CHAPTER  TY
 

(1753-1758,)
 

Old Buriftl Fiaeet—^Foundii^ and Sftrly Ann&h of Eiiig*i College—^Ub^

niflcent Home of a Merchant Frinoe—^First Statftn Island Ferry—

St Andrew's Sooiety EsUblished—The Debtors* Jail.

On Fame's eternal camping ground

Their  silent  tents  are  spread.
And Glory guarda with solemn round

The bivouac of the dead.

New Tork's "bivouacs of the dead" within the old city'a limits will re¬
quire a more substantial thing than glory to guard them during this cen¬
tury. Just now commercialism rampant and speculation couchant have eyes
on at least one of these "unresting preachers of shadow and reality," and
perhaps before the half of the century Is over that reminder of an era of
sterling virtues, of honest and patriotic lives, Trinity Churchyard, will have
been swallowed by one of Kew York's never sleeping worshippers of tho
golden cslfj and towering above her silent makers of history will be a sky¬
scraper whoso occupants will care little for the hallowed ground on which
tho building stands.

Millions of dollars have been offered at one time or another for old
Trinity's site, but so far It baa been guarded sturdily by the vestry of her
parish against the desecrating touch of speculation. WhyT Because Trinity
is American, and, while New Yorkers are forgetful of the historical associa¬
tions surrounding her Ood*s acre, there are thousands of visitors who pay
homage to the known and unknown among her dead.

What a stretch of memory it Is from 1639 to 19091 And yet the earliest
record of burial in Trinity—that of a young Holland maiden—is in the
former year, more than half a century before the flrst Trinity Church was
erected. At that time Trinity was the new burying ground of New Amster¬
dam, and was far away from the little dorp that clustered around Old Slip
and the fort. The latest records of burfat are of those who fought for
tbe union of the States In tho 60'a. On Trinity's tomt>stones sre cut
tbe names of men eminent in professional and business life in the old and
now city, and men who patriotically strove to leave "footprints on the
sands of Time"—Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Indepen¬
dence: William Bradford, editor of New York's flrst paper; Colonel Marlnus
Wlllett, of Eovolutionary fame; Robert Fulton, who launched the first
steamboat on the Hudson; Captain Lawrence, whoss last battle cry, "Don't
give up the shipl" rolls down the ages; Captain l^awreDce's widow, who
was but twenty-five when her husband achieved immortal glory, and who

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