The new North-west., 1885-10-16
ROOF AND BACK YARD.
4 SPECIAL SUMNER RESORT FOR
EVERY PRIVATE RESIDENCE.
Valuable Room on the Housetops Wasted
-Reclaiming the Domain Of the
Movable Cat-A Charming
Stay-at- Home florida.
New York Cor. Kansas City Tines

IL Is surprising, also, that New forker
have not yet learned to get more good out
Of their roofs and back yards Tho inhab-
itants of tenement houses have native Tor
importedJ wit enough to take to the roof as
q sleeping place in summer; but what the
well-to-do citizsn needs Is not so much to 20
to sleep on his roof as to wake up to its
pleasure-giving facilities A night or two
sgo was disturbed by some slight explos-
ions on the roof under which find SHELTER
and discovered that two young men from
an ad joining house had come over to prac.
tics pistol shooting ct q target against one
Of my chimneya 1t is perhaps carrying
the progressive movement little too far to
establish pistol ranges on the housetops.
But an importan. lesson may be learned
from the illuminated summer garden on the
summit Of the Casino, and the open air rss-
taurant on the roof Of Mr.. Cyrus w. Fields
Washington building, near the Bowling
Green, where one may dine In full COM
mand Of view over the entire harbor and
large part Of the city, with variagatsd and
picturesque expanses of water dotted by the
colored lights Of ferries and shipping on the
one hand and on the other dusky stretches
Of masonry furrowed with dim lanes Of gas
light or irradiatsd from the circles Of slec-
trio lamps In the public squares There is
no reason why every private house should
not have its special summer resort provided
with awnings and flowers on the roof At
such an altitude the evening air Il nearly
always cool and refreshing even ON the hot
test nights
Nor need the usefulness Of the housstop
end with the warm months. In Twenty
seventy street, near Fifth avenue, Is g sta
BILE on the roof Of which stands large hot.
house, where q profusion Of green plants
and rose bushes grow all winter, making .
pretty spectacle for the passsr by. The
sugge 'tion which it offers opens up . whole
new order Of delightful retreats which
might be provided for winter, . sort Of
stay home Florida, which could b On
joyed by the slight effort Of riding up In IN
elevator. Invalids could get their sun bath
in such places when unable to walk or
drive out Apartment houses and hotsls in
particular could maintain these conssrva-
tories to advantage; and they would b Just
as desirable In other cities as In New York.
Eastern and western papers please copy.
am led to these reflections just now by
the experience of a recent call on some Eu-
ropean acquaintances who have settled lat
terly In New York. speak Of them as Eu-
ropeans because it would be hard to say ex-
actly what country they claim as their own.
They have lived in St Petersburg Vienna,
Berlin and Paris, In short, wherever the
journalistic duties Of the head Of the house
have happened to call him. On the evening
OF my call the parlors were darksnsd, but Q
distant murmur Of oices gave assurance Of
the presence Of the family somewhere on
the premises. The servant took the card,
disappeared and ret .rnei in q few momsns
with an invitation to "step out into the back
yard"
Ordinarily this would be considered any
thing but q fattering invitation to visitor;
but feeling sure that. however mysterious
the summons, / was safe, l allowed myself
to be conducted to the basement and through
q door, opening on the space usually reserved
behind every New York house. Tho custom
Is to make this studiously forlorn enclosure
about 4Ox20 or Is feet On Mondays and
Tuesdays it Is given up to the drying Of
clothes, and on the nights Of all days in the
week 1t Is sacredly kept as . rendezvous
for the nomadic cat. the tail-board fences
between yards being used as high
ways by these small, tame tigers in
their journeys from one enclosure to
another. found that my European friend
had banishei tho cats and had erected
q little pavilion at the rear end
OF his yard, furnishing 1t with chairs and
tables and lighting it with gas Trailing
daytime, so that in the evening the pavilion
formed cool and delightful family sitting
room.
u had this place built a. soon as va
moved in" said my host, as seated myself
In a reclining chair and accepted the glass
Of beer proffsred by his wife. ave have
been the wonder Of the whole nsighborhood
ever since we began to spend our evenings
here instead Of the hot parlors. The cats
next door receive on Mondays in August,
but otherwise they don't trouble the Seigh-
borhood much now, and 90 we sit here en-.
joying the quiet. while all tho other people
in the block silently swestsr indoors"
The prsscriptivs rights Of the cat In New
York are very strong: so that my friends
invasion Of their territory Ii perhaps
frownsd upon by citizens who still believe
in feline supremacy over the back yard.
But in time this superstition may die out,
and then his example will doubtless b imi-
tated. By the way, hear that we'll
known electrician Is completing . house in
Thirty-sixth street which Il TO bs quite
. marvel in the number and variety OF
its electrical arrangsmsntx The hall
lamp lights by electricity at the opening
of the front door, the clocks will all run
uniformly by electricity; flowers and plants
in the conservatory are to be grown BY
electric light; the electric engine win pump
up water: thsr monsters In various rooms,
connected by electric wire With . thar
momstsr out Of doors win register the sx-
tsrnal Temperature; there will b electric
vsntilating fans, snd sundry other oontriv-
ances are contemplated.
Il would seem as II the list might be made
complete BY adding an attachment for Civ.
ing shock to burglars and for the sxpul-
sion Of the above mentioned cat from tho
back yard. Life would thsn become COM
paratively endurabls