davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

frame buildings is very rare. The only one
discovered by the writer is in Sixteenth
street near Third avenue. The small
two and a half story frame cottage which il
ornaments has nothing else to relieve its
plainness but this iron porch. But the porch
is OF very beautiful design. showing closely
woven punches OF grapes.
The balconies that came in the next period
OF New York architecture were also OF iron.
although none Of them had a trace of the
preceding period. They are as crude and
heavy as the un~imaginative brownstone
fronts they were intended to accompany.
1t is not likely that any future period will
ever restore them to favor.
The absence Of these balconies on the
west side OF town at present does not mean
that they were never a detail Of the archi-
lecture. The streets lying between Four
teenth and Thirty-fourth streets were long
ago converted to business use and that
Transformation removed from view the bal
comics that were there.
There we're certain Of these balconies In
West Tw%enty-first street to the west of the
old Union Club building and on the same
side Of the street. But there was evidently
in the minds Of the architects a discrepancy
between this ironwork with its delicate
tracery and light grace and the brownstone
that succeeded red brick as a building ma
terial. The red brick seems to have been
selected for the more modest homes in the
streets above Twentv-third On the East Side.
80 the iron work was used chiefly there.
All Investigations by the reporter to dis
cover the source OF this work were futile.
None OF the large iron manufacturers OF the
present day seemed to know where it came
from. 1t seems to be agreed that the first
France about 1880. Then they were copied
here: They are an uncommonly. artistic
survival Of a day which has bequeathed very
little beauty to New York.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02
SHE GOT HER BEAR.
PrOdded Him Out With Her Scissors. Then
T~Omahawked Him.

AS for that grit of women-meaning
Indian which has been celebrated
in a we'll known book. there is a story in
Fur Neus which is good evidence OF their
physical courage.
A dealer in skins tells of a squaw who was
walking along oil her snowshoes one day
when her small boy saw a bear curled up
under the snow in his winter sleep. She
could not kill him where she was. so she
dashed a pair of scissors to a sapling. prodded
him out and smashed his head in with her
tomahawk as he emerged.
Il gave her $40 for the skim writes the
dealer, so 1t was not a bad mornings
work. Another ingenious piece Of hunting
hat i remember was accomplished by an
Indian who found two moose in a yard
that Ii. the snow clearing which the animals
make when the frosts are breaking up and
the snow Is too sharp n brittle for their
comfort.
sHe crept up and got the female with his
tomahawk. The male was driven to fury
and II was unsafe to approach him. The
stroke Of a hoof would have put the Indian
out Of business in close order.
Having no gun, he improvised a bow and
arrow from the trees, stuck a sharp file into
the point OF the arrow, made a bowstring
with the laces Of his moccaslns and shot
the beast through the heart.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

for each cable. so We are making sixteen
strands at a time. They are. of course.
slightly separated. but when a strand Is
completed it is laid parallel with other
completed strands until we ave thirty
seven completed strands snugly laid along
side OF each other. and that makes a cable
as we know it.
III you should take thirty-seven lead
pencils and lay them parallel with each
other. trying to make them as nearly a
round bundle as you could. and imagine
each pencil made of $50 slivers Of wood,
you will have a notion of what a completed
cable looks like to US. The public pever
sees it in that form. but I'll tell you about
that later .
How do you get each Of those wires
stretched over its s.2f0 feet?'
THAT is lone by what we call a carrier.
Now. I'll try to explain that to you 80 that
you can think you're seeing it going on.
Well take the case of a carrier at work.
ct consists of a sheave and wheel. A
carrier starts, well say. from the New York
end. it is brought close to a spool Of wire.
The end of the spool Of wire is takenl
from the spool. passed around the whee
Of the carrier and brought back and made
fast to its permanent fastening. Then by
machinery we begin to draw that carrier
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

from the anchorage up over the tower and
from there over the foot bridge to the other
tower. and thence to the other anchorage.
Now you will see that that carrier Is carry
ing two wires. one the dead wire. the end Of
which has been already fastened to its per-
manent fastening. the other the live wire,
which is being unwound from the spool
OF wire and paying out as it passes around
the wheel in the sheave Of the carrier.
S YOU see that carrier. starting from
New York. when it arrives in Brooklyn has
laid not one stretch Of wire but two. as
II you were to take a loop Of string over your
two index fingers and move one until you
had reached the limit Of your stretch. and
you would have two stretches Of string.
"As the carrier travels. wen say. from
New York to Brooklyn it spins along be-
hind it these two threads Of wire. which
the cable men along the foot bridge adjust
to the curve Of the guide wire. As they
are doing that. taking up slack. perhaps. a
little. or asking a little more slack. the car
rier has started from Brooklyn to New
York carrying W. more threads Of wire.
In that way over each foot bridge four
strands are being laid at the same time"
But the cables that the public see on the
bridges said the reporter. SHOW wire
wound just the other way. round and
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

under the effort to withstand a tremendous
strain. The courses of granite of which
they are built are not in horizontal layers,
but themselves are at an angle. thus adding
TO the impression Of something that has
uprisen there to withstand the strain.
These four leaning granite towers will
support the saddles on which will rest the
four great suspension cables Of the Man
haitian Bridge before the cables disappear
from view in the mysterious depths Of the
rear portion Of that main structure which
b their anchor. They rise as they do above
the main structure in order to give an
added height to the saddle. 80 that the
great cables themselves at the lowest point
Of their sag over the East River shall be
above the highest point Of the main struc-
ture Of the bridge.
Some. 1t may be, who have studied the
Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges have
grieved to observe that the beautiful curve
Of the cables ia interrupted and marred
because at the lowest point Of the curve
the lines OF the cables are lost in the tumble
Of rigid lines OF the superstructlre. This
will not be 30 in the new bridge.
Those granite giants will put their shoul-
ders under the shore ends Of the cables
and 30 uplift them that the cables at the
lowest point Of their curve over midstream
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

ment paid. In recent years artists have
been busy investing their earnings in CO.
operative studio buildings.
Il came the other day" the agent went
on, across a very unusual block OF small
houses, which would be ideal for young
couples Of moderate means were it not that
they lie too far out of the beaten track.
They are within five minutes OF Madison
avenue by car and in the Eighties.
Il don't know how the owner ever cams
to think OF such an out of the ordinary way
OF building. He has put up a block Of
three story red brick houses and has run a
broad court down the centre. He has car
ried the houses down this alley and they
face each other for half the block.
A the court Is private property and
none but occupants of the houses and their
friends are allowed to use it there IL unusual
privacy secured in this way. Two Of tho
houses face on the side street, which is one
Of the broadcast in the city. e.
$50 far as l could see every one Of those
houses wa to let. although they are sup
piled with electric light and every conven-
fence. And their windows overlook one Of
the most beautiful Of the small parks in
the city. with a distant prospect Of the East
River and Long Island; but as / told you
before. New Workers. want the conventional
thing when 1t comes to q dwelling, and they
are willing to give up atmosphere and
everything else in order to be in with the
parade that moves ever northward.'
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

will be wholly above the platform struc-
lures and be clearly defined in the whole
length Of their lovely curves. A smooth
faced. darkly tanned man in his shirt
sleeves, the superintendent Of the wire con-
struction. who explained this to the re-
porter, added:
That does not help in the strength or
utility of the bridge, but it will make it the
most beautiful of all the four bridges over
the East River. 1t seems to me that when
a great city like this is building an i'm
portant and permanent structure 1t is right
that architects should be called in to study
and advise about the plans SO that the
structure when completed shall be beau
tiful as well as useful
As he said his he and the reporter were
watching the men making fast the last Of
the steel guy ropes connecting the four
foot bridges and what is known as the
storm cable beneath the foot bridges. In
some Of the pictures printed with this a
good idea is given of where and how these
men worked.
What is the next thing you will do toward
getting the cables built and in placer"
the reporter asked.
"The next thing we do answered the
superintendent. -s TO string from anchor
to tower. then from tower to tower and
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

from the second tower to the other anchor
sixteen three-sixteenth. steel wire guides.
These guides are stretched INC adjusted
70 give us the exact adjustment Of the
cables themselves.
That is. the engineers have figured out
just the amount or the degree. as you might
say, which the main cables must slope in
their curve over the river to perform their
duty OF carrying the main bridge structure.
You will understand that we must have
guides for this, because each cable is built
up OF thirty-seven strands and each strand
is composed OF $50 wires.
That is to say. we nave to build up in
the air four cables each composed of a.472
wires. or a total for all the cables Of 81, 1888
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

friend. The third has for years been oocu'
pied by an old couple. So there is nc feaI
Of Objectionable nelghbors.
The rent Of the cottage is $4s and 1t can
not be rented for more than a year. as the
property along with some other lots in the
neighborhood is in the market.
Never o mind answ ers The woman
when her friends try to discourage her by
telling Of the drawbacks to the atmospheric
abode she has selected. Just wait and
see 1t next winter. I'm going to nave more
room n light than / ever had in any studio
or apartment before, and l will invite my
friends to my first garden party toward
the end Of April. I've thought Of all the
drawbacks and I'm not going into this
thing with my eyes shut
So her friends are waiting to see what
she is going to do with her unusual house.
The neighborhood is not smart. but re-
spectacle. 1t is within five minutes of
Forty-second street and there are but two
blocks between the cottage inc a subway
station. So there Is nothing TO complain
Of on the score OF inaccessibility.
IF there were more women like that"
said a real estate agent who learned Of
her Independence In setting out to find
wLhe oho W6ntcu, GioIo WOuiu Inv DO Do
much complaint Of the lack Of atmosphere
In New York houses.
There are lots OF places which would
make charming and unusual homes and
they nave very few drawbacks. But that
sort Of thing doesn't appeal'to the average
New Yorker. He wants to live where his
friends do, move uptown when they move
up and follow the inevitable tide from
north to south or move to the suburbs.
Consequently it Is useless for investors
to build anything but he most conven-
tional kind OF fats. New Workers. make
a god Of comfort. They would rather
have plenty Of steam heat and electric
light than the most picturesque abode
that might be devised. and there isn't one
Of them that would not rather have hot
water than all the feeling in the world.
Even with these Inducements they
keep moving in n direction. They fix
their eyes IN The Bronx and move north
ward without ever appearing to realize
that a detour to the east or the west might
bring them comfort and beauty
Then this agent told Of a street not more
than five minutes walk from the Grand
Central Station. 1t Is short. not extending
more than three city blocks. There is
the utmost quietude there. because there Ia
practically no trafic.
Perohed upon a hill, which overiooks
the river. the oity's noise sounds in this
street as a murmur In the upper stories
Of a skysoraper, Before the windows
stretches a beautiful panorama Of Long
Island. and at the foot Of the hin Is the ever
changing view Of the river life
In London such a street would be cher
ished as a beautiful park. There would
be flowers and plants along the sidewalks
and fortunate jewellers would do every
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02
AFTER THE LAFAYETTES.
Piers and Bulkheads Crowded with Fisher
Of All Area and Conditions,

Piers and Bulkheads Crowded with Fishers
Of All Ages and Conditions.
The dock fishing season is on, full force.
All the piers along the Hudson, especially
in the upper reaches of Harlem, are crowded
with anglers. ..,
Men, women and children are among
the fishers. There are fathers of families.
mothers Of the same and the families them
selves, all engaged In attempting 10 snare
lafayettes pronounced "~layfyetts').
The lafayette isn't O lerge fish, but Is
very nice eating, and as he hangs out IN
all sorts OF places, whether muddy or not,
is likely to be taken by almost any sort
There are few among the pier fishers
who use q rod. just an ordinary line,
usually run through one Of those wire up
rights. with q bell on the end. This is the
ideal form OF dock angling, because 1t In
sures to the fisherman q chance to fest
between bites.
Whole families gather on brick barges,
Down at the isoth street ferry slip every
day there are hundreds OF anglers, who
furnish an interesting show for the pas
eengers In the half hour waits between
boats.
Chief among these Harlem fishers are
the p~roprietors OF small stores in the neigh
borhood, who seize q chance In the slack
times to take q meal from the waters OF
the Hudson. There are, too, many negroes
among the fishers, because the negro OF
Old time is a famous trapper and hunter
Of fish; Hitherto his prey has been more
often the catfish and the eel, but the march
p time has 81 w for him new heals.
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02
like a long spool Of thread

round, like q long spool Of thread
"Yes, hat is weather protection winding,
but it is not done until the superstruoturc
Of the bridge has been added and the strain
Of its weight has stretched the cables. Then
we apply to each cable a wrapping or wind
ing Of wire 'roundand round, as yousay, and
paint it and make each cable weatherproof
in that way. But until the superstructura
workmen are finished, the cable hangs a.
we have stretched 1t, ~thirty-seven strands,
each composed of $50 wires
The superintendent ex planned further
what he meant by this being striotlyand In
all respects a suspension bridge. Every
foot of the bridge, that Ii, the structure
which pedestrians and vehicles Of all kinds
ture, will be below, that Is, suspended froma
the lowest part of the cable.
The effect will be nrtistically an improve.
ment even upon the beautiful Brooklyn
Bridge; and the superintendent added
that If the cables were kept freshly painted
their long suave curve will always be- clearly
defined and be things Of permanent beauty
and grace. The stretching Of the cables,
he thinks, will be completed In six months
from now, and as the contractors for tha
upckbtTuCtuIo Ut, mOfo pIOpoIiy bpcaklnSA
The suspended structure, will have their
plant ready by that time, work will proceed
without any interruption to the final com,
pletion Of New York's latest and most
beautiful bridge.
Although the interesting superintendent
has his own plant ready. and when this Is
published will probably have begun weav-
ing his mighty cables from little wires, work
Is still being done on the ponderous base
Of the steel towers. As the designers speak
Of them. the towers on each side consist
Of four towers. These are hollow and made
OF steel plates bolted together.
The day the reporter visited tho bridge
men were at work unloading canal boats Of
gravel n cement and making concrete.
This vas being poured into the hollow bases
Of the towers, which will thus be solidly
filed for a space Of about sixteen feet.
The tops Of these cement pillars within
the towers will be made into cutters and
connected with openings through the sides
OF the towers, thus forming a drainage for
all moisture within the lowers. In the
same way a cement casing will be formed
around the outside Of the base Of the towers
to protect all exposed surface where plates
have been bolted together and fill in all
recesses Of the steel work. .
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02
COTTAGE HOME In THE CITY
FIND OF 4. WOMAN WHO WANTED
4 HOUSE WITH ATMOSPHERE.
Picturesque Sites In Manhattan which Are
Neglected Streets Out Of the Ordinary
That the Average New Yorker Doesn't
Care TO Live In-The NOrthwerd March.

SosluV Y tI bthSS n y
Observation-Disclosures Out Of the Ordinary
That the Average New Yorker Doesn't
Care to Live In-The NOrthwerd March.
A persistent woman who wanted to live
in some way that her neighbors did not set
out a few months ago to find a habitation
which should meet her demands.
Il want atmosphere she said, a by
that l don't mean fresh air. want a place
that will possess what artists call feeling in
the latest cant Of the tribe. l believ 1t
exists and / intend to find it,
OF course she did not have limitless
means. That would have spoiled the fun.
She had a very limited capital for a pioneer.
Her husband had restricted her to a rent of
$50 a month. Hardened fiat hunters in
this city know how little the fat Of that
price differs from the tenement.
Il think it's a good idea to fix that limit"
she said with an affectation Of content
ment. "Of course III have to spend a lot
OIL repairs and decoration. 80 it's best to
keep down the rent
She found the place and is satisfied. Her
friends are bound to secrecy concerning it.
for she does not move in until October.
She comes to town once a week, walks
over to the West Side OF the city and takes
a look at the find. She's afraid somebody
might carry OF the house during the night.
which would not be 30 hard a task to a
man Of strength.
1t is not 30 easy perhaps to understand
why anybody should want to steal it il
hat carried the necessity Of living in it
as well. 1t is the first house from the corner
of a popular West Side avenue and is one
Of three wooden cottages. They do not
front on the side street. but face east just
like the houses on the avenu
Part of the lot is occupied by a small
wooden building serving as ar Office. That
leaves q narrow passage closed by a wooden
gate by which you get to the yard In which
the three wooden cottages face. This yard
is probably 80 by 20 feet.
The cottages are in good repair and face
the rear Of a tenement OF the better class
that is situated on the ven Naturally
it lie the tenement kitchen windows that
are nearest the yard. A large tree hides
this culinary outlook to some extent. On
the side Of the cottages away from the
street Is a lumber yard which assures a
north view from the cottages upper win
dows that Is unobjectionable and clean.
and. moreover, does not smell Of cooking.
The cottages a three stories. hot
water and gas and are heated by stoves.
One Of them was taken by the enthusiastic
searcher for atmosphere. and she has also
the promise Of another which may DO free
In the autumn. This she 10 reserving for q
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

thing possible to make the street more
beautiful. Barring the old fashioned
houses on the Heights In Brooklyn. there
is no such view to be had anywhere else
outside Of the windows Of the big sky
soraping Office buildings downtown.
And do o suppose that stretch OF
street is popular?' asked the agent. -Not
in the least. The houses rent poorly, the
apartments are not as much in demand az
less desirable fats in other parts Of the
town, and the whole place has a look Of
neglect and desertion that shows how
little appreciated it is.
There are two other terraces on the
East River equally beautiful in situation.
but they are too far east to suit persons
who think it is either in~convenient or I'M
smart to live outside a certain radius and
therefore cramp themselves up in any kind
of house just to be in the neighborhood
that they think is proper or convenient.
"One Of these terraces is filled with very
attractive houses, and the apartments that
end each block nave wonderful outlooks
over the river and the Sound. yet these
attractions do not seem to have the least
weight with New Workers. in counter
balancing their situation 90 much out Of the
beaten track. Yet neither of these ter
races Is more than ten minutes from the
Grand Central Station.
mot ten minutes from the Plaza Hotel
10 a short street Of one block which is closed
at either end by an iron fence. 4 row Of
brownstone houses fills the greater part
of 1t. One end is occupied by q large COM
mercial building. which ipstead of being
undesirable helps to protect that end Of
xk4 Il@,L f~nr. r-LAk -o.-lk
tionable corner.
High to the north Of this block hang
the Orders Of the new bridge. At the foot
Of the height on which the houses stand
flows the river. which here as elsewhere Ia
a picture OF necessarily changing life. An
iron fence alone stretches along the top OF
the terrace.
sWithin two minutes walk IL trolley con.
nection with all the lines In the city, This
terrace shows every sign of neglect on the
part Of the public that similar streets In
other parts Of the city do. To Let signs
are frequent.
I'm any other part Of the world homes
with such an outlook. with such q contrast
to the usual prospects Of city life. would be
snapped up In a minute. But New Workers.
as a rule don't care anything about such
localities.
The indifference Of artists TO such quar-
tiers was attributed by the agent to their
ignorance OF them. There could be no mora
charming localities for settlements of artists
than the places indicated.
The most notable attempt at an artist
settlement ever made in New York was in
Abingdon Square, and that did not meat
with enough success TO encourage others
10 make another move In the same direction.
But the painters who bought and altered
their houses there found that the invest
The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-02

wires. and each Of those wires must be
laid with exactly the same curve. with
the same strain upon it. in other words.
or else it becomes a useless part Of the
cable to which it belongs.
"You understand that none OF these
trands is twisted or braided. Each strand
is composed Of it's 25e single wires laid
parallel. and each cable is then composed Of
it's thirty-seven strands laid parallel. Now.
a guide rope gives us our measurements,
but when we have stretched. according to
the measurement of the guide. say. sixteen
wires. the guide is dropped to the foot
bridge and we continue adding wires.
using those first stretched as our guide.
we make these strands four at u time