Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-05-06
AN UNKNOWN CITY.
NEW WORKERS KNOW BUT LITTLE
OF THEIR GIGANTIC TOWN.

The Average Yearly Visitor to the Me-
tropoIis Knows More About the City
Than the Old Time Citizen Whose Fam
lily Has Resided in 1t for Years.
What does the average New Yorker
know about the city of New York; Dur
ing the lGSSt year or two the writer has
listened to some honest confessions from
old New Workers who throw an interest
ing light on this question. One man who
has done business in the metropolis for
twenty-five years acknowledged that, ex.
rept to pass through to one of the Long
Island ferries, he had never set foot in that
part of New York east of Third avenue.
Il have seen the Brooklyn bridge" he
continued, but have never been ON it: and
though | have passed the city hall an I'M
counted number of times | have never en-
tered it. have heard of Eleventh, Twelfth
and Thirteenth avenues, but have never
been in them, and have only the vaguest
idea of their character 1t SO happens that
have lived in the same house ever since |
came to New York, and my personal
knowledge of the city is confined to what
have seen of it in going TO and from my
business Office, to places of amusement and
attending to such social duties as have
had time for, which have not been many
Yes, / suppose this confession is not credit
able to me, but it is a fact which | can
only excuse by pleading want of time
Another man Of mature years, who was
born and brought up in New York, and
whose "reminiscences of old New York are
uncommonly interesting. frankly con.
fessed that the city has almost entirely
grown out Of his personal knowledge. Il
read about the different localities of the
city in the papers," he said, Just as read
of the Strand or Whitechapel in London
but know little more about them person
ally. If were to visit certain regions Of
the city would feel as much stranger
as though | were in San Francisco or St.
Louis.
Il have a most vivid recollection Of
Henry street as it was when | lived in it as
boy, but ! know nothing about it now.
The city has become too vast for any one
person TO know all about all of it go to
my club occasionally, and to my church
regularly-it is as oil fashioned us am
and visit few old friends in order to talk
over the old times. The New York OF to
day is doubtless much finer than the New
York of my early manhood, but it can
never be so interesting toan old fellow like
me, and am quite content to take it at
second hand through the newspapers"
UNFAMILIAR STREETS.
Two old New Workers who were recently
chatting together drifted into IA discussion
of civic pride in New York One of them.
whose identity may be concealed by calling
him Green, maintained that there is no
such thing as civic pride in New York
while the other, who may be called Brown,
declared that there is. See here" said
Green, after it became evident that each
man was becoming more set in his view
I'VE will put this question to practical
test. You are a New Yorker and the son
and grandson of a New Yorker You have
lived here all your life, no one has had bet
ter opportunities of knowing the city than
you, and yet | will venture to say that
there are hundreds of important streets
and avenues in New York today whose
names you have never heard of and of the
location of which you know absolutely
nothing"
''Oh, come now" said Brown, that is
pretty tall assertion to make about man
who prides himself on his knowledge of
New York"
sit is true all the same" retorted Green.
"You may know the New York of twenty
five years ago pretty well, but like thou
sands of other New Workers you don't
know the New York of today. What could
you tell me, for instance, about the follow
ing avenues: Locust, Walnut, Oak, vii
low, Cypress, Concord, St. Ann, Brook.
Willis, Melrose. CORTLAND, Walton, An
derson. Cromwell, Sheridan, Sherman,
Grant, Webster. Clay, Boscobel, Foote,
Coster, Wenman, Lydig, Post, Oostdorp,
Vireo, Olof. kepplar, Kipp, Iroquois, In
tervale, Honeywell, Arthur or Briggs9
Did you ever hear of B street, or & street,
or d street, or Glover street, or Faile
street, or Glencoe street, or Sacrahong
street, or Gutenberg street, or Barretto
street? What would you think if friend
asked you to call on him in Gentian place
or Extra place, or Cross place, or German
place, or Arcularius place? Or if you read
in a novel of New York life about events
that happened in Gun Hill road, or Feather
Bed lane, or Depot square, or Hargous
crescent? Wouldn't you at once jump on
the author as an ignoramus who knew
nothing about New York; Of course you
would"
EARLY IDEAS.
Il must say you have me-" said Brown,
but of course these are merely paper
streets"
''Of course nothing of the kind, " retorted
Green. They and scores of others | could
name are bonafide inhabited streets in the
upper part of the city, and most of them,
before many years, will be among the most
important streets in the city. The fact is
you are lamentably ignorant about New
York; but then, If you were otherwise, you
would not be a genuine New Yorker. Our
fathers and grandfathers and our great
grandfathers were just the same way, con
tent to know few streets and localities
and obstinately blind to the wonderful ex-
pansion of the city that was going on un
der their very eyes.
'See how the fathers built st. Pauls
chapel, with its rear on Broadway, under
the impression that the heart of the city
was going to be where Washington market
Isl and read in the records how angry they
got when some audacious prophet declared
that the city would ultimately extend
above Canal street, or Fourteenth street.
or Twenty third street, or Fifty ninth
street New York to most New Workers is
simply the few blocks he is acquainted