The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1867-10-29
From Recollections of a Busy Life, by Horace
Greeley, published in the New York Ledger.
GREELEY'S FIRST APPEARANCE IN NEW
YORK.

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE IN NEW YORK.
Reaching Schenectady from Buffalo
by line-boat-my sixth and last jour
ney on the "raging canal y dehark-
ed about 6 P. NJ, and took the turnpike
for Albany. think railroad between
the two cities first and last named was
completed soon afterward; but not a
mile of iron track was then operated in
the State, if Tin fact) anywhere in
America, save the littla affair con-
structed to freight granite from the
quarry at Quincy, Massachusetts, to
Boston. Night fell when 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 momentari-
ly passing; I declined, and gathering
up my handful of portables, walked on.
Half mile further | found another
tavern, not quite so inhospitable, and
managed to stay in it till morning, when
l 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, having left at A. NJ.
I had no choice but TO wait for another,
which started at 10 A. NJ, towing a
barge on either side, and reached next
day the Emporium, where I, after a
good view of the city as we passed it
down the river, was landed near White
hall at A. NJ.
New York was then about one-third
her present size but her business was
not one-forth so great as now and her
real size, counting her suburbs, and
considering the tens of thousands who
find employment in and earn subsistence
here though sleeping outside of her
chartered limits-was not one-ifth that
of 1867. No single railroad pointed to-
ward her wharves. No line of ocean
steamers brought passengers to her
hotels or goods to her warehouses from
any foreign port. In the mercantile
world her relative rank was higher, but
her absolute Importance was scarcely
greater than that of Rio Janeiro or San
Francisco is to-day. Still, to my eyes,
which had never till yesterday gazed
on 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 incitement to wonder
and admiration not unlike to awe.
1t was, IT l recollect Alright. the 18th
of August, 1881. l was twenty wears
old the preceding February; tall, slen-
der, pale, and plain, with ten dollars in
my pocket, summer clothing worth
perhaps as much more, nearly all on
my back, and decent knowledge of so
much of the art Of printing as boy
will usually learn in the Office ofa coun-
try newspaper. But knew no human
being within two hundred miles, and
my unmistakably rustic manner and
address did not favor that immediate
command of remunerating employment
which was my most urgent need. a
However, the world was all before
me; my personal estate, tied. UP in a
ocket-handkerchief, did not at all en-
cumber me; and stepped lightly off
the boat and away from the sound of
the Sdetested hiss of escaping steam,
walking into and UP Broad street in
quest ofa clearinghouse. found and
entered one at or near the corner of
Wall; but the price of board given me
was six dollars per week, so 1 did not
need the giVer's oandidly kind sugges-
ton that would probably prefer one
where the charge was more moderate.
Wandering thence, | cannot say how,
to the North River side, [ halted next
at 1853 West street, where the sight of
boarding'' on a humber edifice fixed
my attention. I entered, and was Of:
1ered shelter and subsistence at $3.50
per week, which seemed more rational,
ana a, closed the bargain, as.fi no.. az,
l.: MY host was Mr.. Edward MEG
A'S place quite as much grogg7shopi as
'si'-'5 !"Ha.,p' q iHam