vessel arriving in its port brought some of the refugees; which fact caused a considerable amount of puffing in the long pipes of the Dutch inhabitants, and of increased loquacity amongst the English portion of the colony.

Not indeed that these good people were unwilling to extend the hospitality of the new world to their unfortunate fellow-creatures, there being quite a sufficiency of room for all; but even the best-tempered people are apt to be discomposed at innovations in time-honored customs, and certainly many would be necessitated by the admission of so great a number of persons of a different nationality.

Îndeed they had already commenced. The first and most important of which was a change in the established postal system.

Although more than a decade of years had passed since the government of the colony as well as its name had been changed, its members still retained the characteristic trait of its former proprietors, — evidenced in a degree of phlegmatic temperament rarely met with outside of those in whose veins flow the blood of the settlers from Holland, or perhaps in others who, from constant and intimate association with them, had contracted the same peculiarity.

The New Yorkers were certainly a slow people. The "hideous roaring" of Hell Gate on the one side of them and the harbor bar on the other, may account for foreign commerce and domestic trade having passed to other ports, thereby increasing the importance of the sister colonies of Philadelphia and Boston: nevertheless its best friends could call it nothing else but slow.

In the year 1686 the discontinuance of their postal system called the "Coffee House Delivery," considered sufficiently good for the past one hundred years, was the immediate cause of the present disturbance of the even tenor of community life.

One should have lived in the days of coffee houses to fully understand the inconvenience of this innovation.

During the early days of the Dutch settlement, the population of Nieu Amsterdam being small and communication with the mother country limited, there had been but little epistolary correspondence, and that little mostly confined to merchants respecting their cargoes.

It was the custom in those days to hoist the flag of the "Privileged West India Company" upon the flagstaff in the old fort, whenever a vessel appeared in sight; and its orange and blue decoration was the signal for a general turnout of the masculine portion of the community to watch and speculate upon the approach of the ship.

Upon its arrival, this correspondence was immediately consigned to its respective owners. Those who expected any news of either personal or general nature received it by hand in the former case, and in the latter contingency by word of mouth. If, perchance, there should be an unclaimed missive it was left in the care of some responsible person until an owner was found to claim it.

In time, however, the captains of the vessels, finding sufficient to occupy them besides answering questions and delivering letters, placed the latter, upon landing, in the most popular resort in those days, which was the coffee house. From there they were quickly claimed, read, and discussed over cups of fragrant coffee. The finding of owners for unclaimed missives was greatly facilitated by the custom of fastening them upon a board hung in some conspicuous part of the public room. The endeavor to decipher the almost illegible, and in some cases all but undecipherable, superscriptions helped to pass an idle moment away and also give basis for speculation.

This custom had been continued even after the

English had possession of the settlement, as in the coffee house met all the great and learned men of the place, as well as the wits and visiting celebrities; and great was the flow of wit and reason over the favorite beverage, as they discussed the news that was interchanged and circulated to an extent that would cast into the shade the far-famed locutionary powers of the fairer portion of the community-but of course men will never admit this.

In the year of '86 all this was changed, for an official order had been issued that all letters coming by ships should in future be sent direct to the Custom House; consequently the "Coffee House Delivery became a thing of the past.

American spirit, however, was not to be thus easily conquered; for when later on the British government started a post office, continental post was likewise started, and patronized to such an extent that the governmental one had very little to do.

Although letters were no longer distributed there, the coffee houses still held their own in the public affection as places of general resort; holding amongst our ancestors the place the club houses of the nineteenth century do to their descendants. There, matters of great importance as well as matters of no importance at all were discussed, from wars and rumors of wars abroad to a runaway horse at home. Every ship arrival supplied a stock of news to be exchanged or retailed in greater or lesser quantities as suited the will of the giver and the moderate or immoderate desires of the recipient.

When the subject of taxation without representation was discussed, and, later on, that of an independent government mooted, the meetings, formerly of a social nature, assumed a seriousness befitting the matters discussed, and sittings were long and frequent. It was in the coffee house known as "The City Arms," which

faced Bowling Green that opposition to the Stamp Act was first started. This old building stood until a comparatively late date, when it was taken down to make way for modern improvements. It was built partly of brick, the sides and rear being of wood, and was surrounded by a garden in which musical entertainments were given. Tradition says that Benedict Arnold lodged in this house after his treason.

During British occupation, the coffee houses merely existed. Fraunce's held its own, however, although it was more of a hotel than coffee house proper. This old building is still standing at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets, and has been enlarged, it being at that time only three stories in height; it is of brick and was built in the early part of the eighteenth century by Mr. S. Delancey, who resided in it. It is still quite firm and may be identified by the green marble slab set in the corner, stating that within its walls Washington delivered his parting address to the army. After that event it declined in importance.

After the War of the Revolution, nationality seemed forgotten, and the descendants of the English, Dutch, and French met in a loving brotherhood born of their late common grievances; and they chose for their place of mutual resort the "Merchants' Coffee House," which stood at the corner of Wall and Water streets. It is described as a three-story building, a store occupying the lower part. On the second floor was the “ Long Room” in which public meetings were held. Here statesmen and politicians, merchants and literary men, discussed the affairs of the nation over their cups of coffee or tea.

"

Amongst its frequenters might be seen the majestic figure of Washington and the angular one of Thomas Jefferson, his political opponent, the brilliant Alexander Hamilton and the intriguing Aaron Burr, Ben Franklin, who never contradicted any one, and Gouv

erneur Morris, who found fault with every one except General Washington, the refined Chancellor Livingston and that rock of sense, John Jay, George Clinton, the anti-Federal governor, and John Adams with royalistic tendencies, John Morin Scott, the versatile lawyer, and William Bradford, the first public printer of New York, Hugh Gaines, the champion of the free press, and his insatiable satirist, Philip Freneau; these, and many others perhaps as well known, found ample subject for present discussion and future conjecture. Here Washington was received upon his arrival in the city for the inaugural ceremonies. The Chamber of Commerce held here its first meetings, and the insurance business was started within its walls, as was also the first bank of New York. The compilation of a city directory, "the size of a Westminster Catechism, was herein essayed, and the "Loyal Sons of St. Andrew" and the "Grand Lodge of Free Masons," as well as many other associations, held their meetings inside its doors; but with the removal of the national government to Philadelphia its sun sank to rise no more.

The year 1686 was a marked one in the little colony. The mother country had seemed to awaken to the fact that its infant, and future prodigy, was still acting under the seal of Holland; and forthwith a larger and more elaborate one was granted it. The same year Governor-General Dongan, who had accorded a kind reception to the Huguenots since 1683, deemed it necessary to extend the city limits to meet the requirements of the increased population; he therefore ordered a survey of the northern boundary of the settlement, and a removal of its walls to a more remote locality.

Hitherto the line of the present Wall Street had been defined by a palisaded work erected as a means of defence against the Indians; it extended the entire