The Secrets of the Great City | Page 3

general rule, no man seeks to influence
the belief of another, except so far as all men are privileged to do so.
Every religious faith, every shade of political opinion, is tolerated and
protected. Men concern themselves with their own affairs only. Indeed,
this feeling is carried to such an extreme that it has engendered a
decided indifference between man and man. People live for years as
next door neighbors, without ever knowing each other by sight. A
gentleman once happened to notice the name of his next door neighbor
on the door-plate. To his surprise he found it the same as his own.
Accosting the owner of the door-plate one day, for the first time, he
remarked that it was singular that two people bearing the same name
should live side by side for years without knowing each other. This
remark led to mutual inquiries and statements, and to their surprise the
two men found they were brothers--sons of the same parents. They had
not met for many years, and for fully twelve years had lived side by
side as neighbors, without knowing each other. This incident may be
overdrawn, but it will illustrate a peculiar feature of New York life.
Strangers coming to New York are struck with the fact that there are
but two classes in the city--the poor and the rich. The middle class,
which is so numerous in other cities, hardly exists at all here. The
reason of this is plain to the initiated. Living in New York is so
expensive that persons of moderate means reside in the suburbs, some
of them as far as forty miles in the country. They come into the city, to
their business, in crowds, between the hours of seven and nine in the
morning, and literally pour out of it between four and seven in the
evening. In fair weather the inconvenience of such a life is trifling, but
in the winter it is absolutely fearful. A deep snow will sometimes
obstruct the railroad tracks, and persons living outside of the city are
either unable to leave New York, or are forced to spend the night on the
cars. Again, the rivers will be so full of floating ice as to render it very
dangerous, if not impossible, for the ferry boats to cross. At such times
the railroad depots and ferry houses are crowded with persons

anxiously awaiting transportation to their homes. The detention in New
York, however, is not the greatest inconvenience caused by such
mishaps. Many persons are frequently unable to reach the city, and thus
lose several days from their business, at times when they can ill afford
it.
We have already referred to the scarcity of houses. The population of
the city increases so rapidly that house-room cannot be provided for all.
House rent is very high in New York. A house for a family of six
persons, in a moderately respectable neighborhood, will rent for from
sixteen hundred to twenty-five hundred dollars, the rate increasing as
the neighborhood improves. On the fashionable streets, houses rent for
from six thousand to fifteen thousand dollars per annum. These, it must
be remembered, are palatial. Many persons owning these houses, live in
Europe, or in other parts of the country, and pay all their expenses with
the rent thus secured.
In consequence of this scarcity of dwellings, and the enormous rents
asked for them, few families have residences of their own. People of
moderate means generally rent a house, and sub-let a part of it to
another family, take boarders, or rent furnished or unfurnished rooms to
lodgers.
Furniture is expensive, and many persons prefer to rent furnished
houses. These are always in demand, and in good localities command
enormous prices. Heavy security has to be given by the lessee in such
cases, as, without this, the tenant might make away with the furniture.
Many persons owning houses for rent, furnish them at their own
expense, and let them, the heavy rent soon paying a handsome profit on
the furniture.
Persons living in a rented house are constantly apprehensive. Except in
cases of long leases, no one knows how much his rent may be increased
the next year. This causes a constant shifting of quarters, and is
expensive and vexatious in the highest degree. It is partly due to the
unsettled condition of the currency, but mainly to the scarcity of
houses.

Many--indeed; the majority of the better class of inhabitants--prefer to
board. Hotels and boarding houses pay well in New York. They are
always full, and their prosperity has given rise to the remark that, "New
York is a vast boarding house." We shall discuss this portion of our
subject more fully in another chapter.
To persons of means, New York offers more advantages as a