The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-13
BENEFITS FIRST
VIEW OF NEW YORK

You aren't drinking your coffee"
said some one, inspecting my cup at
the table of the ships saloon.
NO" ! answered firmly; for when
the smooth efficiency of my human
machine is menaced l am as faddy
and nervous as a marine engineer
over fabrication IF did, shouldn't
Sleep"
And what of it," demanded my par
ticular friend, challengingly
1t was rebuke. 1t was as if he
had said, "On this great night, when
you enter my wondrous and romantic
country for the first time, what does
it matter whether you sleep or not.
saw the point 1 drank the coffee.
The romantic sense, which had been
momentarily driven back by the dis
Cussion of general ideas, swept over
me again. In fact, through the
saloon windows could be seen all the
Battery end of New York and the first
vague visions of sky-scraper3.
Then--the moments refused to be
counted-we were descending by lifts
and by gangways from the high upper
decks of the ship, down onto the rocky
, ground of the United States. don't
think that any American ever set foot
in Europe with a more profound and
=, delicious thrill than that which af-
fected me at that instant. | was
there! The official and unofficial
activities of the quay passed before
, me like a dream. l heard my
name shouted by a man in a formid-
ably severe uniform, and thought
THUS early have | somehow Violated
, the Constitution OF these States?'
But it was only a telegram for me
And then was in a most rickety
, and confined taxi, and the taxi was
full to the brim with luggage, two
friends, and me. And l was off into
= New York.
, At the center of the first crossroads
) II saw splendid and erect individual
, flashing forth authority, gaiety, and
r utter smartness in the gloom. Impos
= sibe not to believe that he was the
I owner of all the adjacent ground, dis
guised as a cavalry officer on foot.
3 What is that archduke?" in
r quired.
g He's just cop"
I ] knew then that | was in grea
0 city.
:, The rest of the ride was an unfev
e cred phantasmagoria. We burs
J. startlingly into a very remarkable
deep glade-on the floor of it long an'
$ violent surface-caEs, few open shop
l. and bars with commissionaires at tn,
t doors, vehicles dipping and rising on
). of holes in the ground, vistas of for
e ests of iron pillars, on the top o
a which ran deafening, glittering trains
Il as on a tight-rope above all that,
S layer of darkness; and above the lay
e err of darkness enormous moving i'm
/ ages of things in electricity-a mas
e todon kitten playing with a ball o
S thread, an umbrella in a shower o
g rain, siphOns of soda-water bein
emptied and filled, gigantic horse
S galloping at full speed, and an incred
is bic heraldry of chewing-gum. Sky
e signs! In Europe l had always il
n weighed manfully against sky-signi
D. But now | bowed the head, var
e pushed These sky-signs annihialate
t. argument. Moreover, had they nc
IS been made possible by the inventio
h. of a European, and that European a
re intimate friend of my own?
n q suppose this is Broadway"
If ventured.
TT 1t was. That is to say, it was on
re of the Broadways. There are sever;
different ones. What could be MOI
different from this than the dow
town Broadway of Trinity Church an
n, the crowded sky7scrapers? And eve
re this Broadway could differ from itsel
ry as | knew later on an election nigh
/ was overpowered by Broadwa
m We swept perlously off again int
TX the welter. That same evening thre
of my steamer companions wei