Lights and Shadows of New York Life

J >> James D. McCabe >> Lights and Shadows of New York Life

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Connected with the day schools, there are twenty-seven evening schools,
with an average annual attendance of 20,000 pupils. These are designed
for the instruction of those whose avocations or age prevent them from
attending the day schools. Only simple studies are taught in these
schools. The pupils consist of cash boys, clerks, porters, and laboring
men and women. Many of them are foreigners, who come to learn the
English language. The adults show as much eagerness to learn as the
younger pupils. All are generally neat in person, though their clothing
may be rough and worn. Sometime ago, a member of the Board of Education,
in addressing one of these evening classes, dwelt especially upon the
necessity of cultivating habits of personal neatness. It happened that
there were several men present, whose appearance indicated that they had
come directly from their work to the school. One of them arose, and
offered the following excuse for their appearance. He said, "We don't
always come to school in this way, but we were at work in the yard pretty
late, and had no time to go home for supper even, as we didn't want to be
late at school; and not expecting any visitors, we made up our minds to
come as we were. The Principal knows us, and we knew he would excuse us
for coming so."

An Evening High School, for males only, has been established, at which
working men, and others unable to attend the day schools, may pursue a
more extended course of study. English grammar, mathematics, natural
science, drawing, navigation, municipal and constitutional law,
phonography, declamation, book-keeping, Latin, French, German, and
Spanish are embraced in the course. The students may pursue one or more
studies, as they may desire.

The Mission Schools have been mentioned already.

II. THE COLLEGES.

The higher institutions of learning are numerous, but we can mention only
the principal here.

The University of the City of New York was established in 1831, and is
regarded as one of the best institutions of its kind in the country. It
has a chancellor and a full corps of professors in its several schools.
It includes a preparatory department, a grammar school, a school of art,
a school of civil engineering, a school of analytical and practical
chemistry, a school of medicine, and a school of law. The medical school
has been especially famous, and has numbered among its professors, at
various times, such men as Valentine Mott, John W. Draper, and William H.
Van Buren.

The University building is a showy edifice of white marble, in the
English collegiate style of architecture, and is situated on the east
side of Washington Square, between Waverley and East Washington Places,
fronting on University Place. It has a frontage of 200 feet and a depth
of 100 feet. The principal entrance is by the central door. From this a
flight of marble steps leads to the main floor. Besides the rooms used
for the various purposes of the University, there is a handsome chapel,
and a hall containing a valuable library. Many of the rooms of the
building are occupied by physicians, artists, and various societies, and
as chambers by single men.

[Picture: UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK.]

Columbia College, occupying the block bounded by Madison and Fourth
avenues, and Forty-ninth and Fiftieth streets, is the oldest institution
of learning in the State, and ranks among the leading institutions of the
country. It was founded by George II., in 1754, under the title of
King's College. The college was originally located in the lower part of
the city, but, in 1849, the trustees purchased the present buildings,
which were formerly used by the State Institution for Deaf Mutes.
Attached to the college is a school of mines, in which full instruction
is given in all the branches required to make a perfect scientific as
well as a practical mining engineer. Large and extensive laboratories
are attached to the school. There is also a law school, which forms a
portion of the college, and which is located in Lafayette Place, opposite
the Astor Library. The College of Physicians and Surgeons, at the corner
of Twenty-third street and Fourth avenue, constitutes the medical school
of Columbia College. The college is very wealthy, and its property is
valued at several millions of dollars.

[Picture: COLUMBIA COLLEGE.]

The other colleges are, the College of St. Francis Xavier, in West
Fifteenth street, the Union Theological Seminary, conducted by the
Presbyterian Church, the College of Pharmacy, the New York Medical
College for Women, the New York College of Veterinary Surgeons, the
General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the
Rutgers Female College, the New York Homoeopathic College, several other
medical colleges, and several business colleges.

There are about 325 private and sectarian schools and academies in New
York, with an average annual attendance of about 15,000 or 20,000 pupils,
and employing more than 1500 teachers.

The Cooper Institute is an imposing edifice of brown stone, occupying the
block bounded by Third and Fourth avenues, and Seventh and Eighth
streets. It was erected at a cost of nearly half a million dollars, by
Peter Cooper, Esq., an eminent merchant of New York. The basement is
occupied by an immense lecture room, capable of seating several thousand
persons. The street floor is taken up with stores. The floor above this
contains a number of offices, and the remainder of the building is
occupied by a free library and reading room, and halls for lectures and
for study.

[Picture: THE COOPER INSTITUTE.]

The Institute is designed for the gratuitous instruction of the working
classes in science, art, telegraphy, English, literature, and the foreign
languages. One of its departments is a School of Design for women. The
course is thorough and the standard of proficiency is high. The
examinations are very searching, and it may be safely asserted, that the
graduates of this institution are thoroughly grounded in the practical
arts and sciences. The institution is a noble monument to the wisdom and
benevolence of its founder, and is doing an immense amount of good to the
class he designed to benefit. It is liberally endowed, and is managed by
a Board of Directors. The stores and offices yield an annual income of
nearly $30,000. The annual attendance upon the schools is about 1800.

LVII. JEROME PARK.

"The opening of the Central Park saved horseflesh in New York," said an
old jockey. Few who know the truth will gainsay this assertion. The
opening of Jerome Park did as much for "horseflesh" by rescuing the sport
of horse racing from the blackguards and thieves, into whose hands it had
fallen, and placing it upon a respectable footing.

The Jerome Park Race Course owes its existence to Mr. Leonard W. Jerome,
after whom it was named. The way in which it came into existence at all,
was as follows: "The trains of the New York and New Haven Railroad enter
the Metropolis upon the Harlem track. Justified by highly satisfactory
reasons, the management of the Company decided to secure a different
means of ingress to the city, and a tacit agreement was made with Leonard
W. Jerome to the effect that if he would secure the right of way from the
proper terminus of the New Haven Road clear through to New York, they
would change their route. The firm at once bought all the land they
could find along a strip of nine miles through Westchester County, up
what is known as the Saw-Mill River Valley. Some portion of their
purchase cost them at the rate of $300 an acre. Meanwhile Commodore
Vanderbilt got news of the movement, bought largely of the New Haven
stock, and at the succeeding election of directors was able to make such
changes in the board as effectually stopped the change of base from the
Harlem Line. The contract on which Jerome had acted was not in such a
form as admitted of litigation. He had acquired an immense amount of
real estate with no prospect of immediate realizations. Then came the
idea of the race-course. Not less than $100,000 was cleared as net
profit from that expedient. Another portion of the land was sold as a
cemetery. But Jerome has the greater part of the property still on his
hands."

The race-course is the property of the American Jockey Club, and the
Spring and Fall Meetings of that association are held there, and are
attended by large and fashionable crowds. The Club House and Club Stand
occupy the most retired and elevated portion of the grounds, but the best
point of view is the Grand Stand, in front of which is the usual starting
point and winning post. The price of admission is high, but the grounds
are thronged with vehicles and persons on foot. As many as ten or
fifteen thousand persons may be seen within the enclosure, while the
favorable positions outside of the grounds are black with more economical
spectators. The crowd is orderly and good-humored, and the occasion is
rarely marred by any act of rowdyism or lawlessness.

A great deal of money changes hands at the races. Bets are freely
offered and taken on the various horses. The pools sell rapidly, and the
genial auctioneer finds his post no sinecure. The struggles of the noble
animals are watched with the deepest interest. The greatest excitement
prevails amongst the _elite_ in the private stands, as well as throughout
the common herd below. Every eye is strained to watch the swift coursers
as they whirl down the track, and when the quarter stretch is gained the
excitement is beyond control. The victor steed flashes with lightning
speed by the winning post amidst a storm of cheers and yells of delight.

The course is still new, but the system which it has inaugurated is
becoming more thorough every year. The management is in the hands of
gentlemen of character, who are seeking to make at least one place in the
country where the blackguards and reckless gamblers who disgrace the
American turf shall be powerless to control affairs. The benefits of
this management will be very great. The stock of the State will be
vastly improved, and the metropolis, especially, will be able to boast
some of the finest blooded racers in the world.

LVIII. COMMODORE VANDERBILT.

Visitors to the Central Park on pleasant afternoons, rarely fail to
notice a light buggy, generally with a single occupant, drawn by a pair
of fine horses, whose whole appearance is indicative of their high
breeding and great speed. The animals would command attention anywhere,
and the driver would excite equal notice, for all are physically among
the finest specimens of their kind to be met with in the country. The
man is almost seventy-eight years of age, but he looks twenty years
younger. He is large of frame, tall, erect, and with a face as handsome
and as cold as a statue. He is one of the best known men in the country,
and he is called Cornelius Vanderbilt.

He was born on Staten Island, May 27th, 1794. His father was a boatman,
who had acquired money enough by attention to his business to purchase
and stock a farm, on which the subject of this sketch passed his boyhood.
Many interesting stories are told of Vanderbilt's boyhood, showing an
early development of the vigorous traits which have marked his maturer
life. His passion for horses seems to have been born with him. In his
seventeenth year he became a boatman in New York harbor, devoting himself
to the task of rowing passengers about or across the harbor in his own
boat. He displayed great energy and determination, and not a little
genius, in this calling, and earned money rapidly and steadily. At the
age of nineteen he married. In 1815, having saved money enough, he built
a fine schooner, and in the winter embarked in the coasting trade, going
as far south as Charleston, S.C., but continuing to ply his boat in the
harbor during the summer. By the time he was twenty-four years old, he
had saved nine thousand dollars, and had built several small vessels.

In 1818, he suddenly abandoned his flourishing business, and accepted the
command of a steamboat, with a salary of one thousand dollars. His
friends were greatly astonished at this step, and remonstrated with him
warmly, but without shaking his resolution. He had the sagacity to
perceive that the steamboats were about to revolutionize the whole system
of water transportation, and he meant to secure a foothold in the new
order of affairs without delay. The result vindicated his wisdom.

The steamer which he commanded was one of a line plying between New York
and New Brunswick--the old route to Philadelphia. This line was
conducted by Mr. Thomas Gibbons, and was warmly opposed by the
representatives of Fulton and Livingston, who claimed a monopoly of the
right to navigate the waters of New York by steam. Gibbons was
effectively supported by Vanderbilt, who ran his boat regularly in spite
of all efforts made to stop him, until the courts sustained him in his
rights. Then Vanderbilt was allowed to control the line in his own way,
and conducted it with such success that it paid Gibbons an annual profit
of forty thousand dollars.

In 1829, at the age of thirty-five, he left the service of Mr. Gibbons,
and for the second time began life on his own account. He built a small
steamer, called the "Caroline," and commanded her himself. In a few
years he was the owner of several small steamers plying between New York
and the neighboring towns. Thus began his remarkable career as a
steamboat owner, which was one unbroken round of prosperity. He
eventually became the most important man in the steamboat interest of the
country. He has owned or has had an interest in one hundred steam
vessels--hence his title of Commodore--and has been instrumental in a
greater degree than any other man, in bringing down the tariff of
steamboat fares. He has never lost a vessel by fire, by explosion, or a
wreck. His "North Star" and "Vanderbilt" were famous steamships in their
day, and in the latter he made an extended tour to the various ports of
Europe.

[Picture: CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.]

A year or two before the Civil War, Mr. Vanderbilt began to invest
largely in railroad stocks and iron works. He at length secured the
control of the Hudson River, Harlem and New York Central Roads, and their
dependencies, which made him as important a personage in this branch of
our industry as he had been in the steamboat interest. His control of
these roads also gave him a commanding influence in the stock market of
Wall street, and brought within his reach numerous opportunities for
enriching himself by speculations, of which he was not slow to avail
himself. Wall street is full of stories concerning him, and it is
evident from many of these that he has dealt the dealers there too many
hard blows to be popular amongst them.

Mr. Vanderbilt resides in a handsome old-fashioned brick mansion in East
Washington Place. His business office is in Fourth street, near
Broadway. His wealth is very great, and is generally estimated in the
city at over forty millions of dollars. He is said to have a greater
command of large sums of ready money than almost any other American
capitalist.

Mr. Vanderbilt has been twice married, and is the father of thirteen
children--nine daughters and four sons, all the children of his first
wife. His grandchildren are numerous.

LIX. THE BUMMERS.

The Bummer is simply one who detests work, and who manages to live in
some degree of comfort without earning the means of doing so. There are
many such in the city. The genuine Bummer is more of a beggar than a
thief, though he will steal if he has an opportunity. Nothing will
induce him to go to work, not even the prospect of starvation. He has a
sublime confidence in his ability to get through life easily and lazily,
and his greatest horror is the probability of falling into the hands of
the police, and being sent to Blackwell's Island as a vagrant. All that
he desires is money enough to gratify a few actual wants, food enough to
eat, clothing to cover his nakedness, and a place where he can enjoy the
warmth of a fire in the winter. He has great faith in the charitableness
of New York, and thinks that any of the necessities of life may be had
here for the asking, and he does not hesitate to ask for them. You would
wound him deeply by calling him a beggar. He never begs, he only asks.
He asks bread of the baker, or from the housekeepers of the city, and
obtains his clothing in the same way. If he wants a little pocket money,
he does not hesitate to ask for it from the passers-by on the streets.
He never spends money on food. Such a use of "the needful" is a deadly
sin in his eyes. Money was made to furnish him with cheap whiskey and
bad tobacco. It is too easy to obtain food by asking for it to think of
buying it. If he does not receive enough to satisfy his hunger at one
house, he goes to another, and repeats his efforts until he is satisfied.
One hates to refuse food to any human being who claims to have need of
it, and the Bummer knows this. Some of these people keep lists of
various householders, with a memorandum attached to each name, showing
the best hours for calling, and the nature of the articles that will
probably be given. They assist each other by information as to the
charitably disposed, and should any householder display any degree of
liberality toward them, he is sure to be overrun by a host of seedy and
hungry Bummers.

A few years ago, the City Hall Park, which was then shaded by noble old
trees, and the Battery, were the favorite resorts of this class in fair
weather. They would sit on the benches of the park, and doze, or, when
very sleepy, would lie at full length upon them, until aroused by a blow
from a policeman's club upon the soles of their shoes. They were not
allowed to sleep in the park, and when caught in the act were compelled
to join the throng of promenaders in Broadway, and "move on." At the
Battery they were rarely disturbed. That locality was then a mere
receptacle for trash, and the Bummer was at home there. The dirt heaps
were softer than the stones, and the breeze that came in from the bay was
highly favorable to slumber. Now, all has been changed. The massive
edifice of the New Post-office covers the old resort of the Bummer, and
the Battery has been made so spruce and trim that it needs not the gruff
voice of the gray-coated guardian of the place to make the Bummer feel
that it is lost to him forever.

During the day, the Bummer roams about the city, resting where he can,
and occasionally dropping into a bar-room to fill himself with five-cent
whiskey. He is not averse to receiving a treat, and it should be
mentioned to his credit that he is always ready to treat his friends to
his favorite drink when he is in funds. When hungry, he "asks" for food.
He is fond of visiting the second-rate theatres at the expense of
somebody else, and hangs around them, hoping some one will give him a
check before the performance is over. In mild weather, he will sleep
almost anywhere, in or around a market house, or in an empty wagon. The
hay-barges in North River afford comfortable beds, and many Bummers
occupy them. In wet or cold weather, the Bummer patronizes the cheap
lodging-houses, or the cellars, and as a last resort applies for shelter
at the station house. He is diffident about asking assistance at the
last place, however, for he has a vague idea that the police would be
only too glad to get him safely lodged on the Island. One of his
favorite amusements is attendance upon the police courts. This affords
him a few hours of rest in a comfortable place, and furnishes him with
material for thought.

In begging, the Bummer never asks boldly for aid. He always prefaces his
request with a pitiful story of misfortune, and expresses his sense of
shame at being an able-bodied man and yet compelled to "ask" for
assistance. He is an adept at deceiving good-hearted people, and very
clever at assuming the air of innocent misfortune. Thus he supplies his
wants.

In his confidential moments, he readily admits that "Bumming" is a hard
life, but he is confident that it is better than working for a living.
You cannot induce him to accept any species of employment, however light.
Vagrancy has a strange fascination for him, and he will be nothing but
what he is until five-cent whiskey sinks him to a grade still lower.
Sometimes he sees his doom afar off, and anticipates it by seeking the
cold waters of the East River. At the best, suicide is the happiest end
he can hope for, and it does not require much exertion to drown oneself.
Should he allow events to take their natural course, there is but one
prospect before him--a pauper's death and the dissecting-table.

Some of these men have had fair starts in life. Some of them are well
educated, and could have risen to eminence in some useful calling. A
fondness for liquor and a disinclination to work have been their ruin.

LX. TENEMENT HOUSE LIFE.

The peculiar formation of the island of Manhattan renders it impossible
for the city to expand save in one direction. On the south, east, and
west its growth is checked by the waters of the rivers and bay, so that
it can increase only to the northward. The lower part of the island is
being occupied for business purposes more and more exclusively every
year, and the people are being forced higher up town. Those who remain
in the extreme lower portion for purposes of residence are simply the
very poor. Those who can afford to do so, seek locations removed as far
as is convenient to them from the business section. The laboring class,
by which I mean all who are forced to pursue some regular occupation for
their support, are not able to go far from their work, and are obliged to
remain in locations which will enable them to reach their places of
business with as little delay as possible.

Consequently the bulk of the population is packed into that portion of
the city which lies between the City Hall and Fourteenth street. By the
United States Census of 1870, the population of the wards in this
district was reported as follows:

Wards Natives Foreigners Total

4 10456 13292 23748
5 9245 7905 17150
6 9444 11709 21153
7 24130 20688 41818
8 20285 14628 34913
9 33020 14589 47609
10 18851 22580 41431
11 34805 29425 64230
13 19288 14076 33364
14 13379 13057 26436
15 16821 10766 27587
17 46033 49332 95365

Total 255757 222047 477804

[Picture: A NEW YORK TENEMENT HOUSE.]

By the same census, the total population of the city in 1870 was 942,292.
The district included in the above wards is about two miles square, which
would give for this portion of New York an average population of 238,902
to the mile square. The Seventeenth ward covers less than one-fortieth
of the whole area of the island, and contains more than one-tenth of the
whole population.

The total area of the city is twenty-two square miles, and we find that
one-half of its population is cramped within an area of about four square
miles. It is evident, therefore, that they must be housed in a very
small number of buildings, and such indeed is the case.

The section of the city embraced in the wards we have named is filled
with a class of buildings called tenement houses. The law classes all
dwellings containing three or more families as tenement houses, but the
true tenement house is an institution peculiar to New York. There are
about 70,000 buildings in the city used for purposes of business and as
dwellings, and of these, 20,000 are tenement houses, containing about
160,000 families, or about 500,000 people. This would give an average
population of eight families or twenty persons to each tenement house in
the city. In 1867 the number of tenement houses was 18,582. The
following table will show their distribution among the wards at that
time, and their sanitary condition:

No. of Tenement In bad sanitary condition
from
Wards. Houses. any cause.

1 275 175
2 - -
3 40 24
4 500 300
5 300 180
6 600 360
7 1847 890
8 850 546
9 60 434
10 430 196
11 2400 1200
12 208 104
13 550 275
14 550 346
15 200 132
16 1300 433
17 2305 1138
18 & 21 2276 1516
19 761 380
20 1250 417
22 1200 800