipated and reck- 
 less as to have been wholly abandoned by their friends, and 
 given over as quite incorrigible, have drifted into these ser- 
 vices, where they have been awakened and converted, after 
 which they have returned to their homes and pursued honest 
 careers. A young Englishman of liberal education, and who 
 had been a journalist, but by dissipation and other vices had 
 sunk himself to the depths of despair, resolved to commit sui- 
 cide. He filled his pockets with brick, and stood on the pier 
 for the fatal plunge. By some influence the dreadful act was 
 delayed, he went to the Water-street prayer-meeting, was re- 
 claimed by Divine grace, and has stood firm for months in a 
 pious and useful career. Other examples might be given. 
 
 The only condition of admission to the Home is a desire to 
 reform, though they may not know by what process the refor- 
 mation is to be effected. The managers believe that nothing 
 short of Divine grace can reform a fallen woman ; hence they 
 desire to retain each inmate until she has been genuinely 
 converted to God, and thus rendered sufficiently strong to 
 lead a virtuous life on her return to the outside world. A 
 genuine change of heart is the first, last, and great thing 
 sought by the managers in the reception of an inmate. In 
 the meantime work from the stores is taken, each inmate re- 
 ceiving one-half of her earnings. The labor thus far, how- 
 ever, has not been very productive. During the first five 
 months after the opening of the Home, about one hundred 
 inmates were admitted, some of whom were pronounced the 
 " most desperate characters of the street." But few of them 
 returned to their old ways, many became industrious, tidy, 
 and serious, and about ten'per cent., it was thought, gave evi- 
 dence of a changed heart. But with the more perfect or- 
 ganization of the Institution has been given also a larger 
 measure of spiritual influence, and we learn that more than 
 
THE WATER-STREET HOME FOR WOMEN. 
 
 475 
 
 fifty per cent, of all admitted during the last six months have 
 deliberately entered upon a genuine Christian career. The 
 labors of Christian ladies, who assemble several times each 
 week to mingle prayers and exhortations with the inmates in 
 their upper rooms, have not failed of gratifying results, and 
 are more effective than services conducted by persons of the 
 opposite sex. 
 
 Meetings for song, conversation, and social intercourse are 
 also held occasionally in the parlor under the direction of the 
 resident officers. Friends from the neighborhood and others 
 are sometimes invited to attend. These gatherings are charac- 
 terized by all the freedom of a well-ordered family, and at 
 some of them conversions have occurred. More than once since 
 its opening, that devoted Christian vocalist, Philip Phillips, has 
 volunteered to sing his choicest songs to the inmates of the 
 Home and the assembled populace of that demoralized neigh- 
 borhood. On one occasion, a careful distribution of handbills 
 and complimentary tickets through the dance-houses and 
 liquor saloons of the locality brought together an immense 
 crowd of both sexes, even filling the platform, on which Mr. 
 Phillips sat, with abandoned women. An eye-witness said, 
 " It was indeed a novel entertainment for those ears, always 
 filled with blasphemy and foul speech, to hear ' Singing for 
 Jesus,' from the silvery lips of our sweet singer in Israel. 
 _ "At times the deep silence was almost painful ; and when 
 Mr. Phillips sung the ' Dying Child/ there was scarcely a 
 dry eye among those so little accustomed to weep. The songs 
 were interspersed with those short, sweet exhortations which 
 Mr. Phillips so effectively uses to promote the deeply spirit- 
 ual character of his singing, and on this occasion were more 
 than usually blessed in their appropriateness and effect. 
 When, near the close, he asked how many would join in the 
 request for prayer and try to live a better life, more than 
 forty hands went up, and several of the women near him said 
 aloud, < 1 will, Mr. Phillips ; I will try.' " 
 
 The founder of the Water Street Home for Women is not 
 wealthy, and at the beginning invested the few hundred dol- 
 lars he possessed to obtain the lease and pay the rent for a 
 part of the first year. It required a large faith in the infinite 
 Provider to launch an enterprise of this character in this 
 locality, against the judgment of so many excellent people; 
 yet, believing himself Divinely directed, he set about the 
 work without fear. The Home is carried on exclusively 
 
NEW TOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 as a isorh of faith, no solicitation in any form being made 
 for funds, except prayer and reliance upon God. In the right 
 time means came to defray the expense of repairing, furniture 
 was contributed, and bread given. The rule is not to incur 
 debt. More than once " the last loaf has been eaten" at supper, 
 with no knowledge of what should be on the morrow, but He 
 that feeds the ravens has through His servants sent a timely 
 supply. May the Home never lack encouragement ! We re- 
 joice in the auspicious opening of another refuge for the 
 most despised and helpless class in this sin-darkened world. 
 Truly there is something appalling in the case of a fallen 
 woman. A man may descend to deepest prodigality, waste 
 his substance and become a companion of harlots, yet his re- 
 turn is hailed with highest joy. But a fallen woman is pro- 
 nounced lost, and given over as incorrigible. Her reformation, 
 if not openly ridiculed, is long viewed with distrust, even by 
 the excellent of her own sex. This movement in Water street 
 has already resulted in the discontinuance of eight or ten 
 brothels in the vicinity, and the policemen patrolling the lo- 
 cality pronounce it much improved. 
 
THE FIYE-POINTS MISSION. 
 
 (No. 61 Park street) 
 
 A quarter of a century ago the Five Points in Xew York 
 presented the most appalling state of society on the American 
 continent. The locality was a low valley between Broadway 
 and Bowery, originally covered by the Collect pond, and the 
 name was acquired by the converging of three streets instead 
 of two, one of the blocks terminating in a sharp point. The 
 ground, being marshy and uninviting, was settled by the poor 
 and dissolute, mostly from foreign countries, who by degrees 
 became so notoriously disorderly, that it was not considered 
 safe for a respectable person to pass through it without a 
 police escort ; and these officers were often maltreated and 
 murdered N About fifty thousand persons inhabited this local- 
 ity, without a Protestant church, or a school, bidding utter 
 defiance to all law and decency. There were underground 
 passage-ways connecting blocks of houses on different streets, 
 making crime easy and detection difficult. Every house was 
 
473 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 a filthy brothel, the resort of persons of every sex, age, color, 
 and nationality. Every store was a dram-shop, where from 
 morning to morning thieves and abandoned characters whetted 
 their depraved tastes, concocted and perpetrated crimes and 
 villainies, rendering day and night hideous with their incessant 
 revelries. 
 
 The respectable inhabitants living within five minutes' walk 
 of this appalling carnival were astonishingly indifferent to 
 the fearful degradation which there existed, many believing 
 that the majority among them preferred to riot in wretched 
 vices, to starve upon the scanty wages of crime, to be housed 
 in kennels, poor-houses, or jails, racked with loathsome disease, 
 and scourged by the law, rather than dwell in quiet respect- 
 ability by their own careful industry. 
 
 To the ladies of the Methodist Episcopal church must ever 
 be accorded the high honor of inaugurating measures for 
 carrying light into this God-forsaken valley of moral blackness. 
 As early as lS-iS the Ladies' Home Missionary Society of this 
 denomination, having previously established several missions 
 in different parts of the city, which have since grown into large, 
 flourishing churches, turned its attention toward this long- 
 despised center of abandoned humanity. Impressed with 
 the magnitude and difficulties of their undertaking, the so- 
 ciety selected a number of Christian gentlemen of high stand- 
 ing, who were constituted an advisory committee, upon whom 
 it has always safely relied for counsel and means. In the 
 spring of 1850, Rev. L. M. Pease, of the New York Conference, 
 was appointed to this unpromising field. A room, twenty by 
 forty feet, at the corner of Little "Water and Cross streets, was 
 hired, fitted for holding service, and on the first Sabbath 
 filled with the most motley, filthy, and reckless group that ever 
 crowded a religious service. A lady described it as " a more 
 vivid description of hell than she had ever imagined." The 
 Sunday school began with seventy unruly scholars. For a 
 time confusion reigned. The boys would turn somersaults, 
 knock each other down, and follow any other vicious inclina- 
 tion. Order and system were gradually introduced, and in 
 time this school became as orderly as any in the city. 
 
 Intemperance was the universal crime and curse of the lo- 
 cality, and it soon became evident that nothing could be ac- 
 complished unless this fiery tide could be arrested. A series 
 of temperance meetings were commenced (which have been 
 continued more or less ever since), and over a thousand signed 
 
THE FIVE-POINTS MISSION. 
 
 479 
 
 the pledge the first year. The next chief difficulty in the 
 way of success was the universal poverty of the population. 
 Reformation with many involved immediate starvation, unless 
 some new channel of industry could be opened. The hunger 
 of a starving family must be somewhat appeased with bread 
 before their minds can be interested in the Gospel. Mr. 
 
 ! 
 
 THIS FXVK-POI>*TS MISSION. 
 
 Pease, with characteristic energy, soon arranged to supply a 
 hundred with needle-work, becoming personally responsible 
 to the manufactories, suffering constant pecuniary loss on ac- 
 count of the poorness of the work. This industrial depart- 
 ment required his constant attention to prevent thefts and 
 losses ; drew him in part away from the pastoral and outside 
 spiritual toil contemplated by the managers, which, with 
 some unfortunate business complications, resulted at length in 
 the severance of his connection with the Ladies' Missionary 
 
 30 
 
480 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 society. Mr. Pease gave evidence of the deepest devotion to 
 his work, and surprised all his friends by early making hie 
 residence and removing his family into the center of this 
 abandoned neighborhood, that the whole weight of his in- 
 fluence and toil might be thrown into the movement. 
 
 The next year Rev. J. Luckey was appointed to this field. 
 The accommodations of the Mission were totally inadequate, 
 and measures were set on foot to secure permanent buildings. 
 Mr. Harding generously offered the society the use of the 
 Metropolitan Hall for a public meeting, the Ilutchinsons and 
 Alleghanians volunteered to sing gratuitously, and Revs. 
 Beecher and Wakeley to speak on the occasion. The hall 
 was crowded, and $4,000 secured for the Mission. The next 
 year the hall was again tendered, and John B. Gough lectured 
 to a delighted audience, which subscribed $5,000 toward the 
 Mission. In 1852, after mature deliberation, the society pur- 
 chased the Old Brewery, a name it bore from the business 
 once carried on in it, for the sum of $10,000. The large 
 building was at this time in great decay, but inhabited by 
 hundreds of the most desperate characters in the city, and 
 was the acknowledged headquarters of crime in this fearful 
 locality. There were dark, winding passage-ways extending 
 through the whole edifice, various hiding places for criminals, 
 and dark, damp rooms, where scores of wretched families 
 herded promiscuously together. The avenue extending around 
 the outside of the building was familiarly known as " Mur- 
 derers Alley " and " The Den of Thieves." To demolish this 
 literal pandemonium and erect in its place a temple of mercy 
 to humanity, and of worship to God, was one of the noblest 
 triumphs of Christianity. Inspection proved the building in- 
 capable of repair ; it was pulled down, and on the 27 th of Jan- 
 uary, 1853, the corner-stone of the new building was laid by 
 Bishop Janes, of New York, several distinguished clergymen, 
 representing different denominations, taking part in the exer- 
 cises. On the sixteenth day of the following June it was 
 solemnly dedicated to the service of education and religion ; 
 and the managers and missionaries, with feelings too deep for 
 expression, found themselves in possession of a brick building, 
 seventy-five by forty-five feet, and five stories high, containing, 
 besides a neat parsonage, chapel, and school-rooms, two stories, 
 extending over the entire building, to let at reasonable rates 
 to suitable families. The schools, which had been conducted 
 in a temporary wooden building in the park, were transferred 
 
THE FIVE-POINTS MISSION. 
 
 481 
 
 to their commodious rooms, the parsonage was furnished by 
 members of the different Methodist churches, and everything 
 assumed an aspect of thrift and progress. 
 
 The day school has been successfully conducted by compe- 
 tent instructors through these twenty-four years, averaging 
 from four hundred to five hundred scholars daily, affording 
 the means of culture to many thousands who must otherwise 
 have groped in profoundest ignorance. The usual per capita 
 appropriation from the State educational fund is made to the 
 Institution. 
 
 The Sunday school is also large. A visitor is constantly 
 employed by the society to canvass the neighborhood and look 
 after absentees. The children receive a lunch each day, 
 which amounts to about one hundred and thirty thousand ra- 
 tions per annum given to the hungry. The scholars are all 
 clothed by the society, and many garments and bed-quilts, 
 besides articles of food and fuel, are furnished to their indi- 
 gent parents. A large congregation assembles morning and 
 evening on the Sabbath to listen to preaching by the mission- 
 ary ; a weekly prayer-meeting and a class-meeting are also well 
 sustained. A " Free Library and Reading-room has recently 
 been opened. The number of converts remaining at the 
 Mission is never large, as reformation is usually followed by 
 improved business opportunities, when they unite with the 
 _regular churches in the city or elsewhere. Through the liber- 
 ality of a friend who bequeathed the society §22,000, the 
 Board has recently made a fine addition to the building, 
 greatly improving the facilities of usefulness. The property 
 of the society is now valued at about $100,000. The society 
 has for the last twelve years issued a small monthly paper, 
 entitled "A Yoice from the Old Brewery," which, besides 
 acknowledging all receipts of money and goods, contains 
 many spicy articles of general interest. It has a steady cir- 
 culation of 4,000. The society was duly incorporated in 
 March, 1856. Over two thousand destitute children have been 
 place in Christian homes, most of whom have risen to re- 
 spectability and usefulness, and quite a number to wealth and 
 distinction. Situations have also been furnished to many 
 thousand adults. The work of the society is conducted at a 
 cash expense of over $20,000 per annum, not mentioning the 
 thousands of dollars' worth of clothing, produce, etc., re- 
 ceived and distributed from churches and friends all over 
 the land. 
 
4S2 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 During the twenty- three years of its operations, six different 
 ministers have been successively employed by the society as 
 resident missionaries or superintendents, a traveling financial 
 agent having been also employed during most of the time. 
 The present superintendent, Be v. J. N. Shaffer, a man of 
 great prudence and perseverance, has now entered upon his 
 twelfth year of successful and unceasing toil in this critical 
 field. Great credit is due the Ladies' Home Missionary Society 
 for the marvelous change wrought in this locality during 
 the last two decades, for though other vigorous organizations 
 are now in the field, it must ever be remembered that this 
 society wrought out the plan, furnished the stimulus, and 
 trained the chief founders of those kindred Institution* in it* 
 own chosen field. 
 
FIVE-POINTS HOUSE OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 (M. 155 Worth street.) 
 
 The Five-Points House of Industry originated in an indi- 
 vidual effort made by Rev. Lewis Morris Pease, in the summer 
 of 1850, to obtain employment for a class of wretched females, 
 who, with strong desire to escape from an abandoned life, 
 were debarred from any other, through lack of employment. 
 Mr. Pease was at first employed by the Ladies' Home Mission- 
 ary Society of the M. E. Church at the Five Points, but, differ- 
 ing in his views from those of the society as to the methods 
 to be employed, and some unfortunate complications occur- 
 ring, an alienation was produced which resulted in the sever- 
 ance of his connection with the society, and the establishment 
 of an independent enterprise. In the autumn of the same 
 year he hired two houses, admitted fifty or sixty inmates 
 whom he supplied with work; in February an additional 
 
484 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 room was added ; and in May, 1851, four houses were taken, 
 and the number of inmates increased to one hundred and 
 twenty. In 1853 eight houses were taken, and five hundred 
 persons supported either by their industry or the donations of 
 the benevolent. Needle-work, basket-making, baking, straw- 
 work, shoemaking, and ultimately farming, formed the chief 
 employments. 
 
 Mr. Pease began the enterprise with great courage, but 
 with scanty means, and must have soon failed if Providence 
 had not raised up friends who early came to his assistance. 
 After conducting the enterprise over three years, he succeeded 
 in enlisting a number of gentlemen, who procured a charter 
 and assumed the management of the Institution, Mr. Pease 
 remaining the superintendent. The entire expenditures of 
 the enterprise during the three years and a quarter, closing 
 with the incorporation of the society in March, 1854, 
 amounted to $48,981.87, more than half of which was profit 
 on the work of the inmates, the remainder being made up by 
 donations. 
 
 Soon after the incorporation of the society, the trustees 
 resolved to relinquish the rented buildings and erect perman- 
 ent ones of their own. A plot of ground on what is now 
 Worth street was purchased, and in 1856 they completed a 
 massive six-story brick edifice, with a front of fifty-four feet, 
 covering nearly the entire depth of the lots, and seventy feet 
 high. Much of the means necessary to complete the edifice 
 was contributed by friends, and the remaining incumbrance 
 on the property was removed several years later by a bequest 
 of $20,000, received from Mr. Sickles. In 1864, Chauncey 
 Rose, Esq., whose generosity extended to so many institutions, 
 presented the board with the handsome sum of $10,000, 
 which led to the purchase of several adjoining lots. Here 
 they erected a large two-story building, the ground floor, 
 ninety by forty-five feet, being devoted to a play-room for the 
 children, while the upper was divided by sliding partitions 
 into appropriate school-rooms, and thrown on the Sabbath into 
 a large chapel. After a few years it became manifest that 
 the growing wants of the Institution demanded more ample 
 accommodations. The hospital department, confined to a 
 single room, was far too small to accommodate the afflicted of 
 the Institution and neighborhood. The chapel ceiling was 
 too low. More dormitories were needed, and a better nursery. 
 An article setting forth these wants, published in the " Monthly 
 
FIVE-POINTS HOUSE OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 485 
 
 Record," the organ of the Institution, brought pledges in a 
 short time to the amount of $10,000, to which one of the 
 trustees generously added another $10,000. 
 
 Arrangement was also made with the City Mission and 
 Tract Society, which loaned the House of Industry $20,000 
 without interest, for the privilege of using the chapel. The 
 trustees then decided to erect on the site of the school-rooms 
 a new and commodious building. The edifice was begun in 
 August, 1869, completed and dedicated in February, 1870. 
 The two buildings, though somewhat unlike in design, form 
 an imposing pile about one hundred feet square. The stairs 
 are fire-proof, the beams are of iron, water and gas are carried 
 to every floor. The chapel, seventy by forty-five feet, is 
 massively pillared, arched overhead, and has stained glass 
 windows. The school-rooms afford accommodations for five 
 hundred scholars, and the dormitories for over three hundred 
 beds. The ground and buildings of the society have cost 
 $125,000. 
 
 The whole number received into the House during the six- 
 teen years since its incorporation amounts to over nineteen 
 thousand, and the names of twenty-one thousand children have 
 in the same time been enrolled in the day school, with a 
 daily attendance varying from two hundred and thirty to four 
 hundred and twenty. During this period 4,135,218 meals 
 have been furnished to the poor, and about nine thousand 
 sent to situations. 
 
WORKING WOMEN'S HOME, NO. 45 KMZABBTH STREET. 
 
 WOMAN'S BOARDING-HOUSE. 
 
 The trustees of the House of Industry, commiserating' 
 the fate of the many thousand females in the city toiling 
 by the day or week, with no relatives or homes, resolved, 
 in 1867, to open a Working Women's Home, where this class 
 might find clean, well-ventilated rooms, wholesome food, and 
 facilities for self-improvement, under Christian influence, at 
 moderate expense. An immense building, No. 45 Elizabeth 
 street, was accordingly purchased, refitted, and furnished, at 
 an expense of $120,000. The building extends from Mott to 
 
WOMAN'S BOARDING-HOrSE. 
 
 487 
 
 Elizabeth streets, is fifty-six feet wide, two hundred feet 
 deep, and six stories high, besides basement. It was dedicated 
 September 26, 1S67, and thrown open for boarders on the first 
 day of the following month. The House at this writing has 
 two hundred and sixty boarders, and has rooms for about one 
 hundred more. Room-rent, gas, washing, use of parlor and 
 bath-room, are furnished for the small sum of §1.25 per week. 
 Meals are provided on the restaurant plan at such moderate 
 rates, that the whole expense of living does not exceed three 
 or four dollars per week. This Home has a separate superin- 
 tendent, and is a distinct Institution, though managed by the 
 same board of trustees. This eminently philanthropic move- 
 ment has been very successful, though the largest expectations 
 of the founders have not yet been fully realized.* 
 
 The entire expenditures of the Board from 1855 to 1S70, 
 including both Institutions, amounted to §600,000. The or- 
 ganization employs no travelling solicitor, but makes its appeal 
 through the press, and depends upon the generosity of the pub- 
 lic for the several thousand dollars necessary to defray its 
 monthly expenses. The society, in 185 7, commenced the is- 
 sue of the "Monthly Record," which now has a circulation 
 of 5,000 copies. It is sent to subscribers at $1.00 a year. 
 Nearly all r he shoes worn in the Institution and given away 
 in the neighborhood, amounting to fifteen or twenty hundred 
 pairs every year, are received gratuitously at second hand, and 
 are repaired in their own shop. At least ten thousand garments 
 are given away annually. Boxes of clothing and provision 
 are received from all parts of the country, and from some of 
 the large hotels in the city liberal donations of provision are 
 sent daily. Since the organization of the society there have 
 been five superintendents successively employed — Messrs. 
 Pease, Talcott, Barlow, Halliday, and Barnard. Upon this 
 oflicer is laid a heavier burden than is usually borne by similar 
 officials in other institutions, as to his discretion is committed 
 the whole matter of admissions, dismissals, and the dispensing 
 of outside charities. That these officers have been wise and 
 efficient, the prefcnf prosperous condition of the Institution 
 attests. 
 
 * Since the first issue of this volume the Trustees have thought it wise to 
 discontinue the "Woman's Boarding House." We prefer, however, to preserve 
 its history. 
 
VIEW OK THE OLD HOOKEKY THAT OCCUPIED THE SITE OF THE HOWARD MISSION. THE 
 BLACK SEA OE SIN. 
 
 HOWARD MISSION AND HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS. 
 
 (No. 40 New Bowery. ) 
 
 Some portions of the city of New York present as dismal 
 moral deserts as can be found on the entire globe. A por- 
 tion of the Fourth Ward, with its narrow, crooked, filthy 
 streets and dilapidated buildings, filled with a motley popula- 
 tion collected from all countries, packed at the rate of 290,000 
 to the square mile, has long been noted as one of the princi- 
 pal " nests " for fever, cholera, and other deadly malaria on 
 the island. But the moral aspect of this locality is even worse 
 than the sanitary. Nearly every second door is a rum-shop, 
 dance-house, or sailors' lodging, where thieves and villains of 
 both sexes and of every degree assemble, presenting a concen- 
 tration of all the most appalling vices of which fallen human- 
 
HOWARD MISSION AND HOME FOE LITTLE WANDEEEES. 489 
 
 ity is capable. The following statement from the superin- 
 tendent, Kev. Mr. Yan Meter, will afford our readers a con- 
 cise view of this most important work. 
 
 "Bev. J. F. Richmond — Dear Brother: In compliance 
 with your request I forward to you a brief statement by the 
 Board, of our work and the way we do it : " 
 
 This Mission was organized by the Rev. TV. C. Van Meter, 
 in May, 1861, and until 1864 was conducted by himself and 
 an Advisory Committee ; when, at his request, it was regu- 
 larly incorporated and placed under the control of well-known 
 citizens, who constitute the Board of Managers, by whom its 
 finances are administered, and all disbursements regulated 
 under a system of strict accountability. 
 
 From the beginning the funds have passed through the hands 
 of a responsible Treasurer, by whom full reports of receipts 
 and expenditures have been made each year, and published 
 in the daily papers and in the " Little "Wanderer's Friend." 
 
 Object. — The announcement at the beginning remains un- 
 changed : 
 
 " Our object is to do all the good we can to the souls and 
 bodies of all whom we can reach, and we cordially invite to 
 an earnest co-operation with us all who love our Lord J esus 
 Christ in sincerity." 
 
 Not Sectaeian. — The Constitution requires that "Dot 
 -more than three members of the Board shall be chosen from 
 the same denomination." 
 
 The Field cannot be fully described, for New York has 
 become the almshouse for the poor of all nations, and the 
 Fourth Ward (in which the Mis-ion is located) is the very 
 concentration of all evil and the head-quarters of the most 
 desperate and degraded representatives of many nations. It 
 swarms with poor little helpless victims, who are born in sin 
 and shame, nursed in misery, want, and woe, and carefully 
 trained to all manner of degradation, vice, and crime. The 
 packing of these poor creatures is incredible. In this Ward 
 there are less than two dwelling houses for each low rum hole, 
 gambling house and den of infamy. Near us on a small lot, 
 but 150 by 240 feet, are twenty tenant houses, 111 families, 
 5 stables, a soap and candle factory, and a tan-yard. On four 
 blocks close to the Mission are 517 children, 318 Roman Catho- 
 lic and 10 Protestant families, 35 rum-holes, and eighteen 
 brothels. In No. 14 Baxter street, but three or four blocks 
 
490 HEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 from ns, are 92 families, consisting of 92 men, 81 women, 54 
 boys and 53 girls. Of these 151 are Italians, 92 Irish, 28 
 Chinese, 3 English, 2 Africans, 2 Jews, 1 German, and but 
 7 Americans. 
 
 HOWAKD MISSION (WHEN COMPLETED). 
 
 Our Work is chiefly with the children. These are divided 
 into three classes, consisting of 
 
 1st. Those placed under our care to be sent to homes and 
 situations. 
 
 2d. Those whom we are not authorized to send to homes, 
 but who need a temporary shelter until their friends can pro- 
 vide for them or surrender them to us. 
 
 Note. — These two classes remain day and night in the 
 Mission. 
 
 3d. Those who have homes or places in which to sleep. 
 These enjoy the benefits of the wardrobe, dining and school 
 rooms, but do not sleep in the Mission. 
 
 Food, fuel, and clothing are given to the poor, after a careful 
 inspection of their condition. Mothers leave their small chil- 
 
HOWARD MISSION AND HOME FOR LITTLE WANDERERS. 491 
 
 dren in the day nursery during the day, while they go out to 
 work. The sick are visited, assisted, and comforted. Work is 
 sought for the unemployed. We help the poor to help them- 
 selves. 
 
 The children over whom we can get legal control are 
 placed in carefully selected Christian families, chiefly in the 
 country, either for adoption or as members of the families, 
 where they are tenderly cared for in sickness and in health — 
 sent to Sunday School and Church — receive a good Common 
 School education — trained to some useful business, trade or 
 profession, and thus fitted for the great duties of mature life. 
 
 Day and Sunday Schools. — The attendance, neatness, 
 order, cheerfulness enthusiasm, and rapid improvement in the 
 Day and Sunday Schools are the best testimonials that our 
 teachers can have of their fitness for their work. 
 
 Conclusion. — Since the commencement of the Mission more 
 than 10,000 children have been received into its Day and 
 Sunday Schools, hundreds of whom have been placed in care- 
 fully selected Christian homes. Many of them have grown up 
 to usefulness and comfort, and some to positions of influence 
 and importance. 
 
 We know that our work prevents crime ; keeps hundreds 
 of children out of the streets, keeps boys out of bar-rooms, 
 gambling houses and prisons, and girls out of concert saloons, 
 dance-houses, and other avenues that lead down to death ; 
 and that it makes hundreds of cellar and attic homes more 
 cleanly, more healthy, more happy, and less wretched, wicked, 
 and hopeless. 
 
 We never turn a homeless child from our door. From 
 past experience we are warranted in saying that one dollar a 
 week will keep a well-filled plate on our table for any little 
 wanderer, and secure to it all the benefits of the Mission. 
 Ten dollars will pay the average cost of placing a child in a 
 good home." Many apply at the Mission for a child. It is 
 amusing to hear their inquiries and the replies of the superin- 
 tendent. " Have you a nice little girl to send away into a 
 good family?" said one of two well-dressed ladies, who 
 entered the office while we there in quest of information for 
 this chapter. " No, we have not — yes, we have one," said the 
 superintendent, "a dear little girl who is just recovering from 
 measles, and who has been exposed to scarlet fever and will 
 probably be sick with it by to-morrow. She needs some good y 
 kind mother to love her, and nurse her, and train her up. I 
 
492 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 am afraid the angels will come for her soon, unless some of 
 you mothers take her." They were not in search of such a 
 child and turned toward the street. When a class of these 
 children was taken West some years ago an old lady of wealth 
 came to their lodgings and said, " If you have a crippled boy 
 give him to me; my dear boy died with the spinal complaint. 
 There was one little fellow in the group afflicted with this 
 spinal difficulty, and she took him to her nice home, procured 
 the best medical skill in that part of the State, and after years 
 of good treatment he recovered, and is now a successful man. 
 
 In September, 1861, the "Little Wanderer's Friend," the 
 organ or the Mission, a 16mo. now issued quarterly, was 
 established. It contains the music sung in the Mission, the 
 history of the Institution, and other selections and thought 
 gems. It has now a circulation of five thousand copies. The 
 Institution is conducted at an annual expense of from $35,000 
 to $40,000, which is derived from voluntary contributions. 
 
 Mr. Van Meter having resigned his position and gone to 
 conduct another charity in Italy, Kev. L. M. Pease has been 
 chosen for Superintendent. 
 
 THE MIDNIGHT MISSION. 
 (No. 260 Greene-street.) 
 
 fHE Midnight Mission grew out of a conversation 
 between the Rev. S. Ii. Hillyard, chaplain of St. 
 Barnabas Mission, and Mr. Gustavus Stern, now a 
 missionary, who had just arrived from England, where 
 he had observed the operations of a mission among fallen 
 women, established some ten years previous by Mr. Black- 
 more, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Mr. Hillyard had 
 already given the subject some thought, and his mind being 
 now more than ever awakened to its importance, he brought 
 the matter before the St. Barnabas Missionary Association, 
 at one of its regular meetings, rehearsed the account of the 
 London movement, and read extracts from the biography of 
 Lieutenant Blackmore. Two gentlemen of the Association 
 volunteered their assistance in establishing a similar move- 
 ment in New York, and the little band was soon strengthened 
 by many additional members. A sermon by Dr. Peters, yield- 
 
THE MIDNIGHT MISSION. 
 
 493 
 
 ing a collection to the society, and a public meeting in the 
 Sunday-school room of Trinity Chapel, in which Bishop 
 Potter, Drs. Dix, Tuttle, Montgomery, and others gave the 
 movement their cordial support, led the managers to hire 
 rooms and at once open an Institution. Rooms were taken 
 for three months at the corner of Twelfth street and Broad- 
 way. The plan of the society is to send out in the evening 
 its members two and two upon the streets, with printed cards 
 of invitation, which are given to young women supposed to 
 belong to the suspicious class, and to such as seem inclined to 
 hear some words of exhortation are added, and an appropri- 
 ate tract given. In this way many are drawn into the mission 
 building, where they are kindly received by Christian ladies, 
 offered refreshments, drawn out in conversation until ten or 
 eleven o'clock, when a hymn is given out and sung, which is 
 followed by an earnest exhortation and a prayer. At their first 
 reception seventeen were drawn in, at the second ten, though 
 the night was stormy, and at the third twenty-six. On the 
 first of May, 1867, the society removed to a fine, three-story 
 brick house, No. 23 Amity street, which was rented at $2,500 
 per annum. This building was capable of well accommo- 
 dating eighteen or twenty lodgers besides the officers, and was 
 generally filled, while scores sought admission in vain for 
 want of room. In May, 1870, the Institution was again re- 
 moved to a larger house, capable of accommodating thirty 
 inmates. The trustees have recently purchased the large 
 house, No. 260 Greene street, at a cost of $22,000. It lias been 
 extensively improved and adapted to the use of forty-five or 
 fifty inmates. All were taken at first who expressed a desire 
 to reform, but preference is now given to the younger class. 
 Work is furnished the inmates, and half the earnings of each 
 given for her own use. 
 
 During the six years, 900 have been received into the In- 
 stitution." Of the' l66 sheltered during the last year, 21 were 
 sent to other institutions, 47 placed in good situations, 11 were 
 returned to friends, and 36 returned to a life of sin. About 
 fifty encouraging letters were received during the year, from 
 those who haa been placed in situations. The managers have 
 sometimes been deceived by these artful creatures, whose 
 ways are so " movable " that they succeed in deceiving the 
 very elect. But with all the discouragements naturally at- 
 tending an enterprise of this kind, the society has held stead- 
 ilv on its way and gives promise of great usefulness. 
 
WILSON'S INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. 
 
 {Corner of Avenue A and St. Mark's place.) 
 
 The first industrial school established in this country was 
 commenced some time in the year 1853. Its chief founder 
 was Mrs. Wilson, wife of Rev. James P. Wilson, of the Pres- 
 byterian church, who became its first directress, and served the 
 society with great efficiency until her removal from the city, 
 in consequence of her husband's accepting a call to serve a 
 church in an adjoining State. The school began in a hired 
 room in an upper story on Avenue D, between Eighth and 
 Ninth streets. On May 13th, 1854, the Legislature passed the 
 act incorporating the society as " Wilson's Industrial School 
 for Girls," in honor of her who had been chiefly instrumental 
 in its establishment. 
 
 In May, 1855, the society entered the previously purchased 
 building, No. 137 Avenue A, Mrs. Wilson generously con- 
 tributing $1,000 in securing the property. 
 
 It lias never been the purpose of the society to rival or 
 supplant our excellent Public School system, but to go into 
 the ianes and streets, to gather in and benefit a class too poor 
 
Wilson's industrial school for girls. 
 
 495 
 
 and filthy to enter the Ward schools. The children gathered 
 here were for the most part barefooted, ragged street children, 
 obliged to beg their daily bread, and so degraded in appear- 
 ance and morals that if many of them were admitted into a 
 Public School another class would be soon withdrawn to 
 avoid the unpleasant contact. Here they were allowed to en- 
 ter at all hours, in consequence of their vagrant habits, though 
 punctuality was much encouraged — a rule that could not be tol- 
 erated in the Public Schools without destroying all classifica- 
 tion and order. None have been admitted unless too poor to 
 attend anywhere else ; and as soon as their circumstances have 
 sufficiently improved, they have been promptly transferred to 
 the Public Schools. 
 
 The efforts of these Christian ladies, in going to the very 
 lowest sinks of society, seeking with all the sanctified arts of 
 kindness and culture to collect and polish these discolored 
 fragments of our degraded humanity, are worthy of more 
 than human commendation. The children are sought out by 
 a visitor, and induced to attend the school. The exercises 
 are opened in the morning with brief religious exercises ; after 
 this they go to their books for two hours, after which general 
 exercises and singing are continued until dinner. All are 
 furnished with a simple but good dinner consisting of beef, 
 vegetable soup, boiled hominy and molasses, codfish, bean 
 soup, an ample supply of good bread, which the economical ma- 
 tron manages to supply at the rate of three cents per child. A 
 half -hour is given for play, after which they return to their 
 rooms and are instructed for two hours in sewing and other 
 handicraft. Attendance and good behavior are rewarded 
 with tickets, which a prompt girl is able to accumulate to an 
 amount representing ten cents per week. These are redeemed 
 with new clothes, which she is allowed to make and carry 
 home. All industrious girls earn some wages, and some who 
 have become experts receive large pay. Custom work is 
 taken in and prepared with great skill. A dress-making class 
 was early formed, with a capable woman instructor. In 1855 
 a department was organized to instruct them in general house- 
 work, and in 1866 a class for fine sewing, embroidery, etc. 
 In 1854 they organized a Sabbath school, which has at pres- 
 ent an average attendance of four hundred and twenty-five 
 scholars. Like most mission schools, the managers have 
 found it difficult to secure plenty of good teachers. If some 
 fc£ the many Christian people in our large churches, corroding 
 
 31 
 
496 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 for want of something to do, would go to their relief, it 
 would be a blessing to all concerned. 
 
 A Bible-reader began her work in April, 1863, and out of 
 this has grown a weekly " mothers' meeting." A weekly 
 temperance meeting, and a prayer meeting, are regularly 
 held. The labors of a missionary were secured in 1866, and 
 the services immediately crowned with the conversion of sin- 
 ners. These converts were advised to attach themselves to 
 the neighboring churches, but as they had never been any- 
 where else to service, they felt a reluctance, and refused to go. 
 This made necessary the forming of an organization of their 
 own, which was effected in June, 1869, with a membership of 
 thirty-three, since increased to sixty-one. The organization 
 is evangelical, but not denominational ; clergymen of several 
 denominations have been invited to administer the sacraments. 
 During the first eleven years no legacy was received, and but 
 two donations from the city authorities. The late Chauncey 
 Rose, at a later period, remembered the Institution with 
 $20,000, and others have since turned a portion of their bene- 
 factions in this direction. In the spring of 1869, the society 
 purchased a fine four-story brick building, fifty by ninety feet, 
 on the corner of Avenue A and St. Mark's place, at a cost of 
 $84,000. A debt of $14,000 still remains on the property, 
 which the generous public have been invited to assist in re- 
 moving. A vacant lot adjoining the building was included in 
 the purchase for the erection or a chapel. Two floors of the 
 building did not come into the possession of the society until 
 May, 1871, since which the building has afforded the very 
 best accommodations for a large school, and brought a small 
 income. 
 
 The present matron has presided over the Institution with 
 
 great acceptability eighteen years. 
 
 Since the first issue of this work the mortgage on the prop- 
 erty has been cancelled, to the great joy of the managers. 
 
NEW YORK HOUSE AKD SCHOOL OF INDUSTRY. 
 
 \ 
 
 (ift>. 120 West Sixteenth street.) 
 
 HE society that established this industrial enterprise 
 was duly incorporated by act of Legislature in 1851, 
 with the design of furnishing employment in needle- 
 work to infirm and destitute females at such a rate of 
 remuneration as should afford them a livelihood. It is not de- 
 signed to encourage supineness and beggary, but the principle 
 of self-help and self-respect. It generously proposes to help 
 those who are willing to Uelp themselves, and those first and 
 only who are destitute of employment. It never employs 
 those to whom other avenues of industry are open, and it 
 never turns away a needy, industrious widow if it can be pre- 
 vented. Its organization, which is vested with power of self- 
 perpetuation, consists of a board of about fifty Christian 
 ladies, with an advisory committee of gentlemen to assist them 
 in managing their finances. The House, which is situated at 
 No. 120 West Sixteenth street, is a wooden structure, with a 
 rear building fitted up for an industrial school, and cost about 
 $16,000. The society purchases goods, and makes market- 
 able garments, and sells them in its own store, drawing in the 
 meantime all the custom work its managers are able to 
 secure. Three general committees have the principal man- 
 agement of the business : 1. The Purchasing, which selects 
 and procures all the fabrics ; 2. The Cutting, which prepares 
 the work for the seamstresses ; and, 3. The Appraising, which 
 attaches a card to each garment, stating the price that will be 
 paid for making, and when made, the price at which it may 
 be sold. 
 
 Besides these three committees which are formed from the 
 directresses, there are several from the managers, viz., a 
 Visiting, a Distributing, a Registering, a Paying, and one on 
 Ordered Work. 
 
 Work is given to needy women from every part of the city, 
 and unlike most other establishments, this society gives em- 
 ployments through all seasons of the year. It furnishes two 
 kinds of work : 
 
408 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 I. FINE ORDERED WORK. 
 
 Those only who excel in needle-work find employment in 
 this department. Bridal outfits, embroidery, braiding, knit- 
 ting, quilting, and other choice and difficult tasks are pro- 
 duced with astonishing proficiency, and compare favorably 
 with the best imported specimens in this line. Some of these 
 undertakings require, in order to their successful completion, 
 as much talent and effort as is required to enter one of the 
 learned professions, and the society has found it difficult to 
 secure the services of a sufficient number of this class to be 
 able to fill all orders of this kind with despatch. 
 
 n. HOUSE-WORK. 
 
 This includes all ordinary sewing for household use, gar- 
 ments for both sexes and of every description. Large orders 
 are taken from some of the missions and promptly filled. Here 
 the miserably poor, whose hands have been so hardened as to 
 incapacitate them for neat sewing, find employment. 
 
 Several years ago, a class was formed from these adults by 
 the managers, to teach them to become expert seamstresses; 
 but after much effort it was found impossible to much im- 
 prove them, and so the undertaking was relinquished. 
 
 During 1870, 258 women were employed, and $10,165 paid 
 for such service. Receipts from sales of garments during the 
 same time amounted to $8,873.70, and from ordered work, 
 $4,710.69. The society has all the appliances for doing 
 three times the amount of work, but fails to dispose of its 
 stock, owing largely, we think, to the fact that its House is 
 situated in a poor business locality, and with no adequate 
 scheme for wholesaling. 
 
 The society has an invested fund of about $18,000, besides 
 its real estate. 
 
 There is a sewing-school also connected with the House, 
 where one hundred and thirty girls were instructed in 1870. 
 Spiritual instruction is blended with manual. Portions of 
 Scripture and hymns are orally taught, and a good library 
 has been provided. Three hours on Wednesday, and three on 
 Saturday, they are instructed in needle-work. Each is en- 
 couraged to finish a garment, which becomes her own. An 
 annual exhibition is neld in January, when their work is ex- 
 amined, and each girl receives the garment she has made. 
 
THE CHILDREN'S ADD SOCIETY. 
 
 499 
 
 Many of the girls who were here a few years ago are now 
 filling fine situations, and the religious instructions inculcated 
 at the House have resulted in their conversion. The hall in 
 the rear building is hired for an Episcopal Sunday school, 
 which has led some to erroneously suppose that the House 
 was denominational. The society is not limited in its opera- 
 tions by creed or nationality. 
 
 An infant industrial school has also been established, which 
 is open daily to small children of both sexes. The supervis- 
 ion of this is committed to Mr. Brace of the " Children's Aid 
 Society." About fifty children attend, mostly from crowded 
 tenement-houses. A comfortable dinner is provided for them, 
 and it is hoped that, by thus surrounding them for a few 
 hours each day with elevating influences, they will be stimu- 
 lated to self-help and self-respect. 
 
 The managers have made arrangements so that those 
 formerly in its employ, but whose age or misfortune now in- 
 capacitates them for toil, receive a small annuity. A Bible- 
 class and a Mothers' Social and Religious Meeting are held 
 one day each week in the school-room. The women assemble, 
 and while engaged with their needles, the Bible is read, ex- 
 pounded, and its claims urged upon them. The benevolent 
 ladies who projected this Institution, and have nobly sustained 
 it during twenty years, often amid difficulties that have 
 caused them nights of sleepless anxiety, have performed a 
 noble work that will never be forgotten. They have raised 
 the fallen, cheered the faint, and covered the naked with 
 a garment. They have carried bread to the homes of the 
 famishing and the fatherless, and many times assuaged the 
 sorrows of her who was ready to nerish. 
 
 THE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY. 
 
 {Office No. 19 East Fourth street.) 
 
 MONG the numerous organizations established 
 during the last half century for the improvement of 
 society, few have been more energetic or successful 
 than the Children's Aid Society, formed in February, 
 1853. The prime mover in this association at its organiza- 
 tion, and down through the eighteen years of its wondrous 
 
500 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 career, has been Mr. Charles Loring Brace, the present secre- 
 tary of the society. While pursuing a theological course in 
 New York city, he gave much labor to various institutions, 
 seeking the recovery of neglected vagrant and delinquent 
 children, and to the prisons where mature criminals were 
 confined. A trip to England and other parts of Europe, 
 where he carefully examined the institutions, and the meas- 
 ures formed for the reformation of the fallen, led to the 
 conclusion that the chief evils of society resulted from the 
 neglects of childhood, and that the largest efforts of the phi- 
 lanthropist should be bent in this direction. Some time after 
 his return he drew together a number of intelligent and 
 benevolent gentlemen who had already manifested an interest 
 in this subject, and organized this society, the object being 
 to " improve the condition of the poor and destitute children 
 of the city of New York." One outside of this city would 
 be surprised to know how large a number of little orphans 
 and half -orphans, children cast out from their homes, or who 
 have drifted here by the tide of emigration, or have run away 
 from their parents in the surrounding country, and the off- 
 spring of dissolute parents, are here living vagabond lives, 
 subsisting as best they can, sleeping in boxes, under stair- 
 ways, and in the lobbies of the printing offices. 
 
 These are at first the newsboys, boot-blacks, pedlers, errand- 
 boys, petty thieves, but become at a later period the pick- 
 pockets, gamblers, street loafers, burglars, and prostitutes. 
 There are always probably ten thousand of this class floating 
 around the city, a few of whom try to be honest and industri- 
 ous, but many more live entirely by their wit and skill. The 
 society during the eighteen years of its operations has ex- 
 pended, aside from its purchases of real estate, about $940,000. 
 It has devised and opened a system of lodging-houses for the 
 boys, and also for homeless girls, and has at present twenty- 
 two industrial schools, scattered through the various parts of 
 the city, for poor and neglected girls. The homeless, after 
 some instruction, are taken to the West, if they can be in- 
 duced to go, where good situations are provided. The ex- 
 periment of opening a lodging-house for newsboys and boot- 
 blacks was so novel, that scarcely any could be found to 
 encourage the measure, and much search was required to 
 find a building that could be hired for such use. At length 
 the loft of the Sun Building was secured, and after spending 
 a thousand dollars in furnishing it, the boys were invite;! to 
 
THE CHILDBEDS AID SOCIETY. 
 
 501 
 
 come in. The first night, March 18, 1854, the room was 
 crowded with these wild, ragged roughs, many of whom were 
 hatless, bootless, indescribably filthy, and covered with ver- 
 min, a large part of them unable to read or write, and some of 
 whom did not know their nationality or names. A man of 
 admirable tact and fitness, Mr. C. C. Tracy, had been provi- 
 dentially secured to take charge of this branch of the enter- 
 prise. He addressed the boys kindly, and informed them 
 that they were not objects of charity, but were to be con- 
 sidered lodgers in their own hotel, paying six cents each for 
 his bed, the rules of the house being that they should keep 
 order among themselves, and use the bath. They cheered 
 him lustily, and one of the largest boys soon stepped forward 
 and paid for a week's lodging in advance. There was much 
 " larking " and mischief manifested, requiring great patience 
 and wisdom on the part of the superintendent, but with ad- 
 mirable adrtfitness he soon introduced the Lord's Prayer, which 
 they were induced to repeat, the evening school followed, 
 and finally the full religious service. Many of these boys 
 were found to be earning several dollars per day selling 
 papers, and none of them less than from fifty to seventy-five 
 cents, all of which they squandered on theatres, cards, dice, lot- 
 tery-tickets, and costly meals in the saloons. To correct these 
 habits, he introduced checkers, backgammon, and other games 
 to keep them from the streets, and contrived what has been a 
 blessing to thousands, the ^Newsboys' Savings Bank. A table, 
 with a drawer divided into small compartments, with a slit 
 in the surface over each through which the boys could slip 
 their pennies, was prepared, and each box numbered for a de- 
 positor. As any undue authority would have sent them fly- 
 ing to their original Arab life, he called them together and 
 explained the object of the bank, to induce them to save their 
 money, and called for a vote as to how long it should be kept 
 locked. They voted for two months. Having obtained a 
 majority vote for a good measure, they were always held 
 strictly to their own law, however deeply they might repent 
 afterwards. The amount saved by some in that time aston- 
 ished all of them, the value of property was impressed on 
 their minds, some took their accumulations to the city Savings 
 Banks, and others purchased good clothes. This invention did 
 more to destroy their gambling and extravagant tendencies 
 than everything else. A plan for lending penniless boys 
 money to begin business of some kind was introduced. 
 
502 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Sums varying from five to fifty cents were loaned, generally 
 returned the same day, often the same hour, and did much 
 to encourage industry and thrift. 
 
 Thus the work of reformation advanced ; they became more 
 tidy, industrious, studious, regular in their habits, and serious 
 at divine service. Ministers and other speakers were invited 
 to address them. One has well said, " There is something un- 
 speakably solemn and affecting in the crowded and attentive 
 meeting of these boys, and the thought that you speak for a 
 few minutes on the high themes of eternity to a young 
 audience, who, to-morrow, will be battling with misery, temp- 
 tation, and sin, in every shape and form, and to whom your 
 words may be the last they ever hear of friendly sympathy or 
 warning." The seed has sometimes sprung up suddenly, and 
 in other instances after many days. At one service a boy 
 addicted to thieving was so impressed that at its close he 
 called the superintendent aside, confessed his crimes, gave 
 up a dark lantern, a wrench, a pistol, and has since filled a 
 good place as an excellent boy. No story of misfortune has 
 ever been presented to the boys without eliciting a generous 
 response and material aid. They contributed to the " Mount 
 Vernon Fund," to the Kansas sufferers, to the Sanitary Com- 
 mission, and to the relief of sufferers from great fires in the 
 city. Thousands have gone to the country, scarcely any of 
 whom have turned out drunkards, some of them have entered 
 the ministry and the learned professions, and many of them 
 have accumulated property. Many of them are singularly 
 talented ; and, being early schooled to tact and self-reliance, 
 they almost invariably succeed in any undertaking. The 
 newsboys and boot-blacks of New York are a new crop each 
 year, ragged and ignorant as their predecessors. So the toil of 
 this society continues from year to year. The society has five 
 lodging-houses at present, the one at No. 49 Park place being 
 the largest, having accommodations for two hundred and fifty. 
 A fund of $70,000 has been provided to build or purchase a 
 building in that ward. Three of the trustees have recently 
 purchased the building occupied in the Sixteenth ward. It 
 is a four-story brick in Eighteenth street, near Seventh 
 avenue, has accommodations for a hundred boys, and cost 
 $14,000. The same fruit has not attended the lodging- 
 house system among the girls, yet it has been a necessity 
 and a success. The edifice No. 27 Saint Mark's place has 
 been purchased for a Girl's lodging-house, at an expense of 
 
THE CHILDREN'S ADD SOCIETY. 
 
 503 
 
 $22,500. The lodging-houses are supplied with reading- 
 rooms, evening schools, music, and meals. The twenty-two 
 industrial schools for poor girls are located in the different 
 sections of the city where the class for which they were insti- 
 tuted are most numerous. These children and half-grown 
 girls are sought out by visitors appointed by the managers. 
 They are such as do not attend the ward schools, wild, 
 ragged, apparently untamable, many of them growing up 
 within a few blocks of Union square and other fashionable 
 centers, living in cellars, garrets, or miserable shanties, with- 
 out any of the advantages of school or church. They are when 
 found filthy, indolent, quarrelsome, and profoundly ignorant 
 of everything. They cannot close a rent in a garment, or 
 attend to any household duty. In these schools they are 
 taught, besides other species of handicraft, the use of the 
 sewing-machine, which invariably secures them a good situa- 
 tion. Beside the paid teachers, many ladies of culture vol- 
 unteer to assist in conducting these schools. During the last 
 nine months, 7,000 different children have been under instruc- 
 tion in these industrial schools, 12,000 have found quarters in 
 the lodging-houses, and 2,298 have been placed in homes, 
 mainly in the West. The managers express deep gratitude 
 that no railroad accident has ever occurred while conducting 
 the more than eighteen thousand children to their ne^ 
 homes in various parts of the country. The children are not 
 - legally bound out, so but that if they prove truant, or their 
 employers play the tyrant, the connection may be at any 
 time dissolved. No one not engaged in this work can 
 appreciate the magnitude of the evil this society is toiling to 
 prevent, or the good it is yearly accomplishing. Notwith- 
 standing the increase of population, the sentences to the city 
 prisons, for such offences as children usually commit, are less 
 than formerly. We find the total for vagrancy for 1869 
 only about half what it was in 1862 — 2,071 as against 4,299, 
 and the females only numbered 785 against 3,172 in 1862 ; 
 the total of this year, 646 less than in the year previous. In 
 petit larceny, the total was only increased from 2,779 to 3,327 
 in seven years, though population has probably increased thirty- 
 five per cent, in that time, and among females it has risen 
 only from 880 in 1862, to 989 in 1869 ; while the total is 836 
 less than last year. 
 
 " The commitments of boys under 15 years are less than 
 four years ago — 1,872 in 1862 against 1,934 in 1865, and of 
 
504 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 girls between 15 and 20, less than they were seven years ago 
 — 1,927 against 2,081 ; and of those under 15, less, being 
 325 in 1869 against 372 in 1862 ; the total commitments in 
 1869, as against 1862, are 46,476 to 41,449 ; in 1868 thev 
 were 47,313. 
 
 " The arrests for vagrancy are 2,449 against 3,961 in 1862 ; 
 for picking pockets, 303 against 466 ; for petit larceny, 4,927 
 against 3,946, and against 5,260 in 1865, and 5,269 in 1867. 
 
 " The arrests of minors are less than they were in 1867, 
 and but little greater than in 1863, 12,075 against 11,357 ; 
 and those of female minors have fallen off, in seven years, 
 2,397 against 2,885 in 1862 to 3,132 in 1863— the total 
 amount of all ages is 78,451 in 1869 against 84,072 in 1863, 
 and 71,130 in 1862. 
 
 " The marked changes which everywhere occur in criminal 
 records of our city, in the arrest and punishment of girls, is 
 especially due, we believe, to the agency of ' Industrial 
 Schools. 5 " 
 
 SOCIETY FOR THE EMPLOYMENT AND RELIEF OF POOR 
 WOMEN. 
 
 ^.WpAYENTY-SIX years ago, under the influence of the 
 ^OKf Rev. Orville Dewey, JD.D., pastor of the church of 
 ^JH^I the Messiah, this society was organized, and has the 
 honor of being the first of its kind in New York. 
 The object of the society is to prevent, in a measure, the pau- 
 perism which forms so painful a feature in the community ; 
 to supersede the daily almsgiving, which, instead of benefit- 
 ing, only tends to deepen the degradation of this class by de- 
 priving them of a healthful self-dependence ; to elevate them 
 to the rank of independent laborers, and insure them a fair 
 compensation for their toil. The annual payment of three 
 dollars at first made a person a member of the society, but in 
 1847 the sum was changed to five dollars, and in 1865 to 
 eight dollars. The management is committed to a President, 
 a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and twelve mana- 
 gers, all of whom are ladies. Each subscriber is allowed to 
 send one applicant to the directors, but is held responsible 
 
ASSOCIATION FOR IMPKOVTNG THE CONDITION OF POOE. 505 
 
 for any delinquencies in the person thus sent. Goods are 
 purchased, manufactured into garments, and disposed of in 
 the store kept by the society, and in such other ways as the 
 managers shall direct. During 1869 work was given weekly 
 to ninety-six women, and three thousand two Hundred and 
 sixty-one garments were manufactured. The society has ex- 
 perienced some difficulty in disposing of its goods, the sales 
 of the year amounting to but little over §3,000. The report 
 of 1870 shows a small decrease on the previous year. Other 
 societies in the city have grown up from the example fur- 
 nished by this, and now control many times its amount of 
 labor and capital. The society owns no building and oper- 
 ates with a small capital. 
 
 The managers have recently proposed to open a Mission 
 House for missionary work among women and girls. They 
 propose to keep the girls through the day, providing dinner, 
 giving them instruction in useful studies during the morn- 
 ing hours, devoting the afternoon to needle-work in all 
 branches. Every girl in turn to take part in the housework 
 under the direction of a competent matron. They thus hope 
 in time to establish a seamstress, a dressmaking, and a wash- 
 ing department, each of which shall be self-supporting. The 
 new building to contain rooms to be used on Sabbath for 
 Bible classes and Sunday school, and on week evenings for 
 reading-room, lectures, music, and other entertainments and 
 "instruction suited to the wants of the pupils. The society is 
 wholly controlled by the Unitarians. 
 
 THE NEW YORK ASSOCIATION FOR IMPROVING THE CON- 
 DITION OF THE POOR 
 
 {Office in Bible Rouse.) 
 
 ^Ff^VpEW YORK, like every other great and populous city, 
 ^Ljp is largely overrun with an army of beggars of both 
 JpTV3 sexes, representing all ages and nationalities. Some of 
 ^ * these are wealthy misers, retailing pretended sorrows to 
 increase their gains, others meanly beg to avoid industry, a large 
 number are improvident, and some nitherto industrious and 
 
506 
 
 NEW TOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 successful are so reduced, in times of general embarrassment, 
 that begging becomes a necessity. Many of this latter class, 
 finding themselves thus sadly in decline, become demoralized, 
 and sink down to the slum of common pauperism. It is 
 hardly a virtue to give indiscriminately to all that ask, 
 because dissipation, idleness, and needless vagrancy, would 
 be thus greatly increased. All have not the time to inquire 
 into the character and condition of applicants, hence the 
 necessity of a carefully organized association, to whom the 
 worthy poor may successfully apply. 
 
 In 1843 this Association was formed, and in 1848 it was 
 duly incorporated. The wonderful increase of foreign pau- 
 pers had greatly swelled the army of straggling mendicants. 
 To meet the demands, more than thirty almsgiving societies 
 had been formed, many of which gave far too indiscrimi- 
 nately ; all acted independently, thus furnishing an opportu- 
 nity for artful mendicants to draw at the same time from 
 several societies without detection. This society did not de- 
 sign to supersede any other, but simply to supply what in 
 others was manifestly lacking. But so wise and comprehen- 
 sive was its plan, that in a short time most of the others dis- 
 banded, leaving a far greater burden for it to carry than it 
 had originally anticipated. The Association divided the city 
 into twenty-two districts, which are again subdivided into 
 sections, so small that the visitor residing in each could call 
 at the house of every applicant. No supplies are given save 
 through the visitor. The Association gives no money, and 
 only such articles of food and clothing, in small quantities, as 
 are least liable to abuse, giving always coarser supplies than 
 industry will procure. The design of the Association is not 
 the mere temporary relief, but the elevation of the moral and 
 physical condition of the indigent ; hence, temporary relief is 
 resorted to when compatible with its general design. It re- 
 quires every beneficiary to abstain from intoxicating drinks, 
 to send young children to school, to apprentice children of 
 suitable age, thus making the poor a party to their own im- 
 provement. During the twenty-seven years of its operations, 
 the Association has relieved over one hundred and eighty thou- 
 sand families, varying from five to fifteen thousand per an- 
 num, amounting to at least 7 65,000 individuals. Its disburse- 
 ments down to October, 1870, amounted to $1,203,767.53. 
 
 The labors of the Association for the elevation of the indi- 
 gent and the suppression of unnecessary pauperism, ha*6 
 
ASSOCIATION FOl* IMPROVING THE CONDITION OF POOE. 507 
 
 been crowned with the most gratifying results. Its last 
 annual report states that the average number of families re- 
 lieved for the ten years ending with 1860 was 8,632, in a pop- 
 ulation averaging about 625,000 souls ; while in the decade 
 closing with 1870, with a population of over 900,000, but 
 6,131 families had been the annual average number relieved. 
 These figures show that during the first decade named there 
 was an absolute gain in the pecuniary independence of the 
 masses previously relieved of seventy-one jper cent., and 
 during the ten years closing with 1870 an additional im- 
 provement of fifty-four per cent., or the substantial gain of 
 one hundred and twenty-five per cent, during the last twenty 
 years. 
 
 It will thus be seen that the amount of relief afforded by 
 the sums of money expended give but an imperfect estimate 
 of the service rendered by this Association to the cause of 
 humanity. Always managed by wise, philanthropic minds, 
 it has ever been first to discover the source of public evil, and 
 prompt to suggest and apply the true remedy. Indeed, to this 
 Association more than to any other are we indebted for the 
 successful inauguration of more than a score of our most excel- 
 lent charities. Besides furnishing th^ public with volumes of 
 statistics, accumulated with great expense, in relation to our 
 population, the causes and remedies of poverty, the unhealthy 
 condition of our dwellings, and many other things which 
 have led to great reforms, it has waged unceasing war with 
 the public nuisances of the city, its lotteries, Sabbath desecra- 
 tion, gambling dens, intemperance, and many other evils. In 
 1846 a system for the gratuitous supply of medical aid, to 
 the indigent sick in portions of the city not reached by exist- 
 ing Dispensaries, was organized. This led to the founding 
 of the Demilt Dispensary in 1851, and the North-western 
 Dispensary in 1852. In 1851 it projected the New York 
 Juvenile Asylum. 
 
 A Public Washing and Bathing Establishment was estab- 
 lished in 1852, at an expense of $42,000, and the following 
 year the Association procured an act to provide for the care 
 and instruction of Idle Truant Children. 
 
 In 1854 the Children's Aid Society was formed by the de- 
 mands of a public sentiment which this Association had 
 largely created. The Workingmen's Home was erected in 
 1855, by the direction of the Association, at an expense of 
 $90,000. During the war it held steadily on its way, and 
 
508 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 accomplished a vast amount of good in more ways than we 
 have space to enumerate. We mention in honor of this 
 society — last, but not least — in 1863 it organized the society 
 for the Eelief of the Euptured and Crippled, which ranks to- 
 day among the noblest charities of New York. 
 
 The Honorable Eobert M. Hartley has been the indefati- 
 gable ^ corresponding secretary and agent of the society 
 since its formation, and to the patient thinking and incessant 
 toil of this gentleman is the public indebted tor much of the 
 good accomplished by this and by several other societies. 
 We cheerfully acknowledge our obligation to the secretary 
 and his associate, Mr. Savage, for various items of informa- 
 tion embodied in this work. 
 
 THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 {Corner of Fourth avenue and Twenty-third street.) 
 
 ^. l? 83 HE Young Men's Christian Associations are soci- 
 'iJKjf e ties which have for their object the formation of 
 *^£f^| Christian character and the development of Christian 
 activity in young men. The first Association was or- 
 ganized in London on the sixth of June, 1844, and on the 
 ninth of December, 1851, the first on this continent was 
 formed at Montreal. The Boston Association established 
 December 29, 1851, was the first in the United States, and 
 the following years organizations sprang up in Washington, 
 Buffalo, New York, the latter organized June 30, 1852. For 
 several years little correspondence existed between the dif- 
 ferent Associations ; but in 1854 the plan of holding an 
 Annual Convention for the mutual interchange of thought, 
 the gathering of statistical and other information, was intro- 
 duced. This Convention, held in Buffalo, recommended to the 
 Associations the formation of a voluntary confederation for 
 mutual encouragement, having two agencies for carrying on 
 its work, viz. : An Annual Convention and a Central Com- 
 mittee, the functions of these being only advisory or recom- 
 
YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. 509 
 
 mendatory. Sixteen of these National Conventions have 
 low been held, many of which have been large and impress- 
 ive. The Association organized and conducted, during the 
 late war, the Christian Commission, whose toils and useful- 
 ness cannot be too highly commended. There are now in 
 the United States seven hundred and seventy-six associations 
 and sixty-two in the British Provinces, with a membership of 
 over one hundred thousand. Twelve of these have already 
 erected or purchased buildings of their own, and twenty-one 
 more at least are collecting funds to do so. The Association 
 in New York city was the third organized in America, and has 
 a membership at present of over six thousand. The headquar- 
 ters of the Association were for several years at No. 161 Fifth 
 avenue ; and to reacli the masses of young men in the various 
 wards of the city, four branches have been formed, one of 
 which is at Harlem, one at No. 2S5 Hudson street, one at 
 No. 473 Grand street, and one for colored men at No. 97 
 Wooster street. Each branch is supplied with a library free 
 to all the members, with a reading-room supplied with the 
 principal magazines and papers or the city, and with occa- 
 sional lectures from distinguished men. The Association 
 appoints several committees to which the principal labor is 
 committed. It has a committee on Invitation, on Member- 
 ship, on Employment, on Boarding-houses, on Visitation of 
 the Sick, on Devotional Meetings, on Choral Society, on 
 Literary Society, and one on Churches. Young and middle- 
 aged men fYom all evangelical denominations unite, forget- 
 ting denominational distinctions, and do annually a vast 
 amount of good. Hundreds of young men loitering in the 
 streets are picked up and saved from dens of dissipation and 
 crime. Strangers are recommended to suitable boarding- 
 houses, introduced to members of churches in their neigh- 
 borhood, and many furnished with good situations in busi- 
 ness. For several years the Association contemplated the 
 erection of a suitable building, which, in addition to its ample 
 accommodations, would furnish an income, so greatly needed 
 in the prosecution of its work. An act of incorporation passed 
 the Legislature April 3, 1866, granting power to hold real 
 or personal estate for the uses of the corporation, whose 
 annual rental value should not exceed §50,000. A plot of 
 land on the south-west corner of Twenty-third street and 
 Fourth avenue was purchased, at a cost of §142,000. On the 
 13th of January, 1868, ground was broken, and on De- 
 
 32 
 
510 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 cember 2d, 1869, the building was dedicated, Drs. Dewitt, 
 Tyng, Adams, Hendricks, Thompson, Ridgaway, Messrs. 
 Dodge, Randolph, General Howard, Governor Hoffman, and 
 Vice-President Colfax taking part in the exercises. 
 
 The edifice, which is very attractive, is five stories high, with 
 a front of eighty-six feet nine inches on Fourth avenue and 
 one hundred and seventy-five feet on Twenty-third street. 
 Immense blocks of granite form the base of the walls, and as 
 they ascend Ohio free and New Jersey brown stone, with their 
 varying colors, are agreeably interspersed with an occasional 
 vermiculated block. The windows, in a variety of forms, ex- 
 hibit the beauty and strength of the arch-line, and the polished 
 arch i volts are richly ornamented with carved voussoirs. The 
 central door is marked by rich columns and surmounted by 
 the arms of the Association. 
 
 The roof is crowned with a superb central and three angu- 
 lar towers. The ground floor is rented for stores. Entering 
 on Twenty-third street, ascending a flight of stairs, you pass 
 to the right into the grand hall, capable of seating one 
 thousand five hundred persons, so perfectly ventilated that 
 a crowded audience departs, at the close of a lecture, leav- 
 ing the air as pure as it found it. The hall is furnished with 
 a Chickering piano-forte aud a pipe organ, which cost $10,000, 
 both of which were purchased with the proceeds of a concert 
 held in the hall on the evening of the 1st of December, 1869. 
 To the left of the staircase is a pleasant reception-room, from 
 which is an entrance into the secretary's room, the large 
 reading-room, to three committee-rooms, to a wash-room, 
 a bath-room, to a gymnasium, and after descending two 
 flights of stairs to a bowling-alley. Upon the next floor is 
 the library, capable of containing twenty thousand volumes, 
 a small lecture-room, with seating for four hundred persons, 
 four smaller rooms for evening classes in penmanship, draw- 
 ing, book-keeping, the sciences, and the languages. The 
 upper 6tories are rented to artists and others. 
 
 The edifice cost, exclusive of the site, §345,000, on which 
 there remains a debt of $150,000, which the managers hope 
 to remove with the rent of the stores. Such an embodiment 
 of modern Christianity is rarely seen in one building. The 
 noble edifice presents the study of architecture, the first floor 
 exhibits the activities of business, while farther up are found 
 painting, music, eloquence, conversation, reading, study, rec- 
 reation, and worship — all that can attract, expand, and ennoble 
 the soul. 
 
THE PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 {Bible House.) 
 
 JPlIE Prison Association of New York was organized 
 |Sj on the evening of the 6th of December, 1844. The 
 objects of this Association, as set forth in its constitu- 
 tion, are: 1. A humane attention to persons arrested 
 and held for examination or tried, including inquiry into the 
 circumstances of their arrest, and the crimes charged against 
 them ; securing to the friendless an impartial trial and protec- 
 tion from the depredations of unprincipled persons, whether 
 professional sharpers or fellow prisoners. 2. Encourage- 
 ment and aid to discharged convicts in their efforts to re- 
 form and earn an honest living. This is done by assisting 
 them to situations, providing them tools, and otherwise coun- 
 seling and helping them to business. 3. To study the 
 question of prison discipline generally, the government of 
 State, county, and city prisons, to obtain statistics of crime, 
 disseminate information on this subject, to evolve the true 
 principles of science, and impress a more reformatory charac- 
 ier on our penitentiary system. The Association was duly 
 incorporated, with large power for the examination of all 
 prisons and jails in the State, during the second year of its 
 operations, and required to report annually to the Legislature. 
 A female department was organized the first year (The Isaac 
 T. Hopper Home), which soon became an independent society, 
 abundant in labor and ricli in results. Its history and work- 
 ings are elsewhere traced in this work. 
 
 During the twenty-five years of its operations closing with 
 1869, the Association visited in the prisons of detention of 
 New York and Brooklyn, 93,560 poor and friendless persons, 
 many of whom were counseled and assisted as their cases re- 
 quired. 
 
 The officers of the society carefully examined 25,290 com- 
 plaints; and at their instance 6,148 complaints were with- 
 drawn, as being of a trivial character, or founded on mis- 
 take, prejudice, or passion. During the same period, 7,922 
 persons were discharged by the Courts on the recommendation 
 of these officers as young, innocent, penitent, or having of- 
 
512 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 feuded under mitigating circumstances, making a total of 
 133,922 cases, to which relief in some form had been extended. 
 During the same period 18,307 discharged convicts had been 
 aided with board, clothing, tools, railroad tickets, or money ; 
 4,139 of the same class had been provided with permanent 
 situations, swelling the number to 156,368. 
 
 But the principal work of the Association has been intel- 
 lectual. It has again and again examined every prison, peni- 
 tentiary, and jail throughout the State (numbering about one 
 hundred in all), and those of the surrounding States, and of 
 the Canadas, pointing out faithfully in its annual reports the 
 defective constructive of these establishments, the incompe- 
 tency or barbarity of keepers, the chief defects of our prison 
 system, and lias sought industriously to educate public senti- 
 ment and influence the Legislature toward a more humane, 
 rational, and reformatory system of prison administration. 
 The Association has conducted a valuable correspondence with 
 enlightened men of the Old World, who have made this subject 
 a matter of special study, thus bringing together the researches 
 and experiments of all countries. It has collected volumes of 
 statistics which no student can afford to do without. It in- 
 forms us that the sixtj'-eight county jails of New York State 
 cost annually about a quarter of a million of dollars for 
 their maintenance, of which sum not five hundred dollars are 
 expended with any view to meeting the religious wants of the 
 prisoners. None are supplied with libraries or facilities of 
 instruction, and scarcely any have Bibles, though the statute 
 specially enjoins it. 
 
 An earnest inquiry has been made by the Association into 
 the sources of crime, and the want of due parental care and 
 government has been found the most prolific of all. To im- 
 prove society, we must practise upon the injunction, " Train 
 up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is old, he 
 will not depart from it." Of the approximate causes, drink 
 is most potent. Two-thirds of all prisoners interrogated ac- 
 knowledged that they were of intemperate habits, and not 
 one in a hundred had totally abstained from its use. 
 
 Next in the scale comes lewdness. Of six thousand women 
 committed to jail in one year, over three-fourths were prosti- 
 tutes, and near half the men prisoners interrogated confessed 
 that they were frequenters of brothels. Theaters are sources 
 of great evil. Nearly fifty per cent, of all committed to prison 
 have frequented these places. 
 
THE CITY PEISONS. 
 
 513 
 
 The gambling saloon, above all other places, hardens man's 
 moral nature. Of 975 prisoners at Auburn, 317 were ac- 
 knowledged gamblers, about one-third ; and the same propor- 
 tion was found in the prisons of Connecticut. 
 
 Ignorance and vice are found in sad conjunction. In the 
 State of ISew York but two and seven-tenths per cent, of the 
 general population are unable to read ; but of its criminals 
 thirty-one per cent, do not possess that ability. 
 
 Early indolence is another source of great evil. It has 
 been ascertained that, of the prisoners of the whole United 
 States, more than four-fifths have never learned a trade. 
 
 The Association has contended nobly for the introduction 
 of skilled labor into our prisons, and the retention of prisoners 
 until they are masters of their trades, thus furnishing the 
 means for honorable subsistence after their release. 
 
 The Association has ranked among its members many of 
 the first men of the State. Its office is in Room 38, Bible 
 House. 
 
HAILS OF JUSTICE OR TOMBS, CTSNTRE STREET. 
 
 THE CITY PRISONS. 
 
 The tirst building used as a jail on Manhattan was on the 
 corner of Dock street and Coenties slip. After the erection 
 of the City Hall in Wall street, the criminals were confined 
 in dungeons in the cellar, while debtors were imprisoned in 
 the attic apartments. The next prison erected was known as 
 the "New Jail," called also the "Provost" (see page 74), 
 from its having been the headquarters and chief dungeon of 
 the infamous Cunningham, the British provost marshal of the 
 Revolution. It was a strong stone building erected for the 
 imprisonment of debtors, and is now the Hall of Records. 
 The pillars which now ornament it are of later origin. The 
 next was the Bridewell (see page 69), a cheerless, graystone 
 edifice, two stories high, with basement, a front and rear 
 pediment, which stood a little west of the present Citv Hall. 
 It was erected for the confinement of vagrants, minor of- 
 fenders, and criminals awaiting trial, in 1775, just in time to 
 serve as a dungeon for the struggling patriots of the Revo- 
 lution. The building w r as scarcely finished, the windows had 
 nothing but iron bars to keep out the cold, yet in the inclement 
 season the British thrust eight hundred and sixteen Ameri- 
 can prisoners, captured at Fort Washington, into this build- 
 
THE CITY PRISONS. 
 
 515 
 
 ing, where they continued from Saturday to the following 
 Thursday, without drink or food. During these perilous years 
 all the public and many of the private buildings, besides nu- 
 merous sugar-houses and ships, were crowded with suffering 
 American prisoners of war. New York was indeed a city of 
 prisons. The Bridewell was finally demolished, and much of 
 the material used in the erection of the Tombs in 1838. 
 After the establishment of independence a large stone prison 
 surrounded by a high wall was erected on the west side of the 
 island, three miles above the City Hall, called at that time 
 Greenwich village. It was ready for the reception of convicts 
 in August, 1796, was designed for criminals of the highest 
 grade, and was the second State Prison in the United States. 
 Sing-Sing prison was begun in 1825 and completed in 1831. 
 The New York County Jail, situated at the corner of Ludlow 
 street and Essex Market place, was opened in June, 1862, and 
 took the place of the old Eldridge street jail. It is built in the 
 form of an L, ninety feet on each street, forty feet deep and 
 sixty feet high, leaving a yard of fifty feet square, surrounded 
 by a high wall, in which prisoners are allowed to exercise. 
 The building contains eighty-seven cells. Besides the above 
 there are four other places of involuntary confinement on ft 
 Manhattan, all of which are under the control of the Com- 
 missioners of Charities and Corrections, and in each of which 
 a Police Conrt convenes every morning to examine the 
 charges brought against persons arrested. The Halls of Jus- 
 tice, the principal buildings situated between Centre, Elm, 
 Leonard, and Franklin streets, on the side of the old Collect 
 Pond, was begun in 1835 and completed in 1838. It is a 
 two-story building constructed of Maine white granite in the 
 Egyptian order, is 253 by 200 feet, and occupies the four sides 
 of a hollow square. The front on Centre street is reached 
 by a broad flight of granite steps, and the portico is supported 
 by several massive Egyptian columns. The windows, which 
 extend through both stories, have heavy iron-grated frames. 
 The female department is situated in the section which ex- 
 tends along Leonard street, and is presided over by an amiable 
 Christian matron who has held her position with great credit 
 for more than twenty years. In the front of the edifice are 
 rooms for the Court of Sessions, the Police Court, etc., which 
 have given it its name, " Halls of Justice/*'* In the centre of 
 the enclosed yard, distinct from the other buildings, stands 
 the men's prison, 152 by 45 feet, containing 148 cells. State 
 
516 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 criminals have been executed in the open court. The prison 
 stands on low, damp ground in the vicinity of a poor and 
 riotous neighborhood, is poorly ventilated, was never calcu- 
 lated to well accommodate over two hundred prisoners, yet, 
 the annual average is nearly four hundred, and often greatly 
 exceeds that number. It has lately been condemned by the 
 grand jury of the county as a nuisance, and as the Commis- 
 sioners have repeatedly recommended the building of a large 
 and well-arranged prison in a more suitable locality, it is not 
 likely that the frowning, dingy " Tombs " will long continue 
 in the city. The building as it appeared some thirty years 
 ago contained a high tower which was destroyed by fire on the 
 day appointed for the execution of Colt, and is believed to 
 have been a part of the unsuccessful plan for his escape. The 
 next largest is the Jefferson Market "prison, situated at the 
 corner of Greenwich avenue and Tenth street. Its exterior 
 is of brick, and contains besides its court-rooms twenty-five 
 large cells, a single one of which sometimes contains ten or 
 twenty drunken men. The daily commitments here amount 
 to from thirty-five to fifty, and in seasons of general disorder 
 many more. Adjoining the prison stands engine house No. 
 11 of the old fire department, which has been arranged for 
 the female prison. This prison is kept remarkably clean, not- 
 withstanding the masses of seething corruption huddled to- 
 gether in it day and night through all the year. The cells 
 are well warmed but not furnished with beds, as the prisoners 
 are usually detained here but one night, and never but a few 
 days. Many of them are so filthy and so covered with vermin, 
 that beds cannot be kept in a proper condition. The third 
 district prison is known as the Essex Market, situated at 69 
 Essex street, and is a little smaller than the one just described. 
 The fourth is situated at Fifty-seventh street and Lexington 
 avenue ; the cells, capable of holding about forty prisoners, 
 are in the basement under the Court-house. Small as these 
 prisons are, no less than 51,466 persons were detained in them 
 during 1871. All classes are seen here, from the ignorant 
 imbruted bully to the expert and polished villain. Some are 
 abashed and sit weeping over their folly; others are reticent 
 and collected. The visitor is often surprised to learn that 
 that handsome female leaning over the banister, clad in rich 
 silks, with gold chain, pin, and bracelets, is a prisoner ar- 
 rested for disorderly conduct. 
 
 The business at the Police Courts, and also at the Court 
 
Northern dispensary. 
 
 Wuverhj Place corner of Christopher Sh-eet. 
 
EASTERN DISPENSARY. 
 
 Jfo. 57 Essex Street. 
 
 DEMILT DIRPENPARY. 
 
 Corner of Second Avenue and East Twenty- Third Street. 
 
THE CITY PRISONS. 
 
 517 
 
 of Sessions, is dispatched with wonderful rapidity. At the 
 former the Justice hears the charge of the officer, the expla- 
 nation of the prisoner, and decides without counsel or jury 
 whether he shall be discharged, fined, or detained for trial at 
 the Court of Sessions. The vast majority of all arrested are 
 discharged after spending a night in the station-house. The 
 Court of Sessions convenes every Tuesday and Saturday for 
 the trial of all cases involving doubt, argument, or proof. 
 This is strictly a criminal court, and the prisoner is allowed 
 to introduce counsel and witnesses. A visitor from the 
 country where a criminal suit consumes from three to ten 
 days takes hi£ seat in the court-room and is surprised to see 
 six or ten cases disposed of in thirty minutes. 
 
 The names of Mrs. Blake and Bridget are called. 
 
 Bridget has been the servant of Mrs. B., who has caused her 
 arrest for stealing money from the drawer. Mrs. B. takes 
 the witness stand, makes her full statement to the Judge, 
 answers all his questions as to how she knew Bridget took 
 the money, when she caused her arrest, &c. The policeman 
 is next called, who states that he arrested her and found the 
 money. Bridget, who has been leaning on the iron railing 
 which cuts off the prisoners' space from the main court-room, 
 is now called upon. She has no counsel, but wishes Mrs. R. 
 to speak in her behalf. The lady is heard — states that Bridget 
 lived several years in her house, and was never known to 
 6teal. The Judge recalls Mrs. Blake and inquires hurriedly, 
 u Has she ever stolen anything of you before ? " On being 
 told that she has not, he turns to Bridget and says, " The 
 Court suspends judgment as this is the first offence, but if 
 you ever come here again I shall send you to Blackwell's 
 Island." Two men are arraigned for striking a policeman 
 who arrested them in a drunken row, swinging a loaded 
 revolver. The officer gives his testimony, after which he is 
 thoroughly sifted by the counsel of the prisoners, who tries in 
 vain to entangle and embarrass him. Next, come witnesses 
 for the prisoners (old cronies), who drank freely with them on 
 the occasion referred to, but who know they were not drunk 
 or disorderly — that the pistol fell out of his pocket, and that 
 the officer was wholly to blame. The officer is recalled, and 
 reaffirms what he has said. " Have you no witnesses to 
 sustain you ? " says the Judge. The officer had not supposed it 
 necessary to bring any. The Judge wrings about on his chair, 
 runs his fingers through his whiskers and says, " The law 
 
618 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 forbids disorderly persons carrying loaded fire-arms; I fine 
 them ten dollars each." Two colored men next respond to the 
 call. The one npon the stand is about forty-five, and deposes 
 that he lost a watch worth twenty-five dollars, and that the 
 prisoner leaning on the rail took it. The prisoner is a plump, 
 well-formed youth of twenty-two, who meanwhile rolls up 
 his eyes and sweeps the entire audience of the court-room. 
 "Did you cause his immediate arrest?" inquires the Judge. 
 " Yes, sir." " Did you find the watch ?." " I did." " Who 
 arrested him?" " Officer Cone." The officer is called, and 
 details in few words the arrest, search and the recovery of 
 the lost property. The Judge turns to the prisoner and 
 inquires, " Ilave you counsel ? " " Yes, sir." " Who is he ? " 
 A name is given. " lie is not here," says the Judge ; " I 
 sentence you to the Penitentiary for six months." In this 
 way the business goes on for hours; With all this dispatch 
 the truth is generally reached, and the principal errors are on 
 the side of mercy, dismissing far too many to satisfy justice 
 or answer the ends of good government. 
 
 Religious services of some kind are held in the Tombs 
 on every day of the week except Saturday. 
 
 Sunday morning and Tuesday forenoon are set apart for 
 the Catholics, while Sunday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon 
 are devoted to the Episcopalians. Monday is reserved for 
 the Methodists if they choose to employ it, Wednesday, 
 Thursday and Friday being devoted to various Protestant 
 Societies who send male and female representatives to read 
 the Scriptures, exhort and pray with the prisoners. We 
 have been explicit in this statement because it has been asserted 
 that only Catholics had free access and full conveniences for 
 conducting worship in this prison. A vast amount of mission- 
 ary labor is expended here annually by members of' all 
 denominations. These pious endeavors are often crowned 
 with excellent results, and though the seed often falls upon 
 a barren soil, the faithful sower shall not lose his reward. 
 
North-western Dispensary. 
 
 {Ninth avenue corner West Thirty-sixth street. ) 
 THE NEW YORK MEDICAL DISPENSARIES. 
 
 - Perhaps no enterprise for the amelioration of the condition 
 of the suffering poor of the city of New York has been more 
 widely patronized, or accomplished more for the physical re- 
 lief of the last three generations, than the dispensary system. 
 
 On the fourteenth day of October, 1790, at a meeting of 
 the " Medical Society of the city of New York," it w T as re- 
 solved, " That a Committee be appointed to digest and publish 
 a plan of a Dispensary for the medical relief of the sick poor 
 of this city, and to make an offer of the professional services 
 of the members of this society to carry it into effect." Ur- 
 gent and eloquent appeals were soon made to the public 
 through the several daily papers, and on the 4th of January, 
 1791, a meeting of benevolent citizens convened in the City 
 Hall in Wall street, where a constitution and the necessary 
 by-laws were adopted. Hon. Isaac Roosevelt was chosen 
 President, and Drs. Bayley and Bard senior physicians. The 
 New York Dispensary was first established in Tryon street, 
 now Tryon row, where it continued in a single room thirty- 
 
 33 
 
520 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 eight years. The first annual report declared that 310 patients 
 had been treated during the year, contrasting strangely with 
 the report of 1871, which announces that 38,770 had received 
 treatment during the last year, and about 79,000 prescriptions 
 made. It is also worthy of note that the first was made when 
 but one dispensary existed on the island, the last when over 
 twenty of various kinds are engaged in a similar work. The 
 act incorporating the New York Dispensary passed the Legis- 
 lature April 8th, 1795, and in 1805 a union was effected be- 
 tween the Dispensary and the Kine-pock Institution, which 
 had been established three years previously in the rear of the 
 brick church opposite the Park. The number of patients an- 
 nually increased, amounting in 1828 to 10,000. Efforts were 
 then made to secure better accommodations, the authorities 
 contributed a lot of land on the corner of Centre and White 
 streets, a three-story brick edifice was erected and made ready 
 for occupation on the 28th of December, 1829. The building 
 and furniture cost a trifle more than eight thousand dollars. 
 During the last four years the old edifice has been removed 
 and a new and beautiful building erected in its place, cover- 
 ing the entire site and costing $72,488. The lower floor is 
 divided into stores and rented ; the second is the Dispensary, 
 with very commodious apartments ; the two upper floors are 
 also rented for business uses. This large outlay has been 
 partially met with generous donations from the trustees and 
 friends of the enterprise ; a mortgage of $20,000, however, 
 still remains on the property. The last Legislature granted 
 the Institution $10,000. This Dispensary grants medicine 
 and the attention of its physicians to the suffering poor of the 
 First, Second, Third, and Fourth Wards without charge. It 
 occupies that section of the city where the most of its busi- 
 ness is transacted, where large fortunes are made, but where 
 few besides the poor tarry over night. These, however, are 
 herded together in vast numbers, affording an abundant harvest 
 for cholera, small-pox, ship-fever, yellow-fever, etc. Without 
 the New York Dispensary this crowded section would often 
 be turned into a carnival of suffering, endangering the lives 
 of the whole population. Since its organization in 1790 it has 
 treated 1,463,747 patients. 
 
 The Northern Dispensary was the second on the island, 
 organized in 1827. It is situated on the corner of Chris- 
 topher street and Waverley place. 
 
 In 1834 the Eastern Dispensary was organized. This fur- 
 
THE NEW YORK MEDICAL DISPENSARIES. 521 
 
 nishes medicine, medical and surgical services gratuitously to 
 the sick poor of that section of the city bounded by Pike 
 street and Allen, First avenue, and Fourteenth street, to the 
 East river. This Dispensary during the first thirty-five and 
 one-half years of its existence has administered to 768,828 
 patients, an annual average of over twenty-one thousand. 
 Of this number 352,267 were native Americans, the remain- 
 ing 416,561 were born in foreign lands. The average cost 
 of each patient to the society has been 14J cents. The Dis- 
 pensary is situated over the Essex Market. The trustees 
 own no building, but now contemplate the erection of one. 
 
 The Demilt Dispensary was organized in 1851. In 
 1852-53 the trustees erected a fine three-story building on the 
 corner of Second avenue and Twenty-third street, at a cost 
 of $30,000 including the site. This property has with the 
 
 frowth of the city doubled in value, and is free from debt, 
 'he territory assigned to this Dispensary is comprised in the 
 Eighteenth and Twenty-first Wards, or that portion lying 
 east of Sixth avenue between Fourteenth and Fortieth 
 streets. The population of this district in 1850 was 31,557, 
 in 1860 it amounted to 106,489, and in 1870 to 111,638. 
 During these twenty years it has treated 464,596 patients, 
 over eighty-five thousand of whom have been treated by the 
 physicians at their homes, and 899,075 prescriptions have 
 been dispensed, an average of 125 per day. 
 
 The North-eastern Dispensary was incorporated in 1862. 
 It ministers to the sick poor residing between Fortieth and 
 Sixtieth streets, and between Sixth avenue and the East river. 
 During 1870, 13,309 persons received gratuitous treatment at 
 the Dispensary, and 3,101 patients were treated at their dwell- 
 ings. Eighteen physicians constitute the medical staff. 
 
 The North-eastern Homoeopathic Dispensary was founded 
 in 1868. It is situated at 307 East Fifty-fifth street, in hired 
 buildings, and has treated since its opening over forty thou- 
 sand patients, and made over eighty-five thousand prescrip- 
 tions, and two thousand visits. 
 
 The North-western was incorporated in 1852, and began 
 in hired rooms at No. 511 Eighth avenue. It is designed 
 to bless the sick and suffering poor in that large district 
 lying west of Fifth avenue, between Twenty-third and 
 Eighty-sixth streets. No funds for the permanent estab- 
 lishment of the Institution were raised until 1866, when 
 a subscription was started which secured during the next 
 
522 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 two years about nineteen thousand dollars, to which the 
 Corporation added the sum of $15,000. A piece of land 
 purchased on Broadway was again sold at a proht of $10,000. 
 The trustees have now completed one of the finest Dispensary 
 buildings on the island, at a cost of $83,000, an indebtedness 
 of over thirty thousand dollars still remaining on the prop- 
 erty. Besides affording very ample and commodious apart- 
 ments for the use of the Institution itself, it contains a large 
 store, and a beautiful hall rented for divine service. When this 
 indebtedness is removed it is believed the income from the 
 building will render the Dispensary nearly self-sustaining. 
 The number of patients treated varies from 10,000 to 15,000 
 per annum. 
 
 Besides these there are also various other Dispensaries es- 
 tablished for the treatment of special diseases, as the New 
 York Dispensary for the Treatment of Cancer, the New 
 York Dispensary for Diseases of Throat and Chest, the 
 New York Dispensary for Diseases of Skin, and others. 
 
 Most of these Institutions receive $1,000 per annum from 
 the Corporation, to which the State sometimes adds an addi- 
 tional thousand or more as they may need. Aside from this 
 they are supported by private donations. The amount of 
 good resulting to the city and country from the kindly treat- 
 ment administered to these 200,000 patients, who annually 
 apply to these well-arranged Institutions of mercy, is incalcu- 
 lable. The results from the system of free vaccination alone, 
 are ample for all the expenses of the entire undertaking. 
 This charity of all others is least liable to abuse, and is annu- 
 ally attended with great and manifest advantages to our 
 whole population. 
 
CHAPTER VL 
 
 INSTITUTIONS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND. 
 
 THE ISLANDS AND THE AUTHORITIES. 
 
 {Office of Commissioners of Charities and Corrections, corner Eleventh street 
 and Third avenue.— See cut above. ) 
 
 Before entering into a detailed account of the institutions 
 located in the East river, let us pause and consider briefly the 
 history of the Islands themselves and the policy of those who 
 control them. One cannot contemplate without feelings ot 
 hio-h satisfaction the extensive municipal charities of the city ot 
 New York. In their origin they were few and meager, dating 
 far back when the city was small, and the public mind but 
 
524 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 poorly enlightened on questions of this kind. The little hovels 
 and shanties of the past have all been superseded by colossal 
 brick and stone structures, containing all the modern improve- 
 ments of the age, with every known convenience for the 
 relief of the indigent of all ages, the blind, the afflicted, the 
 insane, the inebriate, and for the correction of the criminal. 
 Our public charities, which once consisted of a little Alms- 
 house, have now multiplied until more than thirty buildings, 
 many of them the largest of their kind in the country, have 
 been brought into requisition. The penal and correctional in- 
 stitutions, though they have not kept pace with the charitable, 
 have also been greatly enlarged, and are now valued at 
 nearly $3,000,000. The charitable institutions, with their 
 grounds and furniture are valued at $5,500,000, and the 
 annual expenditures in the maintenance of these buildings, 
 with an annual register of 92,000, and an average population 
 of eight thousand, and the necessary expenditures in new 
 buildings and grounds, amounts to $2,000,000. 
 
 The great increase of our population, and the consequent 
 enlargement of our municipal institutions have necessitated 
 the outlay of large sums in securing real estate, and the 
 selections for the most part have been very judiciously made. 
 Those beautiful islands of the East river, in particular, sepa- 
 rated on either side from the great world by a deep crystal 
 current, appear to have been divinely arranged as a home for 
 the unfortunate and the suffering, and a place of quiet re- 
 formatory meditation for the vicious. A brief sketch of 
 these islands will not be out of place in this volume. 
 
 Blackwell's Island is a narrow strip of land in the East 
 river, extending from Fifty-first to Eighty-eighth streets, 
 about a mile and a half in length, and contains one hundred 
 and twenty acres. It was early patented to Governor Van 
 Twiller, and was subsequently owned by the Blackwell 
 family, from whom it derives its name, for more than a 
 hundred years. The ancestral residence, a cozy wood cot- 
 tage over a hundred years old, situated near the centre of 
 the island, is still in fine repair, and likely to long survive the 
 present generation. This island was purchased by the city 
 July 19, 1828, for the sum of $30,000, but the authorities 
 were compelled in 1843 to expend $20,000 more to perfect 
 the title. The little steamers owned by the Commissioners, 
 making several trips per day in the interest of mercy and 
 justice, are the only vessels allowed to land at her piers with- 
 
INSTITUTIONS OF BLACKWELl's ISLAND. 
 
 525 
 
 out special permit. The labor of docking, building sea wall, 
 and the admirable grading by which the island is made to 
 slope gradually on either side to the water brink, has all been 
 performed by inmates of the Penitentiary and Workhouse. 
 The island is now valued at $600,000 exclusive of buildings. 
 
 Ward's Island, situated immediately above the preced- 
 ing, takes its name from Jasper and Bartholomew Ward, its 
 former proprietors, and extends from One Hundred and First 
 to One Hundred and Fifteenth streets, containing about two 
 hundred acres. It was formerly known as " Great Barcut," 
 or " Great Barn " Island, and was termed by the Indian 
 "Ten-ken-as." It was purchased by Van Twiller in 1637, 
 confiscated in 1664, and granted to Thomas Delavel. The 
 Wards obtained it in 1806, and in December, 1847, a part of 
 it was leased (afterwards purchased) by the Commissioners of 
 Emigration for the establishment of the Emigrant Refuge 
 and Hospital. Over half of the island is now owned by 
 these Commissioners. The Commissioners of Charities and 
 Corrections purchased a portion of it June 18, 1852, and have 
 since made several additional purchases. The Potter's Field, 
 the place of interment for paupers and strangers, was for 
 some years located here, but has recently been removed to 
 Hart Island. Ward's Island is wider than Blackwell's, and 
 the soil more arable. The portion of this island owned by 
 the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections is valued at 
 $360,000. 
 
 Randall's Island takes its name from Jonathan Randall, 
 who purchased it in 1784, and resided upon it nearly fifty 
 years. It lies north of Ward's Island, and extends nearly to 
 Westchester county. It was formerly known as "Little 
 Barn" Island. This island was also patented under the 
 Dutch Government, and, like Ward's, was confiscated in 1664, 
 and also granted to Thomas Delavel. It was subsequently at 
 different periods denominated " Bell Isle," " Talbot's Island," 
 and " Montressor's Island." It was purchased by the city in 
 1835 for $50,000. Thirty acres of the southern portion have 
 since been sold to the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile 
 Delinquents. Besides furnishing ample grounds for the 
 numerous Nursery buildings it contains a large and pro- 
 ductive farm, cultivated by the Commissioners of Charities 
 and Corrections, furnishing large amounts of vegetables for 
 the institutions. Their portion of the island is valued at 
 $520,000. 
 
526 
 
 NEW YORK aND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Hart Island is situated in the town of Pelham, "Westches- 
 ter county, in Long Island Sound, about fourteen miles from 
 Bellevue. This island became the property of Oliver Delan- 
 cey in 1775, who sold it to Samuel Rodman for £550. In 
 1819, it was deeded to John Hunter, who died September 12, 
 1852. After his decease his heirs deeded it to John Hunter 
 jr., grandson of the preceding, July 10, 1866. The United 
 States Government leased it for army uses December 5, 1863, 
 for one year, for the sum of §500, with privilege of retaining 
 it five or less years longer at an increased rent, the buildings 
 erected by government to remain the property of the lessor. 
 A village of one-story wood buildings, for the accommodation 
 of troops, was soon erected, spreading over the principal parts 
 of the island. Under authority of an act of Legislature passed 
 April 11, 1868, authorizing " additional facilities for the in- 
 terment of the pauper dead in the city of New York," the 
 Commissioners of Charities and Corrections on May 16, 1868, 
 purchased all except three acres of the southern point (which 
 the owner hopes to sell to the United States for the erection 
 of a light-house), for the sum of §75,000. The island is esti- 
 mated to contain about one hundred acres, but is suffering 
 constant loss from the action of the tides. It is probable 
 that the Penitentiary will be removed to this island in a few 
 years at most. 
 
 The management of the municipal charities and correc- 
 tions of Manhattan was for years committed to five Commis- 
 sioners appointed by the Common Council. In 1845, the 
 svhole was placed under the charge of one Commissioner ; in 
 1849 the number was increased to ten ; and in 1859 the 
 number was again changed to four, to be half Democrats 
 and half Republicans, appointed for the term of six years by 
 the city Controller. The new charter of 1873 reduces the 
 number to three, to be nominated by the Mayor for the term 
 of six years, abolishing the equal political representation. 
 
 The present board is composed of intellectual, high-minded 
 gentlemen, representing both political parties, as well as the 
 Protestant and the Roman Catholic faith. Their annual re- 
 port now amounts to an octavo volume of five hundred or six 
 hundred pages, and. one cannot examine one of these without 
 perceiving that our municipal institutions are managed with 
 great discretion and skill. Those great problems which have 
 puzzled the humane and thoughtful in all ages such as the best 
 moral treatment for the insane, the relief and elevation of 
 
INSTITUTIONS OF BLACKWELl's ISLAND. 
 
 527 
 
 the indigent, the reformatory discipline of criminals, the re- 
 covery of vagrant and truant youth, the measures for secur- 
 ing the lowest bill of mortality among foundlings, the refor- 
 mation of the inebriate, and the best hygienic and economic 
 conduct of public institutions, are made matters of constant 
 study, resulting in frequent and manifest improvements. As 
 might be expected, visitors in large numbers throng the insti- 
 tutions, but all are treated with decided urbanity. Many of 
 the Superintendents, Wardens, and Chiefs of Departments, 
 have retained their positions many years, a few more than a 
 quarter of a century, and to whose intelligence and kindness 
 we cheerfully acknowledge our indebtedness for many facts 
 presented in this volume. 
 
 A Protestant and a Roman Catholic chaplain give daily 
 attention to the spiritual wants of the inmates of these build- 
 ings, holding brief and earnest services in each every Sabbath. 
 Missionaries from any and all of the denominations are 
 granted every reasonable opportunity to carry the messages 
 of the gospel to those receiving either corrections or charities. 
 In conclusion, we can but feel that our municipal institutions, 
 are a credit and an ornament to the great city which fills 
 and supports them. 
 
 THE HOSPITALS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND. 
 
 *-*SCELLEVtJE was for some years the only hospital under 
 **0M. the management of the public authorities of New 
 Jf§§£ York City. After the erection of the Penitentiary, 
 one of its rooms was set apart for a hospital. In 1848, 
 during the administration of Moses G. Leonard, Commissioner 
 of the Almshouse, at that time acting under the Common 
 Council of the City, the first hospital building was erected 
 on the Island called the " Penitentiary Hospital/' The build- 
 ing was of brick, and was completed in 1849, the same year 
 that the " Ten Governor " system came into existence. The 
 name was changed to the " Island Hospital " by resolution of 
 the Governors I)ecember 15th, 1857. The Governors ap- 
 pointed a committee to examine the building soon after its 
 
528 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 completion, who reported that they found it " constructed in 
 a most reckless and careless manner, and was as a public 
 building a reproach to any city." It was pronounced inse- 
 cure, and the Governors were about to pull it down, when it 
 was accidentally destroyed by fire on the morning of February 
 13, 1858. At the time of the disaster, it contained 530 in- 
 mates, who were all removed without loss of life. It is 
 believed that it would soon have fallen down if it had not 
 been thus destroyed. 
 
 The corner-stone of the Charity Hospital, erected on the 
 site of the one so happily destroyed, was laid with appropri- 
 ate services July 22, 1858. An address was delivered on the 
 occasion by Washington Smith, Esq., President of the board 
 of Governors. 
 
 This magnificent structure is of stone quarried from the 
 island by the convicts, and is the largest hospital about New 
 York, and probably the largest on the continent. It is a 
 three and a half story, 354 feet long, and 122 wide. The 
 two wings are each 122 by 50 feet, and the central building 
 90 by 52, and 60 feet high. The entire hospital is divided 
 into twenty-nine wards, most of which are 47-J- feet in length, 
 and ranging from 23 to 44 feet in width. The smallest ward 
 contains 13 beds, and the largest 39. The Hospital contains 
 832 beds, but has capacity for 1,200, and each bed has 813 
 cubic feet of space, affording an abundance of pure air in all 
 its parts. In 1864 no less than 1,400, most of them sick and 
 wounded soldiers, were domiciled here. The eastern wing of 
 the building is occupied by the males, and the western by the 
 females, and the whole so classified as to accommodate to the 
 best advantage the large number of patients always under 
 treatment. Wards are set apart for consumptives, for vene- 
 real, uterine, dropsical, ophthalmic, obstetrical, and syphil- 
 itic disorders. Also for broken bones, and the other classes 
 of casualty patients. Two wards are set apart for the treat- 
 ment of diseases of the e} r e and the ear, and are in charge of 
 distinguished physicians, who have made the diseases of those 
 organs their special study. The stairways are of iron, the 
 floors of white Southern pine, which, with their frequent 
 ablutions and scourings, and the snow-white counterpane 
 spread over each bed, gives such unmistakable evidence of 
 neatness, as to quite surprise many not familiar with the con- 
 duct of public institutions. From six thousand to eight thou- 
 sand patients are annually treated in this Hospital, most of 
 
THE HOSPITALS OF BLACKWELL's ISLAND. 
 
 529 
 
 whom are charity patients, four hundred or five hundred of 
 whom die, and most of the remainder are discharged, cured 
 or relieved. ^ 
 
 SMALL-POX HOSPITAL. 
 
 A short distance below this main Hospital, situated on the 
 extreme southern point of the island, stands the Small-Pox 
 - Hospital, erected in 1854. It is a three-story stone edi- 
 fice, 104 by 44 feet, in the English Gothic order, with accom- 
 modations for one hundred patients, and cost $38,000. This 
 is the only hospital in New York devoted to this class of 
 patients, and hence receives them from all the public and 
 private hospitals, from the Commissioners of Emigration, and 
 from private families. It is a fine building, well arranged 
 and admirably conducted, designed not only for paupers, but 
 for pay patients, where, secluded from friends to whom they 
 might impart their disease, they receive every attention that 
 science and the most skillful nursing can bestow. This Hos- 
 pital is rarely empty, and receives from two hundred to one 
 thousand patients annually. For want of suitable buildings 
 persons afflicted with other contagious eruptive diseases have 
 been from necessity placed in the Small-Pox Hospital, some- 
 times to their detriment, This difficulty is being obviated by 
 the erection of separate pavilions for such cases. 
 
 The Fever Hospitals, devoted principally to the treatment 
 of typhus and ship fever, consist of two wooden pavilions, 
 
530 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 each 100 feet in length, one of which is assigned to either 
 sex. These structures are capable of accommodating about 
 one hundred patients, though a larger number is of necessity 
 at times admitted. They are situated on the eastern side of 
 the Island, between the Charity and Small-Pox Hospitals. A 
 warden has the general supervision of these several hospitals. 
 The medical direction of them was, until March, 1866, un- 
 der the supervision of the Medical Board of Bellevue, but at 
 that time the Commissioners appointed a separate board, 
 consisting of two consulting and twenty-two visiting physi- 
 cians and surgeons. Two valuable members of this board 
 lost their lives in 1868, from pestilential disease contracted 
 while in the discharge of their hospital duties. This board 
 is industriously collecting a museum in the Charity Hos- 
 pital, which is annually receiving many valuable additions. 
 The grounds around these institutions are very inviting, the 
 view rich and diversified, and everything, save the countenance 
 of the suffering patients, wears an air of cheerfulness. 
 
 The Hospitals for Incurables are situated on the Alms 
 House grounds, and are briefly described in the account of 
 that Institution. 
 
 The Epileptic Hospital was established in 1866, for the 
 treatment of a class of unfortunates hitherto abandoned as 
 incurable, and permitted to go through the several stages of 
 their disease until it ended in idiocy, insanity, or death. The 
 Commissioners have the credit of establishing the first of its 
 kind on this continent, and with the exception of a small one 
 in London, the first in the world. 
 
 The Paralytic Hospital was also established in 1866. 
 These were first placed under the control of a distinguished 
 physician with two assistants, but as he was soon compelled 
 to retire, they were for a time under charge of the Medical 
 board of Charity Hospital, but have since been transferred 
 to the board of the Lunatic Asylum. These hospitals are 
 pavilions on the grounds devoted to the Lunatic Asylum, and 
 their establishment has already been a source of relief to 
 many. They contain sixty-five beds each, and are always 
 well filled. 
 
THE NEW YORK PENITENTIAEY. 
 
 jg|$HE New Fork Penitentiary on Blackwell's Island 
 ^i^lg? stands nearly opposite Fifty-fifth street, and was the 
 WS^I first institution established on the island. The south- 
 ern wing of the building was begun soon after the 
 purchase of the island in 1828, the central portion was next 
 added, and the northern wings are the result of subsequent 
 additions. 
 
 The building is constructed of hewn stone and rubble 
 masonry, and consists of a central portion 65 by 75 feet, with 
 three wings each 50 by 200 feet, and several stories high. 
 The floors are of stone and the stairways of iron. There are 
 500 cells for males, and 256 for females, yet the building is 
 often rather small to accommodate the aspiring candidates. 
 The prisoners sent here are from the New York courts, whose 
 term of confinement with the majority is from one to six 
 months, though occasionally one remains several years. 
 "When a prisoner is received, a record is made of his name, 
 age, weight, and the condition of his health ; also of his 
 nationality, history, and the offence for which he was com- 
 mitted. Every convict is expected to perform some service 
 unless sick, when he is sent to the hospital. Most of them 
 are allowed to follow their former occupations, and are em- 
 ployed at times as blacksmiths, wagon-makers, boat-builders, 
 carpenters, coopers, painters, wheelwrights, shoemakers, tail- 
 ors, gardeners, stone-cutters, boatmen, etc. ; and others, whose 
 former indolence has kept them from every useful occupation, 
 are instructed in the sublime arts of blasting, quarrying, and 
 pounding rocks. The island originally abounded with rich 
 quarries, most of which have now been exhausted in the 
 erection of the princely edifices that crown its surface, a 
 very large proportion of the toil having been performed by 
 the convicts. A gang of men is daily sent to Kandall's and 
 another to Hart Islands ; to the latter of which, on account 
 of its isolated condition, there is prospect of the entire Peni- 
 tentiary establishment being removed. The erection of the 
 Infant Hospital, the Inebriate Asylum, the new Insane Asy- 
 lum, and every other new edifice, furnishes a large amount 
 of toil in grading and ornamenting, to which their time and 
 
532 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Be 
 
 toil are devoted. Their toil, however, is not rigorous. Indeed, 
 it is immensely lighter than many of us accomplish who are 
 yet out of prison. Toil is also one of the most salutary forms 
 of discipline that can be administered to criminals of any age, 
 grade, or nationality. Without this there can scarcely be 
 reformation, and the neglect of it has plunged most criminals 
 into the sea of infamy in which they are engulfed. A few 
 learn trades while on the island, which enable them, on their 
 return to society, to earn not only an honest, but a comfort- 
 able livelihood. 
 
 The convicts 
 are all well clad 
 in striped wool- 
 en garments, and 
 provided with 
 suitable bedding 
 and food. We 
 saw two small 
 regiments of 
 them at dinner, 
 which consisted 
 of one pound 
 of beef, ten 
 ounces of bread, 
 and a quart of 
 vegetable soup 
 per man. At 
 breakfast, they 
 are served with 
 ten ounces of 
 
 bread, and one quart of good coffee each. 
 
 The number of prisoners retained on the island is less than 
 it was twenty years ago, more being retained in the city 
 prisons, and a large number are now annually sent to *he 
 Workhouse. On December 31, 1851, 803 were in confine- 
 ment at the Penitentiary, and during the twelve months im- 
 mediately following, 3,450 were committed. In 1853, 5,236 
 were committed, and at the close of the year 1,176 remained. 
 The year 1869 began with 502 inmates; 1,563 were commit- 
 ted during the year, and 461 remained at its close, making a 
 daily average of 477 prisoners, maintained at an expenditure 
 Of $73,972.35. Of those committed 1,224 were males, and 339 
 females. 276 of them were between the ages of fifteen and 
 twenty years; 427 from twenty to twenty-five; 316 from 
 
 GUARD-BOATS. 
 
THE NEW YORK PENITENTIARY 
 
 533 
 
 twenty-five to thirty, after which the number in each semi- 
 decade steadily decreases. Twenty were under fifteen years 
 of age, ten of whom were girls, and but one was above 
 seventy years at commitment, and that one a female. These 
 figures confront us with the astounding fact, that about one 
 half of all who enter the Penitentiary, are under twenty-five 
 years of age, and appeal anxiously for the adoption of some 
 measure to arrest the progress of these cadets of crime, ere 
 they are irrevocably enrolled in the ranks of that army, 
 whose march terminates only at the State Prison, or on the 
 gallows. 
 
 Of the 1,563 committed, 730 were of American birth (but 
 mostly of foreign blood) ; 482 came from Ireland, 168 from 
 Germany, 74 from England, 25 from Scotland, 24 from 
 Canada, 13 from France, 12 from Prussia, and the remaining 
 35 represented the other countries of Europe and the West 
 Indies. 
 
 Of the crimes with which they were charged we may state 
 thai, 1,078 were committed for petit larceny, 259 for assault 
 and battery, 34 for grand larceny, 27 for burglary, 22 for 
 vagrancy, and a smaller number for nearly every other species 
 of mischief in the catalogue of crime. The largest number 
 were committed for six months, and the next largest for two 
 months ; 62 were for one year, 6 for eighteen months, 12 for 
 two years, and 3 for four years ; 1,146 were committed for 
 the first time, 245 for the second, 94 for the third, 41 for the 
 fourth, 17 for the fifth, 6 for the sixth, 7 for the seventh, 2 
 for the eighth, 1 for the ninth, and 4 for the tenth term. 
 
 Of the 1,563, there were unmarried 962 ; married 507 ; 
 widows 68 ; widowers 26. Of their mental culture we are 
 informed that 1,052 could read and write well, 156 could 
 read and write imperfectly, and 355 were totally uneducated. 
 Of their former occupations we observe that of the males 394 
 were reported as laborers, 59 teamsters, 53 waiters, 52 shoe- 
 makers, and the remainder were scattered through over a 
 hundred trades, though in fact many have never followed 
 anything. Of the females, 224 were reported as domestics, 
 53 seamstresses, 13 dress-makers, 10 laundresses, etc. These 
 are employed with the needle, and in other branches of use- 
 fulness around the Institution. One cannot look over an 
 audience of these convicts, and meet the glances of their 
 brilliant eyes, without being assured that the Penitentiary 
 contains as much talent as any other structure in the county 
 
 34 
 
534: 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 of New York. And how sad the reflection that this magnifi- 
 cent pile of masonry, that crowns this green island, is a 
 crowded pandemonium — an empire of fallen Lucifers, of 
 wasted energies, disappointed ambitions, and perverted genius, 
 not likely to again rise to a virtuous life, or a blissful immor- 
 tality. 
 
 The moral condition of prisoners has from a remote period 
 enlisted the sympathies of the benevolent, and led to associ- 
 ated efforts for their relief, yet improvements in prison discip- 
 line progressed but slowly until within the last fifty years, 
 leaving still ample scope for the study of the thoughtful. 
 Justice is not often administered with undue severity in our 
 country. Indeed it is frequently quite too lax to promote the 
 public good. Yet the best ends of penal justice are not often 
 secured in our public prisons, and are far too frequently ut- 
 terly ignored. 
 
 The object of imprisonment should be three-fold : 1. To 
 separate the culprit from society, whose security he endangers, 
 and whose confidence he has forfeited. 2. To make him sensi- 
 ble of the law he has violated ; and 3. To secure if possible 
 his reformation and return to the useful walks of life. The 
 first two parts are tolerably well secured in all countries, but 
 the last and most important is rarely attained, and far too sel- 
 dom attempted. A keeper of a prison should be selected for 
 his moral qualities, and one who ignores or scoffs at the refor- 
 mation of a convict thereby demonstrates his utter incompe- 
 tency for so important a calling. Every possible incentive to 
 reformation should be held out, and every influence intro- 
 duced and fostered likely to excite the desire of amendment, 
 or to bring up from the depths of his fallen nature the return 
 of buried manhood. While the reformation of the criminal 
 is neglected, a large percentage of those under confinement, 
 especially the younger and more hopeful portion, are certain 
 to return to society more determined villains than when they 
 left it, and the penal institution, instead of suppressing, virtu- 
 ally increases the crime. 
 
 The Commissioners have had under advisement for some 
 time past the matter of introducing a more rational system of 
 reformatory discipline, than that of mere compulsory toil. 
 The prisoners have been carefully classified, and a system of 
 evening school instruction introduced. The matter of enter- 
 ing the school is entirely voluntary, though after entering they 
 are not allowed to abandon it at pleasure. The school was 
 
Fmai* CoimcTs. Penitjsntiary Blackwbli/s Island. 
 
THE NEW YORK PENITENTIARY. 
 
 535 
 
 organized on the evening of November 16, 1869, under the 
 auspices of the School Trustees of the Nineteenth Ward, who 
 provided an able corps of teachers. At the opening session 
 130 were present as pupils, and on January 10, 1870, the reg- 
 ister contained the names of 223 or 64 per cent, of those of 
 the males so situated as to be able to attend. The largest num- 
 ber of pupils were between the ages of eighteen and twenty- 
 two years, the next between twenty-two and twenty-nine, the 
 youngest of all being fourteen, and the eldest fifty-two years 
 of age. The uneducated for the most part appeared anxious 
 to acquire an education, and the more scholarly disposed to 
 further pursue their studies. 
 
 For want of room the most judicious separation of the pris- 
 oners cannot be secured, but a system of merit marks analo- 
 gous to the MacConochie, or " Irish system," has been intro- 
 duced, so that faithful observance of the rules of the prison, 
 and such conduct as secures the approval of the warden re- 
 ceives a monthly recognition, which the Commissioners report 
 to the Governor of the State, recommending an abridgement 
 of their term of confinement. We are happy to be thus able 
 to chronicle the begining of a more rational and humane sys- 
 tem of prison discipline for mature criminals, which posterity 
 will develope, and which will doubtless lead to excellent re- 
 sults. 
 
 Religious services are regularly conducted on the Sabbath 
 - by a Protestant and by a Roman Catholic chaplain. 
 
THE NEW YORK ALMSHOUSE 
 
 The paupers of Manhattan were long maintained by a 
 weekly pittance granted by the authorities, in compliance with 
 a law passed in 1699. The first public Almshouse, the need 
 of which had long been felt, was erected in 1734, and stood 
 on the northwestern extremity of what was long known as 
 " the commons," on the site of the present New York Court- 
 house. It was a two-story wooden structure 46 by 24 feet, 
 with cellar, and was furnished with spinning wheels, shoe- 
 maker's tools, and other implements of labor. < The church 
 wardens were appointed overseers of the poor with authority 
 to require labor of all paupers under penalty of moderate cor- 
 rection. The establishment contained a school for children, 
 and was also a house of correction where masters were al- 
 lowed to send unruly slaves for punishment. In 1795, a 
 lottery of £10,000 was granted for the erection of a new build- 
 in g. A fine brick edifice, which was destroyed by fire in 
 1854, was accordingly erected on the site of the old building. 
 After the location of the City Hall was agreed upon, the 
 authorities resolved to remove the Almshouse. A tract of 
 land on the East river, at the foot of. Twenty-sixth street, was 
 purchased, and the corner stone of the new Almshouse laid 
 
THE HOSPITALS OF BLACKWELL'S ISLAND. 537 
 
 August 1, 1811. This edifice was of bluestone, with a front 
 325 feet, and two wings of 150 feet each, and was opened 
 for inmates April 22, 1816. The Alms House was for many 
 years under the management of five commissioners, appointed 
 by the Common Council ; in 1845 it was placed under the 
 control of one commissioner; in 1849 the "Ten Governor" 
 system was introduced ; and in 1859 the number was changed 
 to four, to be appointed by the Comptroller of the City, re- 
 presenting the different political parties. The new charter 
 of 1870 has changed the number of the commissioners to 
 five. The buildings at Bellevue became too small, and as they 
 were not suitably arranged for the different classes of inmates, 
 the authorities in 1834 or 1835, erected extensive buildings a 
 short distance south of Astoria, to which the children were 
 transferred. These buildings consisted of a boys', a girls', and 
 an infant " Nursery," and of appropriate school buildings, 
 and were sold at public auction April 15, 1847. In 1828, 
 Elackwell's Island was purchased by the City, and Randall's 
 Island in 1835. In 1847, ship-fever prevailed frightfully 
 among the Almshouse population at Bellevue, producing 
 great mortality. Some persons entered the clerk's office and 
 fell dead while their names were being registered. The new 
 buildings now in use on Blackwell's Island were erected in 
 1847, and the inmates removed to them in the spring of 1848. 
 The Almshouse department occupies the central portion of the 
 ~ island, and is presided over by a separate warden, who resides 
 in the cosy wood cottage for a long period the mansion of the 
 Blackwell's family, and said to be more than a hundred years 
 old. The buildings erected in 1847 are of stone, and con- 
 sist of two separate and similar structures, 650 feet apart, 
 are entirely distinct in their arrangement, and each devoted 
 to one sex only. They each consist of a central four-story 50 
 feet square, 57 feet high to the roof, and 87 to the top of the 
 cupola, with two wings, each 60 by 90 feet, and 40 feet high. 
 Each floor is encircled with an outside iron veranda with stair- 
 ways of the same material. These buildings comfortably ac- 
 commodate about six hundred persons each, adults only be- 
 ing admitted. 
 
 They are always tolerably well filled, though the great 
 pressure is in mid-winter, and, on one occasion, eighteen hun- 
 dred were huddled within these walls. No one can visit the 
 New York Almshouse without being surprised with its ex- 
 quisite neatness, and the perfect discipline and regularity that 
 
538 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 reign everywhere through the buildings and grounds. The 
 warden, Mr. James Owens, with no paid help except his clerk 
 and the matrons, has for a number of years conducted this 
 Institution, filled with ten or fifteen hundred aged, blind, and 
 infirm persons, with an economy and skill deserving of spe- 
 cial mention. The floors and walls throughout are as clean 
 as soap, sand, and lime can make them. The beds are better 
 kept than in our first-class hotels. Every morning they are 
 all taken to pieces, the ticks and the bedsteads thoroughly 
 brushed, after which they are readjusted and covered with a 
 white counterpane. This simple process of brushing has pre- 
 served the Institution for years from all attacks of vermin. 
 Not an empty garment can be found lying or hanging in one 
 of the wards. The food which is ample and nutritious, is 
 regularly and neatly served. But, inviting as are the build- 
 ings, the grounds are still more attractive. The walks have 
 all been neatly covered with flag-stones or gravel ; the flower 
 and vegetable gardens, and the lawns with their thrifty trees, 
 exhibit much taste and cultivation. Not a straw can be 
 found on one of the walks or the carriage-ways, on every one 
 of which may daily be seen the marks of the broom. The 
 Almshouses were formerly the refuge of imbeciles, lunatics, 
 and of able-bodied vagrants, as well as of the old and infirm. 
 The former are now provided for in the Lunatic Asylum, and 
 the latter very properly sent to the Workhouse. On the ar- 
 rival of an inmate, he is immediately subjected to a bath, is 
 warmly clad in new garments, after which he is conveyed to 
 the Warden's oflice and formally admitted. He then under- 
 goes an examination by the House Physician, from whom he 
 receives a card, stating the ward and class to which he belongs. 
 They are divided into four classes as follows : 1. Able bodied 
 men. 2. Able to perform light labor, and serve as orderlies 
 of the different wards. 3. Able to sweep the grounds or 
 break stones. 4. Exempt on account of disease or old age. 
 Some exhibit a willingness to perform all they are able, and 
 others, addicted to idleness, are ready to evade toil with every 
 pretext. It is the duty of the Physician to discriminate be- 
 tween them, and those assigned to light toil are compelled to 
 submit on pain of being discharged. This admirable system 
 of classification, introduced by the Commissioners, has saved 
 the corporation from supporting armies of able bodied va- 
 grants, and made the Almshouse population about fifty per 
 cent, less than it was twenty years ago. 
 
THE NEW YORK ALMSHOUSE. 
 
 539 
 
 In 1850 there were in the Almshouse 1,313 persons, or 
 one in 423 of the population. In 1860 there were 1,631 or 
 one in 432 of the population. In 1870 there were 1,114, or 
 one in 808 of the population. The number able to perform 
 service among the females is much less than among the oppo- 
 site sex. From these are selected the nurses, who keep the 
 wards in order, and care for the old and feeble. The remain- 
 der partially demented, crippled, weakened from disease or in- 
 firmity, still render such assistance as they are able in sewing 
 
 KKEPElVS HOUSE. 
 
 and knitting. During the year closing January 1, 1870, there 
 were 4,053 persona in the Institutions, of whom 2,979 were 
 admitted, 1,696 discharged, 1,222 transferred to other insti- 
 tutions, 21 died, and 1,114 remained. Of the 2,979 admitted, 
 363 were Americans, 2,067 Irish, 260 Germans, 163 English ; 
 the remaining 111 came from Scotland, Canada, and other 
 countries. They are admitted at all ages, from fifteen years 
 and upwards. Of the 2,979 admitted last year, 46 were 
 under twenty years, 437 between twenty and thirty, 435 
 between thirty and forty, 507 between forty and fifty, 569 
 between fifty and sixty, 609 between sixty and seventy, 276 
 between seventy and eighty, 86 between eighty and ninety, 
 13 were over ninety, and 1 over one hundred years of age. 
 
540 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 At least seven-eighths of all thus thrown upon the charity of 
 the city are of foreign birth, and most of the remainder re- 
 duced to pauperism by idleness or dissipation. Two wards 
 in the building appropriated to the males, and two in the 
 building for the females, are set apart for the indigent blind, 
 who are sufficiently numerous to require an annual appropri- 
 ation of $25,000 or $30,000 from the Legislature. The Alms- 
 house buildings are valued at $434,500 exclusive of furni- 
 ture and grounds. 
 
 On these grounds are situated also the Hospitals for Incura- 
 bles. These consist of two one-story wooden pavilions, 175 
 feet long and 25 feet wide, one of which is devoted to each 
 of the sexes. The inmates are persons afflicted with incurable 
 diseases, but such as require no medical treatment. 
 
 In addition to the regular Almshouse accommodations, the 
 Commissioners many years ago established a Bureau for the 
 relief of the out-door poor, which has long been managed by 
 an experienced and discreet superintendent (Mr. George 
 Kellock). Until 1867, it was the practice of the Commis- 
 sioners to appoint several temporary visitors at the approach 
 of winter, to assist the superintendent in examining the con- 
 dition of those applying for relief during the cold season. 
 But it was found that from inexperience or indifference the 
 work was so poorly performed, that the city was divided into 
 six, and afterwards into eleven districts, to each of which a 
 visitor, was assigned, who not only visits each applicant at his 
 home, but investigates the causes of pauperism, sickness, and 
 crime, in their respective districts, and reports the same to the 
 superintendent. During 1869, the number of families re- 
 lieved with money amounted to 5,275, with fuel 7,555. 
 More than $128,000 were disbursed through this branch of 
 our public charities alone. 
 
 The Commissioners have felt the necessity of providing a 
 temporary shelter for the houseless poor, and have repeatedly 
 appealed to the Legislature for authority to lease houses for 
 that purpose. To prevent serious suffering among a class of 
 poor but reputable persons, who from various reasons might 
 be deprived of home, the board, in 1866, fitted up a portion 
 of a prison then unoccupied as a temporary lodging-house. 
 Over two thousand were thus lodged during the winter. 
 Each applicant was questioned, to prevent abuse, and gave 
 satisfactory reasons for destitution. None were admitted 
 who were intoxicated, and in but few instances any who ap. 
 
THE NEW YORK WORKHOUSE. 
 
 541 
 
 plied the second time. The necessity of restoring the prison 
 to its original nse discontinued for the time this arrangement. 
 
 The superintendent of out-door poor has his headquarters 
 in the central office of the Commissioners, in the new and 
 beautiful building corner of Eleventh street and Third ave- 
 nue. Here the Commissioners hold their regular business 
 ' meetings, and preserve the archives of the department. 
 
 The New York Alms House, for order, neatness, discipline, 
 the general care and comfort of its inmates, compares favor- 
 ably with any institution of its kind in this or any other coun- 
 try ; and the other outside arrangements for the relief of the 
 destitute and the sick, are confessedly administered with 
 marked discretion, and are every way worthy of the great 
 metropolis. 
 
 THE NEW YORK WORKHOUSE. 
 
 \)R the proper administration of punitive justice, 
 a variety of institutions are required. Hence, we 
 have the State Prison, for the long confinement of 
 persons guilty of the higher crimes ; the County Jail 
 or the Penitentiary for criminals not yet as deeply depraved 
 as the preceding ; the House of Refuge, or the Juvenile Asy- 
 lum for vicious, truant, and vagrant youth; and to these 
 the authorities of New York have added the Workhouse, 
 for vagrant and dissipated adults. The building is situated 
 on Blackwell's Island, between the Almshouse department 
 and that devoted to the Lunatic Asylum. The first effectual 
 step taken for establishment of this Institution, was at a 
 meeting of the Board of Aldermen June 26, 1848, when 
 Clarkson Crolius presented an able communication on the 
 subject, which was referred to a special committee of three. 
 The board of Assistant Aldermen also appointed a commit- 
 tee to assist in the deliberations. On the 12th of February, 
 1849, the committee presented a voluminous report in favor 
 of establishing the Workhouse. On the recommendation of 
 the Common Council, the Legislature passed the act for its 
 establishment April 11, 1849, and the department was duly 
 
542 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 organized during the following summer, the first commitment 
 to it from the court occurring June 14, 1849. The original 
 act contained no provision for buildings, and the inmates 
 were for some time boarded at the Almshouse. The cor- 
 ner stone of the edifice was laid November 2, 1850, by 
 Mayor Woodhull, and the building completed several years 
 afterwards under the administration of the Ten Governors. 
 The surface around it, now so smooth, was originally exceed- 
 ingly broken, and more than a thousand cubic yards of rock 
 were removed in preparing the site for the southern wing. 
 The edifice is a vast longitudinal structure, consisting of a 
 northern and a southern wing, with a large four-story cen- 
 tral portion, and a traverse section containing work-shops ex- 
 tending across the end of each wing. The edifice is con- 
 structed in part of hewn stone, and partly of rubble masonry. 
 The entire length is 680 feet, or more than one-eighth of a 
 mile. The expense of its erection was at first estimated at 
 $75,000, as much convict help was employed, though a larger 
 sum was required to complete it. 
 
 The central building contains the kitchen, store-rooms, offi- 
 ces, private apartments for the superintendent and others, 
 and a spacious and elegant chapel, in which service is statedly 
 conducted by the chaplains. 
 
 The long wings consist of a broad hall, skirted on either 
 side with a succession of cells and sleeping apartments, which 
 rise three stories high, fronted with iron corridors and stair- 
 ways. Each wing contains 150 of these cells, which are 
 wide, containing iour single berths each, with grated doors, 
 and are separated from each other by brick walls. The 
 building is well arranged and well ventilated. One hun- 
 dred and fifty lunatics have for some time been domiciled 
 here, awaiting the completion of the new asylum on Ward's 
 Island. The original intention of the building was mot 
 wholly for a house of correction, but an Institution in which 
 the poor, unable to obtain employment, might be committed, 
 and be, both to themselves and the authorities, profitably em- 
 ployed. As an industrial Institution for the virtuous poor, 
 it has not succeeded, and is now devoted entirely to the 
 vagrant, dissipated, and disorderly classes, who are committed 
 by the police courts for terms of service, ranging from ten 
 days to six months each. The larger number of commit, 
 ments are for intoxication. It is mandatory on the magis- 
 trates to impose a fine on persons convicted of intoxication 
 
THE NEW YOKE WORKHOUSE. 
 
 543 
 
 and in default of payment to commit them to the Work- 
 house. The larger portion remain but ten days, but many 
 are committed over and over again for the same offence, 
 called by the clerks "repeaters," having served twenty or 
 thirty terms for drunkenness. The warden has recommended 
 a change of the law, so that habitual drunkards should be 
 committed for from six to twelve months, giving small wages 
 to the more industrious. lie believes that with an army of 
 permanent laborers, large contracts might safely be made, se- 
 curing a much larger income to the Institution, and the long 
 confinement a permanent benefit to the convicts. 
 
 The men are kept at work breaking stones, grading, build- 
 ing sea-walls, cultivating the grounds, etc. The carpenters 
 make the coffins for the various institutions, make and repair 
 wheel-barrows, and carts, and toil in the erection of new 
 buildings. Blacksmiths, tinsmiths, and tailors are employed 
 at the respective trades. Companies of laborers are dis- 
 patched daily to toil on the neighboring islands. The women 
 are detailed to toil in the numerous institutions, and are kept 
 busy making and mending the garments of this immense 
 population, and in knitting their stockings. From 15,000 to 
 20,000 of these convicts are annually received and again dis- 
 charged, costing the public from $50,000 to $60,000 more 
 than they are made to earn. But few of them are of Amer- 
 _ ican birth, Ireland, as usual, contributing the larger number, 
 and Germany the next largest. If New York were purged 
 of these dregs of European society, and her liquor traffic sup- 
 pressed, there would be no need of this ponderous and ex- 
 pensive Institution. But as the tide of emigration is likely 
 to still roll heavily upon our shores, and the legislation of the 
 State to favor the rum traffic, there is little hope that the 
 "Workhouse will be deserted for many years to come. The 
 establishment of this Institution has had a wholesome effect 
 on the Almshouse population, as seventy persons were known 
 to leave the Almshouse on the organization of this depart- 
 ment. Many hundreds more, during the last twenty years, 
 would, no doubt, have pressed their suits at the Almshouse 
 if it had not been for its next door neighbor, the Workhouse, 
 to which they were certain to be consigned. 
 
 The Laboe Bueeau, though not specially connected with 
 the foregoing, we still notice Here as a matter of convenience. 
 A much larger number of unskilled laborers than can find 
 employment during the winter months are always in New 
 
544 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 York city, and naturally fall a burden upon our private and 
 public charities. The Commissioners, after duly considering 
 this subject, resolved to establish a Bureau in July, 1868, to 
 facilitate the transfer of unemployed laborers to other parts 
 of the country needing their services. The Bureau was 
 opened at the central office of the Commissioners, under the 
 direction of the superintendent of Out-Door Poor, and the 
 plan of its operations published in several leading papers of 
 the country. It was proposed that employers should make 
 application, setting forth the number of persons they required, 
 the kinds of work to be performed, and the rate of wages to 
 be paid, the application to be accompanied with a remittance 
 sufficient to cover the travelling expenses of the laborers. 
 The applications received did not offer sufficient compensa- 
 tion to laborers, and as none of them contained the money to 
 defray the expenses of travel, the scheme failed. But the 
 leading thought had been produced, and the next Legislature 
 made an appropriation for a Labor and Intelligence Office. 
 This was opened June 15, 1869, and from that date to Janu- 
 ary 1, 1870, there were 6,670 male applicants for employment, 
 11,813 females, and situations were obtained for 3,965 males, 
 and 11,013 females. The labor of this office constantly in- 
 creases and its success is very gratifying. 
 
NEW YORK CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM. 
 
 In the year 1826, separate wards were set apart in the Belle- 
 - vue establishment, for the accommodation and treatment of 
 the insane paupers and patients. The large Institution on 
 Blackwell's Island devoted to this use was begun in the spring 
 of 1835, the western wing of which was completed in 1839, and 
 the southern in 1848. The building is of stone, and consists 
 of a central structure, octagonal in form, eighty feet in diam- 
 eter, and fifty feet high, with spiral stairways rising to the 
 cupola, a spacious and splendid observatory, overlooking 
 the river, the island, and a portion of Long Island, and New 
 York. The two wings, at right angles to each other, are each 
 245 feet long, and several stories high. The building at the 
 time of its erection was one of the finest of its kind in the 
 country, with accommodations for over 200 patients. A 
 short distance from the main building, on the eastward side 
 of the island, was also erected in 1848, another stone edifice 
 60 by 90 feet and four stories high, which has been exclu- 
 sively devoted to the more violent class, and denominated 
 " The Lodge." This has rooms for 100 patients. Another 
 stone structure called " The Ketreat," is devoted to the quiet 
 
546 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 class, with rooms for 110 persons, and numerous wooden ones, 
 "pavilions," have since been added, literally dotting the 
 northern extremity of the island. The capacity of all these 
 buildings is sufficient for 576 patients. The locality is un- 
 surpassed for its salubrity, and the exquisite beauty of its 
 scenery, as nature and art appear to have sweetly blended 
 their gifts and embellishments, to render this home of the ir- 
 rational one of the most attractive spots of the world. Be- 
 fore the erection of these buildings, more than four thousand 
 insane persons had been received, and from 400 to 800 have 
 been annually admitted during the last twenty years. At 
 the commencement of 1847, with accommodations for but 
 200 patients, nearly four hundred were crowded into the Asy- 
 lum, destroying all plans of classification, and proving a 
 source of constant irritation to each other. In no period in 
 the history of this Institution, have the accommodations been 
 fully adequate to the wants of this large and ever-increasing 
 class of sufferers. The Commissioners have never been en- 
 couraged nor allowed to increase the accommodations, untL 
 the over-crowding of the Institution has made it a matter of 
 positive necessity. And it is an anomalous fact, that while 
 every benevolent heart has throbbed over the woes of the 
 aged, the crippled, the orphan, the dumb, and the blind, al- 
 most nothing has been attempted in the line of private charity 
 for the relief of the insane, ten or fifteen hundred of whom 
 now evidently exist in the county of New York, beyond what 
 can be properly treated in existing Institutions. 
 
 A larger percentage of those admitted would have doubt- 
 less recovered if suitable space had been provided. The 
 sensibilities of an insane patient are generally extremely acute, 
 and the will often intensely perverse. His future character, 
 even if incurable, depends largely on the treatment he 
 receives during the first few months of his insanity. Harsh 
 treatment, or excessive annoyance occasioned by discomforts, 
 usually render him noisy and intractable ; while pleasant 
 surroundings, with government which wisely blends firmness 
 and gentleness, exert a soothing and healthful influence upon 
 him. Comparative solitude is often desirable, and essential to 
 the recovery of a patient ; but this is unknown in a crowded 
 institution. The blame of failure can neither be charged 
 upon physicians nor Commissioners, until adequate means are 
 granted, thus securing accommodations and appliances for 
 the successful conduct of an Institution. In their report of 
 
NEW YOKE CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM. 547 
 
 1868, the Commissioners presented a detailed statement of 
 the capacity of the buildings constituting the Lunatic Asy- 
 lum. This was stated to be sufficient for 576 patients, but 
 no less than 1,035 were in custody at that time, and the year 
 1869 closed with 1,181, of whom 150 were lodged in the 
 "Workhouse. Having received the requisite authority from 
 the Legislature, the Commissioners have just completed the 
 erection of a new Asylum building on Ward's Island, a few 
 hundred yards west of the Inebriate Asylum. The edifice, a 
 three-story English Gothic, with Mansard roof, was constructed 
 of brick and Ohio free-stone. The central section and two 
 wings present an imposing front of 475 feet, with accommo- 
 dations for 500 patients. It has cost in its erection $842,000. 
 This building, which may still be indefinitely enlarged, con- 
 tains every improvement yet devised for the safety and com- 
 fort of the insane, and will no doubt be a credit to the 
 metropolis. But as over 1,300 patients were committed to 
 the care of the Commissioners during 1870, they still need 
 another Institution. In the early history of the Asylum, 
 convicts from the Penitentiary were largely employed in 
 taking charge of the lunatics. A violent prejudice naturally 
 arose against this class of nurses, both among the patients 
 and their friends, which very seriously detracted from the 
 success of the Institution. It was difficult convincing the 
 insane that they were not in prison when constantly sur- 
 rounded by convicts. But it was found that for the restora- 
 tion of reason, the ministries of persons eminent for their in- 
 telligence and goodness were required, and not of those whose 
 whole career had shown an abandonment of the very quality 
 they were now employed to restore. In 1849, the power to 
 appoint -and remove attendants was vested in the physician, 
 from which period there has been a steady advancement in 
 the management of the Institution. In 1850, a night watch- 
 man was appointed ; the Croton water was introduced ; 
 knives and forks, and various other articles of comfort were 
 supplied in the halls ; and hired attendants substituted for 
 convicts in most of the departments. The halls were many 
 years without lights, and the inmates compelled to retire early 
 or spend their evenings in the dark ; but in 1868, oil lamps 
 were introduced, which have since been displaced by gas 
 fixtures, marking an important change in the history of the 
 Institution. In the early years of the Asylum scurvy fre- 
 quently prevailed, adding greatly to the mortality of the 
 
 35 
 
548 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 in mates. "With the abundant supply of fresh vegetables and 
 other dietary and sanitary regulations, this form of disease has 
 now almost entirely disappeared. During 1868, eight deaths 
 occurred from scorbutic difficulties, and in 1869 but one. 
 
 The rate of mortality in 1847 amounted to 19 percent.; in 
 1848 to 13 per cent.; in 1849 cholera prevailed in the Insti- 
 tution, and over 23 per cent, of the inmates died. In 1868, 
 the death rate was 8£ per cent., and in 1869, but 7 per cent. 
 In the autumn of 1864, typhus fever appeared in the Asylum, 
 which caused the death of the chief physician, and of many 
 subordinate officers and some of the inmates. The number 
 of recoveries are usually reported in Institutions of this kind, 
 though it is a matter very difficult to correctly ascertain. Of 
 the 905 treated during 1852, 208 were discharged " recov- 
 ered," 90 " improved," and ten " unimproved." The number 
 reported " cured " amounted at that time to 23 per cent, of 
 the number under treatment. In 1868 the cured amounted 
 to 31-J per cent, of all under treatment, and in 1869 to 27 
 per cent. The smaller percentage of cases during the last 
 year was caused by the over-crowding of the Asylum, and the 
 necessity of dismissing many as " improved " who would soon 
 have been pronounced " cured," if space had allowed them 
 to remain. 
 
 A very large proportion of those admitted into the Institu- 
 tion are in a diseased or debilitated condition. Some have 
 organic diseases of the lungs, others are epileptic, or an- 
 semic. As they are usually unwilling to submit to thorough 
 examination and treatment, the acumen and skill of the med- 
 ical attendants are often severely taxed. Careful medical 
 treatment is administered in all such cases, and a history of 
 the treatment of each case written in a book and preserved. 
 But having counteracted with medicine manifest physical 
 disease, the treatment becomes simply moral. The patients 
 are classified according to the nature of their disease and 
 their susceptibilities. Appropriate employment is provided 
 for those who have sufficient strength, and can be induced to 
 labor with their hands, mental toil for others, and sufficient 
 recreation and sources of amusement for all. A large 
 amount of labor is annually performed by these persons. 
 The men toil at building sea-wall, assist in the erection of 
 buildings, follow their respective trades in the shops, and are 
 made generally useful around the grounds. The women are 
 no less useful. The report of the matron shows that during 
 
NEW YOKK CITY LUNATIC ASYLUM. 
 
 549 
 
 1869, 5,561 articles of bedding and clothing were made by 
 them, and 3,208 articles repaired. Some work at embroidery, 
 and in the preparation of fancy articles for the benefit of the 
 " Amusement Fund " of the Institution. Some sort of gen- 
 eral amusement is now provided once each week to which 
 the more orderly class are invited. These consist of stereo- 
 scopic views, readings, lectures, and musical entertainments. 
 Concerts of sacred and secular music are often held. Books 
 and the periodicals of the day are furnished to those who 
 have any inclination to read. Some volumes are worn out 
 with constant reading. But the most acceptable amusement 
 to the great mass of patients is said to be dancing. A num- 
 ber of those most likely to be benefited by the exercise are 
 assembled weekly in the gymnasium, and spend the evening 
 dancing, which appears to be enjoyed by those who look on 
 as much as by those who participate. The holidays are 
 made seasons of rich and varied entertainment to those suffi- 
 ciently quiet and thoughtful to enjoy them. 
 
 While the different forms of insanity present a subject of 
 profoundest study, the various and often changing halluci- 
 nations, coupled with the freaks and idiosyncrasies of the 
 individual sufferers, afford matters of lively amusement. On 
 the return of reason, some awake as from a Hip Yan Winkle 
 sleep, to finish the conversation or complete the task that 
 occupied them many years before, when they were plunged 
 into insanity. Some during their mental disorders are trans- 
 ported to higher planes of thought, and are gifted with a 
 power of conception, and a skillfulness of utterance, hitherto 
 unknown. 
 
 They declaim with great ability on profound subjects, and 
 quote from memory whole chapters of standard works, which 
 had been long forgotten. In this state of mind they compose 
 poetry, and various other contributions for the press. The 
 most amusing freaks occur among those suffering under 
 what is termed perfect mania. With these all power of 
 correct reasoning is suspended — one hallucination possessing 
 the whole mind, though a hundred arguments lie all around 
 to convince to the contrary. Dr. Rush mentions a man who 
 persisted that he had a Caff re in his stomach, who had got 
 into it at the Cape of Good Hope, and all the world could not 
 convince him to the contrary, maniac during the French 
 Revolution insisted that he had been guillotined — that after 
 his execution the judges had ordered him restored, and that 
 
550 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tho clumsy executioner had placed the wrong head on him / 
 which he had worn ever since. We saw a tine looking man 
 at this Asylum who believed himself Jesus Christ, and was 
 ingeniously inventing a language to address the world. 
 Some believe themselves kings, queens, or angels : to be the 
 Father of Light, the queen of heaven, the Virgin Mary, or the 
 sister of Jesus. Inflated with such lofty conceptions they not 
 infrequently remain speechless for months, counting it a dis- 
 grace to stoop to common mortals. "We heard a friend describe 
 an insane lady who for many months fancied herself a china 
 teapot. She would sit for hours each day with her left hand 
 resting on her hip, the arm bowed a little behind her to 
 represent the handle, while the right arm she held upward in 
 the opposite direction, to represent the spout. During all those 
 weary months she suffered indescribable fear, lest some un- 
 wieldy foot should kick her over and she be broken to pieces. 
 
 As in the Almshouse and Penitentiary, most of the inmates 
 are of foreign blood. Of the 680 admitted in 1869, only 
 157 were born in the United States, 308 came from Ireland, 
 156 from Germany, and 17 from England. Of the same 
 class we notice that 375 were Roman Catholics, 206 Protes- 
 tants, 27 Jews ; the faith of the remaining 72 was unknown. 
 Of these 284 were married, 267 single, and 46 widows. 
 Of the 680 admitted 298 were males, and 382 females. 210 
 were between the ages of thirty and forty, 184 between 
 twenty and thirty, 129 between forty and fifty, 30 were under 
 twenty and 9 over seventy years of age. 
 
 The net expenditures of the Institution during 1869 were 
 §128,780.59 or a trifle more than twenty-eight cents 
 per day for each inmate. The expenses of 1870 exceeded 
 $152,278.75. 
 
 The medical board is composed of cultivated physicians 
 who with the accommodations now provided are certain to 
 make the Asylum take rank among the noblest public chari- 
 ties of the world. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INSTITUTIONS OF WARD'S ISLAND. 
 COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners of Emigration consisting of 
 six citizens of the State of New York, appointed by the Gov- 
 ernor with the consent of the Senate, to which are added 
 as ex-officio members, the Mayors of New York and Brooklyn, 
 the Presidents of the German Society and of the Irish Emi- 
 grant Society, w T as first organized May 5th, 1847. The Legis- 
 lature has at different times enlarged and modified its powers. 
 
 The Commissioners are charged with the reception of all 
 immigrants landing at New York, their protection from 
 swindlers, and also the protection of the State from financial 
 burdens in consequence of their arrival. 
 
 The Act of April 11th, 1848, requires each member of the 
 Commission to annually depose before a proper magistrate 
 that he has not directly or indirectly been interested in the 
 
552 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 business of boarding immigrants, or in their transportation to 
 any part of the country, that he has received no profit or ad- 
 vantage through the purchase of supplies, granting of con- 
 tracts, licenses, or privileges, the employment of officers, 
 agents, etc. Hence the Commissioners not only serve with- 
 out salary, but are so hemmed in by legislation that no out- 
 side " advantage " can be secured without perjury. 
 
 In 1S55, the Commissioners leased Castle Garden, for the 
 general landing depot of immigrants. This occupies the 
 extreme southern point of Manhattan Island. 
 
 In May, 1807, this site was by the city ceded to the United 
 States government for the erection of a fortification, but after 
 the " Battery " had been erected, it was found that the 
 foundations were not sufficiently strong for heavy ordnance, 
 and it was reconveyed to the Corporation by Act of Congress 
 passed March 30th, 1822. The building was subsequently 
 used for the public reception of distinguished strangers, and 
 for concerts, operas, public meetings, the annual fairs of the 
 American Institute, and similar purposes, until leased by the 
 Commission. The total number of passengers landed at 
 New York during the year 1872 amounted to 339,452, of 
 whom 44,871 were citizens, and 294,581 aliens. Of these 
 292.933 stepped on shore at Castle Garden. The arrivals 
 during 1870 were considerably less, in consequence of the 
 European war, amounting to 255,485, of whom 72,356 were 
 from Germany, 65,168 from Ireland, and 33,340 from Eng- 
 land. Over five-sevenths of all the immigrants entering the 
 country land at New York. On the arrival of a vessel con- 
 taining immigrants at the Quarantine Station (six miles 
 below the city), it is visited by an ^officer of the Boarding 
 Department, who ascertains the number of passengers, the 
 deaths if any during the voyage, the amount and character of 
 the sickness on board, the condition of the vessel in respect 
 to cleanliness, etc. He also receives complaints, of which he 
 makes report to the General Agent and Superintendent at 
 Castle Garden. This officer remains on board the ship 
 din ing her passage up the Bay, to see that, the law prohibiting 
 communication between ship and shore before immigrant 
 passengers are landed ia enforced. On casting anchor con- 
 venient to the landing depot he is relieved by an officer of the 
 Metropolitan Police force, and the passengers are transferred 
 to the Landing Department. The Landing Agent, accom- 
 panied by an Inspector of Customs, next proceeds to the 
 
COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION. 
 
 553 
 
 vessel, where the baggage is examined, checked, and with 
 the passengers transferred by barges to the Castle Garden 
 pier. 
 
 Here the passengers undergo another thorough examination 
 by a medical officer, to see if any have escaped the notice of 
 the Health authorities at Quarantine, and if so, they are 
 immediately transferred by a steamer to the Hospitals on 
 Ward's or BlackwelPs Island. 
 
 He also selects all blind persons, cripples, lunatics, or 
 others likely to become a future charge, and who by law 
 are subject to special bonds. 
 
 After this examination is passed, the immigrants are con- 
 ducted to the Rotunda, a large roofed circular space in the 
 centre of the Depot, with separate compartments for the dif- 
 ferent nationalities. Here the name, nationality, former 
 place of residence, and intended destination of each, with 
 other particulars, are taken down. 
 
 Agents of the railroads are admitted, from whom tickets 
 are procured to all parts of the country, also exchange 
 brokers, who buy their foreign money. Boarding-house 
 keepers of good character and licensed by the Mayor, are ad- 
 mitted to the Rotunda. All these persons are under the 
 scrutiny of the Commission, rendering extortion nearly im- 
 possible. The depot also contains a telegraph office, by 
 which the immigrant on landing can communicate with his 
 friends in any part of the country without leaving the build- 
 ing; also a letter-writing department, with clerks under- 
 standing the different continental languages, who assist 
 them in conducting their correspondence. A Labor Ex- 
 change bureau has recently been added, which during the 
 year 1872 furnished employment to 32,592 immigrants free of 
 charge. From registered entries made in 1869, of the 
 avowed destination of immigrants, the following is a summary : 
 85,810 reported their intended destination to be the State of 
 New York ; 40,236 to be Pennsylvania and New Jersey ; 
 15,613 to be New England ; 10,061 to be the Southern States ; 
 96,646 to be Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, 
 Iowa, Minnesota, and California; and 8,822 to be Kansas, 
 Nebraska, Canada, &c The alien immigration during 1872 
 was 64,942 in excess of the previous year, and much 
 greater than the average of several former years. In regard 
 to the nationality of these arrivals, Germany, Ireland, and 
 England show the same pre-eminence and in the same rela- 
 
554 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 tive order that they have since 1865, the first named having 
 sent, of the number landed in 1869, 99,604, Ireland 66,204, 
 and England 41,090, while all other countries contributed 
 52,090. 
 
 Arrangements were early made to establish an Emigrant 
 Fund, to provide for sick and destitute emigrants until they 
 should be able to support themselves, and by their industry 
 add to the general prosperity of the country. A capitation 
 tax of two dollars is now collected of each and all landing 
 by the Commissioners, one-fifth of which they are required 
 to set apart as a separate fund, for the benefit of each and 
 every county in the State, except the County of New York, 
 to be divided once in three months among them according 
 to their claims for the relief of disabled immigrants, the re- 
 mainder to be used by the Commissioners in the construc- 
 tion and improvement of their buildings and grounds. On 
 the 25th of May, 1847, the Commissioners leased three large 
 buildings near Astoria, formerly occupied as the juvenile 
 branch of the Almshouse department of New York, for a 
 fever hospital and other purposes, but the inhabitants, in- 
 censed at the project, assembled in disguise and destroyed the 
 premises on the following evening. In the following De- 
 cember, a portion of Ward's Island was leased, and subse- 
 quently one hundred and twenty-one acres of it were pur- 
 chased, with the whole of the water front toward New York 
 City. A hand ferry connects the island with New York at 
 One Hundred and Tenth street. About twenty different 
 structures have been from time to time erected. The Yer- 
 planck State Hospital is the chief building of interest in the 
 group. It is constructed of brick, on an approved modern 
 plan, and consists of a corridor 450 feet in length and two 
 stories high, from which project five wings, 130 feet long and 
 25 wide, each two stories high except the central, which is 
 three stories. This building is used exclusively for patients 
 suffering with non-contagious diseases, and surgical cases. 
 The corridors afford ample room for ths exercise of conva- 
 lescent patients. The corners of each wing are surmounted 
 with towers containing tanks for water, which is distributed 
 to the bath-rooms and closets attached to each ward. Pro- 
 jecting from the corridor, in an opposite direction from the 
 wings, is a fire-proof building which contains three boilers 
 and the engine. A large fan, 14 feet in diameter, drives 
 the hot air through 00,000 feet of pipe to all the departments 
 
COMMISSIONERS OF EMIGRATION. 
 
 555 
 
 of the Hospital, and the same power secures a cool current 
 through all the sultry season. Adjoining is the cook-room 
 with eighteen steam kettles and ranges, where the cooking 
 for all the buildings is done. Above is the bakery with four 
 ovens, with a capacity each of 300 loaves of bread, also the 
 wash-room with sixty-three tubs, and machinery for washing 
 and wringing the clothing. This Hospital has accommoda- 
 tions for 350 patients, and often affords sleeping accommo- 
 dations for the Refuge inmates. 
 
 The Refuge is a brick building three stories, with base- 
 ment and three wings, and has accommodations for 450 per- 
 sons. The first floor contains the steward's department, with 
 store for Island supplies, matron's room, cutting-rooms, and 
 sleeping departments. The upper floors are devoted to dor- 
 mitories. This building is devoted, as its name indicates, 
 to destitute cases, chiefly healthy women and advanced chil- 
 dren. 
 
 The Nursery, or Home of the Children, is a three- story 
 frame building with Mansard roof, 120 by 90 feet. In the 
 basement are the dining, play, and bath-rooms. The first 
 floor contains the matron's and the sleeping-rooms. On the 
 second are the school-rooms, with every convenience. Their 
 instruction is conducted by teachers supplied by the New 
 York Board of Education. On the third floor is the Roman 
 Catholic Chapel and its ante-rooms, dedicated in 1868, by 
 Archbishop McClosky, assisted by a number of his clergy, in 
 the presence of the Commissioners and other distinguished 
 persons. It is a neat and commodious room with seating for 
 500 persons. A new Chapel has since been erected. 
 
 The Protestant Chapel occupies the second floor of a sepa- 
 rate brick building, 25 by 125 feet, and in design and finish 
 corresponds with the Catholic Chapel. Connected with it is 
 a reading-room supplied with a large number of periodicals. 
 The first floor of the edifice is used as a medical ward for 
 women, and will accommodate forty-five patients. 
 
 The New Barracks consists of a plain brick edifice, with 
 three stories and basement, with rear projection for boiler- 
 rooms, bath-rooms, etc. The building is 160 feet by 44, is 
 heated with steam, and contains berths for 450 persons. The 
 dining-hall is a separate edifice, 50 feet by 125, with tables for 
 the accommodation of 1,200 persons at one time. 
 
 A three-story and basement brick, 25 by 125 feet, Is the 
 Lunatic Asylum. This is under the direction of the physi- 
 
556 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 cian-in-chief, and by him regularly attended. During 1872 
 there were 347 of this class under treatment, of whom 102 
 were discharged cured or improved ; 49, whose term had ex- 
 pired, were transferred to the BlackwelPs Island Lunatic 
 Asylum, 31 to other wards for other maladies, and 20 died. 
 At this writing it contains 86 insane women, and 80 men, 
 one half of whom are Irish ; and the others represent nearly 
 all the countries of Europe. The old building was entirely 
 insufficient for the accommodation of this large and rapidly 
 increasing class, and the Commissioners have this year com- 
 pleted the erection of a large and commodious Asylum. 
 
 Besides numerous other buildings, which we have not space 
 to describe, we may simply state that the residences of the 
 physicians, superintendent, and his deputy are all ample and 
 well-furnished, in keeping with their wants and responsibili- 
 ties. 
 
 Immigrants having paid their commutation fee are allowed 
 to return, in all cases of sickness or destitution, for five years, 
 and share without charge the treatment of the Hospital, and 
 the comforts of the other Institutions. The farm is culti- 
 vated with this emigrant help, and as many as possible are 
 made useful on the premises. The buildings form a village, 
 surrounded with sloping lawns, fruit and shade trees, gardens 
 and fields of high cultivation. In pleasant weather women 
 and girls may be seen sitting in groups of fifties in the shade 
 of the buildings. A Catholic and a Protestant chaplain hold 
 stated services attended by their respective adherents. 
 
 About fourteen thousand are annually cared for on the 
 Island, the average family amounting to about twelve or four- 
 teen hundred. As might be expected, the magnificence of 
 this princely system is often imposed upon, both by the 
 spendthrift and the miserly immigrant, who returns too fre- 
 quently to be clothed and boarded through the winter season 
 at the Refuge. Appropriate legislation only can check this 
 growing abuse. "We turn from the review of this interesting 
 subject, feeling that the ample reception provided for our 
 alien brethren is sufficiently worthy of our times, and of the 
 great city and State whence it emanates. 
 
THE NEW YORK INEBRIATE ASYLUM. 
 
 f ^NTEMPERANCE has been for ages the withering 
 J3f curse of the race in nearly every part of this world. It 
 S ffik has feasted alike upon the innocency of childhood, the 
 ^slKJ beauty of youth, the amiableness of woman, the talents 
 of the great, and the experience of age. It has disgraced the 
 palace and crown of the prince, the ermiue of the judge, the 
 sword of the chieftain, and the miter of the priest. The 
 temperance reform, commeuced nearly fifty years ago, has 
 awakened the public conscience, exposed these frightful dan- 
 gers, and called into existence a multitude of agencies seeking 
 in various ways the removal of this deadly plague. But 
 though multitudes have been saved, the great sea of intem- 
 perance has been in no sense diminished, while the adultera- 
 tion and drugging of ardent spirits in our day have greatly 
 intensified the horrors of dissipation. Intemperance is a dis- 
 ease often inherited from ancestors, and otherwise contracted 
 through the criminal indulgence and perversion of the appe- 
 tites. The habitual drunkard is a wreck, as completely as the 
 idiot or the maniac, and merits confinement and treatment. 
 Drunkenness, like insanity, yields promptly to treatment in 
 its early stages, but after long indulgence becomes well-nigh 
 incurable. During the last quarter of a century, many 
 humane and thoughtf ul persons, appalled with the havoc of 
 this gigantic evil, have inquired anxiously for some system of 
 treatment by which the recovery of the inebriate might be 
 secured. In 1854, the New York Legislature chartered the 
 State Inebriate Asylum, which was located on a large farm at 
 Binghamton, and has become, through able management, a 
 great and successful institution. One has since sprung up on 
 the Pacific slope, and others in different parts of the country. 
 In their annual report of 1862, the Commissioners of Chari- 
 ties and Corrections recommended to the Legislature the 
 establishment cf a similar institution in this city. As no 
 action was taken by that body in relation to it, the Commis- 
 sioners, in their report of 1863, renewed the subject with 
 great earnestness and ability. In these appeals they showed 
 that multitudes of persons went from the dram-shop to the 
 police-station, and from the police courts to the Workhouse, 
 
558 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 from whence, after a short stay, they returned to the dram- 
 shop, to run the same round over and over again for years, 
 until they at length died on their hands as paupers or crimi- 
 nals, and were laid in the Potter's Field. In 1864, the Legisla- 
 ture passed an act authorizing its establishment, and the 
 Asylum was begun in 1866. The building stands on the east 
 side of Ward's Island, on an elevated and beautiful site, which 
 could scarcely be excelled. It was at first proposed to limit 
 the size of the edifice to the accommodation of 150 inmates, 
 but in view of the necessary outlay for the heating, lighting, 
 washing, and cooking apparatus, it was finally decided to add 
 two wings to the main structure, and thus provide accommoda- 
 tions for 400 patients. The Asylum is a three-story brick, 
 with a front of 474 feet and a depth of 50 feet, and cost, in 
 its original construction, exclusive of furniture, $332,377.08. 
 It is one of our best public buildings, and was erected for a 
 noble purpose. Croton water is conducted to it through an 
 iron pipe six inches in diameter, laid on the bed of the East 
 River from One Hundred and Fourteenth street, which 
 empties into a reservoir ten feet deep, and one hundred feet 
 in diameter. 
 
 On the 21st of July, 1868, the Asylum was formally opened 
 to the public, with appropriate services, and on the 31st of 
 December the resident physician reported 339 admissions. 
 During 1869, 1,490 were received, and during 1870, 1,270 
 more were admitted. The inmates are divided into several 
 classes. The larger number thus far admitted have been 
 transferred from the Workhouse, or some of the other institu- 
 tions, and have returned to their vices, for the most part, as 
 soon as their terms of commitment have closed. There are 
 also three classes of pay patients — one class paying five, 
 another ten, another twelve or more dollars per week — which 
 are furnished with rooms and board corresponding in style 
 with the price paid. Of the 339 admitted during the first six 
 months, but 52 were pay patients ; of the 1,490 in 1869, but 147 
 contributed anything toward their support ; and of the 1,270 
 admitted during the year just closed, but 165 were pay pa- 
 tients, 30 of them being females. The rules of the Institu- 
 tion were at first exceedingly mild, the patients were relieved 
 from all irksome restraints, paroles very liberally granted, 
 and every inmate supposed intent on reformation. • But this 
 excessive kinduess was subject to such continual abuse, that 
 
THE NEW YORK INEBRIATE ASYLUM. 
 
 559 
 
 to save the Institution from utter demoralization a stricter 
 discipline was very properly introduced. 
 
 The Asylum is furnished with an excellent library of solid 
 standard volumes, with billiard-room, and other forms of 
 amusement. It has an immense chapel, in which divine ser- 
 vice is regularly conducted. As the inebriate patients have 
 not filled the building, the Commissioners have temporarily 
 assigned the eastern wing to a class of disabled, indigent sol- 
 diers, citizens of New York, who are organized into squads, 
 and perform such light labor as their wounds and infirmities 
 will permit. 
 
 Of the success of the New York Inebriate Asylum, it is 
 perhaps too early to speak. We could but notice, however, 
 the great disparity between the faith of the Commissioners, 
 in their appeals to the Legislature in 1862-63, for authority 
 to found an asylum, and their report of the same Institution 
 in 1869, when they " deemed it their duty to thus frankly 
 state their views, that the streams of public beneficence be not 
 unduly diverted from objects of great and permanent utility to 
 those the benefits of which, in their opinion, are largely facti- 
 tious and imaginary." The resident physician, in his very 
 thoughtful and carefully prepared report of the same year, de- 
 clared his entire loss of faith in the " voluntary system" gen- 
 erally adopted in these asylums, and introduced at the opening 
 of the Institution on Ward's Island. Still, the undertaldng is 
 too important to suppose these gentlemen likely to relinquish 
 their endeavors, or to admit the possibility of ultimate failure. 
 This entire scheme for reforming the inebriate is yet in its 
 early infancy, and must, like every other system, meet with 
 much baffiing and difficulty. We think a stricter discipline, 
 and more positive self-denial and rigor, would be an improve- 
 ment in every inebriate asylum. Children who grow up 
 under wise but positive laws exhibit more self-control and 
 self-denial all through life, than those who have lived under 
 the voluntary system. Inebriates for the most part have 
 grown up without restraint, the principles of which they must 
 somewhere master, before they can attain to real manhood, 
 and without which they must forever remain in their sunken, 
 enslaved, and demented condition. And while we regard 
 facilities for amusement and pleasure desirable in an institu- 
 tion, we still believe labor immensely more likely to contrib- 
 ute to one's reformation ; and the more one has been addicted 
 to softness and pleasure, in consequence of his wealth, the 
 
560 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 greater the necessity for arduous exercise, which shall harden 
 his muscles, invigorate his intellect, and strengthen his will. 
 Reformation, when one has been long and wofully corrupted, 
 is not a holiday recreation, but a manly and deadly struggle, 
 taxing to the utmost the finest faculties of the soul, tittle 
 can be expected from young men of wealth, who, while they 
 voluntarily shut themselves for a time from the intoxicating 
 bowl, live at ease, indulging every other appetite. Their 
 reformation is not sufficiently deep and general to resist the 
 shock of subsequent temptation. And no more can be hoped 
 for those who enter an asylum simply to gratify the wishes of 
 friends. These belong to that class who will also enter a 
 billiard saloon and a beer garden when invited by an old 
 companion. Still less can be expected from those floating 
 human wrecks on the sea of life that drift once a month into 
 the Workhouse, for their lewdness and habitual dissipation. 
 Coming from the most abandoned classes in the community, 
 utterly improvident and reckless, their involuntary abstinence 
 for a brief period is likely to be followed by deeper dissipa- 
 tion when opportunity offers. The New York Inebriate Asy- 
 lum is not to be judged from its fruit in the treatment of 
 these. To rescue many of them requires a miracle as great 
 as the raising of Lazarus. 
 
 It is conceded that there is no medicine which acts specifi- 
 cally in drunkenness. The physician can only assist nature 
 in its work of repairing, by slow processes, the ravages dissi- 
 pation has made in the system. The appetite must be con- 
 quered by voluntary abstinence, which is greatly assisted by 
 good society, means of culture, toil, and prayer. The treat- 
 ment in an institution of this kind is eminently moral, hence 
 too much pains can hardly be taken in the selection of its offi- 
 cers. The superintendent, physician, and chaplain are not 
 dealing largely with matters of physical science, but with the 
 perverseness of the human mind, requiring, besides a knowl- 
 edge of the strange contradictions of human nature, a magnetic 
 influence calculated to attract and mold. The success of an 
 institution depends more upon the men to whom its manage- 
 ment is committed than upon the technicalities of the system 
 adopted within its walls, its convenience, or its location. 
 
 The principles, practices, and spirit of a genuine heart-piety, 
 more than any or all other things combined, give success to 
 an inebriate asylum; and we have known few examples of 
 genuine reformation among inebriates, without amoral regen- 
 
THE NEW YORK INEBRIATE ASYLUM. 
 
 561 
 
 eration. A change of life is difficult without a change of 
 heart, but with this it becomes comparatively easy. Change 
 the fountain, and the bitter water will cease to flow. 
 
 We are thankful that the attention of thoughtful men 
 throughout the civilized world is being concentrated on this 
 great problem: how to successfully treat and reform the 
 inebriate. It is, indeed, a vital question, involving the hap- 
 piness of the individual and the family, the wealth of the 
 community and the strength of the State. A system based 
 on truly scientific and moral principles will certainly be 
 evolved sooner or later, and we trust that at no distant day 
 the New York Inebriate Asylum will rank among the best of 
 its kind in the world. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INSTITUTIONS OF RANDALL'S ISLAND. 
 
 THE NEW YORK NURSERIES. 
 (BandaWs Island.) 
 
 r3Eg4 AND ALL'S ISLAND takes its name from Jona- 
 \]&J$& than Randall, who purchased it in 1784, and made it 
 ;&- v f his home for nearly fifty years. Beginning opposite 
 
 ^ One Hundred and Fifteenth street, and extending 
 northward to near the Westchester line, it forms the last of 
 that group of beautiful islands that adorns the East river, 
 and from the uses to which they have been appropriated, 
 form a sort of moral rampart to the great metropolis. 
 Originally, like all its sister islands, it appeared like one of 
 nature's failures, its surface being so largely covered with 
 malarious swamps, and surmounted w T ith hills of granite. It 
 was transferred to the city of New York, in 1835, for the sum 
 of $50,000. The sites for the present buildings, with their 
 handsomely arranged grounds and charming gardens, have 
 been prepared at the unavoidable outlay of vast sums. About 
 thirty acres of the southern portion are under the control of 
 the " Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents," 
 and occupied by the House of Refuge, while the northern, 
 and much larger portion, is controlled exclusively by the 
 " Commissioners of Charities and Corrections," who have 
 here located what they denominate the " Nurseries." Thess 
 form the juvenile branch of the Almshouse department, the 
 adults, except such as assist in taking care of the children, 
 being provided for and retained on Blackwell's Island. 
 
 The Nurseries consist of three departments, viz. : The build- 
 ings for the healthy children, the Infant Hospital, and the 
 Idiot Asylum. There are six large buildings for the healthy 
 children, several hundred feet apart, grouped together, though 
 arranged on no special plan, near the centre of the island. 
 They aiv constructed of brick, three stories high, some of 
 which are furnished with outside corridors, are well arranged 
 
THE NEW YOEK NUESEETES. 
 
 563 
 
 and kept in a very tidy and inviting condition. An assistant 
 matron is placed in charge of each of these buildings, the 
 whole being presided over by a warden and matron. A 
 separate building contains the machinery for the washing, 
 drying, etc. The inmates of these buildings are children 
 over four 3-ears of age, abandoned by their parents, and taken 
 by the police from the public streets, and children whose 
 parents for the time are unable to support them. On arriving 
 at the island they are placed in quarantine for several days, 
 to guard against the spread of contagious diseases, where they 
 are examined daily by a physician. If diseased they are sent 
 to the hospital; if not they are distributed according to their 
 age and sex among the other buildings. It is the aim of the 
 Commissioners to make the Nurseries places of but temporary 
 sojourn, and to cause their distribution among families as 
 early as practicable. To this end parents are notified that no 
 child may claim to be retained longer than three months 
 unless its board be paid. If not reclaimed by their friends 
 at the expiration of that time, the Superintendent of Out- 
 Door Poor may apprentice such as are of proper age, or, if 
 too young, adopt them iuto families willing to take, and able 
 to support and educate them. This wise regulation prevents 
 the overcrowding of the buildings, and avoids the evils inci- 
 - dent to massing large numbers of children together through 
 those tender years when the habits of life are being formed. 
 No child in full possession of its faculties is retained after it 
 completes its sixteenth year. The grounds adjourning the 
 buildings are ample, which at certain hours are made vocal 
 by the white-aproned boys who trip and frolic with infinite 
 merriment. Their diet is ample and nutritious, comprising a 
 greater variety than is common in public institutions. The 
 children wdiile here receive the same instruction imparted to 
 those of a similar age in the city, teachers being supplied by 
 riie Nev York Board of Public Instruction. The numbers 
 annually admitted to the Nurseries vary from 1,800 to 3,000, 
 according to the severity of the season. A large farm 
 stretches over the northern portion of the Island, cultivated 
 mainly by men detailed from the Workhouse and Peniten- 
 tiary, and which affords most of the vegetables for the Nur- 
 series. 
 
 36 
 
THE INFANT HOSPITAL. 
 
 ^gBOR many years the practice of sending foundlings 
 jp^E and other infants committed to the Department to 
 ^jpg? the Almshouse prevailed, where they were placed in 
 charge of the female inmates. The records show that 
 the mortality of this unfortunate class during this period 
 amounted to the appalling figure of eighty-five or ninety per 
 cent., and it is even believed that excepting the few adopted 
 none survived the first year. In 1866, the Commissioners 
 appointed a matron, and employed paid nurses to take ex- 
 clusive charge of the infants, and although the mortality 
 continued large there was a manifest change for the better. 
 The next year wet nurses were transferred from the general 
 hospitals to nourish them. Life by this means was so pro- 
 longed, and the number so increased that it became necessary 
 to convert several wards of the Almshouse into nurseries, 
 and on the completion of the Inebriate Asylum, the infants 
 were temporarily transferred to that building. The necessity 
 of providing a large and well-arranged hospital, devoted 
 wholly to this class, had long been felt. Such an edifice was 
 begun in 1868, and a portion of it was made ready for the re- 
 ception of the nurses and children on the 9th of August, 1869. 
 The building stands on the western side of Randall's Island, 
 facing northward, is constructed of brick and stone, in the 
 most approved style of modern hospital architecture. 
 
 The plan consists of a long, three-story pavilion, with three 
 large traverse sections, the eastern one not yet having been 
 erected. The offices and private apartments for the physi- 
 cians are located in the northern portion of the central trav- 
 erse section, the latter being well arranged on the second 
 floor. The edifice was erected under the supervision of the 
 Medical Board, and contains every facility for light, heat, 
 and ventilation. It is at present divided into eighteen wards, 
 and has accommodations for 153 adults and 217 children, 
 though 260 of the latter class have already been under treat- 
 ment in it at one time. The completion of the section yet to 
 be added will greatly increase the accommodations. Chil- 
 dren are taken as foundlings, orphans, and are often attended 
 by their indigent mothers. They are divided into three 
 
THE INFANT HOSPITAL. 
 
 565 
 
 classes : the " wee nursed," the " bottle-fed," and the " walk- 
 ing-children." Unless reclaimed by their parents, they 
 continue in the Hospital until two or three years old, when 
 they are placed in a nursery where one nurse can take charge 
 and instruct ten or twelve of them. As many wet-nurses as 
 possible are obtained, though the supply is never equal to the 
 demand. 1,516 infants were under treatment during the 
 year closing January 1, 1S70, 710 of whom died. Since 
 entering the new Hospital, the rate of mortality has been 
 greatly lessened. During the five months of 1868 (from 
 August to December inclusive), 883 deaths occurred, or 21.10 
 per cent, per month of the inmates. During the same period 
 in 1869, 156 died, or 10.07 per cent, of the inmates, a de- 
 crease of over one-half. The statistics of mortality during 
 the whole year of 1870 were 58.90 per cent, of all found- 
 lings received, and 15.06 of those received with their mothers. 
 The chief physician, Dr. Dunster, believes that the annual 
 mortality will be further reduced by the full development of 
 the plans of the Commissioners. It is doubtful whether any 
 better place for foundlings will be provided among the char- 
 ities of New York. 
 
 The nursery population has several times been sadly over- 
 taken with epidemics, now believed to have resulted, at least 
 in part, from an inadequate supply of good water. This evil 
 has now been obviated by the laying of more pipe, affording 
 an abundant supply of pure Croton. The engine-house, con- 
 taining, besides the heating and ventilating apparatus for the 
 Hospital, the washing and drying apartments, is situated at 
 some distance from the main building. A gas-house for the 
 manufacture and supply of this illuminating agent to all 
 the buildings stands in the rear of the engine-house. The 
 grounds, which slope gracefully to the river, adorned with a 
 row of chestnut, hickory, and oak trees, are being nicely 
 graded, and will, no doubt, in time be highly ornamental. 
 The roads and walks are being built in the most substantial 
 manner, on stone foundations, varying from one to two feet 
 in thickness, and macadamized. 
 
THE IDIOT ASYLUM. 
 
 ^gjpHIS is, after all, the most curious and interesting In- 
 ^O^r stitution under the control of the Commissioners. 
 Idiocy has existed in all ages and countries, but no 
 effort appears to have been made for the improve- 
 ment of this class until the seventeenth century, and no con- 
 siderable progress made in their education until within the last 
 fifty years. The present century has, however, witnessed the 
 establishment of large institutions for their benefit in France, 
 England, Switzerland, and in various parts of the United 
 States. In 1855, the State of New York erected a fine Asy- 
 lum at Syracuse, at the expense of nearly §100,000, with ac- 
 commodations for one hundred and fifty pupils, which has 
 since been generally well-filled. A large number of persons, 
 representing every degree of imbecilit}', have annually been 
 thrown on the care of the Commissioners of Charities and Cor- 
 rections, for whom little was done, more than to supply their 
 physical wants, until 18G6, when, with grave doubts of its 
 success as a means of mental development, a school, under 
 the direction of Miss Dunphy, was established. It began 
 with twenty pupils ; in 1867 it had increased to forty-two; in 
 18G8 to over seventy, and at this writing to one hundred. 
 The Asylum is a tasty three-story biriek structure, with 
 wings, well divided into school-rooms, dormitories, refectory, 
 and other appropriate apartments. It contains at present, 
 besides officers and teachers, 141 persons, whose ages vary 
 from six to thirty years, and who represent nearly every 
 phase of an enfeebled and disordered brail Here are boys 
 of eight years whose enormous heads far outmeasure the 
 Wobsters and Clays', others of twenty-five with whiskers and 
 mustaches, whose skulls are no larger than an ordinary 
 infant of ten months. Some are congenital idiots, born to 
 this enfeebled state, others have been reduced to it by par- 
 oxysms, oi other casualties. They are divided into two gen- 
 eral classes, the hopelessly imbecile, and those capable of 
 some improvement. The forty-one composing the first class 
 at present show but transient gleams of thought or under- 
 standing, and are lost for the most part in ceaseless inanity. 
 They spend much of the time during the pleasant season 
 
THE IDIOT ASYLUM. 
 
 5b7 
 
 in the play-ground sot apart for them, a portion of which is 
 covered with canvass to screen them from the sun. Those 
 admitted to the school enter the primary class, from which 
 most of them are afterwards advanced to the two higher 
 classes. The first lessons taught are cleanliness, order, and 
 obedience, of which many of them seem to have no previous 
 conceptions. The next consist of color and form. 
 
 Many idiots have an infantile fondness for bright colors, 
 hence these afford a medium for instruction. As they have 
 no mental control and are destitute of all analytical qualities, 
 the common order of teaching must be reversed, hence words 
 are taught before the letters. A card containing the words 
 "chair," "hand," "book," or "jtable," printed in large bright 
 letters, is held up before them, by which means they are at 
 length taught the names and definitions of things. The mat- 
 ter of speech is often difficult, as many of them have impedi- 
 ments. The success of this school during the first four years 
 of its history is surprising. The author visited it in 1868, 
 and again in IS 70. The school at the second visit exhibited 
 marked improvement. The scholars were all tidy and 
 orderly, their countenances having perceptibly brightened. 
 We asked them various questions in geography which were 
 promptly answered. The advanced class read from the large 
 Reader, in a creditable manner. In singing they almost ex- 
 cel, following the instrument with great exactness. Many 
 make fine progress in penmanship, and a few study instru- 
 mental music. One of the girls, who began as an ordinary 
 pupil four years since, is now a teacher in one of the depart- 
 ments. Mathematics are the most difficult things for them 
 to learn, in which they seldom make much progress. A few 
 able to pay board have been admitted at the moderate rate 
 of eight dollars per month. More of this unfortunate class 
 exist in community than is generally supposed, probably 
 several to every one thousand of the population. Idiot 
 schools are valuable, raising many to thoughts and toil who 
 had hitherto been totally neglected, offering also the only test 
 by which a proper discrimination can be made between the 
 true idiot and persons of feeble mind or of slow and imper- 
 fect development. The Commissioners have performed a 
 commendable service in the establishment of this school, 
 and have been remarkably successful in their selection of 
 teachers. 
 
SOCIETY FOR THE REFORMATION OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS. 
 
 {Randoms Island. ) 
 
 \ BIS HE House of Refuge, under the control of the " So- 
 'ffl ciety for the Reformation of J uvenile Delinquents," 
 is situated on the southern portion of Randall's Is- 
 land, thirty acres of land being connected with the 
 Institution. The Society, one of the most beneficent and 
 humane in the world, was incorporated in 1824, with power 
 of self-perpetuation. Among its managers have ranked 
 many of the wisest and purest men of the State, who, with- 
 out pecuniary compensation, have devoted a large portion of 
 their time to its interests for years, and the records of their 
 proceedings for nearly half a century exhibit the most grati- 
 fying results. Its first building was erected in Madison 
 Square, where it continued fifteen years, until the growing 
 city forced the managers to evacuate, when they withdrew 
 to Twenty-third street and East river. Here another fifteen 
 were spent, until straitened for room, after much search 
 and discussion, it was resolved to remove the whole to Ran- 
 dall's Island, which was substantially accomplished in 1854. 
 Thousands of children in our great cities and towns are con- 
 stantly growing up in ignorance and neglect, many homes 
 being little less than schools of vice. A consciousness of 
 guilt, attended with imprisonment and disgrace, crushes what 
 little of self-respect and laudable ambition may yet remain. 
 To hurl these truant youth into a penitentiary, filled with ma- 
 ture and expert criminals, is but to cultivate their treache- 
 rous tendencies, and insure their final ruin. This society 
 comes at the opportune moment to open the gates of its City 
 of Refuge to those youthful unfortunates who are brought 
 before the courts for petit offences, and receives them, not 
 for punishment, but for instruction, discipline, and reforma- 
 tion. The departments are well arranged and most admira- 
 bly conducted, presenting at every turn some striking exam- 
 ple of system and tidiness. Visitors are politely received, 
 but however distinguished they may be, no change is made 
 in the daily routine of the Institution. Everything is on ex- 
 hibition in it3 ordinary field parade. The buildings are of 
 brick, constructed on a magnificent scale in the Italian style, 
 
SOCIETY FOR REFORMATION OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS. 569 
 
 the two principal structures presenting a graceful facade 
 nearly a thousand feet in length, the whole completed at an 
 expense of half a million. There are eight hundred and 
 eighty-six spacious, well-ventilated dormitories, several finely 
 arranged and amply furnished school-rooms, appropriate 
 hospital departments, dining halls, kitchens, bakeries, laun- 
 dries, sewing-rooms, elegant apartments for officers, and a 
 model chapel, with seating for a thousand persons. In the 
 rear stand the workshops, each thirty feet wide by one hun- 
 dred and fifty long, and three stories high. The boys and 
 girls are kept in separate buildings, their respective yards be- 
 ing divided by high walls, and the more advanced of the 
 latter, who have been guilty of social crime, are carefully 
 separated from the more youthful. Every child upon its ad- 
 mission is made to feel that the period of its detention rests 
 with itself. Two general rules are at once and always incul- 
 cated. First, " Tell no lies." Secondly, " Always do the 
 best you can." Every child is compelled to toil from six to 
 eight hours every week-day, at some employment suited to its 
 capacity, and to study from four to five hours, under compe- 
 tent teachers. The labor is designed to tame their fiery, vi- 
 cious natures, to quicken attention, and favorably rouse all the 
 -dormant elements of their being. As moderate stints are in- 
 troduced, affording opportunity to redeem extra time for 
 reading and play, they toil with a cheerfulness and speed 
 that is highly exhilarating. Thus sobered and awakened by 
 toil, they return to their books, and keep pace with those 
 who reside at home and attend the public schools of New 
 York. Hundreds of young men and women are at work in 
 the city and elsewhere rising to respectability and affluence 
 by the steady habits and trades they acquired at the Institu- 
 tion, the former earning from twelve to twenty dollars per 
 week, and the latter from four to twelve. Four grades of 
 conduct have been introduced. Grade 1 is the highest, which 
 every child must retain at least six weeks, and attain to the 
 third class in school, before any application for indenture 
 will be entertained from parents or friends. This grade 
 must also be retained for one year, and the studies of the 
 highest class mastered before one is discharged, and then a 
 situation is provided. Grade 4 is the lowest, and is one of 
 disgrace. 
 
 the society opened its first building on New Year's day, 
 1825, with six wretched girls and three boys. During the 
 
570 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 first fifteen years of its operations, it received and again re- 
 turned to society two thousand five hundred. When it re- 
 moved to Randall's Island, about six thousand had been 
 received, and up to January, 1873, no less than 14,675. An 
 average of three hundred per annum have thus been returned 
 to the community since the first organization of the society, 
 and we are told that at least seventy-five per cent, of them 
 have lived honest and useful lives. The good accomplished 
 for the country and humanity is incalculable. The sons of 
 eminent merchants and lawyers, and of distinguished divines, 
 have taken lessons here to their lasting advantage ; while not 
 a few from the haunts of infamy, who would but for this 
 model " Bethesda " have gone frightfully down the slippery 
 steeps of crime, have been raised to sit among the princes of 
 the land. The sanitary interests of the Institution have al- 
 ways been conducted with remarkable success. During the 
 first ten years of its history but five deaths occurred, and in 
 1832, out of ninety-nine cases of cholera, only two proved 
 fatal. The report of 1869 showed, that of the seventeen hun- 
 dred and seventy-five different inmates of the year, but three 
 had died, and during the year closing 1873, but four died. 
 But without the transforming influence of pure Christianity, 
 all efforts for the reformation of delinquents must prove 
 sadly abortive. 
 
 This Institution is, in its faith and practice, eminently 
 Protestant, and most of its officers and teacher are persons of 
 established Christian character. Rev. B. K. Pierce, D.D., 
 a man of rare culture and long experience in this difficult 
 work, was for nearly ten years its chaplain, but after the 
 unhappy sectarian revolt of May, 1872, he resigned, and his 
 place has been filled by Rev. George H. Smythe. Mr. I. C. 
 Jones, the successful superintendent, is also a man of more 
 than ordinary culture and ability. 
 
 Sabbath at the Refuge is a day of delightful, hallowed rest. 
 Once on that day all join in Sunday-School study and recita- 
 tion, and once they crowd their beautiful chapel, when a thou- 
 sand faces are turned toward the man of God, and a thousand 
 voices join in liturgical responses. Many have been hopefully 
 converted, and several who were once inmates of the Institu- 
 tion are now studying for the Christian ministry. 
 
 With the multiplication of reformatory Institutions, and 
 some unjust disparagements, a smaller number of youth than 
 
60CIETY FOE EEFOKMATION OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS. 571 
 
 formerly are being received from the New York courts. As 
 the supply is undiminished, we can but regard this as a public 
 mistake. In the matter of economy, the Refuge is conducted 
 with remarkable ability. Daring the last seven years, the 
 net cost of each child, above its own earnings, has but little 
 exceeded seventy dollars per annum, while the gross cost has 
 varied from $116.20 in 1867, to $131.13 in 1870, according 
 to the number in the Institution. About twelve thousand 
 dollars have, until recently, been annually received from the 
 license of theaters. In addition to this, the sums contributed 
 from the city treasury and the school fund have, united, been 
 annually less than twenty dollars per capita, while the 
 Catholic Protectory has been paid $110 for each child, and 
 the Commissioners of Charities and Corrections have ex- 
 pended over one hundred and fifty dollars per annum on 
 each child, in the Industrial school at Hart Island and on the 
 school-ship. This comparison speaks volumes in favor of the 
 Refuge, inasmuch as it greatly surpasses both the Institutions 
 mentioned in the appliances of personal comfort, while in 
 matters of culture, discipline, building up of character, and 
 thoroughness of skilled labor, it probably surpasses every In 
 stitution of its kind in the country. 
 
 The Managers propose, if appropriate legislation can bfv 
 secured, to somewhat enlarge their Institution, and receive a 
 class of delinquents still more advanced in crime and years. 
 They fully believe that multitudes of young men, who have 
 
 frown up without employment and are sent annually to the 
 'enitentiary to be further confirmed in treachery, might in 
 a well-conducted reformatory be taught the arts of skilled 
 labor, mellowed by the appliances of Christianity, and saved 
 for time and eternity. Who with a well-balanced head and 
 suitably affected heart can for a moment doubt it ? A society 
 so intent on the accomplishment of its great work, and so rich 
 in desirable fruits, deserves well of the public, and should not 
 be crippled in any of the appliances necessary to its highest 
 success It is the pioneer of its kind ; the twenty other simi- 
 lar Institutions, with their many thousand inmates in this 
 country as well as those of Europe, have grown up through 
 its example. Its managers and friends, in molding their 
 economy, have sought to incorporate the lessons they have 
 industriously culled from the experience and wisdom of ages. 
 Long may it flourish to elevate the fallen and enrich the 
 world. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 INSTITUTIONS ON HART ISLAND. 
 
 THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND THE SCHOOVSHIP. 
 
 imRpHE number of vagrant, vicious, and adventurous cliil- 
 ^OJg| dren around New York is so great, that a new insti- 
 Stfi?]3k tution for their correction and reformation springs up 
 every few years, and though thousands are from these 
 annually sent to the country, the buildings are always full, and 
 the supply well nigh inexhaustible. For years past a class of 
 large vicious boys have been thrown on the hands of the Com- 
 missioners of Charities and Corrections, for whom it lias been 
 difficult to well and suitably provide. If sent to the Work- 
 house or Penitentiary, they would be further steeped in evil, 
 and if sent to the Nurseries, their insubordination incited the 
 younger and more dutiful to mischief and demoralization. 
 Kence, after the purchase of Hart Island, which occurred in 
 May, 1868, they were placed there in the capacity of an In- 
 dustrial School. On this Island the Potter's Field has been 
 located, separate sections having been set apart for Catholic 
 and Protestant burial. The southern portion, during the 
 spring and early summer of 1S70, was also set apart for the 
 treatment of persons suffering with relapsing fever. The Is- 
 land contained at the time of its purchase more than sixfr** 
 buildings of wood, constructed by the United States Govern- 
 ment for the use of the soldiers, and said to have cost over 
 $200,000. The dilapidated buildings were pulled down, and 
 the sound material employed in repairing other buildings. 
 Those formerly occupied by the officers of the army and navy 
 of the barracks were excellent structures of their kind, and 
 were easily converted to the uses for which they were desired. 
 The buildings formerly occupied by the officers are now \\<e 
 residences of the warden, matron, ter.chers, surgeoi-, clerks, 
 etc. Others have been changed to school-rooms, dormitories, 
 play-rooms, dining-rooms, and 'wo houses for baking and 
 
THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND THE 3CH00L-SHD?. 573 
 
 cooking. A large ice-house has been erected, capable of con 
 taining a hundred tons of that invaluable antidote to mid- 
 summer heats. The school began late in the year 1868, and 
 on the 31st of December, 1869, the warden reported the recep- 
 tion of 504 boys. The utter neglect under which they had 
 thus far grown up appears in the fact that seventy-five per 
 cent, of them could neither read nor write, fifteen per cent, able 
 to read only, leaving but ten per cent, in tolerable possession 
 of the rudiments of an education. They are kept in school 
 five hours per day, devoting the remainder to play or light 
 labor. A vigorous system of discipline has been introduced, 
 but no very serious corporal punishment is inflicted. During 
 the last year, 972 boys were received into the school. 
 
 Many boys in each generation are wild and adventurous in 
 their natures, fond of excitements and dangers, and who will 
 not sober down to the quietudes of ordinary industry. Neg- 
 lected, they become the roughs, harbor thieves, pirates, and 
 fillibusterers of the world. As early as 1812, Rev. Dr. Stan- 
 ford, chaplain of the penal institutions of New York, recom- 
 mended the separation of the youthful criminals from those 
 more advanced, and urged the importance of training this 
 adventurous class in a nautical ship for service on the sea. 
 But reforms " hasten slowly," and though a citizen of Man- 
 hattan was the first to originate and recommend the plan of 
 a training ship, the authorities of New York lingered until 
 the experiment had been successfully tried in England and 
 in Massachusetts. Under authority conferred by the Legisla- 
 ture, the Commissioners, in July, 1869, purchased the sail-ship 
 Mercury, formerly belonging to the Havre line of packets, a 
 fine vessel of 1,200 tons burden, which they have fitted for 
 this service. The vessel is calculated to accommodate 250 or 
 300 boys, besides the usual complement of officers and drilled 
 sailors. The boys, whose features for the most part show their 
 foreign origin and treacherous tendencies, are all clothed in 
 bright sailor's uniform, and governed on the apprenticeship 
 system of the United States Navy. From the Industrial 
 School they are transferred to the school-ship, where a year 
 or two of good drilling is expected, to fit the more advanced 
 for useful service in the Merchant Marine, or in the United 
 States Navy. The vessel has already made several trips to sea, 
 remaining oucside the bar on one cruise four months At 
 the 1st of January last, 826 boys had been received on board, 
 and 565 discharged, many of whom had shipped as sailors in 
 
574 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 the United States Navy, and others had entered the Merchants' 
 Marine. 
 
 The daily routine adopted in port is as follows : At early 
 daylight the reveille is beaten, all hands are called, and ham- 
 mocks properly stowed by the Captains of Tops and other 
 petty officers, to whom this duty belongs. This done, when 
 the weather will permit, the decks are washed down, and if 
 " Wash Clothes Day," hammocks and clothing are scrubbed, 
 and triced up on the lines, while the boys are compelled to 
 cleanse their persons, under the superintendence of the Offi- 
 cer of the Deck. At 7.30 a.m., the boys are mustered, the 
 line formed, and at 8 a.m., breakfast is piped and the boys 
 marched to their respective messes on the berth-deck. This 
 is in the charge of the Master at Arms and ship's Corporals, 
 whose duty it is to preserve order there at all times. One 
 hour is allowed the boys for the morning meal and recreation. 
 At 9 a.m., the " hands are turned to," sweepers are piped, and 
 the decks cleaned fore and aft. Ten minutes before " Colors," 
 the drummer beats their call, hands stand by to lower boats, 
 Quartermasters bend on their colors, Coxswains report boats 
 ready for lowering, sail loosers are sent aloft, when necessary ; 
 lower booms got ready for going out, one hand stationed by 
 the bell. At 9 a.m. in winter, at 8 a.m. in summer, the drum- 
 mer rolls off, the bell is struck ; at the third roll colors hoisted, 
 boats lowered, sails let fall, and booms rigged out, to which 
 the boats when lowered are hauled and made fast. The boys 
 now take their cleaning stations, warned by the roll of the 
 drum of their duties, and polish all bright work fore and aft. 
 The ship's company are divided into divisions, called the First; 
 Second ; Third, or Master's ; Fourth, or Boatswain's ; Fifth, or 
 Powder Division, commanded respectively by the Second and 
 Third officers, Sailing Master, Boatswain, and Master-at-Arms. 
 At 9.30 a.m., the drummer beats to quarters for inspection, 
 allowing the boys three minutes to gain their stations, where 
 they are inspected and mustered by their respective officers, 
 whose duty it is to see that their persons and clothing are 
 clean and in good order, and that all are present to answer 
 the muster, being careful to report all delinquents and absen- 
 tees to the Executive Officer, who in turn reports to the Cap- 
 tain the condition of the ship and the divisions. The " Re- 
 treat " is now beaten, and the Starboard Watch is formed in 
 line and marched into the school-room, where they remain at 
 their studies in charge of the Instructor until 11.45 a.m., the 
 
THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND THE SCHOOL-SHTP. 575 
 
 Port Watch in the meantime being engaged on deck woi king 
 masts, yards or sails, or drilling with the great guns, small 
 arms, etc. 
 
 At 11.30 a.m., the dinner is inspected, and if properly- 
 cooked, ordered to be issued to the messes ; sweepers are 
 piped and all work ceases ; decks are cleared, and the mess- 
 cloths spread. At meridian, dinner is piped, and the boys 
 sent to their messes as at the morning meal ; at 1 p.m., the 
 " hands are again turned to," while the sweeper in response 
 to the pipes of the Boatswain and his mates, clean the decks ; 
 the Port Watch is now formed and sent to the school-room, 
 while the Starboard Watch is called on deck, and receive 
 practical lessons in seamanship and the various exercises and 
 drill. At 4 p.m., school is dismissed, decks cleared up, and at 
 4.30 p.m., supper is piped ; the evening hours are devoted to 
 recreation ; games of various kinds being provided for those 
 disposed to avail themselves of the same. 
 
 At fifteen minutes before sundown, the drum beats to quar- 
 ters for inspection, when the usual notes are made, and re- 
 ports given to the Executive and Captain. At ten minutes 
 before sundown, the " call " is beaten, lower booms got ready 
 for coming alongside, boats hooked on, Quartermasters stand 
 by their colors, and at the third roll of the drum the booms 
 are rigged in, boats hoisted, colors hauled down, and the boys 
 are called to stand by their hammocks, when they assemble in 
 their own parts of the ship, and hammocks being piped down, 
 they are removed to the Berth-Deck, and hung on hooks bear- 
 ing their respective numbers. 
 
 The remainder of the evening is devoted to recreation, all 
 work being laid aside for the day. At 7.30 p.m., the boys 
 are assembled for evening exercises, which are held in the 
 school-room, consisting of singing and prayer, conducted by 
 the Instructor. 
 
 At 8 p.m., the tattoo is beaten, Boatswain and mates pipe 
 down, the boys are sent to their hammocks, the " anchor 
 watch " is set for the night, all unauthorized lights and galley- 
 fires are reported "out " by the Master- at- Arms, and the night 
 reports of the petty-officers as to the condition of their several 
 departments are made to the Executive At one bell (8.30 
 p.m.), all loud talking must cease ; the bertn-deck is in charge 
 of the ship's Corporals for the night, who keep watch there 
 until regularly relieved, paying strict attention to the condi- 
 tion of the lights, and inspecting the ship below the spar-deck 
 
 37 
 
576 
 
 NEW YOEK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 every haif hour ; being particularly careful that no irregular!, 
 ties occur on the decks in their charge. 
 
 Every boy when received on board is cleansed, and a com- 
 plete outfit given him of clothing, suitable for the weathei 
 and season of the year ; he is given a number and a station 
 on the watch, quarter, and fire-bells ; he is detailed to a cer- 
 tain mess, and placed in a certain boat, while he is, when ad- 
 mitted to the school-room, placed in such classes as his abili- 
 ties will admit of. In all the maneuvers and exercises he 
 must be at his station ; his number at the gun must be filled, 
 his station aloft must be supplied, and his absence from any of 
 these duties is at once detected ; no idle hands are permitted, 
 no one is without a duty ; from the time that the lad receives 
 his number, which is immediately on his admission into the 
 ship, he is entirely under control and subject to orders. 
 
 The ship's company is divided into two watches, called Port 
 and Starboard, and these are sub-divided into first and second 
 parts, forming quarter watches, which facilitates at times the 
 duty of the ship. There are other sub-divisions, into winch 
 the boys are separated according to their stations, as follows : 
 Forecastle-men, foretop-men, maintop-men, mizzentop-men 
 and afterguard. Each of these divisions are headed by a first 
 and second Captain, the first Captain being in the Starboard 
 Watch, and the second Captain in the Port Watch. All orders 
 to be executed in a certain part of the ship are issued to the 
 Captain of the same, whose duty it becomes to see that the 
 boys stationed under him perform them, reporting to the offi- 
 cer of the deck when finished. 
 
 Precautions are taken against fire, by having stations for 
 fire-quarters and duties assigned every officer, seaman, and 
 boy on board, with frequent drilling at quelling this danger- 
 ous element. 
 
 Divine service is held on Sunday in the school-room at 10 
 a.m., and again in the evening at 6.30 p.m., the peculiar relig- 
 ious tenets of all respected, and religious instruction imparted 
 by both Protestant and Catholic clergymen, who are granted 
 access to the ship for this purpose at all times. 
 
 Nothing has been left undone that would enhance the 
 comfort of the boys or assist them in their studies. Every 
 encouragement is held out to them, and liberty on shore and 
 other privileges granted to the deserving, while advancement 
 to the grade of petty officer awaits the ambitious pupil. Posi- 
 tions, though they entail an additional responsibility, bring 
 
THE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL AND THE SCHOOL-SHIP. 577 
 
 Kith them certain privileges and distinctions which make 
 them objects of desire to the aspiring lad. 
 
 The food furnished, the boys is or a good quality and the 
 supply is ample, and provided in accordance with the sugges- 
 tions of a medical officer of acknowledged ability. JBoys 
 from a few wealthy families have been admitted whose par- 
 ents pay $10 per month for their subsistence and instruction. 
 It is probable that an independent ship could be made to pay as 
 well as an academy. The boys take great pleasure in going 
 aloft to spread or furl the sails. We saw from a distance a 
 hundred or less of them engaged in this exercise. The spars, 
 tackling, and napping sails, united to the rapid movement of 
 the boys, presented the appearance of a handful of black ants 
 caught and struggling for dear life amid the meshes of a 
 great cob -web. 
 
 Much interest is being manifested in all parts of the coun- 
 try in the great undertaking, as is frequently shown by the 
 numerous letters received from this and adjacent States, to- 
 gether with the visits received from many distinguished citi- 
 zens, all of whom are unanimous in their approbation of this 
 philanthropic enterprise. Delegates from adjacent States 
 have journeyed some distance to examine into the leading 
 features of this Institution, and returned to their own cities to 
 indorse the movement and recommend a like action on the 
 part of their authorities. One has well said : 
 
 " The Commissioners deserve the thanks of the community 
 for having added this to the many other noble public chari- 
 ties which are receiving the benefit of their wise and efficient 
 administration. It would be difficult to exaggerate the ad- 
 vantages likely to accrue to the public from a benevolence 
 which, receiving these neglected, vagrant, and degraded boys, 
 shall shield them for a season from the rough blasts of temp- 
 tation, teach them their duty to God and man, impart to them 
 the principles of a noble science, train them to skill in the ap- 
 plication of those principles, and, finally, opening to them a 
 path of honorable usefulness, shall bid them go forth and 
 walk therein, to the honor of God and the benefit of their 
 fellow men, 'The very qualities of sagacity and daring, of 
 earnestness imd enthusiasm, which, under their former evil 
 training, were likely to render them a pest as well as a terror 
 to the community, will no doubt, in numerous instances, con- 
 stitute a vigorous impulse to push them forward and give them 
 success in their new career of virtue, honor, and usefulness." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 NEW YORK INSTITUTIONS ON STATEN ISLAND. 
 SAILOR'S SNUG HARBOR. 
 (Staten Island.) 
 
 Sailors, though a very useful and industrious class, rank, 
 among the most reckless and improvident of the world 
 Without them the commerce of the world could not be con- 
 ducted ; and while a few of them have always been noted 
 for their intelligence, piety, and thrift, the vast majority have 
 ever been literally afloat — creatures of accident, drifting 
 hither and thither wherever caprice or fancy might carry 
 them They rarely have many friends, except those who 
 participate in their vices, and help to squander their hard 
 earnings. Sailors are proverbially reckless of health, exces- 
 sively given to dissipation and sensuality while 01 shore, 
 exposed to the vicissitudes of changing climates while aX sea; 
 add to these, then, the danger of other casualties, and their 
 
sailor's snug harbor. 
 
 579 
 
 life- long improvidence, and it will be clear that most of them 
 must early become inmates of hospitals, and objects of 
 charity. More than two hundred thousand sailors aunually 
 enter the New York harbor, many of whom are in need 
 of medical or surgical aid. To provide for this want the 
 Marine Hospital was established, and the Seaman's Re- 
 treat founded. Still a place of rest where the crippled or 
 worn-out tar might in quietude spend the evening twilight of 
 his career was greatly needed. It remained for a noble 
 hearted bachelor-sailor (more careful and successful than 
 most of his fellows), to establish for these cast-off wrecks of 
 the sea a home, unrivalled in the world in the beauty of its 
 .location, and the abundance of its comforts. 
 
 Captain Robert Richard Randall, of New York City, by 
 the provision of his will, dated June 1, 1801, bequeathed 
 (certain specific legacies being satisfied) all the residue of his 
 estate, real and personal, to the Chancellor of the State, the 
 Mayor and Recorder of the city, the President of the Cham- 
 ber of Commerce, the President of the Marine Society, the 
 Senior Ministers of the Episcopal and of the Presbyterian 
 Churches of New York, and to their successors in office 
 respectively, to be received by them in trust, and applied to 
 the erection of an Asylum or Marine Hospital, to be called 
 " The Sailor's Snug Harbor," the same to be opened as soon 
 as the income of the estate should, in the judgment of the 
 trustees, be sufficient to support fifty seamen. Mr. Randall's 
 real estate was situated in what is now the First and Fif- 
 teenth wards of the city of New York, and consisted of 
 certain building lots in the former, and of twenty-one acres 
 of land in the latter. The trustees were duly incorporated 
 February 6, 180(5. Protractive and expensive suits, brought 
 by the relatives of the testator, prevented the trustees from 
 carrying out his wishes for many years after his decease. 
 The United States' Supreme Court finally decided in favor of 
 the trust in March, 1830. The Asylum was to have been 
 erected on his up-town property, situated south of what is now 
 Union Square, and between Fourth and Sixth avenues, but 
 the unexpected growth of the city, and the consequent in- 
 crease in the value of real estate, induced the trustees to lease 
 the city property and locate the Institution elsewhere. The 
 estate at the decease of the testator was valued at about 
 $30,000, but it is now estimated at about $2,000,000. It 
 may be interesting to know that the colossal retail store ol 
 
580 
 
 *>1W TOKF AXD ITS 7TJSTITPTIONS. 
 
 A. T. Stewart, Esq., corner Tenth sheet and Broadway, stands 
 on a part of this property, and that an annual ground-rent is 
 paid by this gentleman of about $35,3 DO. The income of the 
 estate is still steadily increasing. In May, 1831, the trustees 
 purchased a farm of 130 acres, to which twenty-one acres 
 were subsequently added, situated on the northern shore of 
 Staten Island, for the sum of $6,000. 
 
 The corner-stone of the Asylum was laid with appropriate 
 exercises October 21, 1831, and on the first day of August, 
 1833, the building was formally opened for the reception of 
 the thirty sailors approved by a committee appointed for that 
 purpose. The main building consists of a central, 65 by 100 
 feet, three stories above the basement, and of two wings 
 51 by 100 feet each, two and a half stories high, the parts 
 being connected with corridors 40 feet long by 16 wide, 
 giving a total frontage of 247 feet. The building stands on 
 a graceful eminence ; its front is of marble, with a majestic 
 portico ornamented with eight massive Ionic columns, pre- 
 senting a palatial aspect as seen from the bay. In the rear 
 of the main edifice is a three-story brick, 80 feet square, erected 
 in 1854, in the basement of which are the Steward's office 
 and the great kitchen of the establishment, furnished with 
 an ample supply of steam-kettles. The first floor of this 
 building contains the dining-rooms, and the other floors con- 
 tain dormitories, which are mostly large, square rooms, con- 
 taining four beds each. This building is connected with the 
 main edifice by a covered passage-way. A little to the right 
 of this stands the chapel, a fine brick, with seating for several 
 hundred persons, and adjoining stands a well-arranged par- 
 sonage for the use of the chaplain. Further back stand the 
 wash-house and the bake-house, each two stories, of brick, 
 and well arranged. Still further to the rear stands the 
 hospital, erected twenty years ago. It is a well-built three- 
 story brick, with heavy granite trimmings, and contains space 
 for seventy-five beds. Sixty-one persons are now in the hos- 
 pital, some of whom have been under treatment thirty years. 
 Our attention was called to grandfather Morris, a colored 
 sailor, one hundred and six years old, who has been in the 
 u 1 1 arbor " over a quarter of a century. We hoped to get some 
 reminiscences Ol the Institution from him, but his mind was 
 too much absorbed in better things. He remembers George 
 Whitelield and other eminent men of the good lang syne. 
 lie can onlv talk of Jesus and Ileaven. He expects to make 
 
BAILOR'S SNUG HAKjBGX, 
 
 581 
 
 but oiie more short voyage, and reach in due time tho haven 
 where there are no shipwrecks or misfortunes, and where 
 people are all of a color. We were next taken to Captain 
 Webster, in another ward, who thinks himself one hundred 
 and eight years old, but whom the steward informed us was 
 ninety-six. He is buoyant and cheerful, full of conversation 
 and humor, and speaks of a " good hope " also for the life to 
 come. 
 
 The "Harbor" contains at this writing four hundred in- 
 mates besides the officers and help. Liberty is granted the 
 inmates to visit friends, and go to the city or elsewhere as 
 they may reasonably dbsire. The main building contains a 
 reading-room furnished with hies of papers and periodicals ; 
 also a library of about a thousand volumes, containing many 
 excellent and solid works which exhibit the wear of much 
 reading. An indispensable prerequisite to admission is that 
 the applicant has sailed five years under the American flag. 
 This, coupled with disease and poverty, formerly proved suffi- 
 cient, but the late war has so multiplied the number of crip- 
 pled seaman, that the trustees have been compelled to be 
 more cautious in their admissions. Most of the inmates live 
 to advanced years. Their home is well conducted, and the 
 finest of the kind in the world. The buildings are all that 
 could be desired, and the grounds, which are richly cultivated 
 and thickly set with fruit and shade-trees, are as charming 
 as nature and art could well make them. About twenty- 
 three acres, containing the buildings and gardens, are enclosed 
 by a massive but handsome iron fence, which cost over 
 eighty thousand dollars. The iron was cast in England, and 
 the fence rests upon a deep and solid foundation, with 
 capped posts of the best granite. Much of the farm is still 
 covered with heavy timber. In the front yard, at a conve- 
 nient distance from the front entrance, stands a white marble 
 monument, erected by the trustees August 21, 1834, to the 
 memory of the founder of the Institution, w T hose remains 
 were then removed from their first resting-place. 
 
 The affairs of the society are managed by the ex-officio trus- 
 tees named in the will, who annually elect their own officers. 
 The salaried officers are the governor and his assistant, the 
 treasurer, agent, resident chaplain, and physician. These em- 
 ploy such other help as is needed, with consent of the trustees. 
 The officers are kindly disposed, too indulgent to the inmates 
 if anything, and affable to visitors. The Institution is open 
 
582 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 to visitors every day of the week except the Sabbath, and 
 every unoccupied sailor on the premises is ready with char- 
 acteristic politeness to escort them through the buildings and 
 grounds. The basement of the main edihce is mostly devoted 
 to workshops. Here all who are able carry on the basket or 
 mat making with their own capital, the fruit of which fur- 
 nishes means for travel and for other private uses. Nearly 
 all earn something. 
 
 The chaplain was absent when we visited the Harbor, but 
 his praise was in the mouths of many of the inmates. He 
 holds service twice each Sabbath, and offers public prayers 
 twice each day. The By-Laws, which are an excellent code, 
 make it the duty of each inmate to attend all the religious 
 services unless excused by the governor, for sickness or other 
 sufficient cause, yet we were informed that less than half 
 ordinarily attended the Sabbath services. A stricter disci- 
 pline would be a decided improvement. Eighty or ninety of 
 the inmates profess religion, some of whom attend and take 
 part in the Fulton-street prayer-meeting occasionally. The 
 former chaplain was shot on the grounds by one of the old 
 seamen, who afterwards shot himself. The man is now be- 
 lieved to have been guilty of a previous murder, and to have 
 become partially insane from a sense of guilt and an appre- 
 hension that God would not pardon him. 
 
 SEAMEN'S FUND AND RETREAT. 
 
 {Quarantine Landing, Staten Island.) 
 
 S early as 1754, the colonial government of New York 
 established quarantine measures. A tax was imposed 
 upon all seamen and passengers entering the port of 
 * < ^ r * 1 New York, and with the fund thus provided, hos- 
 pital buildings were established, first on Governor's and after- 
 wards on Bedloe's Island. The establishment was removed 
 to Staten Island about 1799. The tax thus collected from 
 passengers and seamen was paid into a joint fund, ander 
 the control of the Commissioners of Health of the city 
 of New York, and called the "Mariner's Fund." The 
 
SEAMEN'S FUND AND RETREAT. 
 
 583 
 
 tan ds thus created, besides providing the quarantine accom- 
 modations, were disposed of by the Legislature in establishing 
 city dispensaries, assisting the Society for the Reformation of 
 Juvenile Delinquents, etc., etc. The manifest injustice of tax- 
 ing seamen for quarantine purposes, and in distributing their 
 iiard earnings among other charities in which they had no 
 special interest, was discovered by commercial men of New 
 York over forty years ago, and an effort was made to abolish 
 this long-standing abuse. The Legislature of 1831 created a 
 board of trustees to collect these funds and employ them 
 exclusively for the benefit of seamen. It was believed at 
 that time that over three hundred and forty thousand dollars 
 had been paid by passengers and seamen into the fund, above 
 what had been used for their benefit, and the money still on 
 hand at that time they were authorized to receive from the 
 State treasury, which amounted to over twelve thousand dol- 
 lars. The first meeting of the board of trustees of the Sea- 
 men's Fund and Retreat was held at the Mayor's office, May 
 9, 1831, and measures were soon taken to maintain all dis- 
 eased seamen in the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, and in 
 the New York Hospital. After examining several farms on 
 Staten Island, the trustees purchased forty acres of land of 
 Cornelius Corson, fronting on the New York ba} T , for $10,000. 
 The land contained a farm house, to which it was proposed 
 to add an additional building for the reception of patients. 
 The new hospital in process of erection on the snmtnit of 
 the elevation was overtaken with a storm so violent as to 
 throw down its brick walls when they were nearly completed. 
 On the 12th of June, 1832, the executive committee reported 
 the completion of the new building, and about the middle 
 of the following month it was occupied. As the accommo- 
 dations continued inadequate, a plan was formed for the 
 erection of the main buildings now in use, which are situated 
 much nearer the shore. 
 
 The corner-stone of the present hospital was laid July 4, 
 1834, by Samuel Swartout, Esq., collector of the port, and 
 president of the board of trustees, assisted by the architect, 
 Mr. A. P. Maybee. The address was delivered by the Rev. 
 John E. Miller, Rev. Henry Chase, pastor of the Mariner's 
 Church, and other clergymen assisting in the services. This 
 hospital consists of a main structure fifty feet square and 
 three stories high, with two wings each seventy-six by thirty- 
 four feet, built of hammered blue stone, trimmed with gran- 
 
584 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 ite, and covered with brazier's copper. The central building 
 and south wing were completed in January, 1836, and the 
 north wing in 1852. The location of the Institution is one 
 of surpassing beauty and commanding prominence, and lias 
 been admired Iry the hundreds of thousands who sail annually 
 through the broad bay. The principal building stands 
 nearly in the center of an arc, the lower point of which ex- 
 tends to the Narrows, and the upper to the entrance of Kill 
 Von Kull. From its windows the eye sweeps over the entire 
 bay of xSew York, and searches for vanishing objects far out 
 on the boiling Atlantic. Vessels from every quarter of the 
 globe and of every variety and size, bearing the ensign of 
 their own nationality, are constantly passing laden with the 
 products of many lands. At one view is seen the majestic 
 ocean steamer, leaving its track of foam, and sending billows 
 to the shore on which the smaller vessels rock and gracefully 
 nod obeisance to their passing superior ; and at another, coast 
 steamers, sloops, brigs, schooners, and the playful yacht may 
 be seen to skim, rock, and toy in the breeze and sunlight. 
 A wider and richer view of the commerce of the world can 
 rarely be obtained on any continent. In nothing did the 
 founders of this Institution evince more taste and judgment 
 than in the selection of its location. The invalid sailor who 
 cannot leave his room can still breathe the bracing air of 
 the sea, and look out upon this immense picture of nature 
 and art, which contains more of beauty and attraction for 
 him than all the rest of the world. He almost forgets his 
 malady and confinement, while the sight of his chosen ele- 
 ment, decorated with the bright flags, whitened with the sails 
 of a world-wide commerce, is spread out before him. 
 
 In ISil, the brick building on the hill, first erected, was 
 fitted up for the treatment of insane patients, and a suit- 
 able enclosure thrown around it. An oven for baking and a 
 large wash-house were also added the same year. In Septem- 
 ber, 1842, the granite edifice situated on the north-east corner 
 of the grounds, since occupied by the resident physician, was 
 erected. 
 
 A.U association of ladies, styled "The Mariner's Family 
 Industrial Society," was incorporated April 6, 1849, having 
 lor its object the relief of the destitute families of seamen. 
 By an act of Legislature, passed March 17, 1851, a board 
 of trustees were created for its management, consisting of 
 New York City officials and the Board of Councillors of the 
 
seamen's fund and retreat. 
 
 585 
 
 Mariner's Family Industrial Society. In June, 1852, the 
 corner-stone of the Asylum, ordered by the Legislature the 
 previous year, and which had been contemplated in the legis- 
 lation of 1847, was laid. The plan was to provide a suitable 
 building for the use of such " destitute, sick, and infirm 
 mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, or widows of seamen, as 
 gave satisfactory proof that they had paid the hospital tax 
 for the term of two years." 
 
 Its location is on the south side of the farm, at the highest 
 point of the rise from the bay, and about fifteen hundred 
 feet from it. The building is a square brick structure five 
 stories high, with accommodations for sixty inmates. The 
 live acres of ground connected with it are finely cultivated, 
 producing an ample supply of vegetables and fruit. The 
 view from the upper windows is rich and varied. The eye 
 sweeps over three cities, the Bay from Coney Island to the 
 Palisades, over much of Staten Island, Long Island, and New 
 Jersey. The Legislature, by act of April 12, 1854, directed 
 that ten per cent, of certain receipts of the Trustees of the 
 Seaman's Fund and Retreat should be paid to the trustees 
 of this Asylum, which arrangement still continues. 
 
 The Seaman's Retreat has been favored with wise and 
 pious officers. In 1851, a Temperance Society was organized 
 by the Superintendent, and during the six years following, 
 3,200 seamen signed the total abstinence pledge. Prayer- 
 meetings have been held weekly most of the time for many 
 years. The published report of the Institution for 1869 
 declared that more than one hundred seamen had given evi- 
 dence of conversion during the last three years. Besides the 
 services of a regular chaplain, the Institution is occasionally 
 visited by Pastor Holland and Pastor Iledstrom, who min- 
 ister to the Scandinavian sailors in their own language. 
 These services are often seasons of thrilling interest ; the ser- 
 mon being supplemented by the prayers and exhortations of 
 the sailors, and not unfrequently attended with the tears and 
 sobs of the impenitent. Many who have entered the Hetreat 
 in quest of physical remedies only have found to their great 
 joy the balm of the soul, and returned to their occupation 
 with aspirations and hopes hitherto unknowir As our for- 
 eign mission work in the past has been greatly retarded by 
 the dissipation and impiety of sailors representing Christian 
 countries, may we not hope for the day when their conse- 
 crated energies shall make them rank among its most potent 
 
608 
 
 NEW YORK AND ITS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 auxiliaries ? The conversion of a humble sailor often sets 
 in motion a series of moral influences which sweep around 
 the world, and may never, never cease their vibrations. How 
 powerful the motive to labor for this class of persons ! Some 
 of its surgeons have been men of remarkable piety. Thomas 
 C. Moffatt, M.D., who expired December, 1869, and who was 
 the fourth physician to fall a victim of ship-fever contracted 
 in discharge of duty, was a most amiable and saintly man. 
 During the fifteen years that he had the medical charge of 
 the Hospital, his religious influence was as marked as his pro- 
 fessional. Skillful as he was in prescribing for an enfeebled 
 body, he was no less wise in administering to a disordered 
 soul. His labors in the chapel, at the prayer-meeting, and 
 temperance meeting ; his tender, thoughtful, and affectionate 
 treatment of all his patients, had so won the confidence and 
 love of all, that when the long procession came to take the 
 last look at his remains, many brave hearts broke down with 
 emotion, and turned away to weep. Few in his position 
 have, in so eminent a manner, exemplified the excellence of 
 the Christian religion. 
 
 The Institution is provided with the current periodicals of 
 the day, and has a circulating library of about a thousand 
 volumes. The inmates are for the most part expected to 
 recover. Incurables are transferred to Sailor's Snug Harbor, 
 or to other Institutions if possible ; if not they are provided 
 for here. Fifty-six thousand disabled seamen have been 
 admitted into the Institution since its establishment in 1831, 
 most of whom have been cured and returned to the sea. 
 
 The grounds also contain a handsome cemetery, situated 
 on an eminence at the western end of the grounds. Here 
 the hardy tars find a resting place by the side of their com- 
 rades when the storms of life are past. 
 
READ TESTIMONIALS from EMINENT MEDICAL MEN and JOURNALS. 
 
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 By GEO. M. BEARD, A.M., M.D. 
 
 [Graduate of Yale College and of the New Yobk College of Physicians and Subg*on»] j 
 Lecturer on Nervous Diseases in the University of the City of New York ; Follow of the Net? 
 York Academy of Medicine : Member of the New York Couuty Medical 
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 "This book has been prepared to meet a want that has been long and widely felt— of a single 
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 "ism," no "pathy," but uses for his patients alfthings which have proved to be beneficial. On 
 this principle this work is based. The best physicians of our day are not narrow or bigoted, as 
 some suppose, but are the most liberal and progressive of men. I ha\e written in the work just 
 what I say every day to my patients, in my popular essays, and in my lectures before lyceums and 
 colleges. I have here said just what your family physician would tell you if he had the time and 
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Testimonials for Headley's Sacred Heroes & Martyrs. 
 
 Brook- 
 Head ley's 
 
 resent volume, which is a com- 
 
 Bev HENRY "WARD BEECHER, Pastor Plymouth Church, 
 iyn, Editor of Christian Union, says : The favorable reception of Mr. 
 "Sacred Mountains" doubtless suggested the preparation of the present volume, whicl 
 mentary, in an expanded form, upon the lives of prophets, priests, kings and apostles. The author 
 has endeavored, with the aid of modern research and scholarship, to develop the fragmentary records 
 contained in the Scriptures, into something like a connected narrative. After reading these bio- 
 graphical commentaries, for such they are, it is with a fresh interest that the Bible itself is opened, 
 an d oftentimes familiar, but hitherto uninteresting texts, are found to possess an unexpected sig- 
 nificance; while local inci- 
 
 dents, which before were r ^\ 
 
 meaningless, have acquired v'/^^ rL/CsisTS 
 a fresh ana individual char- r w C^C — * ^—y ' r 
 acter. 
 
 Rev. Rishop E. S. JANES, of New 
 York, says : In my judgment this is a very valu 
 able work. Mr. Headley wields a very graphic pen 
 The young will find the book exceedingly interest 
 \ng and very instructive. I commend it cordially 
 
 nnuerio uumieresuug luaws, ore iouiiu 10 possess an unexpected sig- 
 
 Rev. PHILLIP SCHAFF, Church Historian, Editor Lange's 
 
 Commentary, and Professor in Union Theological Seminary, says: The Sa- 
 cred Heroes and Martyrs of the Bible are a noble theme for the well- 
 known descriptive powers of the author, and well calculated to inspire 
 the reader with enthusiasm for the highest and most enduring order of 
 
 f reatness. The book is a valuable contribution to our popular religious 
 iterature. 
 
 Rev. JOSEPH CUMMINGS, !>.»., President Wesleyan University, 
 
 says: Whoever leads men with a proper spirit to the study of the scenes, incidents, and characters 
 of the Bible, renaers a great service to the cause of religion. We consider this to be the great merit 
 of Mr. Headley's new work, and we recommend it as worthy of general attention and favor. 
 
 Pastor 2d Presb. Church, Chicago, 
 
 T. Headley, is written in the author's besc style, 
 
 Rev. R. W. PATTERSON, D.D., 
 
 says : , The " Sacred Heroes and Martyrs," by J. 
 
 and is highiy interesting and instructive. I trust it may obtain a wide circulation. It will serve to 
 strengthen the faith and courage of many readers. The Heroes and Martyrs set before us in the 
 Scripture record, are the great heroes and martyrs of 
 the Church ; and their characters and acts, and even 
 
 their imperfections, if studied in the light of Mr. Head- * S) M 
 
 ley's graphic sketches, can hardly tail to help others AJ (lA/y A' / / 
 
 in following them who, through faith and patience, in- r F\ . WJ ^ I /XAA^LA^jn^j 
 herit the promises. ^ " ww-^ -~ r ^ j 
 
 Rev. E. J. GOODSPEED, R.D., Pastor 2d Baptist Church, Chicago, 
 says : our o il favorite who wrote so graphically of the Sacred Mountains, J. T. Headlev, has given 
 us anot her volume of a similar character, upon Sacred Heroes and Martyrs. He has availed himself 
 of all the modern advances in scholarship and knowledge of the Word of God, to clothe with vivid- 
 ness and reality the characters of Scripture forever sacred in the veneration of mankind. His 
 gorgeousnesa ot imagery revels, and is at home, among the mighty men and sublime landscapes of 
 the ancient past. A soberer pen would fail to reproduce the men and their surroundings in just pro- 
 portions and coloring. We welcome, therefore, and heartilv commend this noble volume, with its 
 Iresn illustrations, clear type and handsome binding, hoping that our dear old Bible, ever new 
 because so human and yet y» 
 
 Divine, and hence adapted ^ yS\ j 
 to our profoundest necessi- /;/ ^ / s /7 
 
 ties, may become yet more 3" CjV €/Zhr~-*'s*^Zt W yf j x * SIS 
 thoroughly understood and ' /7r vyl^ L^AJ^A^A^^^^-^ 
 
 universally read. T CS S r // 
 
 Rev. DANIEL STEELE, D.D., President of Genesee College, N. \\, 
 
 says: J t gives me great pleasure to thaek you lor the service which you have done to Christian lit- 
 erature by the publication of Headley's Sacred Heroes and Martyrs." I deem this work the crown- 
 ing eflort of its distinguished author, and one on which his reputation in the future will chiefly rest. 
 ? or the most enduring literary fame is that which is connected with the Word of God which abideth 
 forever. I hail it as one of the most favorable signs of the times that our greatest writers are turn- 
 Ig their attention to the Bible and are investing its grand themes with the halo of their genius. 
 
 Mr. Headley wields a magical pen. His "Napoleon and his Marshals," read in my college 
 
 dayp, gave me Impressions so vivid, that 
 they hav\; never been erased from my 
 memory. The descriptive power of this 
 writer, the charm of his etyle, and the 
 life-like pictures portrayed by his pen, 
 render hun an especial favorite with the 
 voung. 
 
The JAie and Times of President Grant.— The best, most 
 
 reliable and Standard Life of the Great Chieftain. New and Enlarged Edition— brought down to his 
 Nomination for a Second Term at Philadelphia, Jane 3d, 1872. By Hon. J. T. Headley, the distin- 
 guished Historian of " Washington and His Generals," "isapoleon and His Marshals," " Sacred Moun- 
 tains," etc. The details regarding the early life of the General are at once full and accurate, having been 
 derived from original sources; and the account of his military career is written with that skill and 
 power which long since secured for Mr Headley the foremost position among American historical 
 writers. 
 
 In one large volume, 453 pages, handsomely Illustrated. Price, $2.50. 
 
 Grant and Sherman and Their Generals.— By Hon. J. T. 
 
 Headlet. Comprising the Life and Times of Generals Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Thomas. Hooker, 
 Meade, Burnside, Rosecrans, Howard, Hancock, Gilmore, Sedgwick, Siegel, McPherson, Kilpatrick! 
 Slocum, Logan, Schofield, Hazen, McClernard, Terry, Warren, and others. 606 pages, with 80 Steel 
 Portraits, Bartle Scenes and Maps. The four years of civil war in which the United States were so 
 recently involved has created a History, the records of which are full of Heroes and Heroic Deeds, and 
 Mr. Headley, of all writers, is perhaps best qualified to pori.ay the stupendous features of the mighty 
 contest. 
 
 Cloth Binding, $3.50; Librarv Style, Full Sheep. $4.50; Half Calf Antique, $5.50. 
 Tlie same in German at tlie same price. 
 
 Farragut and Cur IV aval Commanders.— By Hon. J. T. 
 
 Heaoley. The only work of Naval Biographies of the Rebellion. Comprising the Life and Times of 
 Admirals Farragut, Porter, Foot. Dupoiit. btringham, Davis, Goldsborough. Wilkes, Win slow, Dahlgren, 
 Paulding, Vorden, Cushing, Bailey, Boggs, Blake. Rowan, Smith, Rogers, Thatcher, Palmer. Jenkins, 
 Bell, Drayton, Craven, and others. 608 pages, and22 Steel Portraits and Battle Scenes, Written in Mr. 
 Headley's graphic and inimitable style, with an authentic account of Battles, Sieges and Bombardments, 
 including the recent discoveries in conducting Naval Warfare by Gun-Boats and Iron-Clad Vessels ; also 
 thrilling descriptions of the most brilliant exploits and achievements of the Rebellion. The Norwich 
 BxiUetin savs : " It will be read with interest and pleasure by thousands of Americans." 
 
 Cloth Binding, $3.50; Library Style, Full £keep, $4.50; Half Calf Antique, $5.5 C 
 
 The B^ys in Bine, or Heroes of the Rank and File — 
 
 Comprising Incidents and Reminiscences from Camp, Battle-Field and Hospital, with Narratives of the 
 Sacrifice, Sufferings and Triumphs of the "Soldiers of the Republic." By Mrs. A.H.Hoge, of the 
 U. S. Sanitary Commission, Chicago. With an Introduction by T. M. Eddy, D. D. The story Mrs. 
 Hoge narrates is one of the most' thrilling interest. She confines herself to incidents which passed 
 under her own bservati n, and these she weaves together with wonderful skill and effect. The private 
 soldier who survived 'he war will find his own experiences reproduced in this deeply interesting vol- 
 ume; and the thousands who mourn a son, brother or father as among the victims of rebel hate will 
 equally welrome the work as a Pouvenir of the struggle bo full of tender memories for them. 
 Nearly 500 octavo pagss, Illustrated. Cloth Binding, $3-00. Cloth, GiltEdge, $3.50. 
 
 The lAfe and Times of General R. E. Lee, with a full 
 
 Record of the Battles and Heroic Deeds of his Companions in Arms — "Names the World will not 
 willingly let die." By a Distinguished Southern Journalist. Handsomely Embellished with 30 
 Llfe-Like Steel Engravings, and a truthful representation of the Conflagration of Richmond. The 
 Biography of the late lamented General R. E. Lee is here given, replete with facts of interest never before 
 published. .:nd obtained/rwn. the most authentic sources f besides which there are about fifty Biographies 
 (names dear to each part of the former Confederacy). It is from the pen of "Virginia's most gifted 
 author, and is i:i all respeets the mostfinished, accurateand complete work of biographies ever issued. 
 Nearly 900 pages. TheAero Orleans Times says: "It is prepared on the plan of that familiar work, 
 •Napoleon and Tfis Marshals,' by giving the lives of the great Southern Heroes, each an historical epi- 
 tome in itself. Wo can recommend this work as the best that has appeared on the Southern side since 
 the war. It should be found in every household where i ts members believe that earth knows no prouder 
 fame than to be a countryman of Lee and StonewallJackson." 
 
 In Substantial ClothBinding (gilt back,) $3*75* Embossed Morocco, $5*00. 
 
 The Lost Canse — A New Southern History of the War. — By E. A. 
 
 Pollard, of Va. Containing a fullaudauthentic account of the rise and progress of the late Southern 
 Confederacy, the Campaigns, Battles, Incidents and Adventures of the most gigantic struggle of the 
 world's history, with A Steel Portraits. The counterpart of 28 Northern Histories, and is being patron- 
 ized by thousands, eager to hear the other side.'" Isot only in this country ,'but in the British Prov- 
 inces and throughout Europe (having been reproduced in foreign languages), has it* character been 
 established as the Standard Southern History of the War, and the greatest literary success of the age. 
 The entire work has been written since the close of the war, and completed in 1F67. 
 
 <m Pages, Cloth Binding, $5.00; Library Style, Full Sheep, $6.00; Hall Calf Antique, $3.00, 
 
 Wearing" of* the CJray.— By John Esten Cooke, of Va. — Com- 
 prising Personal Portraits, Sketches, Adventures and Incidents of the late War, with thrilling Narra- 
 tives of the Daring Deeds and Patient Sufferings of the " Boys in Gray." The design of this work is to 
 present a graphic and picturesque view of some of the most striking scenes, adventures and personages 
 of the late war in the South, with anecdotes and details concerning them, for the truth of which the 
 author vouches— and of these he speaks as an eye-witness and participant, and not as one compiling 
 facts from books. The Aew Orleans Times says: "The work abounds in graphic descriptions, hair- 
 breadt h escapes, lively anecdotes, and such other matter as cannot fail to prove attractive to the general 
 reader." 
 
 600 Pages, Beautifully Illustrated, Cloth Binding, $4.00 ; Library Style, Full Sheep, $5.00. 
 
 Echoes from the §>Ollfh. — Comprising the most important Con- 
 federate Government Documents, Speeches and Public Acts emanating from the South during the late 
 struggle ; from official sources. 
 
 One volume, 12mo., 211 pages. Price, $1.25. 
 
 Copies sent pre-paid on receipt of price. Liberal terms on large orders. 
 
J¥CW York and its Institutions.— An Illustrated library 
 
 of information, pertaining to the brightside of the GreatMetropolis, by Rev. J. F.Richmond, five 
 tears city missionary. A book of solid histo-ic facts and incidents; thrilling, without being 
 sensation.il; not fictitious, yet stranger than fiction ; and of absorbing interest to the resident 
 and to those who hive visited the city, as well as to those who can only read of it. Its 200 
 superb engravings, produced at a cost of $ 1 0,000, make it the most attractive book of the year. 
 
 "As a manual for residents aid guide book for strangers it is unegualed, and it supplies a 
 place hitherto entirely vacant.' 1 '' — N. Y. Observer. " It is a capital book." — N. T.Methodist. 
 600 Octavo Pages Elegantly Bound, Price $3. Full Sheep Library Edition, $4. 
 
 Sacred Heroes and Martyrs. — Hon. J. T. Headley's Ne* 
 
 Illustrated Biblical Work, written in the author's happiest style, and surpassing his fnrmei 
 works that have sold by the 100.000. with Steel Engravings from designs by our artist, who has 
 spent three years in Bible Lands. Bev. E.J. GOODSPEED, D. D., Chicago, says: " Our old 
 favorite who wrote so graphically of the Sacred Mountains hat given us another volume of a 
 similar character. His gorgeousness'of imagery revels and is at home among the mighty mm and 
 sublime landscapes of the ancient past. A soberer pen would fail to reproduce the men and their 
 surroundings in just proportions and coloring. We welcome, therefore, and heartily commend 
 this noble volume, with its fresh illustrations, clear t>/r>", and handsome binding, hoping that our 
 dear o'd Bible, ever new, because so human and yet hioine, and hmce adapted to our profoundest 
 necessities, may become yet more thoroughly understood and universally read." 
 
 A very valuable Work. I commend it cordially.— Bishop Janes. 
 
 600 Octavo Pages. Green and Gold Binding. Price, $3.50. Full Morocco, $6. 
 
 Our Home Physician. — The new Handy-Book of Family 
 
 Medicine. By GEORGE M. BEARD, A. M., M. D., late of the University of the City of New 
 York, assisted in the various departments by the leading medical men of the metropolis. This 
 is a new work, written up to date, immensely superior to all family medical works ever written, 
 and is not the hobby ofany particular School of Medicine but is based on the principle that the 
 wise physician of our time uses for his patients all things that have proved to be beneficial. 
 It contains all the newest remedies and discoveries in medical science, tells what to do and how 
 to do i t, in every emergency. Over three years have been devoted to its careful preparation. 
 Quackery, humbugery. and old-fogy dogmas exposed. Its vaiue is attested by thousands who 
 have saved money, health, and life. 
 
 *' The best work on the subject ever published.'''' — N. Y. Medical Record. "A work of great 
 value to every family in the land.' 1 — Scientific American. " A valuable companion in the 
 family.' 1 '' L. J. Sanford, M. Z>., Prof, of Anatomy, Yale College. 
 
 1167 pages. Fully Illustrated. Price, $5.00. Full Sheep, Library Edition, $6.00. 
 
 The Farmers' and iTIechanics' Hantial, edited by Geo. 
 
 E. Waring, Jr.— Thisis a practical book, designed for the every day use of Farmers, Mechanics, 
 Artizan sand workingmen of al 1 trades and occupations. 1 1 gives more reliable informat ion, better 
 arranged, and inless space than any w>rk of its class ever published. It is complete in every 
 particular in wh'ch it is possible for such a book to be complete, and containing more that has 
 been proven by long use to be of value, than any other that has ever been presented to the Farm- 
 ers and Mechanics of America. 
 
 "Itis a sound, honest, instructive publication, doing all which it professes to do, and more 
 full of i nformation suited to put money into the purse of the Farmers and Mechanics who consult 
 itB pages."— The New York Tribune. 
 
 "It abounds in valuable information to the Farmer and Mechanic, and, indeed, to nearly 
 every one— information which is usually scattered through many books."— New Orleans Picayune. 
 20,000 Sold. 500 octavo pages. 211 Illustrations. Price, $3.00. 
 
 The National Political Manual— A Non-Partisan Hand- 
 
 Book of Facts and Figures, Historical, Documentary, Statistical and Political, from the founda- 
 tion of the Government to the present time; being, na its title implies, a Handy Book of 
 information pertaining to our National History, carefully compiled and arranged bv E. B. 
 Tiieat, with a History of the Old Flag, by Hon. J. T. Hkadi.ey. 'Many of the chapters alone 
 are worth the price of the entire volume." — The N. Y. Christian Advocate. 
 15,000 sold. 400pages. Illustrated. Price, $1.50. 
 
 The Handy-Book of Husbandry.— A Guide for Farm. 
 
 ers. Young and Old. By Geo. B. Waring, Jr., of Ogden Farm, formerly Agricultural Engineer of 
 Central Park.N. Y., author of "Draining for Profit and for Health," &c." This is preeminently 
 thekingot'AgriculturalBooks. It condenses within a small space so much of the Science of 
 Agriculture as Ls important fat every Fanner to understand, and only so much, and is full and 
 complete in every department pertaining to Farm Operations, Farm Buildings ai d Implements, 
 Drainage, Manures, Grain and Root Crops, the Hairy, Livestock, their Care and Management, 
 etc. . cfr.. with other useful i nformation and labor-saving calculations and data connected with 
 agriculture. "It is precisely such a book as every Farmer should have and should read."— 
 N. Y. Week/'/ Tribune. "Worth more to a Farmer than a yoke of oxen." — Albany Evening 
 Jo'im'il. The bes t o fmodern book s on farmi n?."— Henry Ward Beecher's Paper. "Weta e 
 pleasure in commfndingit."— American Agriculturalist. " It condenses the science of agricul- 
 ture within a small space."— Ohio Farmer. 
 604 octavo pages and V3 Practical illustrations. Price, $3.50. Half Calf Antique. $5.50.