wood-sawyers tramped with their paraphernalia from door to door to cut the hickory wood then used for fuel; carts with drinking water at so much per gallon rumbled up and down perpetually; milkmen with yokes on their shoulders from which tin cans were suspended peddled milk in the early morning; and in the evening the streets were lighted dimly with oil lamps. Yet with all this primitive condition of affairs, nearly every family of any pretension to wealth owned negro slaves.

During the closing decade of the last century Aaron Burr was a familiar figure in this locality. His office was at 10 Cedar street. Here he pored over his law-cases, a well-formed man small of stature, with gigantic ambition, cool, wary, artificial, graceful in manners, and irresistibly pleasing in address. Here he devised his political schemes, and taught his clerks to write in cipher, as he did not dare to trust the public mail with his mysterious secrets; as, for instance, he requested "18 to ask 45, whether, for any reasons, 21 could be induced to vote for 6, and if he could, whether 14 would withdraw his opposition to 29, and II exert his influence in favor of 22." Here, with matchless foresight, Burr on one occasion drafted an imposing catalogue of names for the city ticket, and then applied himself resolutely to the task of inducing the gentlemen to permit their names to be used—who for a long time were deaf to arguments and entreaties. The art with which Burr worked upon their foibles and judgment was marvelous, and in several notable cases he was successful. Then he devoted his genius to the elections. At his office in Cedar street he superintended the making out of lists of voters with the political history of each appended in parallel columns, to which was added all new information obtained. The finance committee had prepared a list of rich men, with the sum of money it was proposed to solicit from each, attached to his name. Burr looked it over critically, and observing that a certain politician, equally remarkable for zeal and parsimony, was assessed $100, said quietly," Strike out his name, for you will not get the money, and from the moment the demand is made upon him his exertions will cease, and you will not see him at the polls during the election." The name was erased. Presently, as he read on, he noticed $100 placed opposite the name of another man who was liberal with his money, but incorrigibly lazy. “Double the sum," he said, " and tell him no work will be expected from him, except an occasional attendance in the committee room to help fold the tickets." The result was as predicted. The lazy man paid the money cheerfully, and the stingy man worked day and night. In all Burr's lists a man's opinions and temperament were noted, also his habits and the amount of excitement and inducement necessary to overcome any

disinclination to visit the polls. Whenever Burr, leaving his office in Cedar street, chanced to meet a politician, or even the humblest of his adherents, he greeted and treated them so sweetly and blandly that his manners were remembered long after the conversation faded from memory.

Morgan Lewis about the same time had an office at 59 Maiden Lane, and his brother-in-law, Edward Livingston, at 51 Pearl street. Morgan Lewis was attorney-general of the state, then judge of the court of

common pleas, in 1792 chief justice of the supreme court of New York, and in 1804 governor of the state. He urged upon the legislature the necessity of national education, and under his administration a permanent fund for common schools was established and the militia system enlarged. Edward Livingston was a lawyer of high rank, and a member of congress who achieved national fame by the eloquence and vigor of his opposition to the Alien and Sedition Laws. His speech on the 21st of June, 1798, was printed on satin, and produced a thrilling effect. He was an extremely popular man, and in 1801 was elected to the mayoralty of New York City, then a post of great dignity and importance, yielding an income of not less than $10,000 a year. During the appalling visitation of yellow fever in 1803, he remained in the city and faced the terrible enemy, visiting the hospitals every day, encouraging nurses and physicians by his presence and undismayed cheerfulness, and even went about the city at night to discover for himself whether the watchmen were vigilant. Dr. Richard Bailey lived at 60 Pine (then King) street, whose partner was Dr. Samuel Bard, and the mayor was in consultation with them constantly. The scourge continued until the end of October, and the fearless mayor was stricken down with it on one of the last days of September, but recovered after a severe illness.

Hundreds of men of national reputation whom it would be interesting to mention if space permitted, were associated with this historic locality in the early part of the century. Judge Robert Troup had an office at II Cedar street, for several years. Mayor Richard Varick lived at 11 Pearl street, and Robert Kennedy at 21 Pine street. The art rooms of the famous Scotch artist, Archibald Robertson, were at 79 Liberty street, and Washington Irving was living with his mother in William street, corner of Ann. It was here that Irving wrote clever articles for the Morning Chronicle, edited by his brother, Dr. Peter Irving; and also his Knickerbocker History of the City of New York, which was intended as an extravagant burlesque of Dr. Mitchill's Picture of New York, just published. The felicitous style of the work, and its wonderful humor, sufficiently broad not to be confounded with realities, gave it high place in public favor. Everybody read and laughed, and everybody wished for It is said the great satirist, Judge Breckenridge, smuggled a copy of the book to the bench, and exploded over it during one of the sessions of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. Sir Walter Scott wrote to Mr. Henry Brevoort of New York, "I have never seen anything so closely resembling the style of Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knickerbocker. I have been employed these few evenings in reading them aloud to Mrs.

more.

Scott and two ladies who are our guests, and our sides are sore with laughing." Robert Fulton was also much in Pine and the adjoining streets. He fell in love with the lady he married in the Livingston home in Pearl Street. The lady was the niece of the Chancellor and of Edward Livingston. It is hardly remembered of Fulton that he was an artist of considerable merit, so closely has his name and fame been associated with mechanical achievements. When he first came to New York, in 1785, he was only known as a miniature portrait-painter. He went to England and studied several years with Benjamin West, who painted his portrait, bringing him before us as it were in the flesh, with all his lovable characteristics and grave disappointments. In traveling, Fulton made the acquaintance of the Earl of Bridgewater, parent of the canal system in England, through whose example and encouragement he turned his attention to civil engineering. The memory of Fulton is dear to all Americans, for while he did not originate steam navigation, or invent the mechanism which rendered steam possible or profitable on the water, he was the first to secure the combination of means which brought the steamboat into every-day use, and the Hudson River was the scene of his triumph. In figure he was tall, slender, and stood perfectly erect. His eyes were dark and penetrating, and over his high forehead and about his neck were scattered curls of rich brown hair. He was a man of quick perceptions, sound sense, graceful and pleasing manners, and a voice of peculiar melody. His refined character rendered him a social favorite, and, although usually reserved and serious, his vivacity at times was singularly engaging. He was forty-two years of age when he demonstrated the utility of the steamboat, and marked an era in the progress of science and civilization.

The Damen farm is a thing of the past. So will be what now flourishes upon its site as the centuries roll on. Yet the future can only be an outgrowth of what has gone before, as the colossal structures of to-day have their roots deeply laid in the soil which has been nurtured through two hundred and fifty well rounded and productive years.

Martha J Lamb

OLD FRENCH POST AT TREMPELEAU, WISCONSIN

In the latter part of July, 1885, whilst exploring the vicinity of Trempeleau, Wisconsin, for works of the mound-builders, I discovered in the public road an old site, consisting of small heaps of burned stone, of undoubted artificial origin. It was located on the S.1⁄2 of the S. E. of section 20, township 18 of range 9 west, about 134 miles above the business portion of the village, and 11⁄2 miles below the well-known Montagne qui trempe à l'eau, or Trempeleau mountain of the upper Mississippi river. At that time I had not heard of the existence of old ruins of any kind there, and did not know of any French post or stopping-place that was supposed to be located in that region.

A year or two afterward, when the Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railway was graded, two of the stone piles were removed and found to be old fire-places. Later on several parties made excavations, and also uncovered the remaining fire-places. The blacksmith-shop, that necessary adjunct of the early trading-posts, was soon recognized, and around the forges, or the places where they stood, were found various modern relics of metal. Amongst the articles several scraps of iron and a few remnants of thin brass and copper plate were found, also two or three wrought-iron nails, a piece of a gun-barrel, one end of which had been fashioned into a punch such as is used at the present time by blacksmiths in punching holes in a horse-shoe, a soft piece of iron some three inches square, and what seemed to be part of an old-fashioned door-hinge.

Last November (1888) I gave this place a further examination and made a correct survey of the site and its immediate surroundings. Within the surveyed lines there is every indication that the buildings which once occupied this place were burned. The charcoal, ashes, and burned earth, which cover the original surface to the average depth of two inches, are visible at every point where the ground has been disturbed, and all the stone found within the burned district shows more or less action of the fire, yet not to the degree that would be expected.

The buildings stood in the northern part of the area surveyed, and there are seven fire-places, including a doubtful one marked A on the plan: the one marked B had two bottoms, one above the other. At the place marked C there were the remains of one and possibly two forges. The one on the east side seems to have been principally built of wood, with a top covering