Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1906-12-27
THEN AND NOW.
some Interesting Changes Noted By
New Yorker of o.

some Interesting Changes Noted By
New Yorker of 95.
In my play alcng the banks Of the
hudson. writes Charles Fl. Haswell,
first chief engineer of the United States
Navy, in the New York World. l have
seen, as a boy of I, Robert Fult6n's
steam vessel, the CIermont, making her
trips from New York TO Albany. a dis
lance of 145 miles, which she accom-
plished in thirty-two hours. l think
that nothing shows the advance Of the
last ninety years so greatly as the i'm
provements in s~elf-propelled craft.
Compare, for instance, the present
method of reaching Boston by the sound
steamers with the method in vogue in
1916, when the trip was accomplished
by the steamer Fulton, which required
thirty-eight hours for the trip. In the
same year the Chancellor Livingston,
running to Albany, accomplished the
distance in nineteen and one-haIf hours,
and henceforth enjoyed the enviable
reputation Of the Skinner Of the
River"
A New York and Liverpool line of
packets was established in the same
year, sailing on the first of each
month. The trip was of varied
length, according to the weather, but
the advertisements of the line claimed
twenty-three days for the outer pass
age and forty for the inner. The ar
rival of a vessel in that year was her
aided as bringin news forty days
later from Europe"
The foreign postal arrangements were
very different from those of this time;
the bags for European vessels were
kept at Tontine Coffee House, on
Broadway, where q rate of % cents a
letter was charged.
OF the more intimate, everyday things
of life the changes have been more
than remarkable. In 1920 a young gen.
tleman Of this city, son of a we'll
known and respectable resident, return
ed from a brief trip in Europe with his
upper lip adorned with a mustache.
This was the first display of a mus
tache by an American in this city, and
it vas so singular and exceptional that
1t occasioned much comment and criti-
cism. So great was this departure from
the customs of our people that it was
not until 1886 that such exhibitions,
as they were termed, were ever toll
Grated.
The early use of coal was confined
almost entirely to parlor CRATES, the
people keeping to the old style fire
place for cooking purposes. About 1920
coal was discovered in Rhode Island,
and an enterprising concern in New
York sent samples about the town re-
questing testimonials as to its value.
One. Martin S. Wilkins sent in the fol-
lowing certificate:
Il am willing to certify that under
favorable circumstances this coal is ca
pable Of ignition and am willing to
further certify that if Rhode Island
is underlaid with such coal, at the
general con1agration which our min
listers predict it will be the last place
to burn"
The use of ice, except for the pur-
pose Of making ice cream, was I'M
known, and even the latter confection
was served at only n place and was
unknown to the masses.
Cabs, cafes and hotels, as we know
them to-day, supplying every known
want, were unknown up to the SOS,
although several good taverns, such as
the Washington, which was Oh the site
Of the present comptroller's office, sup
piled guests with what at that time
was considered sufficient for all the
needs of man.
Perhaps more interesting than all
these changes Is the fact that a per-
son should survive long enough in that
city of strife and ~strenousity to have
seen and noted them.