Lights and Shadows of New York Life | Page 4

723 Peter
Cooper....................................................... 733 Chinese Candy
Dealer............................................... 736 The
Newsboys....................................................... 739 Attack on a
Swindler............................................... 746 A Stranger's Exit from a
"Cheap John Shop"......................... 752 The Pocket-book
Game............................................... 754 Robert
Bonner...................................................... 758 The City
Hall...................................................... 760 Tammany
Hall....................................................... 763 National Academy of
Design......................................... 764 Steinway & Son's Piano

Factory..................................... 765 The High
Bridge.................................................... 775 The Fifth avenue
Reservoir......................................... 776 U. S. Navy Yard,
Brooklyn.......................................... 779 West
Point......................................................... 780 New York Seamen's
Exchange Building................................ 786 The
Ballet......................................................... 790 The Poor in
Winter................................................. 797 The City
Missionary................................................ 800 Young Men's Christian
Association Hall............................. 812 The
Library........................................................ 814 The Battery and Castle
Garden...................................... 817 Emigrant
Hospital.................................................. 819 The Sewing-girl's
Home............................................. 823 Stewart's Home for Working
Women................................... 829 Street
Venders..................................................... 832 Shoe
Latchets...................................................... 832 "Glass put
in!".................................................... 832 Balloon
Man........................................................ 832 Boat
Stores........................................................ 836 The
Morgue......................................................... 840 The Custom
House................................................... 844 The Fate of Hundreds of
Young Men.................................. 849
[Picture: OFFICES OF THE TRIBUNE, TIMES, AND WORLD.]

I. THE CITY OF NEW YORK
I. HISTORICAL.
On the morning of the 1st of May, 1607, there knelt at the chancel of
the old church of St. Ethelburge, in Bishopsgate street, London, to
receive the sacrament, a man of noble and commanding presence, with
a broad intellectual forehead, short, close hair, and a countenance full
of the dignity and courtly bearing of an honorable gentleman. His dress
bespoke him a sailor, and such he was. Immediately upon receiving the

sacrament, he hastened from the church to the Thames, where a boat
was in waiting to convey him to a vessel lying in the stream. But little
time was lost after his arrival on board, and soon the ship was gliding
down the river. The man was an Englishman by birth and training, a
seaman by education, and one of those daring explorers of the time who
yearned to win fame by discovering the new route to India. His name
was HENRY HUDSON, and he had been employed by "certain
worshipful merchants of London" to go in search of a North-east
passage to India, around the Arctic shores of Europe, between Lapland
and Nova Zembla, and frozen Spitzbergen. These worthy gentlemen
were convinced that since the effort to find a North-west passage had
failed, nothing remained but to search for a North-east passage, and
they were sure that if human skill or energy could find it, Hudson
would succeed in his mission. They were not mistaken in their man, for
in two successive voyages he did all that mortal could do to penetrate
the ice fields beyond the North Cape, but without success. An
impassable barrier of ice held him back, and he was forced to return to
London to confess his failure. With unconquerable hope, he suggested
new means of overcoming the difficulties; but while his employers
praised his zeal and skill, they declined to go to further expense in an
undertaking which promised so little, and the "bold Englishman, the
expert pilot, and the famous navigator" found himself out of
employment. Every effort to secure aid in England failed him, and,
thoroughly disheartened, he passed over to Holland, whither his fame
had preceded him.
The Dutch, who were more enterprising, and more hopeful than his
own countrymen, lent a ready ear to his statement of his plans, and the
Dutch East India Company at once employed him, and placed him in
command of a yacht of ninety tons, called the Half Moon, manned by a
picked crew. On the 25th of March, 1609, Hudson set sail in this vessel
from Amsterdam, and steered directly for the coast of Nova Zembla.
He succeeded in reaching the meridian of Spitzbergen; but here the ice,
the fogs, and the fierce tempests of the North drove him back, and
turning to the westward, he sailed past the capes of Greenland, and on
the 2nd of July was on the banks of Newfoundland. He passed down
the coast as far as Charleston Harbor, vainly hoping to find the

North-west passage, and then in despair turned to the northward,
discovering Delaware Bay on his voyage. On the 3rd of September he
arrived off a large bay to the north of the Delaware, and passing into it,
dropped anchor "at two cables' length from the shore," within Sandy
Hook. Devoting some days to rest, and to the exploration of the bay, he
passed through The Narrows on the 11th of September, and then the
broad and beautiful "inner bay" burst upon him in all its splendor, and
from the deck of his ship he watched the swift current of the mighty
river rolling from the north to the sea. He was full of hope now, and the
next day continued his progress up the river, and at nightfall cast
anchor at Yonkers. During the night the current of the river turned his
ship around,