The Shasta courier., 1867-11-30
Horace Creeley's Debut.

collections Of Busy Life -
MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN NEW YORK.
Reaching Schenectady from Buffalo by
line boat-my sixth and last journey on the
raging caual''-I debarked about six P NJ
and took the turnpike for Albany | think
a railroad between the two cities first and
last named was completed soon afterward :;
| but not mile of iron track was then oper-
ated in the State, if lin fact) anywhere in
America, save the little affair constructed to
{ ght granite from the quarry at Quincy.
| Massachusetts, to Boston. Night fell when
l was about half way over SO ! sought rest
in one Of the many Indifferent taverns that
then lined the turnpike in question and was
directed to sleep in an ante room through
which people were momentariy passing |
declined, and, gathering up nay handfu IF
portables walked on. Halt Il mile further
found another tavern, not quite so inhospita-
| BILE, and managed to stay IN it til morning,
when | rose and walked on to ALBANY
| Having never been in that city before |
missed the nearest way to The day boat and
when | reached the landing it was two or
three lengths on its way to New York. hav-
ing left at seven A. NJ. [ had no choice but
/ to wait for another which started at ten
A. NJ, towing a barge On either side and
reached next day the Emp, rum, where |.
after good view Of the city as we passed ii
down the river, was landed near Whitehall
at six A. ".
New York was then about her present
size but her business was not one fourth "a
great as now; and her real size, counting
her suburbs and-c5asidering the tens oi
thousands who fud employment in and earn
subsistence here, though sleeping outside of
her chartered lmits-was not one fifth that
of 1867. No single railroad pointed toward
her wharves. No line of ocean steamers
brought passengers to her hotels, or goods 10
her warehouses. from any foreign port. H.
the mercantile world her relative rank was
higher bat her absolute Importance was
scarcely greater than that OF RIO Janeiro
or San Francisco is to-day Still to nv
eyes, which had never till yesterday gazed on
a city Of even 10000 inhabitants, nor seen a
sea going vessel, her miles square Of mainly
brick or stone houses, and her furlongs Of
masts and yards, afforded ample inctement
to d wonder and admiration not unlike to
awe.
Ii was, if | recollect Alright, the l7th Of
| August. 1881. | was twenty years old the
preceding February tall slender. pale, ana
plain, with ten dollars in my pockets, $. m
mer clothing, worth, perhaps, as much more
nearly all on my back, and decent kuowl
| edge of so much of the art Of printing as a
boy will usually learn in the office Of a coun-
/ try newspaper. But | knew no humane
/ being within two hundred miles. and my
| unmistakably rustic manner and address did
not favor that immediate command Of remu
nerative employment which was my most
urgent need.
However, the world was all before me ::
nv personal estate, tied up in pocket hand
! kerchIef did not at all encumb r me and |
stepped lightly off the boat and away from
the sound Of the detested hiss Of escaping
steam, walking into and up Broad street in
quest Of boarding hOure. | found and en-
tered one at or near the corner Of Wall but
the price OF board given me was six dollars
per week, 50 | did not heed the gjycr's can.
didly kind suggestion that would probably
prefer one where the charge was more mod
crate Wandering thence, cannot say how
to the North River side, | halted next
at l6S West street. where the SIN OF
- Boarding" on a humber ediice met my
attention. | entered, and was offered shelter
and subsistence at s. so per week, which
seemed more rational, and | closed the bar
gain.
Nv host was Mr. Edward McGlorick :;
his place quite as much grog shop as board
| ing house; but it was quietly, dScently kept
while | STAYED in it, and he and his family
were kind and friendly. | regret to aud thar
! LIQUOR proved his ruin not many years after
ward. Ny first day in New York was a
! Friday, and the family being Roman Cath
oic. no meat was eaten or provided, which
! | understood but when Sunday evening
was celebrated by unlimited d-playing in
! that same house, my traditions were decided
! lv Jared | do not imply that my observ.
| ances were better or worse than my hosts
| but they were different.
/ Having breakiasted, | began to ransack
! the city for work, and, in my total ignor
ance, traversed many streets where none
/ could possibly be found. Ia the course of
that day and the next. however, must have
visited fully two-thlrds OF tue printing Offices
on Manhattan Island without a CLEAN of
success. 1t mas midSumm +, when business
| in New York is habitually dull and my
youth and unquestiOuable air of country
greenness must have told against me-
! When called at the journal Of Commerce,
its editor Mr.. David Hale bluntly told ME
| was a runaway apprentice from some coun-
try Office, which was very natural though
mistaken presumption. | returned to my
lodgings on Saturday evening, Thoroughly
weary, dsheartened, disgusted with New
York. and resolved to shake its dust from
my feet next morning, while | could still
leave with money in my pocket, and before
it's almshouse could foreclose upon me.
But that was not to be. On Sunday after
noon and evening several young Irishmen
called at Mr.. McGlJrick 5 in their holiday
saunterings about town, and being told that
was a young printer in quest of work. in
terested themselves in my effort with the
spontaneous kindness Of their race One
among them happened to know place
where printers were wanted, and gave me
the requisite direction, 50 that on visiting
the designated spot next morning | readily
found employment; and thus, when barely
three days resident, l found anchorage in
New York.
The printing establishment was John I.
Vests, over McElrath 4 Bangs publishing
house, No. 6S Chatham street, and the
work was at my CALL simply because no
printer who knew the city would accept it
1t was the compositian of a very small (32
mo- New Testament, in double columns of
agate type each column barely twelve ems
wide, with a center column in pearl, barely
four ems wide; the text thickly studded
with references by Greek and superior letters
to the notes, which Of course were preceded
and Disseminated by corresponding indices,
with predatory and supplementary remarks
on each book, set in pearl, and only paid for