edollar
and the Rev. Mr. Cunningham, sought to bring him to a
realising sense of the error of his ways. Their visitation
was not a success. 'Don't let 'em come here again,' he said,
curtly, to his housekeeper, Mrs. Hedden, when they had
departed; and added: 'They trouble me.' In pursuance of this
order, when they returned to the attack, Mrs. Hedden denied
them admission--saying with a good deal of piety, and with
even more common-sense: 'If God does not change his mind,
I'm sure no man can!'"

Apropos of the two houses occupied by Paine in our city Mr. van der
Weyde has pointed out most interestingly the striking and almost
miraculous way in which they have just escaped destruction. Paine's
"Providence" has seemed to stand guard over the places sacred to him,
just as it stood guard over his invaluable life. A dozen times 309
Bleecker Street and 59 Grove Street have almost gone in the relentless
constructive demolition of metropolitan growth and progress. But--they
have not gone yet!

I have said that the Grove Street house stood in an open lot, the
centre of a block at that time. Just after Paine's death a street was
cut through, called Cozine Street. Names were fleeting affairs in
early and fast-growing New York, and the one street from Cozine became
Columbia, then Burrows, and last of all Grove, which it remains today.

Here let us make a note of one more indignity which the officially
wise and virtuous ones were able to bestow upon their unassumingly
wise and virtuous victim.

The Commissioners replanning New York desired to pay Paine's memory a
compliment and on opening up the street parallel with Grove, they
called it Reason Street, for the "Age of Reason." This was objected to
by many bigots (who had never read the book) and some tactful diplomat
suggested giving it the French twist--_Raison_ Street. Already they
had the notion that French could cover a multitude of sins. Even this
was too closely suggestive of Tom Paine, "the infidel," so it was
shamelessly corrupted to Raisin! Consider the street named originally
in honour of the author of the "Age of Reason," eventually called for
a dried grape!

This too passed, and if you go down there now you will find it called
Barrow Street.

On the 8th of June, 1809, Thomas Paine died.

The New York _Advertiser_ said:

"With heart-felt sorrow and poignant regret, we are compelled
to announce to the world tha