24 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



about the island destined to become the commercial centre of the 

 world. The first white marble building was rising in the stories 

 of the American Museum, to astonish the citizens, whilst the 

 jealousy of brick-layers had rendered necessary the importation 

 of a State prison convict to commence the labor. The complexion 

 of the city was fresh, and its features illy formed. Its Municipal 

 Hall, in the Park, was of necessity virtuous, watched over by 

 three religious temples — St. Paul's, the Brick, and the Murray street 

 churches. The new gas lamps annoyed the eyes of sleepy watch- 

 men. Chelsea, Greenwich, and Rose Hill were distinctive names. 

 The Tontine Coffee House was father-in-law, by suspicions, of the 

 young Niblo's Garden, just beginning a suburban career. The 

 far-away Cro ton had not yet received certificates of character from 

 Professors Chilton and Doremus; and Central Park, a collection 

 of farms, slept under summer sun, or autumn haze, or winter 

 snows, oblivious of roads made from pulverized granite, and of 

 trees plucked. Titan-like, from Westchester forests. 



Next, group yourselves around milestone No. 31. Your eyes 

 ache with concentrated gaze. Your ears are vexed with a climac- 

 teric of all sounds. American Industry has become a wide-spread- 

 ing elm, with scores of parasites clinging to its trunk. Every 

 county in this and in the adjoining States holds a local fair each 

 year, at nearly all of which your 'Transactions' appear among 

 the prizes. There are colleges set apart to labor, mechanics, and 

 agriculture. Their professors swarm, as did Abbe's in the French 

 revolution. There is but one metropolis, and the provinces are 

 its ' profits.' It has, long ago, swallowed Chelsea and Greenwich, 

 and digested Rose Hill. Its appetite is sharpening for Spuyten 

 Duyvel and Yonkers. The Erie canal furnishes oil for the angry 

 waves of politics, and has become a pet with all parties. The 

 libations of Dr. Mitchell have appeased Cosmopolitan Mammon. 

 Brick edifices are becoming exceptional. Of the churches whose 

 matins and vespers wafted themselves upon the city fathers at 

 council board or in 'tea-room' assembled, one has removed to 

 within stone's throw of this desk, and the other has traveled more 

 than two miles nearer to the North Pole ! One unbroken proces- 

 sion of gas-burners are now marshaled, under civic authority, 

 from Whitehall to Highbridge — ten miles and upwards I 



Thus, having surveyed our route, turn your attention to the 

 member of the Institute, amid his 'Daily Wonders,' at this pe- 

 riod — his wonders of life, presented to him by the World of In- 

 vention. Examine these wonders by the rush-lights of thirty-one 



