Clinton Place. Though not in the least given to flattery or
over-effusiveness in his comments on Americans and American
institutions, Thackeray wrote and spoke of the Century as "the best and
most comfortable club in the world."




CHAPTER II

_The Stretch of Tradition_


Stretches of the Avenue--The Stretch of Tradition--Washington Arch--Old
Homes and Gardens--The Mews and MacDougal Alley--In the Fourth Decade--A
Genial Ruffian of the Olden Time--Sailor's Snug Harbor--The Miss Green
School--Andrew H. Green, John Fiske, John Bigelow, Elihu Root, and
Others as Teachers--The Brevoort Farm--The First Hotel of the Avenue--A
Romance of 1840--"Both Sides of the Avenue."

A snug little farm was the old Brevoort
Where cabbages grew of the choicest sort;
Full-headed, and generous, ample and fat,
In a queenly way on their stems they sat,
And there was boast of their genuine breed,
For from old Utrecht had come their seed.
--_Gideon Tucker, "The Old Brevoort Farm."_


Passing under the Washington Arch, the march up the Avenue properly