OCR Text |
Show Governors Island as a Summer Resort THE nearest watering place to New Tori, with all the attend. ml summer recreations of tennis fwlmm.nc, golf. I olo kt, .. is unK Six minute by ferry from he Bnltery. It also is one of the m.t ex-duslvei ex-duslvei although not undemocratic, of summer sum-mer resorts, for it Is only open to the officers of-ficers enlisted men and Government em- ployees "-iminne.i on Governors Island The Governors Island Club an old bairn bai-rn U which was condemned as unfit for e pane) aud salvaged by Ms Jor-Gen Henry 1 iarfi Corbln to he made Into an officers' club Is the centre of the island's gayetlei Corbln Hall is the present name of the club bmidlrg and it is the scene ot tragedy as wen ir. festlVlt for It Is there that general courts-martial of the eastern Department m 1 : 1- there ilia'. Grocer Cleveland f.'-rg-doli Hard Dolled" Smith and others of re-ce;i. re-ce;i. notoriety were tried. Once a year the Island, with Its open SpflCet of big irees and fresh mowed Brasi an ! oecorated with much bunting, is thrown opei 10 the public This is on the day of thj -ii nual garden party, conducted by the Atrr.j. Keiiof Society, which cares for the widows ;tnd orphans of the Regular Army mi 0 w ho hsvi died In the service. Ordinarily, however, the only attendants at the concerls. athletic events and dances are thoe whose work takes them lo the Ishr.d. or their friends. Rumur has it that at one time no New Vork debutante considered herself really "out ' unless she had made her debut on Governors Island Chafilaln Smith who officiates of-ficiates at the picturesque little stone chapel few yards away from Corbln Hall, and Wh ' has written g history of the Island, ve-hkDlsntly ve-hkDlsntly denies this At anv rate, the New-York New-York debutante of to-day merely expresses casual lntereit. probably asking where the place Is and how one gets there. If It is men- tict.ed Every fair afternoon one grill find the tennis ten-nis courts fend coif links crowded. There Is nine hole courw . with hazards that Include officers' quarters a hospital and obsolete' civil war artillery. Since It crosses and re-crotses re-crotses the field that Is a combination polo and parade ground, golf Is taboo on certain days and hours when military drill or a polo game is in progress Some, who are more eager to swim than careful where they do it, have erected spring boards Just back of Corbln Hall an.1 the Inland In-land greenhouses All summer long a few bold spirits ma he seon braving the drl.'t-v.'O.i drl.'t-v.'O.i and rubbish that floats down tile Hudson Hud-son and F. -t Itieers at this pretty and shaded spot The women of the island Indulge In bridge and tea. of course, ap well as knitting, sew- Ing ?nd other occupations that keep them 'uv winter nnd summer. Military folk don't dance they hop" At any rate the) call their dam e- "hops." and thej rcem lo have them on the slightest excuse, ex-cuse, Every F"rida evening there is a "hop, ' formal or informal, at Corbln H.ill, with other "hops" scattered In between, either at the Officers' Club or at the new tea loom, which was a hospital ward during the War. This tea room Is a cafeteria for the clerks of the Quartermaster's Department at noon, nnd it Is only at night that It has a forma! social aspect. A New Vork Interior decorator decora-tor Was given the task of making the tem-porarv tem-porarv woolen barracks that houses it over Into an attractive eating place and OUtdi or summer social centre for the Island s inhabitants. inhab-itants. He found nme paintings by the soldier sol-dier art students of the A E. F and prv nounced them sufficient!) good to base his designs upon. At noon the cafeteria is crowded with girl stenographei-s. army field clerks, ofll-cers ofll-cers and their families, nnd there is danr-h'g danr-h'g music being provided by the Music School Band, composed of selected musicians mu-sicians from the bsUds of the cntlro arm The students arc In training to become, hand leaders. No summer resort Is complete without historic Interest. Visitors are proudly shown buildings put up or Started by George Washington or tho British or th Di:tch. a flag that flew over Verdun In tho days when tho Germans could not -ass. I Ilea frum the old battle ship Maine and other things of more strictly local interest. The enlisted men go in strong for baseball base-ball and have an IntTS-lslsnd ieague which wages hot battles on tho diamond which alec serves at times as the polo field, golf II -k.s and drill ground. This year, for the first time In the Island's history, civilian tc-ims from New York have Dlayjd on this field, too. .1 r -. r - i lt - TT rTrssisssssT.nii5assjsssggsgsggggsl |