The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1880-07-14
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
tFROx ouR SPECIAL CoRHEsroSDrSr.)
WASHINGTON, July 3, 1880.

/ OF all the summer resorts il
America Coney Island is the greatest
Located as it is below New York ol
the sca-coast it affords by easy &C
cess the thousands of people whit
swelter in New York, BROOKLYN
jersey City and Hoboken through
out the week a pleasant place TO ge
a good breath of air on Sunday
Sunday is the big day at Coney
Island and last Sunday l was one o
seventy thousand people who visited
that place representing every condi
ton of life from the beggar to tn,
millionaire.
/ When we started from our hote
early in the morning the thermom
aters pointed to the nineties and thu
atmosphere was ''muggy" that one
could scarcely breathe freely anC
existence in town became a torture
The early exodus astonished ever
the steamboat runners. Taking the
elevated road built by Tilden & Co.
we soon landed at the Battery ovel
the tops of houses. This ride gave
us good opportunity of observing
through the open blinds of the in
habitants windows as we glided along
how poor people lived in New York.
Some were in bed vet, others up and
arranging their toilets, some sewing
by the windows, while goodlv
number were at their breakfast
tables.
At the Battery wewere soon aboard
the boat which without waiting long
was weighed down with hundreds of
perspiring mortals. The boat was
crowded and we had to content our
selves with Il single stool on the
fore deck where the suns rays slid
in under the awning and made peo-
pie blink and perspire.
Nevertheless we voted the situation
splendid as soon as the boat got
under way and stirred up charm
ing breeze. In Il few moments we
were out on the bay and with bands
playing soon passed around Cover
nor's Island TO the Bay Ridge Land
ing where we took the steam cars to
Manhattan Beach. To ride in the
comfortable cars was quite a relief
to our situation on the boat. Soon
we were in sight ofthe the big hotels.
At Coney Island there was a cool
breeze from the south. Had there
been nothing beyond the heat de
stroying zephyr that swept in from
the sea, the beach would have been
a haven of rest and comfort. But
there was good music, good bathing,
good preaching and there were good
dinners. The piazzas, the walks,
and the promenade along the edge
of the sea were like the streets of
New York on St Patricks' day, and
moreover the great good-natured
crowd were bent on enjoying them
selves.
1t goes without saying that the en-
| joyment was hearty. If the demand
for comfort and pleasure was un-
limited the supply was inexhausti-
BILE. Those that did not bathe enjoy
ed seeing those that did. Those that
did not care for music could enjoy
going up in the balloon, walking on
the beach or riding on the marine
railway Those who needed spiritual
consolation were supplied. Those
to whom none of these were satisfac-
tory could watch the crowd, get
weighed, have their pictures taken,
drink milk or soda water, set on the
pier, shoot at targets with bows or
rifles, look at the excessively fat
and lean people in the shows, find
cause for wonder that life could have
a stopping place in bodies so small
as those of the midgets, have their
fortunes told by seers and seeresses,
examine the operation of blowing
glass, go to the top of the tower, ride
on swings, take lessons from the ca
mera, study the time tables of the
boats and trains, or in cool shady
retreats give their minds over to
self-communing and the contempla-
ton of the changing panorama whose
best picture was universal enjoyment
and pleasure.
The religious service above refer
red to was conducted by the Right
Rev. Bishop Littlejohn of the Diocese
of Long Island in the long parlor of
the Manhattan Beach hotel, where
the guests gathered. Richly dressed
California ladies, attending the races
with their husbands. were in the
room, sparkling with diamonds,
and wearing dainty slippers partly
covering richly embroidered hose
which peeped from beneath the skirts
of silk and satin, Patrick Gilmore
of Boston Jubilee fame, in full dress,
conducted the music, which vOcally
was furnished by 4 choir of a,out
twenty walters, and instrumegfally
ba quarette of musicians, with
Salcedo as Cornei Soloisf. .Nftsr
reading the Episcopal services with
out the responses, Bishop Littleiohn
addressed the large congregation
upon the spiritual birthright possess
ed by all men. The immensity on
the ocean, he said looking reflectively
out upon the calm blue waters, was
a type of Gods own greatness, and
and the innumerable sands upon the
shore typefied the multitude who
who were TO be gathered at last in
the mansions of Heaven. When
Christ was on earth he emphasized
the truth of what he taught by
gathering his disciples upon the sea-
shore, or in boat on the sea a little
way from land, or ON the mountain.
The exchange of Esau's birthright
for the wretched equivalent of "a mess
of pottage then attracted the preach
er's thoughts. What was true of
Esau, he said, was true of every man
to-day. At some moment he was
tempted to resign his immortal birth
right for some physical pleasure
The truth was ALT more apparent
in these days ofluxurious life, when
the tendency is to drift in a current
of soft and enervating epicurianism