Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-09-06
Our New York Letter.


NEW YoRK's GREAT cHAMTY-LAUDABLE BAL
LOT sTUFFING-oUR PARADISE BY THE SEA
GLoRIFIED COMFY IsLAND-THEoDoBH THoM
Asa CURIOUS CASE.
NEW York, September ID, 1873
The ravages of the yellow fever continue
TO form one of the main subjects of thought
and attention in New York. Instead of de.
crtasing, the two or three column reports
which the daily papers give of the progress
of the disease show il to be rnther gaining
! ground than otherwise. The sympathies OF
this city are fully aroused rs may be inferred
from the frequency Of meetings and enter.
tainments in behalf of the sufferers. and the
freedom with which money and goods are Of
fered to the cause. Over SEQ 600 has been
| contributed, and the results of n system Just
| put in operation will doubtless be to largely
| swell this amount This system is the novel
and sensible one of placing ballot boxes in
numerous public places for the reception Of
such cash as citizens feel impelled to donate.
Tie idea is happy one. People can vote
early and often, and tina: without registration
or naturalization. The papers urge repeat
ing and ballot stuiling'' as among the most
sacred duties of the community No vote is
| challenged ON account of age, color or previ-
Gus condition of servitude, aud not even the
woman sufingists can complain of any tyr
annous restriction of their rights The re-
suit of this plan is not known as yet ; but the
idea seems to have struck the popular fancy,
and will probably do good work
81 =.
fever sufferers was one at Manhattan Beach.
rs portion of old Coney Island has been re-
christened and this reminds me to say that,
of all the transformation scenes ever present
ed to wondering and delighted eyes, that
which has occurred within one year on the
sandy barren of COney Island is n little the
most marvellous. For many years this strip
of sand has been good deal frequented in
the summer season on account of its nearness
to New York and Brooklyn, but up to last
season its patrons We're mostly of the order
which takes kindly to beer and pugilism, and
of that other class who, open eyed and open
mouthed, fall easy victims to the wiles of the
thimble rigger and three-card monte man.
But suddenly-indeod TO us who have mean
while been busy about other matters it seems
to have been in the twinkling of an cye-the
spot has been so changed that even its own
father-the Atlantic Ocean-can hardly rec
ognize it. Two enormous and sumptuous
hotels have sprung up like Aladdin's palace
from the earth, together with a mass of pa
yilions, bathing houses, pagodas, around all of
which by lavish expenditure of money the
wilderness has been made to blossom like the
rose. A net work of narrow-gauge railroads
has been laid to connect New York and
Brooklyn with the new watering place, the
suddenness and immensely of whose popular
ity are proportonate to the miraculous quick
ness of its growth, 1t far outstrips Long
Branch and Cape May both in elegance and
in the multitude of its patrons. The possen-
ger traffic between it and the city is some
thing wonderful. On some evenings there
have been as many as 100, 900 people in the
hotels and along the beach while in gayety
and dazzling brilliancy the scene is only com
parable to such European watering-p places as
Baden Baden on Wiesbaden, which latter, how
ever, lack the invigorating sight and sound of
the ocean.
Powerful electric lights illuminate the beach
and grounds at night and throw a wierdly-
beautiful radiance over the white-capped surf
and the bathers disporting themselves there
in, while bands of music from the pagodas
contribute to the general enjoyment. One of
these hands includes Levy, the great cornet-