Washington himself had a very narrow escape here, for he left the house only a few minutes before the advanced British column took possession of it.

Elm Park, when the accompanying sketch was made (June, 1861),

was a sort ol camp of instruction for volunteers for the army of the Bepublic, then engaged in crushing the great rebellion, in favour of human slavery and political and social despotism. "When I visited it, companies were actively drilling, and the sounds of the fife and drum were mingled with the voices of mirth and conviviality. It was an hour

392 THE HUDSON.

after a tempest had passed by which had prostrated one or two of the old majestic trees which shade the ground and the broad entrance lane. These trees, composed chiefly of elms and locusts, attest the antiquity of the place, and constitute the lingering dignity of a mansion where wealth and social refinement once dispensed the most generous hospitality. Strong are the contrasts in its earlier and later history.

CHAPTER XXI,

"^/^IH^^'' ETWEEN the Bloomingclale Eoad and the Hudson, and TI '<'*''Wn^^''^(i Seventy-third and Seventy-fourth Streets, is the New j^v ii iPS^afe York Oi-phan Asylum, one of the noblest charities in Ijkj^-'^^^W^ the land. It is designed for the care and culture of '■^- ' little children without parents or other protectors.

Here a home and refuge are found for little ones who have been cast upon the cold charities of the world. From one hundred and fifty to two hundred of these children of misfortune are there continually, with their physical, moral, intellectual, and spiritual wants supplied. Their home is a beautiful one. The building is of stone, and the grounds around it, sloping to the river, comprise about fifteen acres. This institution is the child of the " Society for the Eelicf of Poor Widows with Small Children," founded in 1806 by several benevolent ladies, among whom were the sainted Isabella Graham, Mrs.