The Brooklyn Daily Eagle from Brooklyn, New York • Page 6

Red Hook-Gowanus Offers HEFFERNAN Says: Now I've Found the Modern Definition of Democracy A Modern Design for Living Its Low-Cost Housing Project Is Second to None in Country Before the vote of the buttonless made a mock of my political prescience. I was seeking a modern definition of the worn democracy. I had read the classical definitions of Plato. Aristotle, Bayle, and others, and had noted how in history the accumulation of wealth had gradually changed national constitutions and given rise to governing castes and a submissive commonalty, fir I 11 of the playground at 3d aetween 4th and 5th was the scene of this part of one the most important battles of the Revolution, the Battle of Long Island. that war, more than 200 years ago, Nicholas Vechte's farm was, as they say, a garden spot.

And when he built the Old Stone House in 1699 he selected as its site the edge of a beautiful wooded slope. His was the only stone house anywhere about, for thos-e were hustling days when time was worth its weight in gold, wood was easier to get than stone and carpenters were more plentiful than masons. Mynheer Vechte must have given orders to the builders to build it the strongest way they knew how. In fact, the walls of the house were several feet thick, and when, sad to say, it was demolished in 1897 (at that time it was the oldest house in Brooklyn, shocking to think it was torn down), a Catling gun had to be used to BUSHWICK'S NEXT The Bushwkk section the subject of Miss Corby's article on Monday, another in a series of profiles of Brooklyn neighborhoods. course, that Battle of Long Island was indeed the first battle fought after the Declaration of Independence, which "was signed in ink in Philadelphia and sealed in blood on the fields of South Brooklyn." The foundations of the Old Stone House remained, however, and some of the original stones.

As streets were run through that section, filling in and grading took place until finally the old house was left far below the 5th Ave. street level. Ultimately the city determined to bring the entire block between 4th and 5th Aves. and 3d and 4th Sts. to the street level, and the old house was buried in that project.

But It wasn't forgotten! Restored and Dedicated in 1935 For 35 years after that almost continuous agitation was kept up by patriotic societies and others in An eltort t0 have tiic old holie un" "siorea. They had their way. What was left of the old house was searched for below the surface of the earth, was recovered and restored, and now stands in the midst of a playground and park, dedicated in 1935 to the memory of the soldiers who died there in the Battle of Long Island. Brooklyn has a just pride in all that pertains to this famous and terrible battle, which ended with Washington's shrewdly planned and successfully accomplished retreat across the East River to Manhattan Island, and thence to White Plains, a triumph in strategy which has forever won the admiration of military men. And this "Old Stone House at Gowanus," surrounded by Its beautiful playground and park, is a fitting memorial to the 400 Marylanders who stood firm until they died at Nicholas Vechte's stone house and fought against the best picked troops the British ever sent over, outnumbered 50 to 1, until the shattered remnants of the Continentals escaped across the marsh lands and the river, In the very nick of time.

rrv FFATIIBFC 4 -vV XN if iiiiu rv LJ 1 fRIDAY, NOV. 8, 1940 in "songs" about Brooklyn and anyi's Sonata in Sharp Minor, proceeded to Bach's well-known Major Partita for violin alone, then to Wieniawski's Concerto in Minor, and finally to a group composed of Rachmaninoff's Vocalise, Prokofieff's March, and Ravel's Tzigane. Miss Glenn was at her best In the Wieniawskl where her brilliance The music appealed to her show-sang beautifully in the Romance. The music appealed to her showmanship and she tossed it off with youthful exhuberance not too unleashed. When all her talent is brought under control, this young lady should increase her stature; force apart the stones of its walls! xne Old Stone House was considered most elegant when if, fir hitt and certainly it must have been a solid and satisfying structure, with I beauty in its good proportions and i simple lines.

Built to Withstand Attack Most of the dwellings of that time that had any pretentions at all were one and a half stories high, but Vec'hte's towered to two and a half stories, and, whereas ordinary houses had only two windows at the front, at one side of the door, the Vechte mansion boasted a door in the middle with windows on either side. Anyway, there was Nicholas Vechte, owner of a handsome new house, secure in his knowledge of its impregnability to Indian attacks, enjoying the fruits of the orchards for which the Gowanus district was famed, and the prodigious oysters from the bay. To quote a Dutch voyager to New York in 1630, the oysters were "large and full, some of them not less than a foot long, and they grow sometimes 10, 12 and as many as 16 together and are then like a piece of rock." Nicholas Vechte enjoyed material prosperity, for he sold these famous oysters and the fish from the bay, and plentiful crops from his orchards and gardens, to the New York markets. He was a quiet, solid Dutch farmer, whose ways were those of peace, and if-he had ever dreamed that some day his house would resound with the clash of arms, and the curses and screams of men at grips with one another, or dying across his doorstep, it would probably never have been built. Passed to Cortclyous After the war was over, the Old Stone House, bloody and shattered, stood deserted for several years.

In 1790 the owner, at that, time a grandson many times removed, of the builder of the house, sold it to Jacques Cortelyou. Corteiyou and his descendants occupied the place for more than 50 years. In 1897 the old house was demolished to make way for a modern building! Demolishedthe house that had been painted and sketched and written about bv ortist.s anrf nwts mrl Viic. 1 1 i i I had known in my own expert ence aa an American born changes in thought and custom which made us talk more and more ot democracy with less and less of it in the conduct of the elect. It was accompanied by a bewildering increase in statutes and an increasing contempt for law.

Ours Always Met the Test My own highest political conception was the form of government I knew in earlier years. I compared long dynasties with our own line of Presidents and found the quality of the latter superior on the whole. I compared the system of checks and balances In the government with mobocracy on the one hand and absolutism on the other and our own system seemed the best. The stated terms and rotation In office provided stability and checked inordinate ambition. So I Sought Further So when these seemed to be pass.

Ing. I tried to find what it was our garrulous generation meant by the word democracy. I couldn't visualize it. Russia, France in the last days if these were democracy couldn't see the charm that "sages" have seen In Its face. Nor even in England where in all times the ruling caste would admit a Dick Whittlngton, or a Woolsey or a Ramsay MacDonald, could I rec ognize democracy.

That proved nothing. I could not see a triangle either, only the drawn lines that defined it. So I went seeking the modern definition. I found one, at least. Political Scientist's Definition "Democracy is Ingrained in human society and rests on reason, the highest expression of human behavior; thus It can never die though it may sometimes disappear," said Charles E.

Merriam, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Chicago the other day. "Democracy is the ideal form of association," Professor Merriam ex-Blained. "If we were to set up the marks of an ideal state and alongside them the marks of democracy, the lines would closely coincide. "Reason must yield to force, some say, In this era of open as June 1J, GOWANUS CANAL Storied Carroll Glenn Gives Town Hall Recital Highly Talented Young Violinist Sustains Favor of Audience By MILES KASTENDIECK When talented Carroll Glenn played in the Endowment Series in Town Hall last Winter, she proved to be one of the most interesting violinists of the coming generation. She had more than talent; she had real temperament and she was thoroughly musical.

All those quali- ties were present in her recital in Town Hall last night and they accounted for some fine violin playing. But some of the limitations also noted in the previous recital were present; the fact is that they were more conspicuous last night possibly because one expected that in the intervening months some of them would have been eliminated. Because Miss Glenn did not do herself justice, her recital became all the more interesting, for it posed the question of what handicapped her. The curious part ot the situation was that though she let her temperament get out of hand, though she needed to clean up her technique, and though her intonation was unnecessarily faulty, she could call upon her inherent musical sense to pull every performance together and make something of it. That ability in itself is to be highly prized, especially since her technique is fundamentally sound, her rhythmic drive invigorating, and her essential tone one of true quality.

The recital opened with Dohn- sertion that right make might, within the state and without. "No, the answer Is that reason itself is the greatest force, and in the end it wiU prevail. The great work of politics is to promote the commonwealth as seen by reason nd applied by reasonable measures through reasonable men." But reason must be allied with M. with faith, with hope, with practical judgment, and must be set as the Jewel in organization and management, Dr. Merriam ex.

plained. Men of reason and. good will need not fear any final triumph of gangsters at home or abroad. Those who spit in reason's face must reach for the guns and explosives that reason made, hoping that this irrational use of reason will waft them to the skies. Well, we, too, can wilt; we, too.

can eat; we, too, can endure; we, too, can trust, obey, and fight, but in the light of reason and the spirit of good will. "But I am sure the world will never be the same again. We hava said goodbye to an era," the Chi. cago professor went on. "We must now take a position which will have behind it the unity of the nation and the power of the American democracy.

"In a crisis a nation may prove to be a rope of sand or a ring of fire. Whatever we choose, our course will require broad modifications in our attitudes and in our practices. We are not going back-forward. "Men with clear eyes can dls- cern and point out the sounder courses, and America can advance to the destiny that spreads before a people with the richest nosslbil- lties ever within the grasp of man." Dr. Merriam defined democracy as "a form of political association in which the general control and direction of the political policy of the commonwealth Is habitually determined by the bulk of the community in accordance with appropriate understandings and procedures providing for popular participation and consent." Now that's one definition of democracy.

It leaves something to be desired, but at least it's a definition. QUEENS By JANE C'ORBY Brooklyn's Rett Hook Gowar.us section made national headlines a year ago last July, when the 13 030.000 development or the New York Housing one of the tint of the country low-cost housing projects, opened there. At that time the project was one of the largest construction jobs ever undertaken lit the city. The building of the housing development made history in a big way for the second time, on almost the same Brooklyn site, for close to Where the new houses stand today cne of the fiercest of the battles of the Revolution was fought. Scene of one of the unhappiest episodes In American history, Red Hook-Gowanus today presents a modern design for living that is second to tone in the country.

Playground Centers Besides the housing development lUelf, the area has two important playground centers one in the sec- tion bounded by 4th and 5 th Aves. and 3d and 4th where the famous "Old Stone House at Gowanus," restored and modernized, forms a playhouse for children; the other, the Red Hook Recreation Center, a 55-acre area bounded by Court, Lorraine and Columbia Sts. and the waterfront along Gowanus Bay. In this immense playground 35 acres have already been turned over to the use of Brooklynites and SO more are still under construction. This recreation center has the third largest swimming pool in the ity, open all Summer.

The shallcw pool for the younger children is 330 by 165 feet, the diving pool 165 by SO feet. In the Winter, after the pools are drained, the site of the ahallow pool is converted into a paddle-tennis court, Softball courts, and Illuminated until 10 every tight. The center's huge stadium, accommodating 3,000, with its football field and running track, serves all the schools of the neighborhood and many a considerable distance away, and Brooklyn Tech, St. Francis College, St, Michael's School and others carry on most of their major ports on this field. tinder the Lights Space and equipment for all kinds of recreation are provided in this center; there are 18 tennis courts, equipment for various types of ball games, a roller skating rink that becomes an ice skating rink in Winter, a bicycle path and space for outdoor social dancing on Summer nights.

All of these activities may be carried on. under illumination, until 10 o'clock at night. James Farrell, supervisor of the recreation tenter, under the Park Department, has a staff of 65 assistants In Summer and 18 In the Winter. The Red Hook housing project embraces 25 buildings, all of which are dwellings, and four are used for community activities. They are all Six stories in height and equipped with elevators and provide homes for 2,541 families, more than 9,000 persons.

The Red Hook-Gowanus Health Center is another of the community projects that make this section notable; it is conducted with the co-operation of Long Island College of Medicine. It includes a tuberculosis clinic, maternity health center and several other departments for the improvement of public health. Historic Setting All this equipment for healthful, comfortable living at Red Hook-Gowanus is worthy of the section, scene of one of the bravest stands on the part of the Revolutionary Americans, a handful of "Maryland boys" whose name is the symbol for courage. Right in the teeth of the British cannon, posted at the corners of the Dutchman Nicholas Vechte's garden, where, no doubt, on many an evening, Nicholas had smoked a churchwarden pipe as he listened to crickets chirping, to the deep-throated frngs'accompaniment, right into the blasts of British flame those red and blue uniformed Mary-landers charged. In the face of withering fire they drove the British out of the Old Stone Home at Gowanus, and held it at ltM.it until Washington and the bulk 01' his troops could get away.

That was Aug, 27, 1776, Those Were stout fellows, those lads from Maryland. Four hundred of them, or i'lereabouts, and most of them weni down under the terrific gunfire of the British. They made five clwnses Into certain death. They dropped all over the Vechte grass plot the green grass turned crimson; they died in the orchard; some Of them staggered down to the prinsj to cool their parched throat, and to die. Five Immortal charges these 400 boys made, against 20.000 British, In this engagement of the Battle of Long Island.

This was the conflict Washington was forced to witness from Brooklyn Heights, when he cried, his heart in his voice, these famous words: What brave fellows I must this tap Beenr of Important Ftalllc The "OKI Stone House at, Go-Wanus," which how standi In the 1 if -1 A i C-) torians! Gone with the thrill- jON LOEW SCREENS Cory ing memories of the day when Stir-: Grant in "The Howards of ling and his gallant Marylanders jVirnim'n now saved the American troops in the', r9'? ShWm9 Qt first battle In which they fought i Loew Pitkin and Tri-under a flag of their own. For, of boro theaters. a busy waterway. at the moment she appears to be marking time. The audience was large and demonstrative.

Harry Kaufmann was the accompanist. Uses Fairbanks Blade Tyrone Power, who stars in "The Mark of Zorro," the 20th Century-Pox film now in its second week at the Roxy Theater, fences with the same dueling blade used by the late Douglas Fairbanks 20 years ago when the same role won him fame. WHEN OUT OF TOWN REGISTER FROM BROOKLYN BROOKLYN EAST BROOKLYN SAVINGS BANK EAST NEW YORK SAVINGS BANK FLATBUSH SAVINGS BANK FULTON SAVINGS BANK GREATER NEW YORK SAVINGS BANK ORIEN ROINT SAVINGS BANK HAMBURG SAVINGS BANK over 100 years the 1 miMm as ffi Pi ft' I 8nfrdenn sv'n, i a IfJ fjT '2i'' FAMOIS HRiDS at savings? Proof tkmt Vm'i prices are BE0 ROCK on quality liquor! Y'r1. KO NIP El) I I II SON'S HYIS 11 3v Regularly ,1.09. Made in the Fall VN.

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