Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-08-15
OUR GOTHAM LETTER.
From our regular correspondent.
MIDSUMMER IN TIE METROPOLIS.

rum Jul AS5 uA@A SSBOAAeASAo'
MIDSUMMER IN THE METROPOLIS.
Doubtless many of our young readers
will gasp and call for fan at the bare
mention of a Metropolitan August-but
let them ssye their pity for more needy OBJ
jectsl The tenement-house population in
deed suffer with summer heat, as it does
with winter cold, and with foulness, and
disease, and endless suffering through all
the year. These are the accompaniments
of extreme poverty almost everywhere.
God pity its poor victims over all His beau
tiful world! But the average dweIler IN
Gotham 1 am now speaking Of; and he
gets about as much comfort during these
hot days and nights as in any part Of the.
year.
For
PALTRY HALE DoLLAR, VI
he can take a sail down this matcbless
Bay past Sandy Hook, past the Highlands
of Navesink, the last land a traveller sees
in leaving our shores, and the first to greet
his return; and on, pIoughing the blue
green waves of the Atlantic Ocean, thirty
miles in all to the great iron Ocean Pier
at Long Branch; spend seven hours on the
beach, and take thirty miles Of ocean and
bay back again to his city home No such
sixty miles for fifty cents is offered any
where that / know of. g-r
Or, for like sum, he can go by boat or
rail to Coney Island, once the haunt of
monte-men, gamblers and roughs, but now
the most delightful of family resorts, whose
visitors often number 125, 600 in a single
day.
cONEY ISLAND
is long, narrow strip of sand lying along
Long Island facing the ocean. 1t is six
or seven miles long and about half mile
wide, and is separated from the mainland
only by sluggish narrow stream that a
good horse could jump across if the banks
were firm. The sea front IS divided into
four different localities or settlements, al
most, and in some cases, quite touching
each other, and is known as Manhattan
Beach, Brighton Beach, West Brighton
Beach, formerly Cable's) and the West
End, or Mike Norton's. The latter is the
oldest and is kept by ex-senator mike"
Norton, and is still the faYOrite resort for
people of a certain class. Here the build
Ings are rough and low, like most of their
hG6itueS, though the beach is very fine.
A mile above comes West Brighton Beach
where hotels and summer gardens are
thick, and the big Centennial Observatory
offers a fifty mile view Of old Ocean: the
Aquarium exhibits its wonders of the deep;
the big three-story Ocean Pier offers It's
manifold attractions, and German bands
lombard your ears at every turn. Two
huge depOts stand here from whose wide
doors the crowd pOurs steadily outward
from morn till deWy eve, and where, TILL
midnight, every portal is choked with
thrOngs vending their way homeward
again.
A marine, narrow gauge railway NOW
runs from NOrtOn's Point to West Brighton
bringing crowds who prefer the sail down
the bay TO the all-raI1 route. Half mile
further east stands the hotel Brighton on
Brighton Beach. 1t is huge building of
handsome design, finished throughout in
Fastlake, with piazzas so to 70 feet broad,
running the whole length. Hundreds of
people sit on these piazZaS at supper, while
band, directly in front discoUrses such
music us you would pay couple of dol
lars to hear in midwlnter, at SGeinway's or
the Academy, while often ten to fifteen
thousand people crowd the planked walks
around. The Brighton Beach railway has
its depot directly in the hotel. 1t would
be presumption to attempt a description
Of this beautiful scene at night, with the
long line of brilliant lights, the dense
masses Of Gver-mOving people, the shouts
of merry bathers in the roaring surf, the
sweet music, and above all, the powerful
rays Of the electric light, shedding q bright
ness almost like that of the sun over all
the scene. ~. f
Manhattan Beach lies about half mile
still further east, and here stands the no.
tel made famous by Mr., Amos Corbin's
declaration that mo Jews are wanted!
Like Brighton it is very large, very ele-
geant and very lucrative. A room to be
secured in either of these monstrous hous-
es must be engaged weeks ahead. But
even their immense profit from regular
boarders at $3.50 per day is dwarfed by
the income of the tens Of thousands who
visit each of these beaches daily.
COney Island is mushroom. Hotels
are going up with rapidity that would
seem incredible, and all are fairly coming
money. Next year We shall have big
Seaside Park just beyond Manhattan Beach
and goodness knows what else. Brighton
has u race course now, and Manhattan n
walls it with balloon, while West Brigh-
ton, besides the Aquarium and Observable
ry, boasts a variety theatre. - s-l
ROCKAwAY,
still further East, upon another island,
draws its thousands and maintains whole
fleet of fine steamers which ply between it
and the city.
But I'm less than half through the story
of our Summer comforts, and the admOn-
ition comes to ''cut it short" will!
MORLEY.