Valentine's manual of old New York

(New York :  Valentine's Manual Inc.,  1920.)

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OF OLD NEW YORK

Old Mansions of the Bronx

By Randall Comfort

first paper
Many of the old mansions of the Bronx are still extant and
many of them have disappeared, but most of them have an inter¬
esting history either politically or socially and we give an account
of some of the more important ones by a writer who was born
and bred in the Bronx and has an intimate knowledge of those
fine old residences.

The Gouverneur Morris Mansion
The famous Gouverneur Morris Mansion stood on a
finely selected location on the high ground near the foot
of the present Saint Ann's Avenue. Erected about 1798,
and modelled after a stately French chateau, with its win¬
dows commanding a truly glorious view of the beautiful
Harlem Kills with Randall's Island in the near fore¬
ground, this elegant old structure was, the residence of
that diplomat, patriot and statesman, Gouverneur Morris.
Plainly visible on floor and stairway were the imprints
made by Mr. Morris's wooden leg as he trudged up and
down. It seems that one of his hobbies, while residing
in Philadelphia, was the driving without reins of a pair
of spirited horses. This wooden leg, described as merely
a round stick roughly fitted to the limb, was the result
of being thrown from his carriage while unable to con¬
trol the runaways. A noted clergyman once sympathized
so deeply with him because of his accident that he re¬
plied : "My dear sir, you argue so handsomely and point
out so clearly the advantages of being without legs, that
I am almost tempted to part with the other!"

Gouverneur Morris's devotion to his country when
minister to France was strongly evidenced by his insisting
on remaining on duty in Paris all through the dread
Reign of Terror. "For," said he, "it is not for me to
desert my post in the hour of difficulty."

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