The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-02-19

u
fare and the whole newspaper district be-
tween Fulton and Spruce, Broadway and Will
liam, is vast mud hole.
We ought to have reserved our strongest ex-
pressions to characterize the condition Of Gen.
ire and Pearl streets, and the crossways
which pass them. From the slope Of Centre
street, past the Tombs, the market, and 80 on
through Broome street to the Bowery, in
GLIDING the whole of that dire space bounded
by Chatham street and the Bowery on the south
and east, the instant the frost relaxes its icy
grasp it is all one uninterrupted quagmire Of
9th and ahominatien. The physical horrors of
that locality would turn the stomach even of
the "Hot Corn" man himself. We do not in
'end to describe it ut present, but merely to in
dictate this as we'll as the other terrible quar-
tiers of the city, and to point out the nuisances
which it is q matter OF life and health to the
citizens to have abated before the warm weather
sets in. Little better is the whole East river
side Of the city, from Peck slip to the Dry Dock.
In the vicinity Of Catherine market, stretching
away behind the National theatre, there is q
region where the streets are, at this moment,
of no use whatever a. thoroughfares-not even
drays can possibly make their way through
them. The whole neighborhood is squalid and
vile, consisting Of little shops and sailors
lodging houses, many of them in cellars, and
the whole in every way uninhabitable for de-
cent and Christian people. We have been
through entire streets there in which there is
not one decsntly inhabitable dwelling; and yet
the whole district swarms with population.
Further along the East river, lined as it is with
rotten wharves scolloped with mountains of
rubbish and flth the streets are all in the
city no mitigation to the horrible Alth and de-
graded physical condition of this metropolis. In
any other country, any ether government
under heaven we do verify believe that such
state Of things would cause . revolution Here
however we are better natured. We wade pa
tiently through the mud when the weather is
thawing, and look hopefully forward to
it's freezing up. When the warm weather comes
on, and the bills of mortality begin to swell by
hundreds per week, we stuff our noses into our
pocket handkerchiefs, send wife and children
to Long Branch or Saratoga, and trust to
luck for taking us safely through the sum-
mer. Meanwhile, we cheerfully pay hun.
dreds of thousands Of dollars year for
cleaning the streets; and there you may see, all
neatly entered on the Street Inspectors books,
that the streets all have been cleaned according
to contract and that every thing is all right and
tight Meanwhile, we challenge proof that, in
the portions of the city through which we have
just taken you-iaintly sketching the state Of
things as we passed slong-there is seen
scavenger or a cart on an average Of once =
month while, for the most part, the vilest and
most abominable quarters, where the pestilence
breeds and death turks in every poisonous cave
and corner, the mud and obscene DIAL with
which the streets are encountered is not dis
turbed from one years end to another. How
long is all this to last
Popular Educ atiou-Our Public Schools.
We have now lying before us an interesting
document emanating from the Board Of Educa-
tion, which in its facts and figures bears con-
elusive testimony to the effective character Of
the system upon which our evening schools are
based. In the annual report Of the executive
committee charged with the superintendence
of this branch of the institution, we find state
ment of educational results for the past year,
which cannot fail to prove in the highest de.
gree satisfactory not only to the advocates of
the system, but to the friends of humanity in
general.
In devising scheme Of popular education
which would adapt itself to all the conditions
and requirements Of the classes which it was
intended to benefit, it became evident to reflect
ing minds that vast numbers would be exclud-
ed from its advantages, unless some effort were
made to reconcile it's rules with the demands
which the daily necessities of life make upon
the time and attention of the artizAn. 1t was
wisely resolved to give such comprehensive |
ness to the system that not only would the |
children Of the working classes, but the parents
themselves be induced to benefit by it. By |
thus extending the scope of the original plan,
there was ahigh moral purpose to be gained.
The opportunity of intellectual culture and re-
toll, would, it was hoped, have the effect of
him from the demoralizing as
sociations OF the rum shop or shilling thea
tire. 1t was in fact the practical application of
the theory enunciated by Sydney Smith, "that
the true way to attack vice was to set up some
thing against it."
In this spirit, and with these objects, the ex-
pertinent Of evening schools was tried 1t was
with good deal ofdoubt and hesita-
ton, from the many objections that were raised
against it: but the results as demonstrated in
the document before us, have completely falsi-
fed the predictions of those who endeavored to
throw cold water upon the scheme. The expe-
rience of the seven years during which they
have been at work has shown not only the vast
practical benefits that are to be derived from
them, but their gradual extension proves that
there is no limit to the system OF utility in
which their operations are carried on. The