The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-01-16
HoUsEToPs OF NEW YORK.
What q Bird's-Eye study of Then Re-
vea1s.

Ifslt1 "
which they .san be seen-Trinity steeple,
the Field building, the Produce Ex-
change tower, the Equitable Company's
roof, and the flat, broad ridge pole Of
the Western Union building. But the
most popular and comfortable point Of
view, and the only one that affords a
good view of Brooklyn in the bargain,
is the East River bridge. From the
highest point on the curving foot path
one fully realizes the fact that nearly
250, 900 roofs lie below-100, 600 In
Brooklyn and 1876 900 in the principal
city.
AT first the sceneis bewildering, and
The eye refuses to bring instant order
out of the confusion of chimney-pots,
pipes, signs, poles, wire, and sheets of
lin and sla tie; but a minute of fixed at
IGNITION Strengthens the tangle out, and
he spectator is able to seal the scene
ntelligently, especially when he takes
note of q section of it at a time. Myriad
threads of smoke, scores of towers, and
steeples, a forest of ratings and posts,
and countless Tapping flags helped the
first bewilderment, and this was furth-
er increased by the misty indistinctness
Of those most distant roofs which seem
to lie close under the palisades and be-
bond the blurred foliage of Central
Park.
In what is left of Old New York there
ire many pitched roofs rising from low
cutters to high ridge poles, and among
hem are some that are covered with
bent e~arthenware tiles. A long line of
;hese on Fulton street calls to mind the
views artists have sketched of street
scenes in Antwerp.
Less precipitous housetops, coated
with shingles, are to be seen on every
land when the eye turns toward Brook
tyn. There. the brightest spot in all
the broad expanse spread out on every
land is a line of luxuriant gardens be-
tween the Fulton and Wall street fer
les. The gaudy flowers and %umbrage-
JUS trees, the garden paths, summer
houses and squares of green lawn mis-
lead the senses into the belief that this
IS a row of ordinary gardens, yet these
are merely the roofs OF the riverside
storehouses covered with earth and
planted with vegetation. Ine roofs OF
these storage buildings reach to the
basement of the mansions OF Columbia
heights, and the rich residents there
would have no gardens if these roofs
were left bare. Rounded green treetops,
shivering in the breezes, peep between
the roofs ell oyer Brooklyn.
Close to the bridge on the New York
side are many blocks of tenements, and
their roofs are very interesting. Nearly
all are fenced in at the sides, and many
of them are boarded over. Modern
roofs are nearly fiat, and tenement
roofs in such crowded districts as this
are equipped with clothes poles and
lines from which drying garments are
always waving, for since each family
has the use of the line on it's own par
ticular day of the week, it may be said
to be always washday in these neigh
borhoods. But the tenement roofs are
too precious to be given up to clothes
drying exclusively.
They offer a delightful retreat from
the close and sitting atmosphere Of the
crowded buildings. So it happens that
those who cross the bridge at daybreak
in the summer time often see men and
boys stretched out asleep upon the bare
boards or upon mattresses brought up
there for the purpose, and during the
last hour of daylight, vhen all the
young people are home from the work
shops, one frequently sees young men
and women whirling over the boards to
the music Of an ACCORDION in the hands
! of a youth seated out of tho way of the
dancers on the stone coping Of the side
wall of the building.
On other tenement roofs, seated In
the shadows of dry sheets or counter
panes, are sewing ONE and groups OF
talkative girls, while perched ON Chin
ney tops or on the very edga=ef the
lofty platforms, little boys send their
kites up into the sluggish air currents
overhead. Shrewd advertisers who
have noted the advantages of places in
the range of near vision from the busy
bridge, have painted ON other roofs the
names of patent medicines, new sewing
machines, and other wares, and other
roofs are otherwise utilized for business.
One is given up to racks for driving pot
terry, another to long lines of split canes
for chair seats. Hides hang on frames
on yet another roof, and here and there
the sun touches the slanting window OF
of a photographers ceiling and terms il
into a sheet of dazzling light.
At night nearly all the roofs are shad-
owy and dark. The towers and CHM
neys show indistinctly above a dim line
of dull brown. One roof, however, is
distinguished among all others. It
seems to be covered with a mass Of little
yellow globes. 1t is the top of an up
town theatre Uttered with tables, chairs