The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1886-02-11
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.


Smiths, Broscns and Millers-Heber
Ne,rton - Fsli1 Adler - Modjeska-
Among the Spirits-Materialization-
Spirit Grabbing-Badly Scared-Ihe
Pennsylvania Railroad.
Our last letter was written from
W00dside Park on the Jersey side.
Having looked over the Jersey suburbs
and reviewed the great city from tho
Jersey standpoint, we transferred the
ADVANCE family to upper New York
and are now studying the metropolis
from another point of view. Before
leaving Woodslde we took beautiful
summer day (which seems to have
dropped out of the ranks last summer
and fell in again as the winter process.
sion was passsng,) and went to Eagle
Reck, the highest point on the Orange
mountains, for a farewell view. Ten
minutes by rail and twenty by stage
lifted the ADVANCES. big and little, to
the top, and gave us a fine view of sew
eral hundred square miles of cities,
towns, villages, etc. Below US and be-
| you'd US lay Newark, East and West
Orange. Bloomfield, Montclair, Belle
vile and 4 number of other places,
stretching away for miles, their sub
urbs interlacing and all connected by
steam and horse cars. A good field
glass secured at one Of the mountain
houses helped us to a definite view of
each city and town. Jersey City Show
ed up dimly in the distant haze and be-
You'd lay mighty New York, hidden,
on this day, in the smoke of its own
torment which arises forever.
AT present we are quartered in one
of those uptown palaces, ten to twen-
ty buildings in one and seven stories
high. It extends from list to 72nd
street and covers most of the block be-
tween First and Second avenues.
About 24O families live in this house,
and the population Of the building is
larger than that of Worthington. 1t
is absolutely e-prOof, built Of brick
and stone and clean as pin. All
garbage is burned in the building, all
liquid waste disappears down the
pipes and sewers, and the ashes are run
down shoots to the basement and cart
ed away. The palace has club and
reading room in which this ''hlghly
interesting" letter is written. The
building cost probably million dol
lars, and the number of similar ones in
New York is legion.
This part of the city is new New
York. Here, within few years, the
hills snd rocks have been cut and blast
cd and carried away aud the space COW
erred with huge buildings. When we
first knew New York this was Jones g
Woods. picnic forest where the boys
went Sunday to dance, fight nd drink
beer and ''amuse" themselves. Now
the city stretches away for miles above
this, taking in Harlem, High Bridge,
and large part Of the county beyond.
Then the papers were wondering
whether the residence portion of New
York would not ultimately move up
around Central Park. 1t moved up
years ago and even left tllepark behind.
Yesterday we took a ten-mile stroll
about the city. We have had mum
Der Of these strolls and propose to
stroll it out on this line all winter. We
wish to see it Oh foot, surface car, ele-
waited car, ferry boat, tug and ALL We
find that the city is an enormous hotel,
boarding house and fiat. Apparently.
all New York is ITO Let" We have
passed miles and miles and leagues and
leagues Of brown stone and red brick
fronts labeled departments to Let.'
or 'Flats to Let" New York real
ICES that not only all America but all
Europe must come to her and She is
making room to entertain them q few
millions 1T a time.
New York proper is stupendous
city, without the great overflow cities
on each side which together contain
over u million inhabitants. Manhat-
tan Island, on which the city proper is
built. is twelve or thirteen miles long
and has AL average width Of two
miles. A rough count of the number
OF streets gives the city about 4 thous-
and miles Of streets and two Thousand
miles Of buildings. The number of
miles eft buildings, however, must be
reduced Ivy taking out the parks and
the vacant lots in the upper part Of the
city. Still, if New York were untxn-
gled and stretched along the ground,
it would make a street, built up on
both sides, reaching say from Chicago
to the Black Hills ON a line running
through Worthington. If New York
and suburbs could he transported to
MOBILES county and set down on the
prairie it would nakea compactly built
city covering a square extending from
Bigelow to D-Forest and from Wor-
thington to Drake station. asked a
New Yorker the other day what lie
thought the population of New York
and Its overflow cities really was. He
coolly said three to four millions. .
Not far behind London. The reports
show that the business Of the New
York clearing house exceeds that of
London Ivy eight thousand millions an.
nually.
lad thought some of calling on INV
relatives, the Millers, and of looking
up also the Smiths and Browns, but
they are too numerous TO more than
mention. A glance at the city direc-
tory revealed the fact that there were
about 1000 Smiths. 1000 Browns and
l,3CO Millers in town.
Continuing our report rs to the in.
tcl'ectual electric lights of the city.
since our last we have heard Hebe,
Newton and Felix Adler. Newton is
the Episcopal clergyman who has at
tracted so much attention recently by
his liberal Utterancts and his bold
brave course toward Spirilualism
Still, he holds his place in the church
and draws better audiences than be-
fore. lie is an actor, and if lie had
taken to the stage would have succeed
ed in tragedy. His sermon, when we
card him, was upon the battle he
tween Michael and the Dragon, which
he said was symbol of the never
ceasing warfare between good and evil,
and OF the battle which every spirit
must fight, sooner or later, to conquer
self aud spiritual foes. The sermon
outlined magnificent epic poem,
which some genius might expand into
a work far beyond Milton's Paradise
Lost or Gpothe's Faust
Felix Adler speaks rs the leader of
reformed or progressive Jewish
thought. Hissociety is called THE
Society of Ethical Culture. "and he
speaks at Chickering hall to large
audiences, Hebrew and otherwise. in
fact. the cultivated Liberals. the disci-
! pies of Emerson and all classes who