National Republican., 1880-08-07
MISCELLANEOUS.
An Embryo CITY.

IN EmDEyo OlDys
Cities usually spring mp and grow in bar
mony with the demands Of tho surrounding
country for a commercial or manufacturing
centre, but y city has been started on Long
island which is TO be forced into existence
by the power of money 10 is somewhat
doubtful what tho views of the late A. T.
Stewart were in founding Garden City on
the sandy plains Of Hampstead, Long island.
Probably he had so much money he did not
know what TO do with IL, and he bought a
few square miles Of barren land rs no bought
theatres, churches and hotels, leaving the
future TO be developed. A more unpromis.
ing site for = venture Of that kind never
offered itself The land is perfectly fiat,
running of TO the Atlantic OH one side and
the sound on the other The surroundings are
in keeping Within two miles is the sleepy
village of Hampstead. Only the census emu
merator can tell whether il has grown within
the past fifty years. there is nothing IN its ap.
pearance to indicate IT, Nearer byis Minooa,
which consisted of three houses twenty years
ago and has four now. A few miles east Is
WestbuTy, the emporium ofa colony of Friends
or Quakers, founded, we believe, by Elias
Hicks. They carry on the dairy business
largely, are honest economical and rich. Their
farms are models of cultivation. rs they are
themselves the exemplars of all the domestic
virtues but their residences can only be found
by patient investigation. Westbury proper
consists Of a country store and station com.
bined, two dwellings and a small catholic
church, placed of In the fields for the benefit
OF the help" 1t is the same now as 1t was
| thirty years ago, plus the church.
Mr. Stewards purchase came TO the plain
old farmers Of that region as a revelation. IL
afforded gossip for more than twelve months
and day, and visions of wealth in which
| every man was to share hoated before their
wondering eyes. Every owner was willing to
sell out his farm at four times its value, and
some did sell property, when il was essential
| for Mr.. Stewart to have it TO round out his
purchase, at good figures Then thoy waited
patiently for the promised city. Itcame by
| slow advances Roads were laid out trees
were planted and houses went up, neat wooden
| structures of assorted sizes and architecture,
but plain and substantial. Mr.. Stewart had
| it all his own way, and there were none Of the
rivalries of wealth TO lend magn6cence to the
| landscape. hotel was erected, large, enough
to accommodate hundred guests then came
gas and water, the latter pure and wholesome,
drawn from the ground and forced through
pipes by machinery. There was no school for
some years, and still later the cathedral was
founded, and hardly were the walls up when
| Mr.. Stewart died.
| At this time Garden City consists of about
seventy houses, store, handsome depot, to
which q branch OF the Long Island railroad
| runs anu buo OtnbT hulunCtS VI country
| town. The trees have grown with much re-
luctance, and there is yet great deficiency OF
shade. Many Of the houses are unoccupied,
and as they are only rented, and there is but
ono proprietor, 10 has not been easy to bring
| out people and keep them. 1t has been seen
since. IL IL was not seen before Mr.. Stewards
decease, that a city cannot be invented and
patented, and that the centre of Long
Island, Of all places in the world, was the
4 laat 10 nla ~ In, Dat
nouncement Of an educational annex, as ii
may be called, which will change the entire
programme. Garden City is to be the seat
| Of new alma mater, a second Oxford, q
theatre for tho display of unlimited means ap.
piled to education and religion. Three mil
lions of dollars are to be devoted to this pur-
pose. One building is already up. It stands
out boldly on that sandy plain, unrelieved by
tree or shrub, and makes ono wish to be born
iagain ia about hundred years to see if time
will make ii look less like prison or an asy-
lum. AS soon as this edifSe is completed
another similar in size and for the same pur'
pose will be commenced. A third for ad'
vanced collegiate studies will also be fin.
ished as soon as consistent making accommo.
dations for 1900 youths. Everything is on a
magnificent scale. There is to be fine
library, a museum and an art gallery, u cam.
pus, a gymnasium aud a cricket field. Twenty.
five acres of land are devoted to edifices and
annexes, whore female students will be ac'
commodated. The latter will have equal ad-
vantages with the other sex. Beautiful lawns
paths, fields, walks and groves, when the
trees grow, will encircle each building. The
girls college is now being constructed. There
will be a house for the bishop, and no man in
this country ever carried the crozer into a
finer cathedral. Three thousand students arc
looked for.
We hope we may live long enough to see
this embryo city reality.-[N Newark Adver
tiser.