Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-07

"A sortment OF impressions when he
"A comes to New York for the first
time. 1t Is the ambition of every
cerebrally active westerner 10 see NC"
York at least once before he dies. He forms
vague ideas of it from the vast amount vi
news, descriptive writing and hcton Una.
emauates from New York every day, ana
his preconceived ideas of life in the metfop
oils are often exceedingly weird.
Every man to his own impressions. lor
those Of each one will be vivid or common
place or dull according to his Inauguration
or temperamcnt When the western man
thinks of New York he usually means Man.
haitian Island, which is quite large enough
for his comprehension until he. If ever pe-
comes an old resident of the complete CITY
of Greater New York.
There is one thing that never falis 10 I'M
press itself on the newly arrived man rom on,
the west, and that is the absence 90 ,,
silver dollar and the vast number OF copper
cents i'm circulation. 1t is trlte, put uue'
that the shopkeeper of New YORK looms
askanCe at the man who OFFERS MN SILVER
dollar in trade. and If that man wears a
black SLOUGH hat and pronounces ms d nat
the merchant becomes at once both patron.
izng and unpleasant. 1t Is declared Una.
the western man is not popular III NC"
York unless he looks as nearly as ne can
like a New Yorker or unless he plays the
role of the boisterous. breezy western mil
Eonaire with money to burn. Then they
take him up and laugh at his jokes and put
the torch to his roll of bills.
But the copper cent in New York is the
unit of value. Some of these days the unit
will probably be the mill. Above lloth
street in the great sub-city which is known
as Harlem the cent is a power 1t Is be-
lleved there are more cents In circulation
in Harlem than there are west OF the MIS-.
sissippi If it was not for the copper cent
the people of Harlem could not live as wei
and cheaply as they do
This sub-city of Harlem is a curious ana
interesting place. In which there is not an
aristocrat and where none but the great
middle class lives. There are n few De
tached old houses left. II would not take
long to count them. for your Harlemite
scorns to live in anything except Hat or
an apartment. as he calls it. Harlem is one
vast city of fiat buildings, with only few
lots left on which to build more.
Harlem contains more honest and re-
spectacle human nature to the square men
than any other part of Greater New Y ork
The native writers have not really dlscov-
cred it yet They have been extolling
81 loklyn as the sole habitat of baby car
riages If a census of baby carriages were
to be taken tomorrow Harlem would beat
any other city out of sight. And as for
children, any fiat building in Harlem that
would refuse to harbor children would long
be tenantless.
AT 10th street the Sth avenue IT, road
makes q big curve around the south end
Of Morningside Park from Columbus ave-
nue. into Sth avenue The trestle Is on
level with the roofs of the five-story fiat
buildings, and from car platform one
can look over the top of Harlem. For many
miles 1t is nothing but thick clustering nat
buildings, apparently all of the same helght
and with hardly a break in style. People
will pay rent and climb stairs to the NTH
floor, but not beyond, for none of the bulld-
ings have a passenger elevator unless they
happen to be of six stories, and not always
then. Above 10th street one can rent a
fiat for from $50 on the first floor to so on
the fifth. A bachelor may rent room IN
Che of these flats for about$3 week.
Living in Harlem is easy. 1t has been
reduced to science. On the West Side,
Sth avenue is the great artery of trade as
Sd avenue is on the East Side. There are
several cross streets given over to shops
the most important of which is 123th street,
the line that divides Manhattan into geo.
graphical halves. This is perhaps the most
important street in Harlem. 1t reminds
one OF the main shopping street in such
western cities as ST JOSEPH, Mo. or Oma-
Ia. Neb.. or Topeka, Kan. 1t is not at all
like the downtown streets of New York; yet
on il one may find any line of trade one de-
sires and all through the day it is thronged
with shopping women who push their baby
carriages before them.
Each Of the big stores on the street has
large vestibule IN which the babies lie
while their mothers shop. The babies are
in charge of a careful young man IN livery
who has a messenger. When a baby wakes
I'D and cries the messenger gently rocks
the carriage and II generally goes TO sleep
again but should II continue the messenger
Is sent into the store to find the mother, for
she has left behind list Of the various de-
partments that 1t is her intention to visit
But as to living in cheap Harlem fiat
There are few that are not steam-heated
and lighted with gas. They have baths,
Kitchen ranges stationary wash tubs and