The daily gazette., 1880-07-13
FtomItiiS N. .Y.Heraid. sasoa4
SIGHTS AT CONEY ISLAND.

'tNo, sir, not in all the world is there
such a place as this" said f. r. G.
s. yesterday, as he stood on the beach
at Coney Island. "Pve been twice
around this pill of ours and there is
nothing in all my recollections that
even suggest such place." q
This verdict of the Fellow of the
Royal Geographical Society has been
time and again pronounced by Ameri-
cans, but It's source left it open 10 a
suspicion of bliss.
All things concerning Coney Island
are ON the bias. Look at the map and
see how the island runs; trace out the
line of the marine railroad; scrutinize
your slice of rib of beef when you go
there the next time and you will find
it's cut that way. 1t is evon said by
those who have had tin type photo
graphs taken that you don't stand
straight in them. Whether the cam
era or individual is responsible for
this, deponent knoweth not.
Even the travelled Englishmau no.
ted this fact, and was unable to ac-
count for it. A man who slooks at
straight things with lend as big as a
cart-wheel in one eye, keeping the 9TH
or wide open meanwhile, should, all
things being equal, see on the bias;
and vice versa when lie looks at biased
| things, under the same visual condi-
tions, they should seem straight. But
they don't. .
Speaking of Coney Island, as was
the original intention of this writing,
| it must be said that it deserves con-
sideration as an institution racy of
American enterprise and manners. In
no other place In the world, except on
the thoroughfares of a great metropolis,
are such sights TO be seen, such people
to be encountered. Nothing that the
city boasts of, except-thank God for
it--the. acres Of hot flags and pavements
and the dull monotony Of houses is
wanting here. Theatres, beer palaces,
cafes that equal, in depth of cellar and
wealth of larder, those of ever-lauded
Paris; a race-track, concert halls, cir
Gus, an aquarium, museum, a pier that
with spider-liizes legs wades far out to
sea, and by It's frsgility, offering no re-
sistance, defies old Neptune's fiercest
rage; side shows, beer halls, a garden Of
pyrotechnics, a marine railroad, two
daily papers, sparkling fountains, acres
and acres of greensward, whole miles OF
broad promenades, and half dozen ho-
tells, that In appointment aud capacity
are the peers of any in the, American
metropolis-these are the salient fea-
lures of the little strip of land which,
within the recollection OF every school
boy in New York, was almost bar
rem waste, fiecked here and there with
tufts of rank marsh grass. How the
fairy like change came ov. r it no one
can fully appreciate. 1t has been the
growth of four years. No sudden mi
racle wrought all the change; but,
like Topsey, the place "growed."
A cosMoPoLIs.
Its benefits and its full enjoyment OF
it all are pre-empted to no class. No
one with fifty cents is too poor to avail
himself of its attractions and having
seen all to be returned to New York.
Fifty cents takes you there and brings
you back again. and no one is there to
say you shall not 60 here or there or
anywhere you please. Color even is
not bar, and the creed line, which 1t
was sought last year to establish has
been obliterated.
A swarm of gentlemen, more or less
gentle, with the suffix "ex" to their
titles, fairly invest the place. But az
'ex" is indicative of political mori-
bundity they shall remain anonymous.
There is nothing strange in all these
folk being found together, or in the
fact that half a dozen Territory ex-
Governors, a quartz king and few
millionaires find rest here but it
would seem strange to a foreigner, to
whom they had been pointed out, to
see sitting among them several gentle
men of color, a Chinaman, speaking
Spanish to the swarthy West Indian
by his side, and half dozen or more
Japanese youths, students from New
Haven, dressed in the extreme tip of
fashion. The said foreigner would, no
doubt, be more astonished if, passing
westward from this exclusive quarter,
he saw ladies, of beauty as suave as
the fair isle of Jersey boasts, trooping,
accompanied by elegant gentlemen, in
to the bathing pavilion, with shop
girls, dressed in gaudy, bad taste, and
| WOnCi ia Cldebs
His sense of social propriety might not
survive the shock of seeing Judges,
Senators and congressman standing
in line with mechanics, advertising
doctors and clerks of low degree, yet
that is what he would see here.
At the next hotel he would notice
still greater confusion of social con-
ditions, for it is here that the limits of
the two extremes of the island meet.
Women, with half a dozen children,
and elegant DANES to whom such
treasures are abhorrent-the genteel,
the vulgar, the rich, the poor, here
they all are. And SO, as one goes west
ward, he notes the confusion of castles
until he arrives at the happy hunting
ground appropriated by the masses
where holiday entertainment, in keep
ing with their tastes, is provided ga
lore. Here once the playful three
card-monte man bewildered rustics
with thimble-rig and took their dol
lars. Now the artisan of speculative
propensity must take a fling at Aunt
Sally or try his precision in rife gal
lery.
From what has been said of the