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THE EMPIRE CITY.

NEW

TEW YORK, taken with Brooklyn on the one side and Jersey City on the other, has now a larger population than any European cities save London and Paris, and runs the latter hard.

The rapidity of New York's growth, both in size and wealth, has been altogether phenomenal. When Washington was inaugurated as President the population was 30,000; to-day, that of New York proper is a million, and including the adjacent cities of Brooklyn, Jersey City, and Hoboken, over two millions.

The approach to New York harbour is by a strait known as "the Narrows," commanded by two forts, the

one

on

Long Island and the other on Staten Island. The scene, coming down the bay, is, in fine weather, highly picturesque and exhilarating, not only from the natural charms presented to the eye, but from the unparalleled activity of the harbour. Manhattan Island, on which the city stands, is about thirteen and a half miles in length on one side, and eight on the other, and at its widest about four miles broad. The bay is at its base, Long Island Sound separating it from Long Island on its eastern side, and the Hudson River on its western side. Approaching the city from the sea the most conspicuous object, towering above everything, is that stupendous achievement, the bridge, which erected at a cost of £3,000,000, to connect New York with Brooklyn. It is so substantially built that trams and carriages are allowed to cross it at the same speed as on an ordinary road.

was

Passengers from Europe disembark at what is known as the Battery, at the extreme base of the island. The Battery has long been guileless of guns, and

is a well-kept and planted public park commanding a delightful view of the harbour. A portion is occupied by the celebrated establishment known as Castle Garden. The main building, a vast circular structure, was formerly a theatre, and here it was that New Yorkers went wild over Jenny Lind's singing, when Mr. Barnum brought her to their city, twenty years ago, and made his first great stroke.

A very different, but not less interesting class has since crowded within its walls, for here it is that emigrants from all parts of the world are lodged, sedulously protected, and cared for on landing. This establishment, which is under the control of Commissioners of Emigration, is carried on by the State of New York and with it the United States government has no concern; it has been a boon to millions. A large proportion of the immigrants are forwarded West

within a few hours of their arrival. Mr. Herkomer, the wellknown artist, who, as a child, landed himself at Castle Garden, has for some time been engaged on a striking picture of the scene.

That portion of New York which corresponds to the City in London, is all

within twenty minutes' walk of the Battery. The house there, occupied by the last British Governor, was pulled down only five years ago. Within five minutes thence, up Broadway-through Bowling Green, where stood the statue of George III. melted into bullets at the revolution-lies, to the left, Trinity, the mother Episcopalian church of the city, which still has the original endowments granted by the English crown; and immediately facing it, on the left, is the financial centre of the country, Wall Street, which takes its name from the old city wall,

with its amazing agglomeration of telegraph wires overhead, and throng of moneymakers and losers; where stands the SubTreasury of the United States, a substantial granite structure bristling with well-concealed means of defence, including the deadly Gatling guns which would soon make frightful havoc in an attacking mob, and would unquestionably be put into force without delay if need be, for the Americans deal most peremptorily with anything in the shape of riot.

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Wall Street.

Proceeding up Broadway the City Hall Park is soon reached, and attention is attracted to the Post Office, a vast and handsome structure, and other notable buildings. The Astor House, forty years ago the hotel of New York, and still much frequented, a vast establishment with shops beneath, paying altogether a rental of £15,000 a year, is on the left. The Astor House was the first really superior hotel that New York, since so famous for superb hostelries, had.

In his interesting travels in the United States, Mr. Stuart, who arrived at New York

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on the 23rd of August, 1828, wrote: "It might be supposed that the inns and other public establishments in this great city which, next to London, has the most extensive trade of any place in the world, and which is constantly frequented by multitudes of foreigners, would approach pretty nearly to the best European models. But the fact is not so; and it is singular that New York does not seem to be more advanced than any considerable town in the States, in those accommodations in which America is most deficient, and which have been the subject of some well-founded and some ill-founded and unjust animadversions. Here, as in every part of the Union, the sleeping and dressing conveniences are very indifferent. Water is not supplied to the bed-chambers in sufficient quantities. The practice, initiated by our dandies, of smoking cigars is universal; and the detestable custom which, however, obtains in Paris, of spitting on floors or in boxes, is far from being abandoned, though it is on the wane. These, with waiters who believe that they, too, are gentlemen, seem to form the great drawbacks in the estimation of the superior class of British visitors on American society."

How changed all this is every traveller can testify.

There are two city halls close together; the old and the new. Neither has much to boast of. The latter is memorable for the enormous frauds connected with its erection

under "Boss" (Dutch for master) Tweed, causing a building, which ought to have cost perhaps £50,000, to cost the taxpayers about £1,000,000. Tweed_expiated his offences by dying in prison. From either side of the City Hall Park two main thoroughfares, Broadway and the Bowery, lead up to Union Square, which stands to New York in much the same relation that Trafalgar Square does to London.

The Bowery is an eminently representative street, full of " museums," of "the pink-eyed lady, Prooshan dwarf, and livin' skeleton" type, and takes its name from the old Bouerie farm of Governor Stuyvesant, a famous Dutch Governor of New York, whose descendants now derive some £50,000 a year from this property. Between the Bowery, up which the elevated railroad runs, and the water of Long Island Sound, is the German quarter, where reside the majority of New York's 300,000 German inhabitants. Proceeding, then, up Broadway we reach Union Square; conspicuous on the west side of it stands the celebrated shop known as Tiffany's

the head centre in the United States for jewels, china, and works of art. Funny incidents sometimes occur at this establishment through the eccentric behaviour of nouveaux riches of both sexes. The wife of an Oregon lumber dealer cut short the tedious packing up of trinkets worth hundreds of pounds by opening a huge cotton handkerchief, placing her purchases in it,

and tying it up at the corners and marching all sorts of persons, have of late years come out of the shop. A short bit of Broadway very much into vogue. Rents for private connects Union and Madison Squares. The houses are extremely high, ranging for unlatter is the show square of the city. On furnished houses in the best situations from the east stands the Fifth Avenue Hotel, £600 to £1,200 a year; for furnished houses which, until the Windsor, about a mile above as much as £1,500 is often given. New it, also in Fifth Avenue, was built, was re- York houses, while built with a great aim garded as the ne plus ultra of big American at economizing space, are admirably arranged hotels. for domestic convenience. Kitchen, diningroom, and pantry are in close connection. The last adjoins the dining-room, and the pantry communicates by a lift with the kitchen, so that there is no carrying to be done. At least one bath-room, with hot and cold water laid on, is to be found in almost every house. Whilst almost all New

A misapprehension still current in England is that Americans of the wealthier class live chiefly in hotels. A very small proportion of them reside in such establishments but in the larger cities, and more especially in New York, apartment houses, on the Parisian plan, at rents suitable for

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York houses have open fireplaces in every room, a furnace in the basement carries warm air throughout the entire house. In fact, indoor cold is unknown; but servants have to be carefully looked after to induce them to keep up a healthy and even temperature. Some people will not have a furnace, preferring a large stove in the hall. One drawback to ordinary New York houses is (as in London) their monotonous uniformity; another is their narrowness. A house built to let, in a first-rate side street, at a rental of £700 a year (the landlord does all repairs), will only have a narrow passage hall about eight feet wide, and two moderate-sized long and narrow reception rooms, communicating by folding doors. Houses are rarely leased

for over three years, and rents fluctuate with the times. After the panic of 1873 they fell for three years about one-third.

The chief owners of fashionable residential property in New York are the brothers Astor. Their grandfather, son of a Jewish butcher at Waldorf, Germany, came to New York as a musical instrument agent for his brother, who had settled in London and sold pianos (I have seen the plate of a piano bearing his name) in Cornhill, London. J. J. Astor subsequently went into the fur trade, and made much money, which he invested in real estate, in various parts of New York, foreseeing the future growth of the city. He lived to see his expectations realised and left property worth some £2,000,000.

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