, 1889-02-12

The large cities do not constitute the real
America To gain a correct idea Of the coun.
try one must go and SEQ those hundreds
had almost said those thousands-of flourish.
ing little towns which spring up day by day
on that immense continent
It Is no use looking in New York for mon.
umcnts in tho sense which we attach to I'D
word in Europa There are massive build
ngs, n few handsome churches, but nothing
which arrests your gaze. The houses in thu
BEST part Of the city are built Of brown stons
in the English style In tho populous quar-
tiers many are OF red brick, with green shut
tiers on the outside.
The streets are horribly III paved. From
my windows, which looked on Madison square
the carriages appear to rise and fall as II on q
troubled sea Drunknrds hive had to droT
their habits, they could not reach homo from
the beor saloons
Three fine squares alone break tho monot,
ony of ali these parallelograms OF streets
Washington square, Union square and Madi
son square,
That which strikes the visitor TO New York
Is not the city itself, but the feverlsh activity
which rcigns there.
Overhead is a network of telegraph and
telephone wires, OF the ground a network oil
tram car rails 1t is estimated TINT there
are more than 1900 miles of telegraphic
wires suspended over the heads Of the passers
by; about enough to go half round the world.
The whistles Of tho boats that ply between
New York and Brooklyn on the East river,
and between New York and Jersey City on
the Hudson, keep up, dny and night until |
In the morning., n noise which Is like the roar
Of wild beasts. 1t Is the cry OF Matter under
the yoke OF Man. You fancy you are living
in n menagerie.
In almost every street tram cars pass every
few minutes II is an incessant procession.
In Broadway alone there are more than three
hundred. The cars, rs they arc always called
in America, are magical, like everything
American Built 70 carry twenty-four per
scns inside there are no seats on the top,
they are made to hold sixty and moro. In
fact, no matter how full they are, there is
always room for ono moro. The conductor
never refuses to let you go on board. You
hang on tho rail beside tho driver or CON
ductor, II it is not possible to squeeze your
self inside and hold on to tho leather straps
provided for the purpose; you gasp for
breath; 1t Is all you can do 10 get at your
pocket to eXtrnct tho five cents which you
owe TO tho chr company; but tho conductor
cries, in his imperturbable nasal drawl: "Movo
forward, make ROOM"
In Third avenue and Sixth ayenuo, you find
the overhead railway called tho Elevated"
1t is supported on iron pillars, and the trains
N1nV, n1.a- -, 81 I-uI -
dows Of tho houses. This company carries
every day tho fabulous number of SOC, 900 pas.
scngerA
All the existing means of transit aro nc,
knowledged to be insufficient, and an under
ground railway is talked OF. There will soon
be travellers underground, on tho ground, and
in the air. Poor Hercules, where are you
with your me plus ultrnF' You had reckonod
without your Yankee.
The streets, I'll paved and dirty, arc danger
Gus in winter. Coachmen do not check their
horses for foot passengers, but neither
do they try to run over them. They strike
tho middle course between the London coach
man, who avoids them, and tho Partisan one,
who aims at them
The populous quarters, such as tho Chinese
quarter, tho Italian quarter, the jewish
quarter, with their tenement houses, those
barracks of tho poor which l visited ono day
in company with a sanitary engineer, remind
one Of soma of Dante's descriptions 1t is q
descent, or rather an ascent, into hell. l spare
the reader tho impressions which that day
left upon me HorriblcI A ~populace com
posed Of tho offscourings of all nations, tho
dirtiest, toughest ono can imagine.
Hard by this frightful squalor, Fifth avenue,
with its palaces full Of the riches of the Garth.
1t is the eternal story OF large cities
As in London, hundreds of churches and
taverns called beer s-aloonsl, it is tho same
ignoble Anglo-Saxon mixture of Bible and
beer, Of spiritual and spirituous.
New York is probably tho most cosmopoli
tan city in tho world To give IN. idea OF it,
may tell you that there are
published there in English, French, German,
Russian, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch,
Hungarian, Chinese and Hebrew.
received one day u circular of a meeting
Of the knights Of Labor" 1t WINS printed
in six different languages
Nothing is moro diverting tina to hear the
jewellers Of each great American town criti,
- AN N"NAts " Al OlueTA All THESE
societies, each almost in its infancy as vet,
are jealous one Of another. AT Boston, for
instance, you will DO told that the Chicago
people are all pig stickers and pork packers
In Chicago, you will hear that Boston Is com,
posed Of nothing but prigs and ''precieuses
~ridicules"
The English spoken In Boston is purer thar
any to be heard elsewhere In the north. Tn,
voices are less harsh and nasal, the languag,
ceases to DO "vurry, vurry Amurracan." L
you think yourself In England as you wall
along the streets, the illusion becomes com
plete when you hear the well bred poopl
speak.
An the anecdotes told In America on tn
subject Of Boston are satires upon the pre-
sumptuous character OF the Bostonian, VIII
considers Boston the center of the universe.
Here is one out OF tho mnny hundreds
have heard
A Boston man has lost his wife As sool
as telephone communication is establishe,
between that city and Paradise, he rings IN,
cries.