New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-08-21
COUNTRY IN THE CITY.
4 Roo of Village Homes Amid
UptOzCn apartment Structures.


The Sunday afternoon was hot and sitting
The men on the northbound Amsterdam-ave car
had their coats of and showed the irritation OF
the heat by putting viciously at their cigars es-
pecially big and black In honor Of the day OK
rest. The women looked wilted. and their light
dresses starchless and wrinkled They tanned
themselves. Most of the passengers were rid
ing In an effort to cool off. as the motorulan
seemed to realize when he gave the car fuu
speed between crossings
In the front seat. where the breeze cana
strongest sat an old woman with younger.
who was evidently her daughter The mother
had lived all her life, save a year or two. IN tne
country. and she stin dressed do the wives
OF upstate farmers The daughter had caught
some of the pert trirnness Of the city girl
TN never get to like IT," the mother remarked
with a sigh this horrible city OF brick piles
crowded. damned. noisy"
Now. ma. you must make the best OF II
offered the daughter-uot unkindly-''you know
/ couldn't make nothing In the country. and ths
farms gone" There was a little something In
her tone that said she was not exactly sorry
about the farm
ITS terrible TO live all cooped up Ike this
droned the mother as the sped on with
many jolted haltings and 1erky starts "A dozen
families living under roof ain't natural II
shows by their not being sociable and knowing
each other. It's a pity there amt room for
every one to have house OF their own. with
little front yard for flowers and back yard for
the Washing
Let's make the best OF II. ma said the
daughter You don't have to wOrry about
whether the woodshed is filed or not. and there
is no picket fence to be kept painted and In re-
pair"
.ewoodshed, Picket tencer' exclaimed the
Goa
them: but there amt none in Manhattan"
She looked on each side Of the track at the
frowning fronts OF towering brick apartment
and fiat houses. arranged for two or more fam
lilies on each floor. and ten floors under The roof
Then she glanced up the street, AMI saw some
thing that surprised her so that she seized her
daughters arm. exclaiming:
Look. Jane. look! A picket fence! a row OF
wooden houses, I'd never have believed 1t OK
New-York"
The car stopped at Ninety second-st and the
woman from the country insisted on getting out
though it was not their destination I'm going
TO look my fill OF those houses. even If We have
to walk the rest OF the way TO Harlem" she said
to the girl 'Itn do me more good than al ths
tonic in the drug store
II is an interesting block the one between
Ninety-second and Ninety-third SITS, Amster-
dam-ave. THE Block Of the Picket Fence" some
call II; while others know il as Rural New
York" There six or seven small frame
houses in the group. and picket fences OF various
designs and in various stages Of decay tnclose
them. The houses are inexpensive. unpreteh-
tious structures. all but one in need OF fresh
coats OF paint There is no similarity in aTchi-
lecture: indeed. the carpenters who bullt them
were probably their own architects II Is )uS'
such n group as one would find In any village
and pass by without noticing.
But in the heart OF New-YOrk one can't IAN
TO notice The old woman from the country anu
her daughter were by means the first 10 se'
or passing that they might have moro
detailed view OF the picket fence block Ins
contrast with the crowded tenements up anu
down the street. the huge public school oului"s
on the corner above. the big Methodist Home Tor
the Aged across the avenue-the contrast WIFE
these city structures Is too striking.
The corner house Is about as plain structure
as one could well imagine. but IN August ono
forgets its plainness in the blazing yellow siof'
OF its sunfiower garden. where hundreds OF low
ering. golden faced plants are glowing as 'u
urianty as they do In Kansas There Is aiso
little patch of sweet corn In a tiny side Sa'U