Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-09-08
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
summer Travcl-Isags-Wha u WO-
man Did -GcncraI Notes.
Correspondence Of the Free Press and Tmes.l
NEW Yopg Aup 40 1899

summer TravcI-Itags-Wha II WO-
man Did General Notes.
Correspondence OF the Free Press and Tlmes
New YoRK, Aug 80, 1889.
Nobody can tell how many people leave
New York to live in the country during the
heated term, but the number is certainly a
very large one, yet look at the street, the
stores and the shops of the great city con
vinces you that the population has not been
at all diminished, although the crowd of
incoming and outgoing steamboats, and rail-
road trains every morning and evening bear
witness TO the fact that the regular increase
of temporary residents is very great. The
that travel on these roads falls of so much
during the Summer months that he is obliged
to discharge 500 train hands who are en-
ployed during the winter. The slack time
is from the beginning of June to the middle
of September but, unless appearances are
deceiving, that period will close two weeks
earlier Large numbers Of people who
have been at the seaside and in the noun
tains for several months are now.hurrying
back to the city, and the prospect is that
before many days the hotels will be crowded
with Western and Southern buyers, and that
our merchants in every branch of trade will
have their hands full of business long before
the opening of the Autumn season as pre-
scribed in the almanac That trade will be
heavy this fall there can be no doubt, and,
according to the best judges, the winter trade
bids fair to be better than ever before in the
history of New York.
Rags are not pleasant things to look at cs-
pecialy when they compose the garments in
which a fclow-mortal is EMBODIED. His
Topped and Widowed wrctchedness is some
thing that disturbs the current of aesthetic
thought and diverts it into II diluvian
channel of mental recklcssncss, much like
an afternoon nightmare. Yet rags are of
great Importance in the worlds economy.
The prudent housewife boards them for
purposes of barter and for inexpensive
quilts and also for patches. While needed
stitch has many u time saved countless other
stitches, how oft have we seen patch save
the price of Il pair of brcech-trouscrs Then
of rags we make paper; and think of the
millions of rcams we use every year on which
to write and print the various combinations
OF which the alphabet is capable. In New
York alone we cxpend $50 100000 every
year for rags. the business of one street in
Worth street reaching $1,000 900. There
are 2OOO rag pickcrs in the great city, the
most Of whom are Italians, the descendants
of the CAESARS, the Catilincs, the Ciccros
and the other great calthumpiaus of
ancient Rome. These industrious but cx-
trcmely filthy sons of noble sircs, take
nearly $1,000 900 worth Of rags annually
from our cutters and ash-barrels. They
dress in rags and not putting too fine point
upon ii, they live on rags. What they pick
up they sell for from one to three cents a
pound; and for the better grades of woollen
rags they receive as high us 20 cents, While
Boston imports great quantity of cotton
rags, the bulk of the trade is in New York
and here we have number Of heavy CAPT
talis,s who owe their success in life to the
careful use of what their less thrifty neigh
bors have thrown away. One Of them is
building, in the upper part of the city, u
magnificent mansion which will cost nearly
Sl6O,OOO. II has already been chrstencd
"The Ragman's Palace" 1t will not be so
grand as the house that Vanderbilt; but
the owner will have the satisfaction of know
ing that while his is built on rags, the other
was erected on grecnbacks, which are only
rags in new form after all.
4 WOman's Pluck and Perseverance,,
Visitors to New York rarely fail to spend
House Square to admire the Times building,
to wonder at the disproportion between the
THbune building and its insignificant next
neighbor from which the Sun is published,
and to cast admirng glances at the statue
OF benjamin Franklin. A hundred yards
northeast OF the statue, the Stats Zeitunq
is edited and printed in building occupying
the site of what was once the country
residence of one of New Yorks earliest
Govcrnors-Gov. Tryon. This handsome
and stately structure, built Of white granite,
Is monument to the courage, common
sense and indomitahle perseverance of Ger
man lady, whose husband died several wears
ago, leaving her little newspaper and
family of six children. She was offered
500 for the paper, but would not sell. The
ploy, agreed to continue at his post and as
he was well fitted for his work and was not
interfercd with in the management of the
editorial department., the little journal be-
gan to make money. Its circulation among
the Germans increased very rapidly and the
widow found herself growing rich. Fearing
that she might lose the young man who had
been so useful in advancing her fortunes,
she married him. At his suggestion few
years ago, the present .Staats-Zeitung build
ing was erected at cost of $500, 0O0
The paper is now one of the most valuable
properties.in the country and Oswald Often
dorfer, still its editor-in-chief is one of the
leaders OF the Germans in New York. in
all political movements. Mrs. Ottendorter
has educated and settled in life all her
children; but has not yet relinqushed the
business control of the Stats Zeitung
Every morning at 10 O'Clock she is to be
seen in the publication office, attending to
the finances. making contracts for printing
paper or presses and giving orders as to the
employment or discharge of help in the
mechanical departments. Every year she
gives away large amounts of money in chart
ties; and one of her noblcst works in this
direction is "homc" for old women, on
which she has already expended more than
$4,000.
Shavlngs.
A girl 10 years old has been arrested here
for highway robbery. Her victim was Il
little girl IL years old.-Hamilton Grange,
the old residence of Alexander Hamilton, at
10th Avenue and 145th Street. is being re.
paired for the first teme. The thirteen