Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam Part 22

"This event was not distasteful to the great body of the citizens, whose national sentiment had, in a measure, given way before the obvious advantages to their individual interests of having a settled authority established over them, with the additional privilege of English inst.i.tutions which were then considered of a liberal tendency."

In conclusion, we have but a few words to say respecting the manners and customs in the thriving little village of New York, in these primitive days. People were then, to say the least, as happy as they are now. Food was abundant, and New York was far-famed for its cordial hospitality. Days of recreation were more abundant than now. The princ.i.p.al social festivals were "quilting," "apple paring" and "husking." Birthdays, christenings, and marriage anniversaries were also celebrated with much festivity. Upon most of these occasions there was abundant feasting. Dancing was the favorite amus.e.m.e.nt, with which the evening was almost invariably terminated. In this busy community the repose of the night was necessary to prepare for the labors of the ensuing day. The ringing of the nine o'clock bell was the signal for all to retire.

A mild form of negro slavery existed in those days. The slaves danced to the music of their rude instruments in the markets. The young men and maidens often met on the Bowling green and danced around the May pole. Turkey shooting was a favorite amus.e.m.e.nt, which usually took place on the Common. New Year's Day was devoted to the interchange of visits. Every door was thrown open, and all guests were welcome, friends as well as strangers, as at a Presidential levee. This custom of olden time has pa.s.sed down to us from our worthy Dutch predecessors. Dinner parties were unknown. But tea-parties, with the ladies, were very common.

"To take tea out," writes Mr. William L. Stone, in his interesting History of New York,

"was a Dutch inst.i.tution, and one of great importance. The matrons, arrayed in their best petticoats and linsey jackets, home-spun by their own wheels, would proceed on the intended afternoon visit. They wore capacious pockets, with scissors, pin-cushion and keys hanging from their girdle, outside of their dress; and reaching the neighbor's house the visitors industriously used knitting needles and tongues at the same time. The village gossip was talked over; neighbors' affairs settled, and the stockings finished by tea-time, when the important meal appeared on the table, precisely at six o'clock.

"This was always the occasion for the display of the family plate, with the Lilliputian cups, of rare old family china, out of which the guests sipped the fragrant herb. A large lump of loaf sugar invariably accompanied each cup, on a little plate, and the delightful beverage was sweetened by an occasional nibble, amid the more solid articles of waffles and Dutch doughnuts. The pleasant visit finished, the visitors donning cloaks and hoods, as bonnets were unknown, proceeded homeward in time for milking and other necessary household duties.

"The kitchen fire-places were of immense size large enough to roast a whole sheep. The hooks and trammels sustained large iron pots and kettles. In the s.p.a.cious chimney-corners the children and negroes gathered, telling stories and cracking nuts by the blazing pine-knots, while the industrious _vrows_ turned the merry spinning-wheel, and their lords, the worthy burghers, mayhap just returned from an Indian scrimmage, quietly smoked their long pipes, as they sat watching the wreaths curling above their heads. At length the clock with its brazen tongue having proclaimed the hour of nine, family prayers were said, and all retired, to rise with the dawn."

In the summer of 1679, but five years after the final accession of New Netherland by the English, two gentlemen from Holland, as the committee of a religious sect, visited the Hudson river, to report respecting the condition of the country, and to select a suitable place for the establishment of a colony. They kept a minute journal of their daily adventures. From their narrative one can obtain a very vivid picture of New York life two hundred years ago.

On Sat.u.r.day, the 23d day of September, they landed at New York, and found it a very strange place. A fellow pa.s.senger, whose name was Gerritt, and who was on his return from Europe, resided in New York.

He took the travellers to the house of one of his friends, where they were regaled with very luscious peaches, and apples far better than any they had seen in Holland. They took a walk out into the fields and were surprised to see how profusely the orchards wore laden with fruit. They took up lodgings with the father-in-law of their fellow-traveller, and in the evening were regaled with rich milk. The next day was Sunday.

"We walked awhile," they write,

"in the pure mountain air, along the margin of the clear running water of the sea, which is driven up this river at every tide. We went to church and found truly there a wild worldly people. I say wild, not only because the people are wild, as they call it in Europe, but because most all the people who go there, partake somewhat of the nature of the country; that is peculiar to the land where they live."

The preacher did not please them. "He used such strange gestures and language," writes one of them, "that I think I never in my life heard anything more miserable. As it is not strange in these countries, to have men as ministers, who drink, we could imagine nothing else than that he had been drinking a little this morning. His text was _Come unto me all ye, etc._; but he was so rough that the roughest and most G.o.dless of our sailors were astonished.

"The church being in the fort, we had an opportunity to look through the latter, as we had come too early for preaching.

The fort is built upon the point formed by the two rivers, namely the East river, which is the water running between the Manhattans and Long Island, and the North river, which runs straight up to fort Orange. In front of the fort there is a small island called Nut Island. Around the point of this vessels must sail in going out or in, whereby they are compelled to pa.s.s close by the point of the fort, where they can be flanked by several of the batteries. It has only one gate and that is on the land side, opening upon a broad lane or street, called the Broadway."

They went to church again in the afternoon. "After preaching," they write,

"the good old people with whom we lodged, who, indeed if they were not the best on all the Manhattan, were at least among the best, especially the wife, begged we would go with their son Gerrit, to one of their daughters who lived in a delightful place and kept a tavern, where we would be able to taste the beer of New Netherland. So we went, for the purpose of seeing what was to be seen. But when we arrived there we were much deceived. On account of its being, to some extent, a pleasant spot, it was resorted to on Sundays by all sorts of revellers and was a low pothouse. It being repugnant to our feelings to be there, we walked into the orchard, to seek pleasure in contemplating the innocent objects of nature. A great storm of rain coming up in the evening, we retraced our steps in the dark, exploring our way through a salt meadow, and over water upon the trunk of a tree."

On Thursday the 26th, our two travellers, at two o'clock in the afternoon, crossed East river to visit Long Island. The fare in the ferry-boat, which was rowed across, was three stivers, less than half a cent of our money, for each person. They climbed the hill and walked along through an open road and a little woods to "the first village, called Breukelen, which has a small and ugly little church in the middle of the road." The island was then mostly inhabited by Indians.

There were several flourishing farms in the vicinity of Brooklyn, which they visited and where they were bountifully regaled with milk, cider, fruit, tobacco and "first and most of all, miserable rum, brought from Barbadoes, and which is called by the Dutch _kill devil_."

The peach orchards were breaking down beneath the burden of luscious fruit. They often could not step without trampling upon the peaches, and yet the trees were full as they could bear. Though the swine were fattened upon them, still large numbers perished upon the ground. In the evening they went on to a place called Gouanes, where they were very hospitably entertained. It was a chill evening, and they found a brilliant fire of hickory wood crackling upon the hearth.

"There had already been thrown upon it," they write,

"a pail full of Gouanes oysters, which are the best in the country. They are large, some of them not less than a foot long, and they grow, sometimes ten, twelve and sixteen together, and are then like a piece of rock. We had for supper a roasted haunch of venison which weighed thirty pounds, and which he had bought of the Indians for fifteen cents. The meat was exceedingly tender and good and quite fat. We were served also with wild turkey, which was also fat and of a good flavor, and a wild goose. Everything we had was the natural production of the country. We saw lying in a heap, a hill of watermelons as large as pumpkins. It was late at night when we went to rest, in a Kermis bed, as it is called, in the corner of the hearth, alongside of a good fire."

"The next morning they threaded their way through the forest, and along the sh.o.r.e to the extreme west end of the island, where fort Hamilton now stands. They pa.s.sed through a large plantation, of the Najack Indians, which was waving with corn. A noise of pounding drew them to a place where a very aged Indian woman was beating beans out of the pods with a stick, which she did with amazing dexterity. Near by was the little cl.u.s.ter of houses of the dwindling tribe. The village consisted of seven or eight huts, occupied by between twenty and thirty Indians, men, women and children.

"These huts were about sixty feet long and fifteen wide. The floor was of earth. The posts were large limbs of trees, planted firmly in the ground. The sides were of reeds and the bark of trees. An open s.p.a.ce, about six inches wide, ran along the whole length of the roof, for the pa.s.sage of smoke. On the sides the roof was so low that a man could not stand under it.

"They build their fire in the middle of the floor, according to the number of families which live in the hut; not only the families themselves, but each Indian alone, according as he is hungry, at all hours morning, noon and night. They lie upon mats with their feet towards the fire. All in one house, are generally of one stock, as father and mother, with their offspring. Their bread is maize, pounded by a stone, which is mixed with water and baked under the hot ashes.

"They gave us a small piece when we entered; and although the grains were not ripe, and it was half-baked and coa.r.s.e grains, we nevertheless had to eat it, or at least not throw it away before them, which they would have regarded as a great sin, or a great affront. We chewed a little of it with long teeth, and managed to hide it so that they did not see it.

"On Wednesday a farmer harnessed his horse to a wagon and carried them back to the city. The road led through the forest and over very rough and stony hills, making the ride quite uncomfortable. Pa.s.sing again through the little village of _Breukelen_, they crossed the ferry and reached home about noon. On Friday they took an exploring tour through the island of Manhattan. Their pleasant description is worth transcribing.

"This island is about seven hours distance in length, but it is not a full hour broad. The sides are indented with bays, coves and creeks. It is almost entirely taken up, that is the land is held by private owners, but not half of it is cultivated. Much of it is good woodland. The west end, on which the city lies, is entirely cleared, for more than an hour's distance, though that is the poorest ground; the best being on the east and north side. There are many brooks of fresh water running through it, pleasant and proper for man and beast to drink; as well as agreeable to behold, affording cool and pleasant resting places, but especially suitable places for the construction of mills, for though there is no overflow of water, it can be used.

"A little east of New Harlaem, there are two ridges of very high rocks, with a considerable s.p.a.ce between them, displaying themselves very majestically, and inviting all men to acknowledge in them the grandeur, power and glory of the Creator, who has impressed such marks upon them. Between them runs the road to _Spuyt den Duyvel_. The one to the north is the most apparent. The south ridge is covered with earth on its north side, but it can be seen from the water or from the mainland beyond to the south. The soil between these ridges is very good, though a little hilly and stony.

It would be very suitable, in my opinion, for planting vineyards, in consequence of its being shut off on both sides, from the winds which would most injure them; and it is very warm. We found blue grapes along the road, which were very good and sweet, and as good as any I have tasted in the fatherland.

"We went from the city, following the Broadway, over the valley or the fresh water. Upon both sides of this way there were many habitations of negroes, mulattoes and whites. The negroes were formerly the slaves of the West India Company.

But, in consequence of the frequent changes and conquests of the country, they have obtained their freedom, and settled themselves down where they thought proper, and thus on this road, where they have grown enough to live on with their families. We left the village called Bowery on the right hand, and went through the woods to Harlaem, a tolerably large village situated directly opposite the place where the northeast creek and the East river come together. It is about three hours' journey from New Amsterdam."

From the account which these gentlemen give, the morals of the people certainly do not appear to have been essentially better than now. They pa.s.sed the night at the house of the sheriff. "This house was constantly filled with people all the time drinking, for the most part, that execrable rum. He had also the best cider we have tasted.

Among the crowd we found a person of quality, an Englishman, named Captain Carteret, whose father is in great favor with the king. The king has given his father, Sir George Carteret, the entire government of the lands west of the North river in New Netherland, with power to appoint as governor whom he pleases.

"This son is a very profligate person. He married a merchant's daughter here, and has so lived with his wife that her father has been compelled to take her home again.

He runs about among the farmers and stays where he can find most to drink, and sleeps in barns on the straw. If he conducted himself properly, he could be, not only governor here, but hold higher positions, for he has studied the moralities and seems to have been of a good understanding.

But that is all now drowned. His father, who will not acknowledge him as his son, allows him yearly as much only as is necessary for him to live on."

Sat.u.r.day morning they set out from Harlaem village to go to the northern extremity of the island.

"Before we left we did not omit supplying ourselves with peaches, which grew in an orchard along the road. The whole ground was covered with them and with apples lying upon the new grain with which the orchard was planted. The peaches were the most delicious we had yet eaten. We proceeded on our way and when we were not far from the point of _Spuyt den Duyvel_, we could see on our left the rocky cliffs of the mainland, and on the other side of the North river these cliffs standing straight up and down, with the grain just as if they were antimony.

"We crossed over the _Spuyt den Duyvel_ in a canoe, and paid nine stivers fare for us three, which was very dear.[12] We followed the opposite side of the land and came to the house of one Valentyn. He had gone to the city; but his wife was so much rejoiced to see Hollanders that she hardly knew what to do for us. She set before us what she had. We left after breakfasting there. Her son showed us the way, and we came to a road entirely covered with peaches. We asked a boy why he let them lie there and why he did not let the hogs eat them. He answered 'We do not know what to do with them; there are so many. The hogs are satiated with them and will not eat any more.'

"We pursued our way now a small distance, through the woods and over the hills, then back again along the sh.o.r.e to a point where an English man lived, who was standing ready to cross over. He carried us over with him and refused to take any pay for our pa.s.sage, offering us at the same time, some of his rum, a liquor which is everywhere. We were now again at Harlaem, and dined with the sheriff, at whose house we had slept the night before. It was now two o'clock. Leaving there, we crossed over the island, which takes about three-quarters of an hour to do, and came to the North river. We continued along the sh.o.r.e to the city, where we arrived in the evening, much fatigued, having walked this day about forty miles."

The rather singular record for the next day, which was Sunday, was as follows:

"We went at noon to-day to hear the English minister, whose service took place after the Dutch service was out. There were not above twenty-five or thirty people in the church.

The first thing that occurred was the reading of all their prayers and ceremonies out of the prayer-book, as is done in all Episcopal churches. A young man then went into the pulpit, and commenced preaching, who thought he was performing wonders. But he had a little book in his hand, out of which he read his sermon which was about quarter of an hour or half an hour long. With this the services were concluded; at which we could not be sufficiently astonished."

Though New York had pa.s.sed over to British rule, still for very many years the inhabitants remained Dutch in their manners, customs and modes of thought. There was a small stream, emptying into the East river nearly opposite Blackwell's Island. This stream was crossed by a bridge which was called Kissing Bridge. It was a favorite drive, for an old Dutch custom ent.i.tled every gentleman to salute his lady with a kiss as he crossed.

The town wind-mill stood on a bluff within the present Battery. Pearl street at that time formed the river bank. Both Water street and South street have been reclaimed from the river. The city wall consisted of a row of palisades, with an embankment nine feet high. Upon the bastions of this rampart several cannon were mounted.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE OLDEN TIME.

Wealth and Rank of the Ancient Families.--Their Vast Landed Estates.--Distinctions in Dress.--Veneration for the Patroon.--Kip's Mansion.--Days of the Revolution.--Mr. John Adams' Journal.--Negro Slavery.--Consequences of the System.--General Panic.

Many of the families who came from the Old World to the Hudson when New Netherland was under the Dutch regime, brought with them the tokens of their former rank and affluence. Valuable paintings adorned their walls. Rich plate glittered upon their dining table. Obsequious servants, who had been accustomed in feudal Europe to regard their masters as almost beings of a superior order, still looked up to them in the same reverential service. The social distinctions of the old country very soon began to prevail in the thriving village of New York. The governor was fond of show and was fully aware of its influence upon the popular mind. His residence became the seat of quite a genteel little court.