Wonders of a great city : or, The sights, secrets, and sins of New York

Front matter

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Chapter I. THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Geographical Description of the Metropolis of the New World — The Principal Streets — New York as a Place of Residence — Its Beneficence — An Example — The Ministry of New York 25

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METROPOLITAN HIGH LIFE.

The Class of People who suffice to make up its Legion — Conspicuous Absence of the Knickerbockers — A Sample High Life Ball — Cocking Main in a Fifth Avenue Parlor 39

Chapter III. WALL STREET IN OLDEN TIMES

Early Speculations in the Street — 1670 and 1870 — Sharp Financiering — Federal Hall — Fashion in Wall Street — George Washington — Costumes — Odd Customs — Wall Street Religion — Wall Street and the Brokers. .47

Chapter W.

MODERN WALL STREET.

The Most Notorious Thoroughfare in the World — How Stocks are Bought and Sold — Wrangles of the Bulls and Bears — Operators on the Street — The Stock Exchange and its Lesser Adjuncts — In the Clearing House — How a Tight Money Market is created— Black Friday 65

Chapter H.

SPECULATION AND ITS FRUITS.

A few Observations as to the Causes which induce men to enter Wall Street • — A Case in Point — No Moral Principle — The Infatuation — Sharp Practices — The Street on the Outside — One Noted Fraud — Perils of Speculation. — Honesty Leads 87

VI

Contents .

Chapter HI.

TWO FINANCIAL TVPHOONS.

The Panic of 1873 and the Disastrous Outcome of the Grant & Ward Failure— The Moneyed Center Shaken — Houses Blown Down — The Manhattan Bank on the Crisis — The Great Crash — The Revulsion — Returning Confidence — The New Styles and the Old — The Trust Company on the Heights — Fisk and Gould — A Sadder View — The Panic of 1884 — A Day of Terror — Prominent Men Ruined— Ferdinand Ward’s Victims— Graphic Pen Pictures — Ward’s Treachery to General Grant 109

Chapter HII.

A NIGHT ON THE BATTERY.

The Battery as it was — A Suicide — A Dark Story — The Temptation — A Rescue — Forced Loans — Traffic in Flesh and Blood — Maddening Extortions 133

Chapter Mill.

BLACK-MAILING AS AN ART.

Methods of Raising Money — A Widower Blackmailed — A Minister Falls Among Thieves — Blackmailers at a Wedding — A Bride Called on — Another Mode — Blackmailer Foiled— Hotel Registers and Blackmail.141

Chapter IX.

SUNDAY IN NEW YORK.

A Specimen Sabbath Morning — The Church Goers — The Pleasure Goers — A few Religious Peculiarities — Foreigners and Sunday — Sample Sunday Amusements — Varied Notes 152

Chapter X.

THE NEW YORK POLICE.

The Old System of Protecting the City — How the Metropolitan and the Present one were Created — Organization and Methods of the Department— Brave Men — The Police at their Work — Always on Hand — Station House Scenes — The Bureau of Information 158

Chapter XI.

THE DETECTIVE FORCE.

Its Origin — Inspector Byrne, Prince of His Profession — Qualifications of a Detective — How the Thief takers do their Work — Why Rogues go

Contents .

vii

Clear — The Arrest of a Pickpocket — An Old Man in Trouble — A Minister in Trouble — A Sea Captain in Difficulty — Stories of Adventure by Members of the Corps — The Rogues’ Gallery 183

Glaapler XII.

THE TOMBS.

History of Gotham’s Famous Prison — How it Looks Outside and In — The Management — Prisoners known to Criminal fame, who have been confined within its Walls — A Court Scene — Divine Service — Ludlow Street Jail 202

Gliapler XIII.

THE FIVE POINTS.

A Scene at Five Points — Ladies’ Five Points Mission — Origin of the Work — The Field Selected — The Nationality of the Lowly — The Mission begun — A Walk Around Five Points — The Mission of the Beautiful — How the Work is Supported — Success of the Mission Work — A Remarkable Meeting 221

CftiapIeT XTH.

THE BOWERY.

The Flashiest of all Flash Streets in the Metropolis — Its Appearance on Sunday — The Persons who Inhabit it — Lager Beer Gardens — A Walk up the Avenue 233

Chapter XH.

INCIDENTS IN CITY EVANGELIZATION.

The New York City Mission — Origin of the Work — Thrilling Incidents — Temperance in a Rum Saloon — Rescue of the Destitute — A Soldier in Trouble — A Young Man’s Story — Not Easily Discouraged — A Missionary’s Daily Work — A Fool Answered According to his Folly 238

Gliapler XHI.

BUSINESS REVERSES IN NEW YORK.

Mirage of Wealth — Railroad Conductor — A Railroad King — Saratoga Belle — Rock in the Channel — Success a Coy Thing — Old Merchants 248 viii Contents.

Chapter XMII.

FAST LIFE IN NEW YORK.

Recreations of the Fast Class — A Ruined Man, once a Financial King — The Fast Men at the Club Houses — The Club Houses, and How They Live There — A Startling Case 262

Chapter XMILI.

NEW YORK’S BLIGHT.

The Alarming Prevalence of Prostitution — Statistics of the Lost Sisterhood— Houses of the First Class — How they are Filled — Agents and Runners — Startling Facts — A Night Encounter — A Mayor’s Experience — Hopeless Classes — Houses of Assignation — Women on the Pave — Sad Sketches 270

Chapter XIX.

CLUBS OF THE CITY.

Some of the Institutions where Weary Men Seek Quiet and Recreation — The Union League, Manhattan, Blossom, Century, New York, Union, Lotos, Coaching, St. Nicholas, Lambs and Author’s Clubs — Pet Hoodlum Organizations 299

Chapter XX.

NEW YEAR’S DAY IN NEW YORK.

Its Antiquity — The Preparation — The Table — The Dress of the Ladies — The Reception — New Year’s Night 312

Chapter XXI.

CENTRAL PARK.

Origin of the Greatest Free Park in the World — How it may be Reached from the Business Section of the City — Objects of Universal Interest — The Menagerie and Museums — Cleopatra’s Needle — The Mall — Gates and their Titles — Riverside Park and General Grant’s Tomb 318

Chapter XXII.

THE GAMBLING HOUSES.

Handsomely furnished Parlors Where the Tiger is more Relentless than in his Native Jungle — How Some of the Principal Houses are Arranged — John Morrissey’s Connection with Gambling— Day and Night Games — The Plucking System — Female Gambling Houses — Pool Rooms, Policy and Lottery 338

Contents . ix

GliapPer XXIII.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

How the Present Excellent System Supplanted the Old Volunteer Organizations— Strength of the Department — The Engines, Horses, Men and Methods in Vogue — Government of the Force 874

ClaapteT XXTU.

FIRST DIVISION NATIONAL GUARD.

Formation of the Division — The Military as a Police Force — The Military and Riots — The Seventh Regiment at the Astor Place Riot — Mayor Wood’s Riot — An Episode — The Finale — First Division and the War — Presidential Reception — The Parades 381

Gliapter XXM.

LIFE AMONG THE LOWLY.

Homes of the Impoverished — A Night Tramp — Barefooted Beggars — A Street Boy — A Sad Scene — Genteel Suffering — Park Lodgers and their Methods — Homes for Seamen — The Beggar’s Revel 394

Ctaapler XXUI.

THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM.

The Jews in New York — The Synagogues — Innovations — The Feast of the Passover — Jewish Sunday Schools 414

Chapter XXMII.

UNLUCKY MEN.

Old Superstitions — Wizards on the Street — Lucky and Unlucky Days — Lucky and Unlucky Men — Hospital for Decayed Merchants — Illustrations of 111 Luck — The Devil 421

Chapter XXMIII.

PANEL-THIEVING.

A System of Robbery which is Seldom Punished — Operatives and Victims — How the Fly is Lured to the Spider’s Parlor — The Disgraceful Game in Detail 427

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Contents .

Chapter XXIX.

POLITICAL MACHINES.

The Political Organizations of the Metropolis as Mammoth as its Business Enternrises — Halls and F actions — How a Campai gn is Conducted — The Use of Money in Elections 481

Chapter XXX.

FORTUNE'S EBB AND FLOW.

How Money is Lost and Made in Speculation — The Wealth of Wall Street — Poor Boys and Rich Men — A few Illustrations of the Methods by which Operators can Successfully Defy Fickle Fortune — A glimpse at the Other Side of the Subject — Infatuated Women who desire to Dabble in Stocks — A Successful Greenhorn 439

Chapter XXXI.

FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES.

A New Synonym for Crime in Vogue in Speculative Circles — The Peculiar Atmosphere of New York's Fatal MoBlstrom — Some of the Immoralities of the Street— How the Money Goes — The Gray and Ketchum Methods — Human W recks 456

Chapter XXXII.

THE SAWDUST GAME.

How Persons from the Rural Districts with a few dollars and an all consuming Desire to become Speedily Rich, are Shorn — Counterfeit Money in Name Only — An Interview with the King of Bogus Currency Swindlers 475

Chapter XXXIII.

CONFIDENCE OPERATORS.

Devices which Lure the Dollars from the Pockets of the Confiding — Some of the Number Exposed — Plin White’s Remarkable Career — Property of Orphans and Widows — Bogus Auctions — Sham Jewels and Subscription Lists — Petty Swindles 481

Contents. xi

Chapter XXXTH.

THE CRIMINAL CLASS.

Statistics of the Pirate Element of the Metropolis — Professional Thieves and their Methods of Making a Turn — The Bank Burglar — Thieves and their Relations to the Modern Vidocq’s — Night Hackmen who Rob their Fares — Reformation Practically out of the Question 509

Chapter XXXYL

BOODLE ALDERMEN.

The Disgraceful Sale of Broadway to a Street Car Corporation by the City Council — A Part of the Bribe-Takers in the Penitentiary and the Remainder in Canada — Waite’s Case 534

Chapter XXXMI.

DISHONEST DEVICES.

Gift Swindles and Lottery Enterprises of the Metropolis — Their Extent and Plans of Operation — The Prize Ticket, Circular and Medical Schemes — Some Sample Letters 541

Chapter XXXHII.

SKETCHES HERE AND THERE.

Sharp Men and Sharp Trade — The Dangerous Practice of Imitating Signatures— Tricks to get Money — Experts — Sold out of House and Home — Jacob Little and Morse in Wall Street — Shadows on the Street — A Reasonable Request — Religion in the Street — Lady Brokers 552

Chapter XXXMIII.

PUBLISHER ROBERT BONNER,

His Early Career and Removal to New York — His System of Advertising — The Value of a Name — Mr. Beecher and the Ledger — Bonner’s Horses — Personal Traits 568

Ohapter XXXIX.

THE ONLY BARNUM.

Sketch of the Man Who Has in His Time both Humbugged and Amused the World — His Early Career — The Theory of Success — Unhappy Reverses— Some Personal Incidents 579

Contents .

xii

adapter XLi.

JAMES FISK, Jr.

The Architect of His Own Fortune— Sets Up For Himself — Mr. Fisk as a Business Man — The Opera House — The September Panic — Run on th e Tenth National Bank — Murdered by Stokes 590

Chapter XIA.

COMMODORE VANDERBILT.

Vanderbilt and Collins — The Hudson River Railroad — Vanderbilt’s Revenge— Vanderbilt iu His Office — Personal Incidents — Railroad Slaughter— Personals — Vanderbilt and His Horses — The Vanderbilt Property 607

Chapter XIAI.

STEWART, THE PRINCELY MERCHANT.

The Down-Town Store — Early Career — Sensational Advertising — How Stewart Did Business — Stewart at His Work — Running the Gauntlet — An Autocrat — A Napoleon in Trade — Shrewd Investments — Personal of Stewart — His Death 621

Chapter X1AYL JAY GOULD.

The Man who has Made Many Millions by Watering Stocks and Wrecking Railroad and Telegraph Companies — His Early Career — Operations with Fish — Questionable Transactions — An Unenviable Record 637

Chapter XIAM.

THE METROPOLITAN PRESS.

Printing-House Square— A Brief Bit of History — How Morning Journals are Made — Night Work — Stereotypes from the Forms — How the News is Collected and Distributed — Editors and Journalists — The New York Press— Bennett and Greeley — Editors of To-day 651

Chapter XLV.

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

Brief Resume of the Life and Works of the Late Plymouth Pastor — His Personal Magnetism — His Belief one of True and Loveable Christianity — Occasions When His Character Stamped Him the Prince of Modern Teachers — Dark Moments — Closing Scenes 674

Contents . xiii

Chapter XYAri.

DASHES HERE AND THERE.

A Hobby Among Women for Cosmetics — Burning their Faces in Order to Improve their Complexion— How Families Thrive on Canal Boats in Winter — Melting Down Millions of Silver — Minor Topics 699

Chapter XIATII.

MANHATTAN CAUSERIE.

The Photographic Craze — Type- Writing Put to a Bad Use — The Messenger Boy — Central Park Ambulances — The Morgue — Flower Mission — Titled Americans — Moonlight Pic-nics — Metropolitan Moonshiners — Statistics of Immigration 738

Chapter XIAHII.

TALMAGE AND THE TABERNACLE.

Portrait of the Popular Brooklyn Divine — His Career and Success — The New Tabernacle — The Night Side of New York — Talmage’s Trial — ; The Sensationalist Abroad — Talmage as a Lecturer 777

Chapter IL1I.

How the Tired and Heated may Ferret Out Cool Spots — Delicious Glen Island — Long Branch and Rockaway — Coney Island Down The Bay — Some of the American Brighton’s Attractions 783

GlaapPer Yx.

THE ELEVATED RAILWAYS.

Rapid Transit — The Metropolitan Elevated Railways — How the Roads are Constructed — The Stations and Equipments — Upper New York — Immense Advantages of the Roads to the City 793

GAapPer XA.

MEAT FOR THE MILLION.

How the City is Fed — Sources of Supply — Stock Yards and Slaughter Houses — The Metropolitan Markets— Washington Market in the Morning— Restaurants and Cheap Eating Houses — Millions to Feed Millions 798

XIV

Contents

Chapter lAI.

THE NEW YORK POST OFFICE.

Postal Service Years Ago — The New Post Office — Business of the Office — Expert Clerks — Checks and Safe-Guards — A Busy Place 807

Chapter I. The City Of New York

GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE METROPOLIS OF THE NEW WORLD — THE PRINCIPAL STREETS — NEW YORK AS A PLACE OF RESIDEECE — ITS BENEFICENCE — AN EXAMPLE — THE MINISTRY OF NEW YORK.

NEW Y ORK is the commercial metropolis of the New World. It is situate proper on an island defined by three rivers : the Hudson or North, the East and the Harlem. The Hudson is the most magnificent river in the world, enjoying a depth of water to a point far above New York, sufficient to float the navies of the world. The East River is ten miles in length, and is the arm which divides Long Island from New York State proper* and connects Long Island Sound with New York Bay ; the Harlem is of slight consequence, except that it furnishes an apology for a waterway from the head of the East river across the northern end of New York to the Hudson and forming the northern boundary of Manhattan Island. The city lies at the head of New York Bay, one of the finest and most beautiful sheets of water in the world. The principal street is Broadway. Broadway traverses Manhattan

Wonders of a Great City.

Island from south to north, extending from Bowling Green down by the Battery and Castle Garden, to the Harlem up near Washington Heights. When Henry Hudson discovered the site of New York, the few Indians there assembled called it Manhattan. The Dutch changed the name to Mauritius, in honor of Prince Maurice, who at that time governed Holland. Later on they changed the name of their little settlement to Nieuw Amsterdam. When the English obtained possession they called the village and the unknown land to the northwest, New York, as something of a sop to the Duke of York. From the Battery northward, the city spreads out like a partially opened fan. Its average breadth is about a mile and a half, its greatest, four and a half ; extreme length, sixteen miles. Its area is fortyone and a half square miles, or twenty-six thousand five hundred acres. That portion of the city north of the Harlem river is known as the “annexed district.” It comprises what used to be known as the town of Mott Haven, Tremont and Fordham. The Harlem is spanned by five bridges, the Fast Biver by one — the Brooklyn bridge, the eighth wonder of the world — and an attempt has been made to tunnel the North river from Jersey City to New York. A prettier location for a city than Gotham, it would be difficult to imagine. Sixteen miles only from the Atlantic ocean, which is kept back by Staten Island, and between two deep rivers, which open up into the Bay, and find the ocean through the Narrows, it seems as though Manhattan Island was originally laid out for the site of a great commercial metropolis.

The lower section of the island is of sandy formation

The City of New York.

with what seems to be a good granite foundation. From the Battery sea wall where the land is only a few inches above the water’s level, the land gradually rises until at the Northern limit it terminates in a range of cliffs, which attain an elevation of one hundred and thirty feet above the sea. New York is well and compactly built, representing probably every known style of architecture. Along the East River front there are few vacant blocks. On the West Side front the city has not encroached upon the space lying between Sixtieth and One Hundred and Tenth streets, to any considerable extent. Below Canal street, the thoroughfares are narrow, squalid, crooked and crowded looking, with the exception of Broadway. Many of the down town streets were formerly cow paths, and the early Dutch and English settlers were apparently too indolent or busy to lay out streets, and so built along the line of the cow paths. Nassau and William streets are, in their tortuous windings, fit illustrations of this early lack of symmetry and design.

The streets traversing the city from east to west are presumed to be numbered, i. e. First, Second, Third, etc., but this rule is not observed until Eighth street, which, to the west of Broadway, is known as Clinton Place, is reached. Then they proceed in regular order. Some of the west side streets, between Bleecker and Fourteenth, are also a trifie eccentric. For instance, West Thirteenth street intersects West Fourth, and a stranger in quest of a given number on West Twelfth, chancing upon the Fourth and Thirteenth crossing, would think himself a victim of delirium tremens.

The streets above Houston in the main running par-

Wonders of a Great City.

allel with the Island, are designated as avenues. They are numbered from east to west, and range from First avenue on the East River, to Twelfth avenue on the North River. Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth avenues, are the great business arteries of the central transverse of the Island, always, of course, excepting Broadway. The great Broadway runs independently of all, for jumping Fifth avenue at Twenty-third street, it crosses each, lying to the west, in turn before they lose themselves in Central Park or in the upper end boulevards.

The principal cross town business streets above Wall are Fulton, Chambers, Pearl, White, Canal, Houston, Bleecker, Fourteenth, Twenty-third and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth. In the district below Houston, Centre, Bowery, West, Church, East Broadway and West Broadway, William and Nassau, are the main business streets, barring Noble and South. Residence streets of the lower end are Market, Pike, Madison and Clinton, while above Twenty-third street, Park, Lexington, Madison, Fourth and Fifth avenues and Gram mercy Place, are famous for their mansions the globe over.

The population of New York is something over a million and a half, while its suburbs — Brooklyn, Jersey City, Newark, Hoboken, Long Island City, Astoria and East New York, can reckon up a like number of souls. It costs a million a year to light the city, thirty-five hundred police guard ,it, and nine hundred firemen are always on duty. The city disburses a million a year in public charity, while three hundred and odd religious and benevolent societies, collect and pay out annually over two and a half millions.

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The City of New York.

■ 29

NEW YORK AS A RESIDENCE..

Something like forty years ago a man in Vermont proposed to visit New York. He made his will, and had prayers offered in the church that he might be kept from peril in the wicked city to which he was going. Those who live at a distance, and know the city only through the papers, suppose it to be as wicked as Sodom 'and as unsafe as Gomorrah in the time of Lot. As a home it has few attractions to a stranger. Its babel and confusion distract and almost craze. Its solitude is distressing. In the midst of a crowd the stranger is alone. He might live or die without any one’s knowing or caring. The distinguished man, or well-to-do merchant from the country, has no deference paid to him. He is jostled by the crowd, trampled down by the omnibus, or run over by the market vans. He stands in the vestibule of a fashionable church till his legs tire and his lady faints from indignation, and when he has a seat, it probably is a back one. A short residence in New York changes things wonderfully. Order and harmony seem to come out of the confusion. Families find themselves as well protected and as comfortable as in a smaller town. The loneliness and solitude find a compensation in the independence which each family and person secures. A man in New York can live as he pleases — dwell in a palace or in an attic, dine at night or not at all, keep a dozen servants or none, get up early or late, live in style or be old-fashioned. No one will meddle with or trouble him unless he undertakes to make great display. On change, in business, in the social circle, or at church, the style

Wonders of a Great City .

of a man’s living and doing harms him not. There is a warm, Christian, benevolent heart in New York, a frank and generous sociability, when one can command it, that is delightful. The family who “would not live in New York if you would give them the best house on Fifth Avenue,” after a year’s residence are seldom willing to live anywhere else. The climate is delightful. It is not savage and rasping. It is not enervating, like Philadelphia or Baltimore. East winds do not trouble the feeble. Clear, bracing winds come daily from the ocean, bearing health on their wings. The winter is short, and seldom severe. The spring and autumn are long and delicious. The weather for eight months in the year is exhilarating, and gives a charm to life. Broadway is a perpetual panorama. Its variety never tires. The windows are filled with the richest and most elegant goods. Gold, silver, jewels, diamonds, silks, satins, and costly fabrics flash under the plate glass for miles. The pavement is the great promenade where the eminent men of New York can be seen daily, while ladies of fame, fashion, and elegance, in the richest and most fashionable attire, crowd and jostle each other up and down this great thoroughfare. In no city in the world do ladies dress so elegantly and with so much expense, for the street, as in New York. Dressed in their gayest and most costly attire, their broad skirts of the richest fabrics, sweep the dirty sidewalks, while the abundance of their flashing jewels attracts attention. The carriages of the wealthy roll up and down this favorite thoroughfare, and add to the brilliancy of a bright day in New York.

Everything that is manufactured, or that grows in

TSmorv. Sc^aare.

The City of New York.

any part of the world, can be purchased in this city. You can have a tropical climate if you can pay for it — fruits that grow at the equator, and products from every part of the world. A New Yorker need not go abroad for amusement, recreation, or health. The eminent men who visit America never pass by New York. Distinguished artists come here to sing and perform. Orators, musicians, and men on whom nations like to look come to the very doors of residents of this city.

MORALITY OF THE CITY.

Sound morality and business integrity have a market value in New York. The city was founded in religion. The colony that bought the island of the Indians was a religious colony. The early settlers, scattered all the way from the Battery to West Chester County, met on the Sabbath for worship. “The Half Moon” cast her anchor in the North River, and the little company withdrew to an island and spent their first Sabbath in thanksgiving and praise to God. After the toil of Saturday, companies came from beyond the Harlem River to reach the church before the dawn of Sunday, that they might not break the Sabbath. Starting after midnight on the Sabbath, the little company would walk all the way back, beguiling their path with sacred song, and reach home in season for Monday’s work. The spirit of these devout Dutchmen lingers in the city. No place of its size is more secure, is freer from crime, or has law better administered. A large city is worse than a small one, because bad men can hide themselves in its solitude. They find scope for their talent and genius.

Wonders of a Great City.

The crime of England is concentrated in London. Barricades in Paris toucli public security in the remotest provinces of France. Bad men locate in New York, fix there their headquarters, and reduce roguery to a system. They have their banks, expressmen, artists and agents. These men dwell in the dark recesses and hidden chambers of the city. But to New York come also the most talented and best of men. The talent, ability, integrity, shrewdness and sharpness which make a small fortune in any other place, make a large one in New York. The best ability in the nation finds scope in the city “whose merchants are princes, whose traffickers arc the honorable of the earth. ” Large societies, whose streams of humanity and religion fertilize the earth) have their fountains here. Colleges, seminaries, schools, in the new and sparse settlements of the land, are built by New York beneficence. The lamp of religion, which burns in the dark islands of the sea, is fed by the hands of the bountiful in our city. The feet of the swift runner on the mountains of barbarism, who carries the good tidings of salvation to the dwellers in the habitations of cruelty, are made strong by the cheerful gifts of our people.

In no city are churches more elegant and numerous, congregations richer and more liberal, preachers more learned or eloquent. Lawyers who have become famous elsewhere join the New York bar. The shrewdest merchants of the land, energetic, far-seeing, and successful, find full scope for their ability in this great centre of commerce and trade. The inexorable law of business for half a century demands integrity no less than talent, if one would have success. Thousands of

The City of New York .

men have commenced business in New York with the motto, “All is fair in trade,” who are “as honest as the times will allow. ” None such have ever had permanent success. A man might as well steer his bark in a dark and stormy night, on a deep and treacherous sea, by a lantern on his bowsprit, rather than by the light-house on the fixed shore, as to expect business success without commercial principle. Success in New York is the exception, failure the general rule. One can count on his fingers the firms who have had a quarter of a century’s prosperity. Such have been eminent for their commercial integrity, for personal attention to business, to the inflexible rule that the purchaser should carry away the exact article he bought.

AN EXAMPLE.

In a little room in one of the by-streets of New York, up a narrow, dingy flight of stairs, a man may be found doing a little brokerage which his friends put into his hands. That man at one time inherited the name and fortune of a house which America delighted to honor. That house was founded by two lads who left their homes to seek their fortune in a great city. They owned nothing but the clothes they wore, and a small bundle tied to a stick and thrown over their shoulders. Their clothes were homespun, were woven under the parental roof, and cut and made by motherly skill and sisterly affection. Their shoes were coarse and heavy, and they walked the whole distance from their home to the city towards which they looked for position and fame.

They carried with them the rich boon of a mother’s blessing and a mother’s prayers. They were honest.

Wonders of a Great City.

change owners rapidly, and a man, who to-day gives a gorgeous entertainment, may tomorrow have the auctioneer’s flag flying from his door, and he wall have disappeared to make way for the next The young men here have clothes, boots, etc., of the English make and style, and yet when a genuine “Britisher” appears how different they look, for our visitor seems old-fashioned, and yet his garments are of the latest Every year finds the women more and more like their English cousins, as it is no uncommon sight for stout women to be seen in every family, showing that the race of “sallow-thin” Americans is fast passing away, in spite of what other nations say.