The sun. [volume], July 20, 1919, Section 3 Magazine Section, Page 2, Image 26

About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920

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THE SUN, SUNDAY, JULY 20, 1919.
Literary Lights Reflected in Traditions of Washington Square
-
Romantic Memo
ries Cimg to Old
Homes and Haunts
of Famous Men
and Women of
Letters
II
A By ARTHUR B MAURICE.
j T X rfwm year (in erentrlrlty of
that part of Greenwich Vlllag
s whlrh clusters about Sheridan
Park has overflowed Into Washington
Square, absorbing- It aide itreete to
the west and taking poaaeaalon of
various st mot urea of the streets to
the south, But long before the oldest
patron of Polly's, or the Pirate's Den,
or the Purple I 'up, or the Mouse Trap
or the Mad Hatter's saw the light of
day, when the Village was American,
and conservative, and as bourgeois aa
Bunner considered It, the Square
boasted Its literary trsdltlons and
.was In flavor and atmosphere the
I nearest approach to a Lstln Quarter
I that New York had to ahow to a
I stranger. Even hack In the years
when all publication offlcsa were far
downtown, and lower Broadway waa
still residential, and the new Firth
avenue did pot extend beyond Twelfth
street, the Square waa a favorite
- haunt of men and women of letters,
i The late Amelia Barr, at the be
' ginning of her career aa an author,
In order to be conveniently near the
..'A ... T ll ' r - ' i
viu ijiuiary in ijRyflii0 place,
,.' established herself and her children
i In an apartment In a street Jurt to the
J south of Washington Square. She did
jivi auuw ml uki unie mat tne apart
ment was one that many yeara before
had housed the gifted but alw.iy
financially unfortunate Edgar Allan
Poe. It was l"oes last New York
residence. There Lowell once visited
him and fouhd him "not himself that
day", and there he wrote "The Facta
In the Case of M. Valdemar," and "The
Philosophy of Composition," and "The
Uteratl of New York." which caused
a stir comparable to the stir caused by
Byron's "English Hard and Scotch
Reviewers," or Robert lluchanan'a
I "The Fleshly School of Uterature."
Is fact, In the neighborhood of the
Square were afl of Poe's New York
homes, with the exception of the one
overlooking th Hudson from what is
now Eighty-fourth, street, and the
Fordham Cottage where Virginia, the
child wife, died and from which he
went forth, already In the ahadow of
his own tragic end.
Where Poe Read "The Raven."
About the Square are other I'oe as
acclatlons than those Involving exlst
ing or demolished structures in which
the poet actually lived. Op Waverley
place was the home of Anne Lynch,
who afterward became Mr. Botta. and
who wrote "The Battle of Life." It
waa a literary salon of Its day, and
to It Poe, a shy Hon. was Invited, to
- read the newly published "The
Raven," and probably to be stared at
and criticised by .the more affluent
and conventional members of the
writing fraternity. Others who fre
quented the salon were Bayard Tay
lor and Taylor'B friend Caroline Klrk
land, and Margaret Puller and Lydia
Child and Ann S. Stephens, who wrote
"Fashion and Famine" and "Mary
Derwent," and young Richard Henry
Stoddard and Elizabeth Harstow, who
became his wife. '
Bayard Taylor lived In a house fac
ing the Square at the point where
Waverley place Joins Macdougal
street. There he Wrote "The Epistle
Prom Mount Tholus" and some of the
"Poems of the Orient." Subsequently
the bouse waa torn down and on the
alto waa erected the apartment dwell
ing In which Oeorge Parsons Lathrop
penned some of the verse of hla "Days
and Dreams," while his wife, Nathan
iel Hawthorne's daughter, composed
parte of "Along the Shore." Almost
within the memory of the present
generation la the old University
Building that faced the Square from
the eastern aide. There, Just before
the outbreak of the civil war, Theo
dora Wlnthrop wrote "John Brent"
and "Cecil Dreeme," the latter one of
the most widely read books of Ita day,
and from there he went in the blue
uniform of the Union army to meet
death at the Battle of Big Bethel.
Irtfcplae at Henry Jasaea.
At II Washington place, Just off
the Square, Henry James was horn.
In his novel "Washington Square" he
left a picture of the neighborhood as
It was when he knew It in his boy
hood. Even then It had "a kind of
established repose, not of frequent oc
currence In othe'r qunrters of the
long, shrill city; a richer, riper look
than any of the upper ramifications
of the great longitudinal thorough
farethe look of having had some
thing of a social history."
The actual house which Henry
James had in mind, and which he de
scribed with minute detail as the resi
dence of Dr. Eloper, la on Waverley
place, between Fifth avenue and Mac
dougal street. In 1116 when Dr.
Bloper first took possession, moving
uptown from the vicinity of the City
, Hall, which socially had seen Ita beat
daya, the Square, then the Ideal of
quiet anM genteel refinement, was
enclosed by a wooden paling. The
structure in which the Slopers lived
and Its neighbors were then supposed
to embody the last results of architec
tural science. It waa then and la to
day a modern house, wide fronted
with a balcony before the drawing
, room windows and a flight of white
marble steps asoendlng to a portal
. also faced with white marble. In the
twenties Mrs. Sloper had been "one
of the pretty girls Of the email but
promising capital which rlustertd
about the Battery and overlooked the
bay, and of which the uppermost
boundary was Indicated by the grassy
waysldoa of Canal street."
From Henry James to O. Henry the
novelists have found delight and sug
gestion In that line of stately houses
that stretches along the northern
boundary of the Square. In "A Has
ard of New Fortunes" William Dean
Howells wrote of the "old fashioned
American respectability which keeps
the north aide of the Square In vast
mansion Of tsd brick, and the Inter-
i. ERE !
1 , ..j, , ,i , U o Cikrd.TE.R8V) LLE '.' PRACTISED REVOLvEQ SHOOTIHGlli. , , J
YvVflX FOR. A DUEL' 3''ffiJaMLA4w!
Trfe HOUSE of DO. SLOPE.fi IN HENRYaT i '"'BBBggBE i" " M i" .SaBBgH1". 1 li'r' r : nSQWg? TAw OLO BENEDICK. ON TW SQUMie.
MBPn Rasl K asA. W' Y1 H ilava when he was edltins l'uck waa in all likelihood the old restaur- llfl I
BEHMBBlMybL' from us Mulberry street office, was anl of the Orand Vatel which In U
tVKWni HOC. t$P m ,.fii"l,l if t I In the habit of lunchlns freouently late '70a was on Houston street It 2 L-a . , ,
Tt OLD RESTAURANT of Tne GRAND VATEL
ON WEST HOUSTON STREET.
national shabblness which has invaded
the southern border nipt broken it up
Into lodging bougag, shops, lieer gar
dons and studios." Basil and Isabel
March of the story went there when
worn out by futile flat hunting and
"strolled over the asphalt walks under
the thinning shadows of the autumn
stricken sycamore."
The late F- Hopkinson Smith In
troduced It wing of the stretch In
"Caleb West," the atory which grew
out of the author's experiences In
building the Race Rock lighthouse.
Sanford lived in a five room apart
ment at the top of a house with dor
mer windows on tho north side. Hla
guests looking out could aee the
"night life of the park, miniature fig
urea strolling about uader the trees,
flashing in brilliant light or swallowed
up In denae ahadow as they passed ill
the glare of the many lamps scattered
among the budding foliage." Another
of these houses waa tenanted by Mrs.
Delaney of Edgar Fawcett'a "Ruther
ford"; and tho Square waa the, scene
of Mrs. Burton Harrison's "Sweet
Bells Out of Tune.'
nut or ait tne ulder men It was
Henry Cuyler Bunner who loved the
Square best and who described It with
greatest sympathy. When he lived
there in his younger bohemlan days,
It was not In one of the red brick and
white trimmed edifices of the north
side. Therefore while to other writers
the Square was something to be
studied In Its architectural aapecta or
as a problem in social contrasts, Bun
ner liked best to describe it at night,
with the great dim branches swaying
and breaking in the breeae, the gas
lamps flickering and blinking, when
the tumults and the shoutings of the
day were gone, and "only a tramp or
something worse In woman's shape
was hurrying sjcrooa the bleak apaee,
along the winding asphalt, walking
over the Potter's Field of the past on
the way to the Potter's Field to be."
In Buainer'a Bohemlaa Days.
After "The story of a New York
House," in which he pictured remlnla
cently an old romantic atructure that
still Is to be found facing Battery Park.
Bunner's best novel was "The Midge,"
In which Is the essence of Washington
Square and the streets adjoining the
square as they were tnirly-nve or
forty years ago. The hero of the book,
Capt. Peters, or Dr. Prtera, ns ho pre
ferred to be called, lived on the top
floor of 50 Waahington Square South,
a three atory brick structure' on
what Bunner called the "dark south
side," between Thompson and Sullivan
streets. It la gone now haa been
gone a dosen years or so but there
are plenty of New Yorkers who re
member It aa it was, udjoining the
Judaou Memorial, standing back from
the street, even darker and gloomier
than the houses about it.
A low iron railing, one green, sepa
rated the sidewalk from the poor little
plot of sod and stunted grass. The
door, a single step above the ground,
was flanked by thin grooved columns.
From the second atory windows Jutted
little balconies, and from the dormer
window Jutting bum the roof Peter,
looked down upon the Square, study
ing it with hla wise, kindly philosophy.
When he was tired of looking out at
the Square he sought another view,
that afforded by the windows to the
south, for in the rear of No. 60 were
two vacant lots, stretching through to
West Third street, or Amity street as
It was probably then called. "These
yards In summer were green and
bright, and in the centre of one there
was a tree."
Formerly the streeta to the imme
diate south of Washington Square
were the French Quarter, which later
migrated to the Twenties west of
Sixth, avenue, and then aomehow dis-
appeared entirely. Bunner, who in
the daya when he was editing Puck
from ita Mulberry street office, was
In the habit of lunching frequently
In Macdougal street and South Fifth
avenue restaurants in company with
auch men as Brander Matthews and
James L, Ford, drew in ' Tho Midge,"
a picture of a typical old time cab
aiet of the section, calling It "A la
Villa de Rouen." which apeclallsed In
"Fine Wines, Brandies and Liqueurs,
nJid of which the patron was J. Pl
guult. A curious conceit of the tale
presented the window sign backward,
from the point of view from which
the clients of the establishment liked
beat to read it, and thoughts of that
sign and of the warmth and cleanli
ness within, and of Mme. Plgault.
neat and comely knitting, and of the
sawdust covered floor and the little
noises of a gentle sort inspired Bun
rer to that fine antl-prohlbltlon aer
mon in which he showed with truth
end keen humor the "estimable gen
tlemen who go about this broad land
denouncing the Demon Drink, that
there were wine shops not wholly in
The "Charlemagne" of "The Midge"
was in all likelihood the old restaur
ant of the Orand Vatel, which in the
late '70s was on Houston street. It
wan the prizo exhibit of tho bohemla
of the French Quarter, ty the south
of tho Square. There juvd only the
struggler of th,e quarter, some of
them communards who had fled from
Franco to escape the penalty of their
crimes of 1871. but also American art
tbts and authors in embryo used to
dine substantially and with amazing
economy. Why not when tho bill .of
faro provided a aoup for five cents,
beet with vegetables for ten eenta,
veal Marengo for twelve cents, mut
ton atew with potatoes for eight oenta,
braised beef with onions for ten cents.
macaroni an gratin for six centa, celery
salad for six cents, and either Oruevero
or Neufchatel cheese for three cents,
and for three cents the small cup of
coffee needed properly to finish the
repast?
A block or so from the Square, at
the southeast corner of Fifth avenue
and Ninth street, ta the structure
where Mark Twain made hla home
, , ...
Tfe Do RHAM MOUSE AT m AVE. and
ST MERE. R.ICMARO 14ARDIN- DAVIS'S
"VAN BIBBER" FOUND Tfw BURGLAR.
lug in
brick.
question, la
bouse with
a house of red
a high basement
elow Paine, was very lonely in No. 21
and snugflt to liven matters by tu
rn ! three stories above, and incidi nt- 1 stalling a great Aeolian orchestrelle.
ally built by the architect who de- In January, 19'I8, Paine paid his first
signed Qraoe Church. Samuel Clem- visit to the house and found Mr. Clem-
lens went to live there in the autumn I ftia propped up in bed with his heart
I of 1804, r malnlng for a time. In the at the foot, turning over the pages of
I nearby Qroavenor Apartment, in order I "Huckleberry Finn" in aearch of a
! that the new habitation might be put paragraph about which some random
I In order nnd the home furniture I correspondent had aaked elucidation.
I that had been brought from Hartford I Eighth street is an outlying posses-
- . I . ... . . .
bunions and that bred not crime dui aunng certain years or hla New York
gentleness and good cheer. 'life. No. II Fifth avenue, the dwell
Installed When No, 21 was ready for
occupation only Mr. Clemens and his
daughter Jean went to live there, for
Clara Clemens had not yet recovered
from tho strain of her mother's long
Illness and the shock of her death,
and was in retirement under the care
of a trained nurse Mark Twain, ac
cording to his biographer, Albert Big-
Clemenceau Guided by His Father's Precepts
THROUGHOUT his long and
crowded life the Influence of his
father's precepts and example
has Influenced strongly the thought and
the career of Georges Benjamin Cle
menceau, the Premier who led France
to victory and then made peace for her
not the least of "The Big Three"
statesmen of the world.
Oeorg Brandea, famous Danish man
of letters and long an Intimate of the
Premier, relates that long after Cle
menceau had reached middle age,
when he hati become one ot the moat
noted figures in French Journalism
and public life, he used often to say :
"If I ahould do (this or that) what
would my father say?"
What sort of father was this who
thus could set his lndelllble Impress
upon one of the world's great minds
and greater heart? Must he not have
been a remarkable man himself?
He waa.
Gustavo Oeffroy, who knew him
and all his children, at last haa written
for J.'fJiMfroflon the first study of
the elder Clemenceau that haa reached
type, ft is illuminating because It
snows how many of the Premier's
splendid qualities his lifelong enmity
to autocracy in all Its forma, hla ear
nestness und steadfastness, even his
wit were and are his by right of In
heritance. It Is hard for us nowadays w of
the younger generation to realize
that France not long ago waa under
the rule of a monarch. We have read
It In histories, certainly, but it ft not
vivid to us. It is vivid enough to Clemenceau.
Benjamin Clemenceau, Ms father, a
physician, as la his son and as four
generations of Clemenceaua have been,
was married In 1839, and after their
first child, a daughter, and their sec
ond, the Premier, were born, went to
live at Natl teg. Benjamin Clemenceau
sympathized with the revolution and
bis father had played a part in
It. He was an urdent democrat,
Republlcun. Under Louis Philippe
and under Louis Napoleon, he fre
quented a secret meeting place of the
Republicans In Nantes. In the home of
one Tlancon, where admission was by
password. There were some famous
Republicans lq the group, statues
stand in Nantes now to two of them
den. Cambronne nad Dr. Guapln.
There were twelve leaders. Benjamin
Clemenceau was one.
When in DecenVber, WW Louis Na
poleon decided to cast aside hla pre
tence of republican rule and assume
the title of Emperor Napoleon HI.,
his ever active police did not overlook
the Nantes physician. He waa ordered
Interned. Seven years later, he felt
the Imperial wrath more strongly. He
was seised and ordered deported into
exile In Algiers.
The Incident made a permanent Im
pression on tho mind of his seventeen-year-old
son. When the prison van
arrived to carry his father away he
pressed close to him and whispered.
"I will avenge you."
"If you would avenge me, work," re
plied hla father.
In 101, when Clemenceau had be
come Minister of the Interior, in peace
time the moat Influential post In the
French Cabinet, ha paid a visit ta his
native L Vends and recounted the
story In a speech delivered at on ot
the great celebrations In hla honor.
"And I have worked," he added,
"and to-day, when I sew all th Re
publicans doing ms the honor to ac
claim me far above my deserts, I can
not restrain myself from turning to
him to whom I owe everything and
saying to you: 'It Is he who ahould be
honored.' "
It Is almost anti climax to record
that the father never reached Algiers.
The Imperial edict of banishment waa
revoked by the time he reached Mar
seilles. Uke father like son! Benjamin
Clemenceau fell IB love as a youth with
Mile. Sophie-Emma Eucharis Gau
treao, daughter of a neighboring land
owner In MnutTJaron-en-Pareds, Ven
dee. His father, Paul Jules Benjamin
Clemenceau, opposed the match. Thero
waa a violent clash between them, but
the son won and the marriage took
place.
That is not th French way. In
France the parents arrange the mar
riages, with a careful eye on the dot
Everyone remembers the story of
the Premier, how he came to America
upon graduating In medicine, was un
ahe to make a living practising In
New York, wrent to teach French In a
girls' school In Stamford. Conn. and
fell In leve with one of his pupils.
Then history repeated itself. His
father obMtsd, It la related that
young Clemenceau mado two trips to
France to endeavor to overcome tho
parental opposition and he won, aa
hla father had won the same battle be
fore him.
It Is a wonderful thing that the six
children born of that marriage eighty
yeara ago are alive. They are Emma,
now Mme. Jacquet; the Premier: Mile.
Adrienne: Sophie, now Mme. Rryndza;
then Paul, an engineer, and Albert,
a lawyer.
All of them were exceptionally well
educated, under a rigorous regime.
A new Clemenceau anecdote comes
to light In this connection. It ap
pears that when he waa about 14, he
spent a lasy year In school. At the
end ef th term there were prizes for
nearly everyone except for htm -prises
consisting for tho most part of
beautifully bound, gilt edged books.
To watch the other boys strutting the
streets of Nantes with their arms full
of these treasures, and to walk empty
handed himself was more than he
could atand. So he rifled his father's
bookcases for a good armful and made
a promenade himself. He waa disci
plined for It by the head of the lycoe
or as we would say, high school.
It will spoil the atory for Juvenile
readers to relate that young Georges
made up hla deficiencies that summer.
From hla father Clemenceau inherits
also his well kftown love for the arts.
His father was an amateur draughts
man, painter, lithographer and sculp
tor. Also he played the violin well
enough to be heard at the soirees of
the period in Nantes.
One of his paintings In time may be
preserved by the French Government
aa carefully as any of the treasures of
the Louvre, for it is a portrait of his
distinguished son at the age of 10
yeara It is well painted, too, and
shows an Intelligent, mischievous lad
with eyea set wide apart under rather
straight and heavy brows; a good
nose, a short upper Hp with rather a
marked indentation, and a chin that
Is, In Irreverent language, some chin.
The likeness to tho Clemenceau of
to-day Is easy enough to see, particu
larly In the high. Mongolian cheek
bones, but there la one striking dis
similarity. The boy of 10 had a
beautiful shock of fluffy hair that hid
the odd configuration of the Clemen
ceau skull that later was to tempt the
MlkajmrtsU oX two comments,
t
When the son went to study medi
cine in Paris tho father went along to
Install him in the rue do l Estrapade,
near the Pantheon. Every year he
made a pilgrimage to see blm. going
with tho young man to tho museums,
the theatres, tho libraries and losing
no chance to Imbue the son with hla
own burning spirit of patriotism nnd
hatred of aoclal Injustices.
In the old gentleman's later days hs
was a witty and charming companion
to thoae who could gain access to his
fine old home In l'Aubraie. "Ho re
counted aa well as a Balr. ic or a Mau
passant the manners and customs of
the peasants," says M (Irffroy, "for
while, ho had retired from practice In
Nantes he wns still a country doctor
end ho know the country folk pro
foundly well."
The old home was surrounded by a
foss, and tho proprietor used to re
count that he was standing on the
little brldgir'that crossed It when news
came of the battle of Waterloo and Its
outcome. He wus 5 years old then-
He loved his lands, loved tho coun
try. And he was a kindly landlord.
Sometimes It wius suggested to blm
that It might be well to scrutinize a
little more closely aome of the ac
counta submitted to him by the farm
ers. Ho would listen "with a heavy
ear," and reply. "Well, what would
you? They've Kept us alivo for eighty
yeara now."
There Is another story of tho old
man:
A peasant sought him out, neeklag
to buy a young tree set out In the
middle of a field.
"Well, look it over," said the squire.
The peasant did so. carefully and
minutely.
"ril leave It to you," went on the old
gentleman. "You set the price. What
ever you say it's worth you may have
it for. Let's hear your estimate."
The peasant looked the treo over
again.
"It isn't w orth an thin.;
peasant.
slon of Washington Square, and when
It was more familiarly known as Clin
ton place the thoroughfare was rich
In literary traditions and associations.
The CurWIrf waa) there when It enter
tained Thackeray so well. Evert
Augustus Duycklnck, author of "The
War for the Union" and co-author
with his brother Oeorgo of the "Cy
clopedia of American Literature,"
lived there. Mrs. Botta. who as Anne
Lynch, had entertained or tried to
entertain Foe In her Washington
Square salon made her home for a
time in Clinton place. In r third
story back room of No, it Thomas
llailoy Aldrich, then a young clerk
with aspirations to authorship, wrote
his "BallRd of Babie Bell." At No.
84, which was the home of Judga
Daly, Puul du Challlu wrote some of
the chapters dealing with hla African
explorations and brought down upon
his head tho incredulous laughter of
two continents. In Cllnten place, un
til ton or fifteen years ago. was the
home of Richard Watson Glider, poet,
Crntvry editor and good citizen of the
city of New York.
Scene of Ven lubber Adventar.
At the northwest comer of Ninth
street and Fifth avenue is the house
where Richard Harding Davis's Von
Bibber ran into the adventure that
waa related in "Van Bibber's Bur
glar." It la known as the Da Kham
house. But Action waa not needed to
lnveat the structure with a romantic
story. It ceased to be commonplace
if it ever were commonplace; soon
after It waa erected in the early half
of the last century by one of the Bre
voort family. There. In February,
1840, waa held the that masquerade
ball In the history of New York, the
most splendid aoclal affair of the first
half of the nineteenth century. But
It ended In a manner that placed a
ban on masked halls for many yeara
to come.
The British Consul to New York;
waa Anthony Barclay and ho had a
daughter Matilda, a belle of great
charm and beauty, surrounded by a
group of persistent suitors. Of course,
mong them the one she preferred
was the one of whom her parents most
disapproved, a young South Caro
linian named Burgwyne. Opposition
served only to fan the flame of attach
ment, and they met by stealth, and lq
the good old fashioned way he wno4
her by quotations from Tom Moore's
"I. alia Rookh," Which, was their favorite
said the I pot m To the ball they went In the guise
of their romantic favorites, she as
I'm a man of my word. That which; UaMa ami he as Ferafnors, the young
Is worth nothing, take for nothing." prince. Till 4 In the morning they
And ho forced the shamefaced peas
ant to take tho treo on those terms
M. Geffrey went to see him one day.
"I want to invite you to my funeral,"
said the old man auddenly, He waa
right. He died soon afterward, July
danced, and then, still wearing th
costumes of the poem, they slipped
away from the ball and were mar
ried before breakfast. Natural and
harmless enough as It seema after all
the years, It caused a great uproar
Some of Their Best
Works Inspired
by the Bohemian
Atmosphere in
Which Writers
Found Delight
,, .rh odium that soon after a fine
of IWI0O was Imposed upon any one
who should give one one-half to be
deducted If the sinner told on himself.
Again In Ninth street wm Ktiuo.n
home of the seemingly ubiquitous Mrs.
Botta, and In the same thoroughfare
was the house of tjio actress who Is
remembered aa th first sweethart of
Tom Moore, who waa the Indirect
cause of all the troubl at the Bre-
rt hull- and there too was a on
time abode of William CuUon Bryant,
who wrote of it aa being nr m
home of Irving friend Brevonrt. At
numbers 1 and 21 Wert Ninth treet
there was, not o long ago, a little
Franco-Spanlsh-Amoilcan hostelry
known as the Hotel Griff ou. There
once the lato Thomas A. Janvier lived
and studied the odd type that he In
troduced into his storle of the Bffer
antl family. William Deaaa Howolls
frequently dined there and desoribed
the restaurant ond the little box-like
outdoor terrace in "A Haaard of New
Fortunes," and from time to time Ed
mund Clarence. Stedman and Richard
Watson Ollder and Richard Henry
Stoddard made their way there.
Then the older and more sedat
writing men drifted away, and to
carry on the laughter and literary talk
at the tables came a younger group,
known aa the "Griffon rush." of whom
raninlrilnlK Hienihor WSS Josillh
Flynt, who lived by choice the curious
vagabond lira that was responsinia
for such books as "Tramping With
Tramps" and "Tho Rise f Roderick
Clowd" and 'Towers That Prey." the
last named written In collaboration
with another member of the "Push,"
Alfred Hodder.
Where Phillips I oui.s Saecess.
In a three story red brlok structure
of Washington Square. South, between
Sullivan ami Macdougal streets,
David Graham Phillips ' waa living
when he wrote "The Great God Suc
cess," and there he laid many of the
scenes of a tale that waB in some re
spects autobiographical From the In
side lie knew the boariing house with
the high stoop, on the steps of w hich
the boarders gathered of summer eve
nnigs to watch the children of many
nations play In the Pquaro. In imi
tation of the Tension Vauquer of Ho
nor de Balzac's famous "Pfre Oorlol."
in the Sands Boarding House, a ntv
lodger began by taking the best rooms.
Then, slowly or swiftly as the case
might be. came the social and financial
disintegration, marked by ascending
step from story to story until th
eubby hole under the eaves vtit
reached.
"The Great God Success" was the
Stop by which Phillips passed 'from
newspaper work to novel writing. It
was a step that many of his closest
friends deplored and advised against,
pointing out that it was giving up a
comfortable position In Journalism for
the uncertainties of fiction, and calling
It "spoiling a good newspaper man to
make a poor novelist.'' That It was
a step requiring courage Is Indicated
by the fact that Phillips s only percept
ible resources at the time were two ar
ticles that had been accepted by a
weekly publication but not yet paid
for.
On the north side of Tenth street to
the east of Sixth avenue Is the old
Studio Building, which, since the days
when Henry T Tuckerman lived thi ro,
and there wrote some of his later vol
umes, including "The Criterion" and
the "Book of the Artists." haa housed
many men of le.ters. cither aspiring
or arrived, and which has been Intro
duced again uud again es a scene of
fiction, for example by F. Hopkinson
Smith in "Felix O'Dav," and by Rob
in W. Chamber In "The Common
Law." But just tu loss the street la a
structure, or rather remnant of a
structure, that Is even more interesting.
Back of No. ."S West Tenth street was
a frame building lhat served as lb
studio of Abbey, as the meeting place
of the old Tile Club "that played a part
In Brander Matthews' "The Last
Meeting" and was a txickground of
"Colonel Carter of 1,'arie.rsville." "An
old fashioned, partly furnished, two
atory house, nearly a century old,
which crouched down behind the larger
and niore modern dwelling fronting on
the street" was the accurate descrip
tion in the tale.
It was there that Col. Carter resided
during that period of his life whn he
was In New York for the purpose of
trying to Interest the agents of Brit
ish syndicates In a railroad scheme
which would have given easy access to
the Atlantic seaboard to somo of Vir
ginia's very first families. The street
In tho story was called Bedford Place,
and the spot was Indicated as being
within a stone's throw pf the tall clock
tower of the Jefferson Market. The
trot-, entrance to this curious abode
waa marked by a swinging wooden
gate. Just the kind of gate that ia to
be found to-day where on enters the
nearby MUllken Place from Sixth ave
nue Just above Tenth etrect. The Bed
ford Place gate opened Into a narrow
tunnel, which dodged under the front
house. It was an uncanny sort of
passageway, moldy and wet from a
long neglected leak overhead, and
lighted at night by a rusty lantern
wrlth dingy glass sides."
When the Tile Club flour!shd, and
made merry ashore and afloat, this
quaint bit of local color existed prac
tically aa it had been seme eighty
years before, when it was an outpost
of Greenwich Village. Then Maltland
Armstrong, th owner of the modern
front house, was moved to remodel and
add to his own dwelling, and part of
the old structure had to go. The en
trance and the eastern half of the
white frame building In the rear, where
the Colonel bullded dreams as he
watched the logs crackle and flare on
the henrth, remain Intact. The swing
ing wooden ante whence Carter' faith
ful negro ri t,''ner Chad swooped down
upon the complucent shopkeepers of
the quarter, long a familiar landmark
of this oorner of old New York, opened
into th tunnel directly under the
stoop No. ta West Tenth
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