86 REMINISCENCES. 



at the North. New Dorp was well supplied with taverns. The old 

 Rose & Crown, once the headquarters of the British army of occupa- 

 tion, where Lord Howe and his brilliant staff held court, afterward 

 turned into a farm residence, was pulled down many years ago. Its 

 opposite neighbor, the Black Horse Tavern, still survives, remodelled 

 into a semi-Queen Ann hotel with imbedded crockery in its eaves for 

 ornamentation. Standing at the juncture of those ancient roads, the 

 Richmond and Amboy, many a raid has doubtless been planned by 

 the British troopers in Revolutionary times. 



The more recent, many-storied and piazzaed structure, the New 

 Hotel, was a great stopping place for returning picnics in summer, 

 and sleigh-riding parties in winter. Oh ! those straw rides, how well 

 we remember them. A select party of about forty with an even com- 

 plement of opposite sexes. Imagine a cold, frosty night, the heavens 

 steely blue, the glittering stars, eclipsed only by the chaste Diana, 

 the snow with its white mantle covering hill and dale, and bending 

 the evergreen branches with its clinging load ; three big sleighs, 

 without seats, except the driver's, with fresh straw filling the body. 

 Into these climbed the men and women, not quaker fashion, but 

 nicely sandwiched. Plain dresses without hoops, for which there 

 could be no room, mufflers about the head and ears, just giving pi- 

 quancy to the bright eyes, and cheeks which glowed redly in the 

 keen air. The packing completed amid a great amount of laughter 

 and exclamations, the sleighs, each with its team of four horses, 

 started off. The merry bells, and soon some popular song, with 

 ringing chorus of many voices, the occasional crack of the driver's 

 whips, the swift jmssage of the sleighs over the crunching snow, the 

 tingle of the frosty atmosphere, exhilerated every nerve. After a 

 ride of several miles the hotel came into view, and soon the whole 

 company assembled in the parlor, and after removing wraps and 

 overcoats settled down into friendly chat and flirtation. From the big 

 ball room came presently the sound of violins, and impatient feet 

 began to tap the floor. The couples marched in, and the dancing 

 was carried on with vim, without the languid motions of the society 

 belle or the stage dude. After many successions of different dances 

 the welcome announcement was made that supper was ready, when 

 flushed with excitement and hungry with fasting, each gallant led 

 his fair partner to the refreshment room. Then in the small hours, 



