Sharp County record., 1881-05-12
Life on a New York House Top.

We are weary OF the streets ana theT
familiar sights, even upto the third and
fourth stories. The show-windowS,
their fabrics and what-notS, have moth
ingnew, and the friction of the crowd
distresses our nerves. But upon the
roofs there is inspiration and novelty,
The air is free and pure, the prospect is
spacious and the heavens, with their
splendid sunsets and gentle twlllghts,
are not shut out from us by the ragged
and deprayed unpicturesquenesS OF the
cornice lines of brown-stone fronts ana
business houses.
All is not so inactive up here as 1t
seems; moreover, on the roofs or IN the
skv-parlors" Immediately under the
roots, a variety of occupations are con-
Quoted amid surroundings Of which few
who are not concerned IN them have any
idea. The history Of attic life in the
city opens many novel one. The yell
low moon of midsummer falls in the
sultry night on some strange scenes
over Wonder, on the roofs Of those tene-
ment barracks; and here. on the Equl-
table roof and on the roofs of many other
large offices in the neighborhood there
is life when all below Is silent and de-
serted.
The ianitors of such buildings as the
Equitable are fortunately situated.
They are well paid and are treated with
Difference by all The tenants; their lie is
easy, and their quarters are especially
enyiable, having all the comforts and
conyeniences of a modern " flat"
The President of the Insurance Com
pany, no doubt, lives somewhere on
Fifth Avenue, and has before his Win
dows no other or more eXhalting pros
peCt than the brown-stone fronts across
the way. But the ianitor has cottage
for himself on the roof, nestled under a
tower, and when the air below is stag
nant and parched, invigorating breezes
pour into his dwelling from the bay,
while all day long the harbor, from the
Battery to its outlet at the narrows, is
picture of unending interest and
beauty. All the commerce of the rivers,
visible but Silent, is before him; he has
summer mornings when the southern
distance is vaporous gold without
tangible object in it, and moonlight
when the waters, prickled by the yel-
low light of the shipping, quiVerin mill
ions of silvery edges. After his supper
he may sit at his door and look on
something very much better than a
facade of marble or a procession OF
vehicles. His children have little
space reserved for them, scattered with
playthings, and there are no walls above
them or surrounding them-only an
ornamental iron fence between them
and the PERCEPTIONS front of the i'm
mense building with the sky and sun
shine comforting full benefit upon them.
But the natural advantages are not all.
The interior of the cottage is con-
cealed from the casual visitor by pretty
lace curtains. 1t is furnished with a
good deal of taste and generosity; it has
piano, which sounds with great clear
ness and sweetness in the still morning
air; it is heated by steam and has flow
of hot and cold water, electric bells, a
telephone, and every other adjunct of a
well-appointed American establishment.
The unappetizing odors of the cuisine
are avoided by an excellent expedient.
The next building to the Equitable is a
branch of Delmonico's, and passage
connects the two by which the janitor
has communication with separate
kitchen. When we are reminded of
roSeate pictures with which his days
begin, the varied scenes that till him,
and the calm evenings that follow them
and of the pure altitude in which he
breathes, the janitors lot, taken all in
all, seems not so very much less en-
viable than the Presidents.
Though isolated from the strife and
pressure of the streets, he is not with
out society. The engineer of the
building has cottage like his
under another part OF the tower,
and a staff of signal-service men have
their station on the roof. When all the
offices below are locked up and bust
ness has departed for the day, and
while Trinity's clock boomS out the
hours OF the nlght, the observers are
still employed with their instruments,
and when storm threatens big, red
lantern is lighted to warn the shipping
on the bay. Even after the janitor and
the engineer have gone to bed, the OBJ
servers are wide awake, and soon after
midnight little printing-press is set to
work upon the weather charts for to-
morrow. Those brilliant belts of light
not far away, and scarcely lower than
the Equitable roof, are the printing
offices of the great morning newspapers,
and one belt nearer than the others is
the operating-room of the Western
Union Telegraph, in which thought is
forever flying, and the lights are never
extinguished while the darkness lasts
-Wm. Il. Rideing, IN Scribner.
A Fly's Mouth.