The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-05-14

Summer at Hand.
These warm and sunshiny days admonish
us that the summer heats are close at hand.
In month we shall reach the period OF tho
summer solsticc and encounter a tempera-
ture which will drive people to the hills
and tho seaside at such rate that the out
going trains in every direction will steam
forth without an unoccupicd seat in all their
long lines Of cars. Though winter fingered
long and the buds were not carly In swell
ing, the spring has como with bound, after
the manner of its approach in tho more
northern latitudes; and the white and pink
blossoms of the fruit trees are pertaining
the air, and tho fresh greensward is CRATE
full to the eye and full Of fragrance.
The temperature is just at happy me-
dium, running from about 80 degrees at
early morning TO 10 degrees at the highest,
and falling to 80 again at nightfall. With
weather like that no reasonable man can
find fault on the score OF excess of heat or
cold. 1t is of the sort which invites man
forth from 1.-THE city, and makes the young
stcrs impatient for the coming OF vacation.
Within three weeks the Central Park
has clothed itself with new beauties, and
the throng who filed 1t on Sunday
showed that spring had many TO welcome
its return to New York, and who knew how
and where TO best find recreation. One
needs only to join tho happy and orderly
crowd who pass its walks on Sunday to
array himself with those who are resolved
that this priceless pleasure ground OF the
people shall be kept for them alone, and saved
from the hands OF the invaders who come
with plausible excuses for marring its sym
mctry and trenching on its broad spaces for
the benefit Of o part instead Of the whole OF
the public.
The watering-place hotels have been fur
bished up for the season and are now open
ing their doors for expected patrons The
directions Of summer travel change little
from year to year, and new resorts are of
slow growth; but the vast improvement Of
those adjacent TO the city has within n
few years past practically added new and
most tempting places for seaside recreation
TO those from which the New Yorker may
choose. There is no finer beach for bathing
along the whole Atlantic coast than that Of
Coney Island, so near our wharves and so
accessible by several different routes; and
there are no watering-place hotels more
completely appointed than those which now
line It. The Coney Island season opened on
Sunday, after fashion, but the sea air was
bleak and the visitors were not sorry when
the day was over. II will be June before
the surf and the ocean breezes will invite
the old throngs. Meantime. we advise tho
hotel keepers who are now busy in repairing
and charging their houses, that moderation
in charges and consideration for their pa
irons will in the end prove more profitable
to them than the extravagant prices they
may be able to exact from the crowds, and
the carelessness for which they may find
excuse in the dog days. Coney Islands in
| estimable advantages once known, IL ought
| TO continue for generation favorite re-
| sort for the people OF New York; but greed
and extortion may ruin the reputation OF
the most delightful Of watering places by
sending home visitors with sense OF wrong
and a feeling Of annoyance. We must not
forget, however, 10 acknowledge the enter
prise OF the men who have so speedily
changed that island from a rendezvous for
the rude and dissolute into charming
beach where the most orderly and respect
able find varied opportunities for the enjoy
ment Of holiday. 1t is watering place OF
| just the sort New York has long needed, and
once having got it we shall cling to it.
The European travel for the summer
though large. IS not so great as it was last
year, and this encourages the landlords at
the home watering places to anticipate n
| prosperous summer. Long Branch whose
| glories have been somewhat dimned by
Coney Island, is trying to increase its at
fractions. Saratoga was never 50 album
dainty provided with hotels Of the best class
as now. Newport and Lenox are letting
their cottages rapidly, and at all the summer
resorts from the White Mountains TO the
Virginia Springs lively preparations are
making for the approaching campaign.
The prices at the hotels are about the
same as last year, and considering the
shortness OF their season, and the multiple
ity Of the demands of boarders In these
days, and their cxacting tastes, they cannot
be called excessive. But those who have
neither the money to travel nor the time TO
spare for journeys, find New York itself be-
coming every year a more satisfactory
place in which TO pass the warm weather,
while the opportunities for well-won days
outing amid agreeable surroundings grow
more numerous. And as we all know
pleasure sometimes evades those who chase
it hardest to fall TO the share of those who
have not thought even TO seek for II.