The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-04-21

HIS NEW YORK LETTER.
fay-Day Moving and Many Miscella-
neous Metropolitan Matters.
\ lay Gould's Retirement-Francis S. Streets
Il peath-AIonck's Marvellous Miracles
The TiIaes's New Editor.
of the Indianapolis Journal.

usage. commenced on February %, now
4draws to a close For weeks past deserts of
8brown-stone and brick facades have bios
Hsomed as the rose with bills, ITO Let-For
spermit apply to Shocks g. Snyder" Real
estate agents offices have hummed like hives
in honey-time, endless plgrimages of house
hunters have gone to and fro, while those
who stayed at home were constantly dis
turbed by the advent of inquisitive intru-
acrs who would like to see the house,
please" Now the tumult grows less, the
bills grow fewer, and the seekers are far be-
Tween, though the few who are still in quest
sof homes now wear an air akin to despera-
@tion. The city is taking long, deep breath,
hreparatory TO the domestic revolution OF
MAY 1.
81 1t is a curious custom, this May-day NOV
ling. OF course, it is all right to
have one day of all the year set apart
to move in, for those who must move. But
the fact is that not one in ten must move.
Not one in ten of the families who move
does so for any reason other than mere
blind desire for change. They go into no
& different neighborhood, nor into a better
III house, nor where rents are lower. They do
81 not expect to better their condition. But
Al they moye-because it is the fashion. In
N New York and Brooklyn there are now about
if1 800 600 souls Of these probably 800, 900
will, on the 1st day of May, change their
places of residence. The thought is stu
pendous one. A city Of more than three
" quarters of million, in a single day moving
haev Mt
ri Murray Hill and Rivington street alike fol-
1 low the custom Murray Hill moves in
sumptuous vans, drawn by four horses, for
furniture, and in gilded coach-andpair for
the family. Rivington street moves its furni-
Y ture in hand-cart, and on the heads and
shoulders and in the arms of the family.
Z who trudge to their new home afoot, through
4 dust or mud. Murray Hill eats May-day
dinner at the Windsor or the Brunswick.
Rivington street eats it in the kitchen, with
an inverted wash-tub for a table. On the
Sunday preceding or succeeding May Day,
the sensational preachers of the city preach
moving" sermons, and tell their people to
set up the family altar in the new home,
even if they do get it upside down.
METROPOLITAN RENTS
There has been general advance in rents
in both New York and Brooklyn this year of
from 5 to 20 per cent The rise in the city is
because it is customary for rents to rise, that
is all. The rise in Brooklyn is because of
the approaching completion of the bridge
and the elevated roads in that city In this
city one can get three-story and basement
brown-stone house, with all modern i'm
provements, anywhere between Union Square
and Central Park-that is, two to four miles
from the City Hall-for from 50, 200 to IS, 900
year do not think one could be got for
less, except in undesirable locations. Near
the rivers, east of Second and west of Eighth
avenues, old-fashioned brick houses can be
got for as little as $500 to 81 200, but they are
mostly occupied by the laborng classes, who
crowd half dozen families into house. In
3 this part of the CITY, between Union Square
and Central Park, comprising the principal
residential portion, there are hundreds of
flats, or apartment houses. Rents in these
range from 500 a month in flimSy brick
building, with no eonvenienees-a mere ten
: ement-house renarned-to $50 to 500 for
handsome set of eight or nine rooms in a fine
stone building, with all Improvements, in
GLIDING steam heat and elevators, and
then on to So 900 or Sc, 900 a year for suite
of nine rooms, finished in rosewood and
satin wood and plate-glass and lighted by
electricity Above the lower end of Central
Park, rents gradually decrease. until in the
Harlem wards. eight miles OF more from the
City Hall, one can ger a nice house in nice
location for 500 or $500 a year. In Brook
Ign rents are much lower, despite the rise
/ caused by the bridge On the heights, less
than mile from the New York City Hail.
the finest houses can be got for 81, 200 to
81, 800 each, and fairly palatial flats for $500
to $1,000 Mr.. Fongera, the manufacturing
chemist has recently completed a huge
building, occupying full block ON the
heights overl boxing the bay, 1t is wholly
: OF brick, stone and iron. every floor, parti-
ton and wall being absolutely fire-proof 1t
is finished in elegant walnut cabinet wood
There are steam passenger and freight
elevators. marble stairways for tenants and
iron stairways for servants, steam heat, and,
indeed every possible Improvement There
are forty suites of rooms, of nine rooms each,
in the building and they rent for from 5000
TO $1,000 year. Further up town, say two
miles from the river, on the hills around
Prospect Park, rents are a little lower. One
can there get nice house for $500 a year, or
q fiat good enough for any American citizen
o home, for from $50 to $50 a month.
JAY GOULD.
The story that Jay Gould is about to retire
permanently from business is almost uni
versally discredited, although widely pub
lished and backed by seemingly good au-
thority. Most people look upon it as trick
to affect the stock market and and give some
one chance to make pile" OF course,
Vanderbilt has retired, but that is no reason
why Gould should. Vanderbilt is old
enough to be Goulds father, and is broken
in health by fast living. But Gould, at At,
with health of mind and body unimpaired,
is scarcely yet in his prime. Yet, if he
should retire now, he could do so handsome
ly. At his age with his quiet, artistic tastes,
his temperate, domestic habits; a charming