New York by Sunlight and Gaslight: A Work Descriptive of the Great American Metropolis; Its High and Low Life, Its Splendors and Miseries, Its Virtues ... Crime, Its Public Men, Politicians, Advent - Hardcover

Excerpt from New York by Sunlight and Gaslight: A Work Descriptive of the Great American Metropolis; Its High and Low Life, Its Splendors and Miseries, Its Virtues and Vices, Its Gorgeous Palaces and Dark Homes of Poverty and Crime, Its Public Men, Politicians, Adventurers, Its Charities, Frauds, Etc

What Paris is to the Frenchman, or London to the Briton, New York is to the American. It is not only the Great Metropolis of the New World, but it is the chief attraction upon this continent, the great centre to which our people resort for business and plea sure, and as such, is a source of never-failing interest.

This being the case, it is natural that every American should de sire to visit New York, to see the City for himself, behold its beau ties, its wonderful Sights, and participate in the pleasures which are to be enjoyed only in the Metropolis. Thousands avail themselves of this privilege every year; but the great mass Of our people know our chief City only by the descriptions of their friends, and the brief accounts of its sights and scenes which occur from time to time in the newspapers of the day. Even those who visit the city bring away but a superficial knowledge of it, as to know New York re quires years Of constant study and investigation. Strangers see only the surface; they cannot penetrate into its inner life, and examine the countless influences at work every day in Shaping the destiny Of the beautiful city. Few, even of the residents of the Metropolis, have either the time or the means for such investigations. Few have a correct idea of the terrible romance and hard reality of the daily lives of a vast portion of the dwellers in New York, or of the Splendor and luxury of the wealthier classes.

One of the Chief characteristics Of New York is the rapidity. With which Changes occur in it. Those who were familiar with the city in the past will find it new to them now. The march Of progress and improvement presses on with giant strides, and the city of today is widely separated from the City Of a few years ago. Only one who has devoted himself to watching its onward career, either in prosperity and magnificence or in misery and crime, can form any idea of the magnitude and character of the wonderful changes of the past ten years.

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