honor of General Wolfe. After the erection of this me- morial to the hero of Quebec the drive of good society was out the Post Road to the Greenwich turning; thence across to the Obelisk ; thence by the Great Kill Road (the present Gansevoort Street) over to the Hudson ; and so homeward by the river-side while the sun was sinking in golden glory behind the Jersey hills. Or the drive could be extended a little by going out the Post Road as far as Love Lane, and thence south by the Southampton, Warren, or Fitzroy Road to the Great Kill Road, and so by the water-side back to town. Chelsea was a village that lay principally between what is now Seventh Avenue and the river, in the neighbourhood of Twenty-second and Twenty-third Streets. The land had originally been part of a farm or bouwerie belonging to Jacob and Teunis Somerin- dyke, but was purchased in 1750 by an English veteran Digitized by Microsoft® Along the Manhattan Shore 63 named Thomas Clarke. Afterwards his widow built a handsome house, and subsequently Bishop Moore, Presi- dent of Columbia College, purchased and made it his home. This property was given by President Moore to his son, Clement C. Moore, whose name is forever enshrined in the hearts of New Yorkers as the author of The Night before Christmas. But popular appreciation had not yet reached far enough to restrain the predatory bands of boys and men who enjoyed the fruits of nocturnal forays upon the garden and orchards of Chelsea, so in a fit of des- peration the owner sought counsel and concluded to survey his land and lay it out in building lots. There was some question whether merchants doing business in New York could be induced to travel so far night and morning, but the rapid-transit problem was solved by the establishment of the Knickerbocker line of stages, run by Palmer & Peters, whose stables stood where the Grand Opera House does now. The par- tition of the estate into village lots went forward rapidly, and fortunes were made by men who saw a little way into the future and speculated on the rise in realty. After a time Chelsea- had its own stores, schools, and offices, a church, a theological seminary, and a fire company, and the value of the Moore estate is reckoned by millions of dollars. The Glass House farm, extending from Thirty-fifth Street northward, was so named from an unsuccessful attempt to make glass there at an early day. This Digitized by Microsoft® 64 The Hudson River « farm was purchased just after the Revolution by Rem Rapelje, a descendant of the Rapeljes who became locally famous as the parents of the first white child born in Manhattan. Mr. Rapelje was at one time a wine merchant, and the cellars of the house at the farm were well stocked with port and Madeira, and a pipe of good wine was always on tap for visitors. Perhaps, after all, the name of " Glass House" was no misnomer. At that time the farm was three miles and a half from the city: it is now practically downtown. Nothing could more strikingly illustrate the vastness of the change that has taken place on Manhattan Island in a little more than a century. Digitized by Microsoft® Chapter VI On the Jersey Shore OPPOSITE the Battery the ancient settlement of Communipaw forms the western gateway of the river. It was the last stronghold of Dutch manners and customs that the descendants of the earliest settlers managed to hold for years against the ever-encroaching spirit of the age ; and it is hinted that even now, however modern their thoughts may be in daytime, the true sons of Communipaw always dream in Dutch. But the rumble and roar of the Philadelphia and Reading cars that find a terminus here interfere sadly with dreaming. Yet what a land of Nod it was when Diedrich Knickerbocker discovered — or did he invent — it? Among favoured places, the renowned village of Communipaw was ever held by the historian of New Amsterdam in especial veneration. Here the intrepid crew of the Goede Vrouw first cast the seeds of empire. Hence proceeded the expedition under Qloffe the Dreamer, to found the city of New Amsterdam, vul- garly called New- York, which, inheriting the genius of its founder, has ever been a city of dreams and speculations. Com- munipaw, therefore, may truly be called the parent of New- York, though, on comparing the lowly village with the great flaunting city which it has engendered, one is forcibly reminded 6. Digitized by Microsoft® 66 The Hudson River of a squat little hen that has unwittingly hatched out a long- legged turkey. It is a mirror also