The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-29
A BOstOnIan ON New York.

formed the feat from the plane Of high
society. Now comes Mr.. ALvAN FRANCIS
SANBoRN in the October Atlantic Monthly,
fresh from sixteen years experience OF
Paris grated upon three decades Of
Marlboro and Boston. He is borne up
| the bay in one of the modern floating
hotels and a vision bursts upon him OF
the teeming, beautiful, gay. industrious,
kaleidoscope island, to many Of US the
island Of enchantment, the Bagdsd Of
the West. And We hear him exclafm, at
first sight, -Whst2 II this New York?
Surely, no.; II must be the capital OF some
tribe Of savag.s in central Africa; il must
be some hitherto unimagined Tibetan city.
How unlike Paris. How unlike Boston
and heaven"
Thereupon he proceeds with admirable
candor TO lament the junbss OF sky
scrapers and OF brick shells built sixty
years ago; 20 cry out against the hurry
and jostle and noise; to regret that since
Columbia University moved up town q
few years ago her trustees have not been
able to grow century old oaks TO all up
the open spaces between her buildings.
There are garbage rams and ash boxes
on certain pavements; there is the deter
mination TO make money wherewith to
purchase the good things Of this life;
trucks and bales and boxes too often
impede progress along many sidewalks;
and too often may truly be seen =
marble masterpiece in a setting Of dilap-
ifated tenements.' The main thing is,
as Mr.. SANBoRN frankly observes, that
New York is in the throes Of creation.
With infinite travail it is taking OF a
body adequate to it's needs; and because
it's needs are 30 great a long period Of
development must ensue before the work
Ia appreciably finished. Wholly finished
it never viii be. II can be il this
wonderful human hive Is to keep pace
with the growing ideals Of life. with,the
direction will work both for its own
power and contentment, and for its
ability to aid others when a sudden call
for succor ome In times of disaster
elsewhere or Of national peril New York
and the rest Of the world have reason to
be grateful that New Workers work and
save and organize; that they have enough
and to spare; that their habits of industry,
thrift and concentration have taught dis
cipline, quick decision, instant action.
New Workers, even il they valued a
visitors opinion at q pins fee, could
have no quarrel with Mr.. SANBoRN con-
corning his observation Of the surface
of things hereabouts. But as q COM
parative stranger he cannot penetrate
the outward aspect Of conditions. He
fails to see, running underneath our civic
life, the deep current which bears the
community toward a higher civilization
and a wider enlightenment. This il true,
Of course, Of every considerable town in
the United States. We refer not espe-
cially to the multitude Of schools, hospi-
tails, asylums, churches and libraries, but
to the generosity with which so many
fortunes are spent, the sense Of steward
ship with which so many OF them are
managed, the growing feeling of re-
sponsibility, the contempt for mere
barharic display, the insistence upon q
decOrous and refined mode Of life, the
uCVOJIOl VI 81 many IACu inCu ahu WVhuCh
to the service of the public.
Electric lights and -palatial" hotels
! and lobster halls, and the mob OF outside
m~inionaires thronging to this town to
enjoy life" in their savage and oetenta-
tious fashion: these things and perpet-
ual noise are not New York. II is the
capital of American art and literature as
we'll al Of money; it is q great university
city; it is a centre Of n thousand useful
activities. Many cities OF many races
and languages are contained in il. Its
vastness and cosmopolitanism make it
unintelligible even to most of its own
citizens. It's commercial architecture,
under certain atmospheric effects, II
appreciated even by Mr.. SANBoRN. But
New York is much more complex than
Paris or London; and a wayfaring man,
though not a fool, will get mighty small
knowledge Of Il.
Indeed, to know New York, and the
strange many sided human interest and
~Opulence Of variety in II, a man needs
more lives than q cat, and each Of them
longer than METHUsRLAH's.