Dedication
To My Friend
WARREN SNYDER
A Bookman and a Lover of Books
This Novel is Dedicated
Prologue
O shades of respectable Vans!
O Livingstons, Kennedys, Jays!
Lend me your names to conjure with,
And bring back the fine old days—
When the trade and wealth of the city
Lay snugly the rivers between,
And the homes of its merchant princes,
Were built round the Bowling Green.
Here’s to the homes that are past!
Here’s to the men that have been!
Here’s to the heart of New York,
That beats on the Bowling Green!
Here’s to the men who could meet
Mockers and doubters, with smiles;
And planning for centuries hence,
Lay out their city by miles.
It has spread far out to the North,
It has spread to the East and the West,
Though the men who saw it in dreams,
Now sleep in old Trinity’s breast.
Here’s to the homes that are past!
Here’s to the men that have been!
Here’s to the heart of New York,
That beats on the Bowling Green!
And here’s to the maids of the past!
(They were beautiful maids we know,)
That strolled in the Battery Park,
In the years of the Long Ago.
And though maids of to-day are fair,
(No lovelier ever have been)
They are proud to be called by the names
Of the Belles of the Bowling Green.
Here’s to the men of the past!
Here’s to the maids that have been!
Here’s to the heart of New York,
That beats on the Bowling Green!