n the country, he offered to
sell his place to his friend, Nehemiah Rogers; but the latter decided
against it.

"It is too far out of town!" he declared.

"But you have a carriage!" exclaimed the Colonel. "You can drive in to
the city whenever you want to!"

The distance was too great, however, and Mr. Rogers did not buy.

By 1826, however, the tide had carried many persons of wealth out to
this neighbourhood, and there were more and more carriages to be seen
with each succeeding month. All at once, high iron railings were built
about the deserted Potter's Field,--a Potter's Field no longer,--and
on June 27th of that year a proclamation was issued:

"The corporation of the city of New York have been pleased
to set apart a piece of ground for a military parade on
Fourth Street near Macdougal Street, and have directed it to
be called 'Washington Military Parade Ground.' For the
purpose of honouring its first occupation as a military
parade, Colonel Arcularis will order a detachment from his
regiment with field pieces to parade on the ground on the
morning of the Fourth of July next. He shall fire a national
salute and proclaim the name of the parade ground, with such
ceremonies as he shall see fit."

This occasion, an anniversary of American independence, seems to have
been a most gorgeous affair, with the Governor, Mayor and other
officials present, and a monumental feast to wind up with. The menu
included, among other dainties, two oxen roasted whole, two hundred
hams ("with a carver at each"), and so many barrels of beer that the
chronicler seems not to have had the courage to record the precise
number!

1827 seems to have seen a real growth of social life around the
Washington Parade Ground. The New York _Gazette_ of June 7th
advertised "three-story dwellings in Fourth Street, between Thompson
and Macdougal streets, for sale. The front and rear of the whole range
is to be finished in the same style as the front of the Bowery
Theatre, and each to have a grass plot in front with iron railings."

This promise of theatrical architecture seems a curious inducement,
but it must have been effective, for many exclusive families came--no,
flocked,--to live in the houses!

In 1830 there was a grand celebration there in joint honour of the
anniversary of the British evacuation and the crowning of Louis
Philippe in France. Everybody sang patriotic French and American a