The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-12-18
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
[FRoM OUR REauLAR coRRrsroNnEx.


To rHE EDITOR oF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
Thump! thumpl thump! Who
knocks the three blows? II is Deeem-
Der announcing itself. Attention,
therefore, the prelude begins. The cur
tain arises and displays New York to
US, already dressed for its Winter
season. All the gas-lights have. been
lighted in front of the theaters. All
the world has returned, and all the
world is hurrying along the streets with
busy air. The Brosdways have re-
gained their liveliest physiOgnOmy, and
New York feels an intense desire to
protest against the dullness of the at
mOsphere. IL Summer is the time OF
invention for the men and women who
are our rulers Of fashion, the Autumn il
the season in which they send up their
trial balloons. The question now is to
know what will, or what will not take,
among all the new inventions that are
destined to tempt Us, for Christmas and
New Years Day are coming with their
forced cortege Of exchanges of gracious
acts. What a number Of temptations Of
all kinds there are in the store win
dows We 90 out with a project in our
minds, and we know not whether We
will ACCOMPLISH it, or when we will re-
turn to our homes. Rambling is Ger
tainly one Of the most delightful
/ pleasures in New York. Merchants
strive with ingenuity and cOquetTy TO
attract and retain the innocent rambler
/ What pretty fancy articles What
luxury is displayed in the charming
nothiugs which nowadays are so
necessary TO the comfort Of even the
most simple citizens home Up
holstery-the art Of furnishiug-has
reached its apogee. What wonderful
stuiis, and what notes of admiration
have been irresistibly forced upon me
by some Of this upholstery, SO
Justly called "artistic ~ While / am
on this subject, l must reply to Il ques-
tion Of one Of my fair readers. The car
pet Of a drawing-room should be cOnsid-
cred like the background in picture
only of use in order 10 throw out the de-
tails Of the furniture. II I had not al
ready too much to say to-day, would
describe some charming furniture to
you, aud some Of the new materials
now in use for it. will do so another
time.
Stanley, the explorer, has again been
heard from. At last accounts he had
reached the cataracts in the Congo
River, at the head of about one hundred
men, among them twenty Europeans.
On board the comfortable steamship
Albion, the expedition had encountered
no difficulties, and were about to move
on in the expectation of meeting party
coming west from Zanzibar, in about the
center Of the Continent. Although Mr..
Stanley was mysteriously reticent in
regard to his new visit TO Africa, yet il
is no secret that he has gone out under
the protection aud patronage Of the
Belgian Government, for the purpose OF
opening up a trade with the CONG
Valley, which will doubtless prove u,
profitable to the merchants of Antwerp
as the East India trade has proved to The
Dutch. The King Of the Belgians has
taken a very great interest in this en-
terprise, which was first proposed tC
parties in England, who had not the ss-
gacity to see that trading with West
Africa would prove better paying bus
iness than fighting in South Africa
Within fifty years the numerous tribes
of the Congo and its tributaries will
wear shirts and live in board houses
while the daughters OF the rich will
wear Paris gloves and bonnets. And
within half that time thousands ol
miles Of railroads will be running from
the coast into the interior. The prod
ucts Of that virgin country fruits
ivory, cereals and ores-wiIl load whole
fleets of homeward bound ships in ex.
change for European manufacturers ol
every description. Africa is destined to
be the new Eldorado Of the coming Gen.
tury, and the euterprising little King
dom Of Belgium will become as rich as
Spain in the days Of Cortes.
A non-ezplosive steam motor has
for the past three months been in
successful operation on the Third
Avenue street-railway line. This motor
max es no noise either Of putting or
escaping steam, scatters no cinders, and
emits no offensive gases. The motor
can be constructed in two ways-either
as self-propelling car carrying passen-
gers, or as a dummy. II has on the
front platform of the passenger car a
boiler with slender smoke-pipe. The
Office Of the boiler is not to generate
steam, but to distribute it to cylinders
below the floor of the car. At the
starting station the boiler is supplied
with a quantity of hot water raised TO
the steam generating point, and the
only object in supplying the motor with
fuel is to keep it up TO steam pressure
during the trip. This is accomplished
by a few shoveIs of live Goals being
thrown iutO the car-boiler furnace on
leaving the station, the charge being
good for twenty miles. After starting,
no attention is required for the water,
fuel or machinery. All the driver has
to do is to mind the brakes aud the con-
ductor's bell.
The total receipts Of grain at the four
ports for this year, up to the 25th inst,
have been 237, ,O23, $50 bushels, against