The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-05-24
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
From our Special Correspondent. !

haps never realize that existence can
be made more comfortable here than
anywhere else in America, and that it
is no harder, but often easier to make
IA living here than anywhere else.
But few people do or can own their
own houses in New \ ork. because of
their great value; but they can live
just as comfortably in houses in flats
owned by others, if they only
think so. They can get small
houses in questionable localities.
at moderate rents, or they can get
beautiful flats up town all along and
adjacent to the elevated railroads.
and at rents no higher, perhaps, than
houses with the same number OF
rooms and similar accommodations
would cost in Austin or Galveston.
After people become accustomed to
city life they do not object TO living
in the modern flat houses, even
though the same roof shelters dozen
families; on the contrary, they rather
like it, for they have the convenience
of elevators, lighted halls, heated
rooms, janitors, etc, and the
people in the building are
Strangers to one another more
so than are the people OF village or
small city. Outside of their homes
the people OF New York have many
advantages over those who live in
rural districts that should be taken
into account in the general problem
of life. They can have access to the
best libraries; they can attend lectures
and any variety of entertainments
every night in the year; they can ride
ten to fifteen miles in a street car for
a nickel; they can go down to seaside
fashionable watering place III the
morning and back in the evening,
and the round trip ride will only
cost dollar; they can go
out shopping, and have a million dollar
stock to select from, and they can buy
every article of wearing apparel
cheaper than the same can be bought
in smaller places; they can get every
thing that money will buy and that
tends to make life easy, varied and
interesting. If they want to over
load themselves with fashion and
style, they can do SO, and when they
walk out to show it they will most
likely meet some one who is carrying
a larger stock of the article than they
are, and then they will know better
how to load up next time. People
should be reasonably certain that
they know how to put on style before
attempting it in New Y ork, for they are
absolutely certain to come in compe-
tition with adopts in the business. u
NEW YORK NEWS ITEMS.
A printer recently died in this city,
leaving $4,000. He was misery and
misanthropic, and up to the time of
his death no one imagined him worth
a dollar. p @
Gen. Grants mother died in jersey
City on the 18th, at an advanced age.
The general seems to have inherited
some of his greatest qualities from
her. She was woman of rare poise,
of the most unaSSumiDg virtues,
whose head was never turned by the
glory of her sons deeds. Hel life
again showed that great men usually
have great mothers.
One hundred excursionists from
California have arrived in this city.
The best novels have frequently
been written by journalists. Thacke=
ray was a journalist; SO was Dickens;
William Black began his career on the
London Daily News; Howells gradu-
ated from an Ohio newspaper office,
and examples might be added adj in
f1nitum. The latest addition to the
ranks of American novelists is Mr..
w. A. Croffutt, of this city, gentle
man well aud favorably known as a
versatile writer, asparkling humorist,
poet and correspondent. His maiden
novel, "a Midsummer Lark has just
been added to the Leisure Hour.
Series" by Messrs. Henry Holt s. Co.
The Central Park meteorological
observatory reports the highest ther-
.mometer for the week ending May Is,
81 deg. the lowest AZ deg, and the
mean 80 deg. Z min. The distance
travelled by the wind l,l03 miles, and
the fall of rain OBJ of an inch.
Now that Mr. Jay Gould has built
yacht to go around the world, and
that Mr.. W. III. Vanderbilt has retired
into private life, what will become of
the comic newspapers and the anti
monopolists The argument by car
feature has its disadvantages as well
as its advantages. Well, they can give
Beecher, Talmage, Butler, John Kel-
ley and Carl Schurz a"whirl' now and
then.
SUMMER HERE.
The symptoms are that summer has
come. Green parks, fields and yards
and charming flowers greet the eye,
and the spring fashions are full bloom,
chilly winds no longer.
Street cars, constructed on the
most modern principles, are being in
-troduced into this city. The new
vehicles will each give comfortable
seating to twenty-four passengers.
IN go 60 IN oh lar
carpeted. The floors of the cars are
covered with rope mating, which
keeps the feet dry and comfortable in
wet weather. A very pleasing desid-
'eratum is the process of ventilation
which mas been specially provided for
in the roofs of the cars by eleven
stained glass ventilators on each side.
Prominent ladies engaged in benev-
olent work have asked for the in
.struction in sewing Of girls u der ten
or twelve years in primary schools.
= The Rev. Mr.. Talmage out Tai
mayed himself last Sunday by OBJ
serving that. the Deity owns "a private
bottle in which he keeps all our tears.
This poetical idea is perhaps not al
together new upon the part OF Mr..
Tafmage, because bottled tears have
been favorite image of lachrymose
poets In all ages. But it might be
apt to strike an unpoetical and prac-
teal person that with only one bottle
the tears Of world might be- likely
to, get mixed. 1t is more natural to
suppose that every person has his
own separate bottle.
Coney Island awoke for the first
time this week from its winter leth-
argy, and welcomed the many smiling
faces that came to visit its solitary
palaces. from the city. Grim and
stately stood the lonely Oriental and
Manhatten hotels, waiting the wand
of summer to wake them into life,
The advance guard of New York
Ioungers found the atmosphere more
cheerful around West Brighton beach.
Two elephants from Ceylon, several
apes from Zanzibar. pair of hyenas
from Malabar, and three dromedarieS
from Arab Pasha's cavalry, arrived
in Hoboken yesterday on board the
Ohio of the Bremen line, and after
ward y .passed through" the New
York custom house in a procession.
The "weighers" weighed the ele-
plants, which were assessed a duty of
five cents pound. The tariff on the
ldromedaries and hyenas is an ad va
leFelif tariff The dromedaries paid
SIPS each. The hyenas, which are
worth only 50 a piece, walked envious-
Ily past the appraiser because they were
held so cheap. One of them was a
crying, the other laughing
hVena. The first went cODiOuSlY.