Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-26
WICHITA LADY IN NEW YORK.
Summer Life in the City and q Day at
Coney Island.

J lhere is no way to avoid the crowd on street
cars, omni-busses or excursion boats, al
, though the papers do say New York is de-
serted. At least five or six hundred people
went on the early boat ''to avoid the crowd"
but we had lovely sail, and it seemed like
il would be pleasure to sail on forever"
For several blocks we were in a maze of
} ferry boats, tug boats, freight boats and
other excursion boats, all as full as ours,
+ some more crowded, but there seemed a
place for everybody. From the North
} river we soon were in the New York bay
and then the lovliest panorama view spread
out before US.
D On our left lay the lower part of New York,
the lofty spires Of St Paul's and Trinity
churches pointing upward from the very
midst Of the busiest part of this vast COM
mercial mart, Battery Row, Castle Garden.
the Mecca Of all the poor foreigners. Brook
Ign in the distance and the new Brooklyn
bridge, which, since the fatal leap of poor
Prof. Od,um has been the scene of so many
attempted suicides. Ten years ago / knew
Robert Odlum in st. Louis, a young man of
considerable literary promise, but desire
to attain fame. The same fame or notoriety
| of Sam Patch led him to believe he could
jump from the Brooklyn bridge in safety,
but seeing the police running to interfere he
jumped before he had prepared and jumped
to his death.
To the right lay the Jersey Heights, COW
cred with the most elegant country resi- |
dences, and the Bergen Heights in the dis
tancc, and around US everywhere ships |
steamers, yachts, and boats of every size |
and description known TO American waters. |
Imagining every tree in our own forest city, |
denuded OF leaves and hung with every
yard Of muslin in its stores and it would |
only convey faint idea of the "forests of
masts' with sails spread to be seen on the
waters of New York harbor and bay.
Down past Governors Island, fortified by |
Gen. Putnam in 1777, but now the quarters
of Gen. Hancock, the walls covered with i'm
mense cannon, Castle William, through the
narrows guarded on one side BY Fort Wads-
worth and on the other by Forts Hamilton |
and Lafayette, where the rebel prisoners
were guarded during the civil war. The
stars and stripes floating above and the can
non on the walls were the only military OBJ
jects. in view. On down past Bedoe's Is
land the home of the liberty statue, We OBJ
tain fine view of the pedestal, which is
only partially completed, but it looked like
it might be as large as our Wichita opera
house.
We passed large open boat-open on all
sides, covered on top-called "The floating
hospital of st. Johns Guild" both decks of
which were covered with sick children: and
their mothers, out for days airing at the
expense of one of these noble bands. The
very sick are taken to farm houses for few
weeks, but this handsome boat is on the
water all day, furnishing fresh sea breezes
and healthful food to weary mothers and
miserable little sick children, sitting other
wise in hot tenement houses.
Just before we reached Coney Island ian
hour and half from New York; we saw
the novel sight of shoal of porpoises, swim
ming and jumping up out of the water.
They looked like immense shiny black hogs.
At Coney Island the throng poured off the
boat, scattering to the thousand and one
places of amusement. The most curious OBJ
ject to us was a vast hotel called Jumbo, a
wooden hotel built in the exact shape of an
elephant, painted and finished so that miles
away up and down the beach it looks like
an immense elephant
After short stay there we returned to
the city, and on stepping on to the pier felt
as if we must have faced an open furnace,
the heat was SO much greater than on the
water.
A few days later and another hot day, and
the doctor said, go to West Point" So we
set out FOR that famous place. A sail up the {
Hudson, ffty miles of the most beautiful
scenery. This time we went on an immense
excursion steamer that makes this trip every
day, called the Plymouth Rock. Leaving
the dock at 10 a. m, with 1900 hundred
persons aboard. On our right for more
than six miles up lay the city, and
on our left, Jersey City. with its
with 10000; a little farther on Castle Hill,
the site of the old Stevens mansion. Then 8
on the summit of high ridge the monastery '
of the Passimist Fathers; then Weehawken, l
the scene of the Hamilton and Burr duel in
1904. On the other side we saw the Bloom
ingdale Insane asylum where the great actor
John Mccullough was taken a week or two
ago; then Csrmansville, the home of a udu-
bon the great naturalist, and Trinity Gene
terry near by where Audubon is buried.
AT Fort Lee-abandoned in 1776-the
Palisades begin, an unbroken wall of col
umnar trap rock extending fifteen miles,
and varying in height from 300 to 800 feet
above the river. Opposite is Fort WASH !,
ington; near by is James Gordon Benefits :,
fine residence, made conspicuous by gilded
dome. Then the beautiful convent OF
Mount ST. Vincent, and attached 10 it Fort
Hill built by Edwin Forrest, now used as
chapel, past Yonkers, Hastings on-the-Hud-
son, Nyack, Dobbs Ferry, until We come
to Irvington, named in honor Of the great
author Washington Irving, whose pen has #
given so much of the traditionary history Of >.
the Hudson river. Near by is Sunnyside,
the last home of Irving. The original
"Wolfoorts Roost' and near by Tsrrytown =,
is the cemetery where he lies buried in the
very "Slseferich Haven" or SLEEPY Hollow"
he wrote about.
The next point of particular interest was
Sing Sing with its state prison built-of white
marble, Treasure Hill, where Arnold met =
Andre, Strong Point, Teller's Point, all rev.
dictionary historical places.
Donderburg, or Thunder Mountain, l,0as
feet high, on one side and on the othe other
Anthony's Nose, I,220 Feet high. Just here
we saw what 10 us was novel sight. On
the eastern shore ran the Hudson River rail :.
road track, and a rapid express train flew by
suddenly lost 20 sight in long tunnel
through Anthony's Nose, freight train of
forty-seyen cars crawling afte- If, and COM =
ing down the river large beautiful steamer
from which hundreds of handkerchief were =.
flying as a salute to our boat. BEHIND it :.
feet of lumber and brick loaded bsrges -
lowed by little tug boat. and on the upper
deck of our own boat scores OF people whiz-