Part 2

XXII

THE BATTLESHIP “OKLAHOMA” ON THE HUDSON

It often seems more difficult to recognize beauty in things with which we are familiar than in those which are more foreign to us. The Hudson is, beyond question, as splendid a river as any of which European cities can boast, yet visitors to New York often seem to appreciate it more than do the New Yorkers themselves. Whether twinkling under myriad lights on a summer night, or storm lashed in January, the Hudson sweeps the whole west shore of Manhattan in lasting yet ever changing grandeur. Imagine yourself in an unknown, distant city, and watch the sun go gorgeously down behind the Palisades, while on the water its long reflection is ploughed to pieces by the river craft.

XXIII

HIGH BRIDGE

Boldly across the Harlem River at One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Street stands High Bridge. It differs remarkably from other New York bridges in that it is built entirely of masonry. No steel construction, no suspension cable, no huge rolling lift or counter-poise relate it to the present dynasty of bridges. One hundred and thirty-five feet of solid stone it rises gray and enduring amid the surrounding green. Surely it belongs to the Old World and to another time, and looking through its arches one half expects to see the towers and battlements of some old chateau, clear cut against the sky. One may even fancy,--but here a blunt-nosed tug rams puffing up against the tide, smoke belching from its stumpy funnel, the water churned to froth; and one has lost the wonders of the past in wonders of to-day.

XXIV

WASHINGTON BRIDGE

Washington Bridge is one of the many arteries that join the Borough of the Bronx with Manhattan, and in thus connecting its enormous area and population with the rest of the metropolis, is a material factor in making New York the foremost city of the country.

XXV

THE GRAND CENTRAL STATION

The Grand Central is one of the finest railroad stations in the country. Fronting on Forty-second it extends to Forty-fifth Street and from Vanderbilt Avenue to Lexington. The group of figures forming the clock cartouche above its main façade is a piece of masterly sculpture. Its main hall is gigantic. The system with which its hundreds of trains arrive and depart is little less than magical. Yet greater far than these is the story of the crowds that come to New York on these trains, and the mass of hopes and aspirations that they bring to the city through this great gate. And of all who come buoyant, confident and convinced that they will wrest success from this thronging mart of millions,--how few achieve! And yet, though comparatively few, these victors form so vast an army that they many times outnumber the successful sons of the city, and are a mighty force in the making of New York, the Metropolis of the Nation.