The Sun from New York, New York • Page 40

THE SUN, SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 191Z. CITY BEAUTY SPOT PLANNED IN BRYANT PARK- Somewhat Neglected To-day, It Is Proposed to Make It Worthy of New York's New Library Erer since the New York PubUo Library was built thorn ha existed a fooling that something hhotild bo dono to raako Bryant Pork nulled to Its prevent surroundings. It nhould. In tha opinion of more than one person with a desire to ma New York made nn attractive as It can be, represent somothlng more than the backyard of the library. Yet It oould not bo frankly ald to represent anything elno to-day.

It Is moreover rathor an unkempt and bore backyard, patronized largely by hoboes and other stragglers who are altogether dllToront from tho whlto capped nurse maids and the laughing children for whom tho park was llrst Intended lurgoly. That purpose of the park dates back the time when It stood In the centre of a residential district. The housos on throe nldfl of the park wero tho homes of wealthy New Yorkers. Now there lire but few homes loft, while tho preponderance of business in the neighborhood grows dally more apparent. Bryant Park will nover again be anything else than business centre.

Ho tho sort of park that wan miltod to tho region years pgo Is altogether out of place there at present. Flrzl Plan Rejected. Carrtm A Hastings, architects of tho library, wore tho first to agitate in favor of somo new use of tho park ground which should adapt It more to Its present situation adjoining such nn ambitious structure. It watt from this tlrm shortly before the death of Mr. Can-ore that there camo plan to make this part of tho city the centre of Itn artistic enterprises.

In order to do this, with tho library ns a rent ml point. It was suggested to give tho western side of the park with tho Sixth avenue sidewalk from Fortioth htreot up to Forty-second to tho Acadomy of Deelgn. Horo there would have boen only thirty feet taken offthopark and tho sidewalk would have nerved as nn arcade iind flower mnrkot. The central part of tho park would have been devoted to tho nmd memorials of various kinds which are at present without appropriate i-ltes In this city. Although tho plan contemplated a lnautlful use of Hryant Tark, 'Hands off tho Parks' was tho slogan that ended this proposal.

Curiomly enough it was Thomas H.tatlngs while a Park Commissioner who invented this defence which las done en much to keep all the park lands free from encroachmont. tint this did not rerve to discourage Mr. Hastings and ho sucoeedod in interesting Commtfioner Stover In the present plan. Yesterday tho Park Commissioner refused to discuss the plan with SDN reporter until tho money which is the only obstaclo to its immcdlato execution t-hall be forthcoming. It is plain, howover, WOMEN FOUR-IN-HAND WHIPS More New York women than ever are Interested this spring In driving four-ln-hands, and a surprising featuro of this phase of tho sport is tho fact that in tho lan year or two many very young women liavo developed un ambition to handle ho ribbons in expert style.

On tho word of not orfo but of three or four disinterested critics certain of these now recrulta.can tool coach In for better style than cor-tain of their men friends and relatlvos. Ono malo crltlo wont so far as to Bay: "When It comos to four-ln-band driving the Now York men, generally speuklng, uro away baok. With few exceptions those formerly oountcd among tho best four-in-liand amateurs have been so taken tip of lato with tho nower motor vohlcles, including air ships, that they have had no time left for coaching and the number of young fellow taking up tho sport Is not largo. "With women It Is Just the other way It the young women particularly who uro taking special interest in four-in-hand driving, and although womon In general uro interested too in up to date motors, so far they haven't let this interest ln-terfern with their driving lesions. For one thing, four-in-hand driving is a comparatively now tport for women." shall rorao very pretty four-ln-liand driving this pprlng.

just oh soon aa tho weather is decent," said another authority, 'and eomo of tho youngest of tho womon on tho driver's seat are to set a now standard for women's lour-in-hand driving. They have dono thai already, for that matter. "In ono or two cases women formerly conrplcuous ui drivers liavo refused of latu to ririvo lour-ln-hand in Now York for fear cf eomparison with soveral younger drivers, who liavo dono and are doing a tremendous lot to raise the stand -urd of tho four-in-hand driving among womon, Tp hold tho ribbons over a perfectly broken double team over a straight open road no longer meets the tost, not all unconsciously of course by i snw of tho young girls who aro now umong tho chief coaching enthusiasts." Spread of the Sport. HtUl other critics who love th sport toll with ratlefactlon that tho enthusiast lire not confined to any bne circle of society, ns was mora or loss the case a dozen years ago. "IJoforo then," uald New York woman who learned nil eho knos about driving In Franco, "somo Now York women who wanted to learn to ilrivn fniir.ln.li.ind took leMsons In F.uropo, and when they I rarno back and showed off a llttlo In Now- port and In New York tliuir friends watched thm enviously, almost with nwn.

It waH not till ubout 10OO that Now York womon took It Into their heads to innko four-in-hand driving popular," Ah told by somo of tliu Now Yorkers rim at tint time and since decided to put a lot of time, money and study Into il. Icisons, tho history of tho progress i' Urn iotir-ln-h'md fashion among women ini'iesting. At llrst anything like lenljentliu-Iasm for tho exercise was con society, und when this leaily hurst out there was such a run on the two Insti iietois then in town that i-ioro I ban one pupil h.id to get up und .1 hwm at tl oVInek tho morn-mi; v.lwii was Imi-ely duylight or elso with mt iii-trm tion, Tho instructors mm Iron overwork hut lhlr batik ueeouulH glow; so did tho enthusiasm of tholr pupils, who fuuud tho sport svon that he hopes to see jarried into effect the changes which will make Bryant Park one of tho most beautiful in the city and recover It In a way for the purposes for which It waa originally intended. Higher Lttel Proposed. It has other uses than to serve as a breathing spot.

It should also serve an wsthotio purpose if It is to be used to its" beet possibilities. Yet nobody could say that the forlorn windswept spot that the park la at present does answer any such end. It in reality serves only aa a short cut from Fortieth to Forty-second street. The plan of Mr. Hastings and Charles Downing I -ay, landscape architect of the Park Department, looks to beautiful use of material whloh is now but scantily employed.

The surface of Bryant Pork lies some feet above the level of the sidewalks about it, and this point will bo favorable to the raising of the level of the ground which is indicated on the plan. To describe the changes which the new plan provides for in the simplest language It may be said that a high fence will be run about the three sides of the square not opening on the library. Behind this high iron fence there will be built a hedge which will serve to separate the park from the streot. About the park on the three sides that face the street will be a gravel Balk inside the hedge and the grill. Facing the iron fence on the opposltn side of this walk will be a stone embankment similar to that copied from an old street in Bath.

This will be surmounted by a balustrade. Three Lawns Inside. Against the stone wall there will be benches, and it Is hoped that these benches so near the stroet may prove attractive to some of the present citizens who take advantage of the park facilities and would be more appreciated by other visitors to the park If they remained on the benches I about the terrace. It is proposed to make the embankment about seven feet high. The ascent to tho upper level will bo mode I by means of stone steps on Fortieth and I Forty-second streets and Sixth avenue anil at the eastern extremities ofthe park on tho name streets, Hiis will surround the upper level of tho park.

This upper level, aa Mr. Lay's plan shows, is divided into three large lawns. They will be separated by gravel walks. The new planting will make the shade so I thick that all of the benches will be covered by tlio trees, lhey will also accomplish the purpose of blotting out the sight of the elevated railroad, which has always been one of the serious detriments to the beauty of Park. It was at one time proposed to build' In the central lawn a pool to be fed by the Josephine Lowell memorial fountain, which Charles A.

Piatt has designed for the park. But pools in the city are difli-cult to manage and there is so often a better worth while than they expected, for a time anyway. An outcome of all this was the organizing two years later of the I-adles Four-ln-Hand Driving Club, first of Its kind in this country, which has done a great deal to Increase the interest in four-In-hand driving not only among New York women but among women In nearby cities. Ladles Four-ln-Hand Club. Everybody gives Mrs.

Thomas Hastings praise for the Initiative sho showed in starting the club and for the Interest she has since taken In Its affairs nnd In maintaining the highest standard of four-ln-hand driving. Twenty-five members wore enrolled at tho start, among whom were Miss Gulliver and Miss Barney, who aro named as among Mrs. Hastings's most ardent supporters at that time. To-day the club has about forty members and Its president Is Mrs. Arthur Iselln, daughter of Col.

William Jay, who 11, Is always counted among the dozen or so really fine whips the club boasts of. When the club was organized practically all the New York women who know ittleormuch about four-ln-band driving were enrolled, but to-day there ore somo equally fine whips outside or the club, For instanoe, Maurice Howlett, New York's authority on auestlnm ofthn inn says that there are about keventy-flvn women In New York who understand technically at least tho art of foiir-ln-hand driving, which gives almost as many outside as inside of tho club. Somo of tho outsiders uro not old enough for inem-berbhlp, This is one of the surprises of this year's Mutictlcs. Hut It Is the club which Is depended on to stir up the enthusiasm of women whips BsBBHsVvStls'aSBBKiSllflB Tit tTkwUt- tSBKBKKKiSiStSl! jj scarcity of water that the plan waa abandoned. Commissioner Stover believes that it will be necessary to extend the circular spaoe at the end of the library esplanade, since it will then be possible to seat many more of tho people who gather for the evening concerts In summer.

Bryant Purk Is ono of the most of the city parks for these summer concerts. Sites for Memorials. There are now three proposed monuments to Governors of the State of New York. Oovs. Tompkins.

Tilden and Cleveland, and It has not yet been found possible to place them advantageously. It is tho opinion of Commissioner Stover that one side of tho lawn would be an admirable place for these statues and that other parts of the park could be used in the same way, since there is likely to always a demand for sites for tho sort of publio memorials which are now seeking rites. It is not by the trees alone that the In general, and so far It has amply filled its mission. A woman's coaching parade was the first entirely novel scheme it projected, not only projected but brought to successful climax, as admiring thousands of spectators lined the route, up Fifth avenue and through Central Park, taken by tho eight or ten coaches In line. Such a thing had never been seen before, but It was seen again the next year nnd the next and the next after that.

The Annual Exhibitions. 1 Something more original was proposed for the following year. It would never do 1 to continue in a beaten track, Mrs. Hast ings and some of her equally Interested associates doclared. That was how It came about that four years ago the Ladies Club set up Its own coach.

The Arrow, to Iw run dally for throe weeks between tho Colony Club In Madison avenue and Dyck-man street, starting at 10:30 o'clock nnd getting back at 12:40, with three changes of horses en route and three members of the club taking turns driving. As matter of fact this dally feature starting April 10 did moro to create a vogue for four-in-hand -driving than anything which had gone bofore. The news of it wont all over the country and dozens of women came from other cities simply to soo how well or ho ill tho drivers acquitted themselves. Ah a rule there waa not a great deal to find fault with, the club being wlso enough to keep its show drivers to tho foro for tho most t. Tho year after that, in 1810, to ho exact, tho club determined to improve on this programme, Tho Arrow was put Into KoiniiiiHsion again for a daily trip extending over IhriHi wooks, Sundays excepted, tartlng from the Colony Club 10:30 A.

vi tv. i nil vvr. smv.i. i -m-a' 1 a i 11 11 ai. tar.i- --bbbl .1 1 msan 1 assiVfJ I Til 1 returning there at 4 P.

with four changes of horses en route and a stop of nearly two hours for luncheon In Bronx Park, the outgoing terminus of the drive. Ah before members of the club took turns In driving. By this time some of the publio had learned the good points of this and that driver, and the style of driving exhibited by Mrs. Hastings and Miss Marian Hollins and Miss Harriet Alexander and Miss Angelica Oerry and Mrs. Arthur Iselin was discussed almost as much by strangers to these ladles as by their own friends.

Famous Women Whips. Naturally there is a difference of opinion in the club as to the relative skill of the drivers, each member having her special favorite among the acknowledged ten or so beet drivers; but one authority did say emphatically that the youngest members, inqluding Miss Pyne, Miss Alexander and Miss Hollins, were making "THE MAP I AM MOLD MS DRIVIMGu some of the' older womsn look to tholr laurels. It was a mm, who, speaking of the driving of Mrs. Hustings, uald: 'But Miss Hollins is a wonder. Why, I have seen her drive Into thi stable, turn and drive out again without turning a hair or scratching a door post." As Miss Hollins hue been only a short time out of the schoolroom this fact had Impressed him lmmonsely.

Much the same criticism was given by another observer concerning the llfteen-yeur-old daughter of Otto II, Kolin, the lltianrlcr. Said the (Title: "To soo that young ludy tukn 11 roa-'h und four around corners in crowded thoroughfare and wind up with sharp turn safely Insldo the stable door is quite worth while. She is a wonderful whip vuat A rfU TAW WrBWtNTH IT.Wli,L.Be,( -J BOLD already, away ahead of her father la my opinion. What is more, that young woman Isn't going to stop whore she is. To go back to the Ladles Club, the programme last year was again changed.

Instead of running a daily coach it was decided to have only one outing, an all day trip covering fifty-nine miles, the drive terminating at the E. 0. Benedict I place at Oreenwloh, where the twelve ladles on the coach, who were Mrs. Hastings, Mm. Arthur Iselln, Mlsa 'Alexander, Miss Hollins, Miss Oerry, Miss Pyne.

Mrs. J. E. Davis. Mrs.

Charles Sheldon, Miss Leila Haven, Miss Kate Carey, Miss Rogers and Mrs. Clifford Harmin, were the guests ofMrs. Hastings over night in her father's house. The next day the return trip was made, the terminus as usual being tho Colony Club. The club's publio programme this year Is under discussion and has not yet been given out.

Several of the members are enthusiastically In favor ef a parade with ten coaches in line; an equal number are in favor of a dully coach run between tho Colony Club und Bronx Park, extending over at loast two weeks. A third party, it is said, want something more original than anything yet attempted, liko, for Instance, a long distanoe trip, with a change of guosta as well as of horses at different poinU. More Skill Exhibited. Sup plonicntury to the New York tho Iddlos Four-lii-Hand Club has nude a point for tho last tlueo years or tskingu particular interest in I he Piping Itork llorso Show, For instance Mrs. Thomas Hastings three years ugo offered at that show a silver cup for the best exhibition of four-in-hand driving by a Besides Its Esthetic a i mivm and Public desired obliteration of the elevated road will be accomplished.

At a point about half distant from the two cross streets forming the northern and southern boundaries of the park a house will be built which shall serve aa a plaoe for storing the park tools and for other park uses and will fill in the spaces between the trees on the western side of the park. Mr. Lay, who is responsible for the landscape work on the new plan, says that the so-called naturalesque style of which Bryant Park is an example may have been all very well in its day, but the purpose for which the park was laid out is now so different that another style Is demanded now. Park Architect Approces. "There will doubtless be many, to de plore the change In the appearance of the park," he said, "and heard only tho other day of somebody who looked out over the park and asked if there was any truth in the story that Now York was to bo deprived of the beautiful trees there.

As a matter of fact thoro are but few trees In a healthy condition TO WHICH tiRySNT RA.pi. -ENGLAND. and will he aaeaaaary to plant many mora to carry eat the plan of (beautifying the park aa it will be. But it will be a great Improvement over the present state of Bryant Park." Mr. Lay believes that the present plan is the best that has been proposed, and he waa opposed to the suggestion made a year or more ago that the Academy of Desgin should be allowed to build on AND CLEVER all comers being eligible for the competition, and she offered a similar cup the year follqwing and ono last year.

Of course tho club members won all three cups," a New Yorker who does not belong to the club oxplalnod, 'Mrs. Iselln the first. Miss Alexander the second and Miss Hollins the third." Mr. Howlett when asked for an opinion regarding the present and the future status of four-ln-hand driving by women answered without hesitation that tho increase in the number of young womon who were showing ambition to really do good work was a very promising sign. 'The standard of excellence lias gone up and some of the best women whips, by the way, I have ever seen aro right here in New York," he said.

This could not have been said a dozen years ago. "Before then the Now York woman's four-ln-hand driving was a pretty tame thing. A reason It has changed Is this: The style of teaching haa changed. For Instanoe I tell the ladles who come to me for advice that a perfectly broken double team is the worst thing in the world to use after the first few lessons for the reason that this sort of team gives beginners no chance to get experience. In giving lessons, it Is better to take any four that oomes along, horses maybo that have not been in the habit of pulling together.

This is what is done now. Also it Is recognized that to continue taking leesons in a very quiet spot is not going to promote much skill in steering a coacn In a crowaea tnorougmuro, or say a populous thoroughfare, and ono cant always drive four-ln-hand in a quiet lane. 'The younger women who ha vo recently taken up four-ln-hand driving have more daring than women formerly had and after the third or fourth lesson they prefer to take a lesson going through the lower part of New York, oven penetrating to Chinatown, as one young woman I know likes to do. The streets down there are narrow, affording some turns which give only a few inches of spaoe to the good. FURNISS DRAWS GAYNOR OUT Continued from First Pan.

"Oh, well, much that we read about Washington," Mayor Oaynor answered, 'Is apocryphal, just aa so many stories concerning a still greater man, Linoom, are apocryphal. And Lincoln's biographers nearly all give you tho impression that he waa an ignorant man, brought up among ignorant people and of very poor stock. But such was not his case. He came from the very best of stock. He had ancestors who were Judges and Governors and holders of other important offices.

He was himself eight terms In the Illinois Legislature. "At 31 he wrote things of great merit and showing a tine literary style. When he was elected President ho was a publio man of great eminence and eiiwrionco. He was also a lawyer of leurning and experience. He lived ut Spriuglield, III He waa one of tho chief lawyers for tho Illinois Central Hallroud Company, ami when they hud hurd case up at Chicago they used to solid for Llnvolu to com up there sua.

Purpose It Would rr 11 11 ii mi ur Memorials. the city's property. Commlaalonaratori will not commit hlmselr regarding whloh are sot yet certain to be approved snd above all It bneoesary for the money to be In hand before they may be regard) as a certainty. But in the present cat there seems mora likelihood than usual that this method of beautifying the park will be carried to a consummation. EsttmaUs At Cost.

Thar Is in the first plaoe a fund of about I7S.000 remaining over from tb money voted for the library. That could be added to what the alterations In th park suggested by Thomas Hastings will cost. It may be that the changes couM be made for this amount. On the other hand there are estimates that require almost twice as much. The real cost of the Improvement probably lies between these two extremes.

The proposed planting of trees and shrubs In the park will make It shady and cool In aummer, and elevated from tho level of Forjy-second street It will(' be above much of the dust and dirt of traffic. Then the purpose of the ntw ALtL3-rr plan la, with the Iron fence backed lr the foliage and the shrubbery, to obtain some sort of quietude and freedom fr noise. So the result should be a beautiful park Adapted for rest and a relief the sights and sounds of a city. AIhivo all the new Public Library would he appropriately near a park worthy of In beauties and not abut on a nttglected an I bare backyard. Women Easy to Teach.

'Unless a woman is really enthuiati I dont encourage her to tuUo lesson 1 four-in-hand driving. If five di- merely because some of hor friend undoing it I can't promise that she i'l ever develop any style or distinct i In handling the reins. 'And It's a mistake to suppose unless a woman knows how to drive on horse she can't or ought not to try to drlvo four horses. That Is an explodwl Idea. Take 11 complete novice ur.d ten to one sho will make a lietter driver than a woman who thinks she knows a about driving mid who may have a lot of bud tricks to unlearn.

"That is why, on rule, women am eoslor to teach then men. They put up with strict teacher's oroVn more complacently and patiently than i man will. Tho man takes three ir four leesons, assumes an '1 know it nil attitude' and refuses to bo told anything more, spooning generally, tno tecnniqur or driving can lie gained in two or tnrr-lessons, by which I mean how to handle the reins under different circumstance to get this and that result. From thit point on there is a wide divergence in lh capacity of ono and another woman to loam how to drive, und It is practice alono which will givo tho best results. "Some women after learning how to hold the reins loso Interest, and if I can help It those are the pupils I will never teach.

In nil ray experience I have only known two women really in earnest lie could not learn to drive four-ln-hand creditably. The strange part of It wai that both women wore first rate oritlw, knowing exactly what ought to be done, but neither could No it herself. -As for saying that English women ar better whips than New York women, that is no longer true. I know several wonwn or the English nobility who aro praised highly over there aa accomplished wblf who if they came to New York woulda have a show beside some of the young now practising four-ln-hand driving lero. Mrs.

J. E. Clark; daughter-in-law of Senator Clark; Mrs. James Wlnalow. Mr.

Henry Worth, Mrs. H. Sherman and Mrs. H. E.

Tiedemann are among the New Yorkers who are making a reputation at four-in-hand driving, and Mrs. Edward Mcl.cjn of Washington, who Is ooaohed by Nf York's chief instructor, Is also spoken di as an enthusiast. 'There Is verv much about Lincoln. Ho waa well educate! roan. The people among whom he "ti brousht un were wall educated pcoplr They had to work hard, but they haJ good antecedents and a good solid euu-oatlon." But aa to nolltliw.

national. State or municipal, Mayor Oaynor had not a word to say. An effort waa made to art" forth his viows on the subject of American nnhi mthiiM-r. itMatjwi hv tnfl toiary aiscussion or tne great mri" snob coins- on anions- Sdw readers, the hope that Mr. Oaynor would add to.

the gayety of the discussion with hu usual humorous oomments. Further thin to remark that America haa 'a great many snoba the Mayor would not go. At tempts to draw hun out on other subject! also showed that his Honor was dlM cllned on that iwrtloular forenoon to fi In for extensive discussion, and Mr. I'uriiiss hud llnlshed his sketches anil waa saying good -by one left tho Mu.ror ofiice with the impression thut hfj largely boen the interviewer and not ta lalervlewea..