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 passed 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 entitled 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.

"The country was parcelled out," writes Rev. Bish