e of old New York.

Bowery and Grand Street were the East Side's shopping marts. Stewart was
building a marble palace at the corner of Broadway and Chambers Street.
You went to Division and Canal streets for your bonnets. There were a
few private milliners who made to order and imported.

There were sails and short journeys to take even then. Elysian Fields
had not lost all its glory. And yet the little girl was quite
disappointed in her visit to it. She had lived in the country, you know,
she had looked off the Sound at Rye Beach and seen the Hudson from
Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, and really there were lovely spots up the
old Bloomingdale road. And she had pictured this as beyond all.

Aunt Eunice was very much struck with the changes. Her surprise really
delighted the little girl. They took her over in Hammersley Street. Old
Mr. Bounett seemed quite feeble, and though he was not in his court
attire, he had a ruffled shirt-front and small-clothes. Aunt Eunice
thought him delightful. It seemed queer to think of a French quarter in
New York in the old part of the last century where people met and read
from the French poets and dramatists, and almost believed when
civilization set in earnestly, French must be the polite language of the
day.

The little girl felt quite as if she was one of the hostesses of the
city. She knew so many strange things and could find her way about so
well. And yet she was only ten years old.

Aunt Eunice thought her a quaint, delightful little body, and wise for
her years. But she _was_ small. Nora Whitney had outgrown her and the
Dean children were getting so large. As for the boys, they grew like
weeds, and the trouble now was what to do with Ben. There was no free
academy in those days, but the public school gave you a good and
thorough education in the useful branches.

CHAPTER XV

A PLAY IN THE BACK YARD

The pretty block in First Street that had been so clean and genteel, a
word used very much at that time, was fast changing. The lower part on
the south side was rilling up with undesirable people, some foreigners
who crowded three families into a house. Houston Street was growing
gaudy and common with Jew stores. And oh, the children! There was a
large bakery where they sold cheap bread, and in the afternoon there
really was a procession coming in and going out.

Chris and Lily Ludlow had teased their mother to move. The place was
comfortable and near their father's b