CHAPTER III
SIGHT-SEEING IN NEW YORK
"Well, as long as we can't visit the Stock Exchange, we may as well stopat Wall Street and see the Subtreasury and Old Custom House."
Mr. Parke's suggestion met with approval, so they all followed him upthe wide street known as Broad, passing the curb brokers, as they stoodscreaming and gesturing at each other.
"Oh, don't go so close to that street fight, uncle!" called Anne Davis,tugging at Mr. Parke's sleeve.
"What's the matter there, father? Is some one killed?" worried George,watching the mob anxiously.
"No, they are merely shouting out prices, or dealing in stocks. Theseare called curb brokers, because they have no 'seats' in the Exchangeand cannot deal in there," said Mr. Parke.
"Do any of you children know why Wall Street has its name?" asked Mrs.Davis.
"I suppose because it does a wall of money business every day," venturedJack, trying to be wise.
"No, it was Wall Street long before any stock market was founded in NewYork. It had a high, long wall crossing here from the East River to WestStreet, and back of this wall stood an old Dutch Colonial house, withfine orchards about it. So solid was this wall that the conflictingarmies of the British and American sides found it very convenient for arefuge and protection. Then, too, when some old Dutchman or alien of NewAmsterdam--for it was so called by the discoverer of the island, HendrikHudson, in 1609--wanted to designate a certain district of the town, hewould say 'in front of the wall', or 'so-and-so distant from the wall,'until it began to be known as 'The Wall.' Then the lane that ran infront of it was becoming quite a thoroughfare, as so many people had togo about the area of land enclosed by the wall, that it gradually becameknown as 'Wall Street.'"
This information was very interesting to the children, and Mrs. Parkesaid: "Tell them about the purchase of this island."
"The land on which New York stands to-day was secured from the Indiansfor $24.00 worth of beads and trinkets in 1626, although the island wasfound by Hudson in 1609 on his voyage of discovery along the bay and upthe Hudson River.
"In 1664 the English took it from the Dutch and changed the name to NewYork after the English nobleman. When Howe took it from Washington'sarmy, his men were so reckless in their merry-making that fire broke outin a tavern down here and soon the wooden houses, with theirdried-shingle roofs, were blazing. In that fire more than a thousandbuildings were destroyed, and the fine old mansions of lower New York,then the fashionable section of Dutch and English wealth, were razed tothe ground. The few places escaping the conflagration were those belowthis fire-line, or the homes better protected by owners, who kept abucket-brigade at work to thoroughly soak the outside of the buildings."
"Now that we have seen the sights on Wall Street, what else can we seedowntown?" asked Jack.
"Well, we can visit the old church here at the head of Wall Street, andthen we can also visit the graveyard of the old church standing on thecorner of Fulton and Broadway. Here we will find old flat stones markinggraves made before the days of the Revolution; and some of the famousmen we read about are buried in this busy section of lower New York.That will fill in our time until we start back uptown to the hotel,"said Mr. Parke.
So the children wandered about the grass-covered burial spot, wherecenturies ago funerals of great men were held, and now old stones stillshowed the spots where they had been laid to rest.
So completely worn out were they from that well-filled day ofsight-seeing, that all were ready for bed soon after dinner thatevening. When Mr. Davis came in from a late business conference, no onefelt like talking of the day's exploits.
Mr. Parke was to attend to his business the following day, and Mr. Davisoffered to act as official guide to the party. John was sent uptown tohis great-aunt in a taxicab and told to be sure and be on hand by tenthe next day.
"What shall we visit to-day?" asked Mr. Davis, when all the travellershad gathered about the breakfast table in the morning.
"You know best--we want to see the forts and the places where they showthings left by Washington," said George.
"I have been thinking that we may as well keep right on visiting fromdowntown up, taking in important points of interest on the way,"suggested Mrs. Parke.
"We can. Then we ought to go down to City Hall Park and take in thesights from there on," replied Mrs. Davis.
The moment John arrived--which was fifteen minutes before the timeset--they started out on their second day's trip.
At Old City Hall, with its park of ten acres, they saw the county courthouse, the Old Post Office and the famous Woolworth building, said to bethe tallest in the world. Finding they could visit the tower, they allwent up in an elevator and had a bird's-eye view of the great city, withits great ribbons of river winding along on two sides of it, forming theisland of Manhattan, where East and North rivers met.
They saw the buildings where the New York _World_, _The Tribune_, _TheSun_, _The Mail_, and other papers were printed, and Mr. Davis securedpermission for them to visit the plant in the Tribune building, so thechildren could watch the interesting process of turning out a dailynewspaper.
After this, they went to the Hudson Tubes Terminal building and hadluncheon at the restaurant before walking down the incline of Fultonentrance to the concourse underground. The very fact that so muchbusiness went on continually underground, while other business continuedabove on the streets, filled the children with amazement.
They saw the trains of the New York terminal come in and go out again,and were told how the tubes under the Hudson River had been built andwere now conducted.
As a crowded train left the platform, Jack sighed: "The same old thingas in the subway. Not half enough seats for the crowds of people thattravel. When we run _our_ line we will see that every one who pays fullprice has a seat, or they won't have to pay but half fare."
"Your plan is most sensible, but no monopoly will ever consent to losehalf a nickel that way while it can get full fare out of the travellingpublic that must reach certain destinations in a given time," repliedMr. Davis.
From the Hudson Tubes the visitors followed their guide crosstown again,and after walking a few blocks they again crossed City Hall Park. Herethey entered the large Municipal building that stands near the entranceto Brooklyn Bridge.
"I think it would be a treat to take you over the bridge on a trolleycar. As we cross I can explain all about the great cables that suspendthis tremendous structure."
The children eagerly consenting, they were soon seated in a Flatbushtrolley, Mr. Davis explaining during the ride the many interesting factsof the old Brooklyn Bridge structure.
In Brooklyn, Mr. Davis showed them in passing, the City Hall, and asthey passed down the streets so similar to the busy thoroughfares of NewYork, Anne said:
"I don't see why they changed the name of these two towns; they arejust alike and ought to be called by the same name."
"They tried that some years ago," replied Mrs. Parke. "This is all knownnow as Greater New York, but we are now on the Brooklyn section of it,while on the other side of the river it is known as Manhattan. Thenthere is the Bronx section, and the Washington Heights or Van Courtlandtsections."
On the way through Flatbush the children saw a number of genuine oldhouses, still standing since the time of the occupation of Long Islandby the British.
"It is no wonder the American army was overpowered here by GeneralHowe," remarked Mrs. Davis. "The British had more than 30,000 men in itsarmy and navy--all well-trained soldiers, with plenty of food, clothing,and camp equipment to keep them in good trim. Poor Washington had only ascattered force of less than 11,000 men, with scant rations, raggedclothes, no beds or tents for half of them, and constantly having to gofrom one spot to the other to defend that point."
"Yes, and when we remember how badgered the Americans were, by not beingsure where the English would strike first--landing on Staten Island asthey did, and swarming in their fleet of battleships, transports,sloops
-of-war and floating batteries of guns up the East River, alongthe Hudson and about the bay so that it would have taken a dozen armiesto keep watch of their many maneuvers," added Mrs. Parke.
"Then when Howe so arranged his army that one regiment threatened fromone side, another from another side, and the main army from the rear,what were the Americans to do but fight or give up?" said Mr. Davis,while the children listened eagerly to this history, which was very realwhen on the ground of the scenes.
"Had it not been for that master-stroke of Washington's, when he had butone tiny hope left to save his men--retreat and move over the EastRiver during the heavy fog, what might have been the final result ofthat war? When we think of the way he handled that great army of sick,hungry, weary and wounded men, discouraged and broken-spirited as eachone was, and inspired them with enough will-power and patriotism tobrace up and start in absolute silence and under cover of the fog, tocross the deep and dangerous current of the river on flat-bottomedboats, we, at this late day, but faintly feel the great praise due him;and to think that not one man was lost or injured in that transportwork!"
"It must have been a terrible blow to Howe, when he discovered his birdsall flown in the morning and no one knew how or when!" Jack chuckled inhearty enjoyment.
"I wish I had been there to laugh in his face!" declared George.
"Huh! You wouldn't have laughed long or very loud--he would have clappedyou in irons and thrown you into one of those wet, filthy, dark holeshe used for the American prisoners!" said John.
"Well, even if I wasn't at the battle scene of Long Island, I would haveloved to stand in front of the Old City Hall on Wall Street on thatFourth of July, 1776, and listen to Washington read from the balcony theDeclaration of Independence to his army. How that must have cheered themup and made them willing to fight all England!" said George, withemphasis.
Mr. Davis hired an automobile when the party reached the end of theFlatbush ride, and took the children to Gowan's Cove, to WallaboutMarket, which used to be called "Walla Bouche" by the Walloons, whosettled this section of Brooklyn. They also passed the Gowanus Canal ofhistoric fame, and many other places, stopping at Fort Hamilton to beable to see Governor's Island at close range, as no visitors wereadmitted on the Island since the declaration of war on Germany.
On the way back from Fort Hamilton, the sight-seeing party visited theThrogg's Neck, Red Hook, and other districts where battles had occurred;but so modernized were these spots, that no one would have dreamed thatany disastrous battle had ever taken place there.
The next day, both gentlemen being free to escort the party about thecity, they started at nine o'clock to get in a full day. John was onhand right on the minute, and they started out by visiting Central Parkfirst. The great Egyptian obelisk, brought across seas from Alexandriain 1880, was studied, but no one could decipher the strange symbolscarved on its surface.
"It is called 'Cleopatra's Needle,' and is said to be the finestspecimen of old Egyptian monuments in existence," said Mr. Parke,focussing a camera to take a picture of it.
Then they visited the Museum of Art, where treasures of all kinds are tobe found: paintings, statuary, collections of stones, jewels, antiquesof all kinds, and a famous collection of tapestries.
The zoo proved to be a diversion from the other sights, and could thechildren have remained long enough, it is quite certain that the monkeyswould have been made ill by all the peanuts fed them.
From the museum and zoo, the children were taken to the Museum ofNatural History, on the Park Annex grounds, located on 77th Street andCentral Park West. Here, too, they found interesting things: all sortsof stuffed birds, animals and American relics. Of all the animals, thedinosaur interested them the most, for its great size and queer snout.
"Now we'll cross to Riverside Park and visit the Sailors' Monument,which is considered one of the finest erected to our marines," said Mr.Davis.
"And when we finish that, we will get on a bus and ride up to Grant'sTomb and let the kiddies see the great monument raised by a gratefulpeople to the general of the Civil War," added Mr. Parke.
"We haven't seen Washington's Arch down at Washington Square yet,"reminded George, fearful of missing something.
"I know, but I thought it would be fine to get on a Fifth Avenue buswhen we finish Columbia University on the Heights, and complete ourcollege tour with the City College on 137th Street and Amsterdam Avenue,and ride all the way downtown along Riverside Park to 72nd Street,thence to Fifth Avenue. Down that famous avenue we can see manyinteresting buildings and sights, and at last we will jump off atWashington Square," promised Mr. Parke.
So the time flew rapidly by while the different places were visited, andfinally the tired group almost rolled from the bus when it reachedWashington Square. Here they took but half interest in the great archerected to the memory of Washington, and all were thankful enough to geton another bus to ride uptown to the hotel.
"Oh, I'm glad we haven't all Europe to see like this!" sighed Martha,throwing herself on a couch the moment they entered the parlor of thesuite.
"Poor John! I think I will telephone his mother and ask her to allow himto remain with us for to-night," said Mrs. Parke, when she saw thedrooping eyelids of the weary boy.
"Oh do, please, and then I won't have to get up so awfully early in themorning. Why, Great-aunt Belinda makes every one in her household riseat six o'clock, and we breakfast at seven," said John, revealing thecause of his prompt arrival each morning at the hotel.
John was given permission to remain that night, and Mrs. Graham addedthat she would be down herself at nine in the morning to accompany herfriends to Washington's Headquarters, where they proposed to visit thenext day.