The New York Herald Newspaper, August 21, 1873, Page 4

LONG ISLAND RETREAT — ‘The Ride Over a Hop-Skip- and-Jump Railroad. SIMOOMS OF DUST AND D. 'A New but True Type of Casarism on Long Island. THE ANCIENT VILLAGE OF SAG. Its Population, Reminiscences of Former Glory and Cemetery. ‘A PACE FROM HISTORY Chief Justice Daly and His Wouse and Grounds—Would He Not Make a Good Chief Justice of the United States? POPULATION OF SKIPPERS. Sac Haxzsor, L. L, August 18, 1873, Long Island is a curious tract—curious in its his- tory, topography and population—yet, withal, a delightful country for Summer wanderings. Ar- nving at Sag Harbor I concluded that I had accom- lished the most extraordinary feat ever performed y @ HERALD correspondent. I had come over the Long Island Raliroad and its connections from Dyster Bay without being killed or mortally avounded, As volumes have alrcady been written ‘Dn this attenuated nuisance (Imean the railroad) { shall not trouble the reader witn any extended Account of the sins of its mapager, a man, I believe, As thoroughiy despised on Long Island as Neroever avasin Rome. But fancy a knock-kneed, groaning, swaying and thirsty caravan, mounted on wheels, moving along at the will of an evil genius called a yonductor, who takes your tickets and besides does the duty of a brakeman, and you have a fair idea pf the chefdauvre of the management. The con- templation of this ¢ HOP-SKIPAND-JUMP RAILROAD Js not improved as you are jolted eastward through Bimoom of dust and sand, occasionally drawing up before hovels where you are at liberty to extricate ourself from the insect world about your seat. ‘ou naturally enough turn to your compagnon de poyage, who may be a thrifty Long Islander ‘who has seen the better part of a century, and al- ways living inthe hope that the manager of the Yailroad might cease to be the Cwsar of Long Island, and ask him:— “Are the inhabitants responsible for this kind of Folling stock? Are they in any way accountable for Brailroad of tnis character?” “No; the manager of the railroad is a despot, Some ople call him a stern mah, others a mean man; ut the truth is he is a spiteful man. Long Island has been at his mercy, and his morcy has been of po tenderkind. fhrough him, and through him Blone, the island has iost prestige. People have heard what a break-neck, uneven concern this Yallroad is, and they naturally conclude that it is typical of the country it lives upon and the people who employ it. In all of Long Island east of Brooklyn it has become a part of the religion of Pach inhabitant to utter a daily curse upon his head.” It is reported on good authority here that nego- Hations have been goiug on for the transfer of the Long Island Railroad, with all its branches, to the Bouth Side Company ior a consideration named as 61,500,000 in cash, the eontract to take effect on Beptember 1. The mere report that negetiations pf this character are going on has spread a feeling DI soulagement among the population interested, Bnd devout prayers are offered up that the con- tract may go into effect as soon as possible. At this writing [am not able to authenticate the ru- Wor, though Ihave had It confirmed by many well- Jnformed people. The immediate effect of such a ymovement would hardly be appreciated, as the sea- fon is tar advanced, and as it would be next to Impossible to inaugurate those re/orms for which the different towns have long prayed. But next Season the isiand would undergo a transformation nvhich I believe would astonish the islanders them- Relves. This end of the island offers advantages for Summer retreats which few can understand or Bppreciate who have not made themselves familiar with the delightful atmosphere, the picturesque Beenery and the net-work of seaside villages, alive with gavety and Summer tourists. j 1 think it may be said that the want of knowl- edge concerning this end of the island is due en- tirely to the fact that there has never been what might be calied a respectable means of locomotion Jrom New York. Sag Harbor, Greenport, Orient Point, Shelter Island and the Hamptons are com- paratively isolated from the continent. The ma- rine attractions, the geniality of the quiet, Inde- pendent population, the quaint old country air per- vading every phase of life, have been ignored by those who have gone to Newport to build castles and mansions by the sea, ohly to find that, after all, they own houses ina city but a little more rural than the metropolis. In order that the eastend may be fairly under- stood let us take a retrospect of some two hundred years or more. PRIOR TO 1640 there appeared at the west end of the island a body Of those hardy New Englanders who settled Mas- Bachusetts. The irate Dutch did not view this ind cursion on what they considered theirs by more than divine right with complacent satisfaction, And hastened to drive the Yankees away. The Dutch being more numerous and belligerent, the. New Engiancers set out from the North Sea and with heavy hearts moved against the sun and finally Bettled a1 Southampton, a jew miles from this vil- fage. Thence they went to Sag, and thetr lineal Gescendants still inhabit that somnolent village. in company With @ distinguished gentleman, who as taken at interest in the eariy history of the land, I rode over to Sag the other day, and we (wandered through = streets of the gery vil- tage—per! ps only one remaining in America which has preserved its primitive habits and the dull inanity of an original Puritan town. THE VILLAGE OF SAG Js situated on the ocean, and the heavy rear of the purf, mingling with the rustling ot its aged trees na the crowing Of its cocks and the piping of ts, are about the only sounds you hear, audit ‘was always 80. The village itsel! is built en either side of a broad |, running in @ northerly direc. tion. The houses are old-iashioned, shingled on the sides, with sharp gables and a genera! old-time exterior. It seems as if the doors and windows ‘were on the dead within and to the curtous traveller witnout. In fact, these houses appeared te me like olden Renee preserved alone to com- memorate the it, though actually they are by if ng, men and women. The grave- ard, in the middle of the highway and within und of the suri, furnishes you the best directory 0 the village, as Greenwood, or Pere la , Jurnishes the spectator with a condensed directory f all Ls has been illustrious of New York or Faris 1e | is nothing more symbolical of wo or cif history, ogee | which meas- ures so well ‘the h, the changes of language and the appreciation of public or privace virtaes, as the r cemetery—the Fich or favorites of the peo; reposing beneath Btately monuments, and the poor but remembered welling in their earthly homes with no mark but fb humble slab, The graveyard of ig ona the tory Of & few quiet, hon frugal w E anders, Who went to and, Gespoiling the Indians of all their lands and ehat- ‘Weis, treated with them, and thus peaceably ac- quired territory and set about to develop THE GARDEN OF LONG ISLAND. ‘The ce: seqnence of this line of action was that the ant of the Montauks is to-day dwelling near Point on @ reservation of their own, and they Seen practically Americans for above two red years. We examined the graveyard, and on one of the oldest headstones, executed tu mite, but Bow crumbling away, the record the Deace Who died in Aged. , NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY, AUGUST 2] 1873 —TRIPLE SHEET. otha ad, and gracefully: war topiary "ome 1, worded eulo; em- beilish many of the stones of two centuries as Well as those of more recent aate. Two familles seem to have formed the ari of this Re nw gy + 01 m tl an wut one of ‘bo tic more Yan one hundred and ity years 1 Moss-grown, the stories of a longevity, public service. and many fmarital and domestic Vir- - tues. ABs we di away from the graveyard and, ‘ain through thi pillage, Icould not help but Unk, “What food for historical romancer |’? There is a v! situated on one of the most ex- posed shores of the Atlantic Ocean, a place of Puri- and Indian Baditions, | preserving the teristics of the seventeenth century—as it was in the beginning it is now, and perhaps ever will be— asilent, but not dese: settiement, contaming rich farms and venerable homesteads, laoking upon the stranger as an intruder; without hospitable -hinges to their doors, without weicome latches to ‘their gates, refusing to sell their lands, but main- taining the same coid, distant independence which they doubtless acquired when their ancestors flew before the Dutch aggressor, and came here to bar- an with the Montauks, 1 think that behind those jouble-locked doors there must be some Pierson or some Hedges who would make @ good heroine with her broad acres) to a city fortune hunter of fashionable mould; and there are plenty of Indian: Puritans and whaling captains with whom to fi up the padded chapters. This much, Mr. or Miss Romancer, I do for you. SAG HARBOR, as the reader will now understand, was, as its name signifies, simply the Harbor of Sag. But when Sag Harbor grew in maritime prosperity it was no longer a dependency of Lillputian Sag, but became of age and speedily matured into ao im- portant seaport of 5,000 inhabitants, Cooper gives an interesting description of the town in one 01 his best written but least known novele—the ‘Sea Lions,” It was about the year 1780 that trade had |’ 80 far matured that, tively speaking, it could- walk alone, and in 1776 commerce had become 80 extensive that Washington thought it more impor- tant to appoint a Collector o1 Customs for Sag Har- bor before he had made the office for New York. At the beginning of the brane century Sag Har- |, bor began to participate in the richest of marine ‘mining, the whale fisheries, When you reflect ‘how extensive these fisheries have been you wili be able to understand the reason why 60 much wealth has been accumulated tm such smail places as New London, New Bedford and Sag Harbor. When whale fishing was at its zenith more than 600 vessels were engaged in the commerce-a squadron qutte as large as the United States Navy during the recent war. But THE SAURIAN MONSTERS ‘w scarce, and with this ream a4 increased he diMeulties of gathering the oi. Ship-puilding enhanced in cost; petroleum came into the mar- ket, and the waters which once abounded with whales were no longer servicable for the business. The decline at Harbor however, as early as 1836, when there were seventy-six whalers sailing from this port, and from one or all of the causes named the retrogression named has been Steady until date. Now there is but one whaler, and she is cruising in the South Atlantic. All of the wealth to be found in Hapbor ts founded directly or indi on thiscommerce. Those were indeed palmy days when a vessel would clear Montauk Point and return to thts port after @ ten months’ cruise laden down with 3,000 barrels of oil, The old captains like to talk of those times, tor they were the happy years in their lives, You do not know how interesting it is to come down here and move amoug this POPULATION OF SKIPPERS, for nearly every other man is @ captain. In fact, the stranger would be safe in addressing any one in Sag Harbor as captain, except the Methodist parson, for, I believe, he has never been to sea— save in theology. There old capt: of course, have no further marine employment, They have taken to the uncongenial occupations of the lands- mano. Ifyou want achimney built on your house send for the captain; if a new hennery, the captain Will make it; drive up to the captain’s shop and he willshoe your horse; the captain grows fine | vegetables on his farm, and you have only to make your order and it will be straightway filled; the captain 1s not a bad tinker; neither does the cap- tain fail when he tries to Keep a hotel; but these | jolly captains have other possessions than their trades, for which they have taken out natural- zation papers; | mean their pretty daughters. Tais leads one to say something about THE SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS ofSag Harbor. in small American villages there is apt to be a certain vulgar provincialism about the society—perhaps, pretty well defined the envy that | 1s excited in the breasts of the town magnates by the appearance of “a city chap” or a “city girl” in their midst. The New Yorker certainly bas differ- ent manners trom the young lady or gentioman of Bungtown, and the contrast is eften so strong as to offend rural simplicity, Here it is different, Sag Harbor bud importance in foreign shores when New York was hardly known. Extensive | travel in many lands has induced refinement; and { as I wandered through the strects and visited | some Of the private families I could not help but observe the more than ordinary culture and breed- ing of the young ladies, those makers and moulders ol the social world, They are pretty, but they ure more even—they are modest and modestly atured, and behind their mere manners are simple, uucon- taminated hearts, The characteristic of the sag Har- borite 18 easy independence. If he be rich, well and good; if he be poor, he docs enough to sustain lie; that isall, No person who ever visited this piace could complain of ostentatious attention at the hands of the serving people whetuer they be grocers or domestics. You ask ior what you Want; iit be convenient to supply that waut it ts supplied; not otherwise. Interwoven with these easy-going traits is a firm texture of grep! and od nature which endear you to the people the jonger you dwell among them. In fine, republican- ism seems to obtain here ia its best phases—the best phases by @ general recognition that the world was made for everybody and that everybody should enjoy its blessings. Such isthe result of a week's stay in a Harbor, where I have had every opportunity to judge and decide for mysell, fhe village itself is very much iike New England cities on the seashore. It contains about 3,000 inhabitanta, and I believe none of them are | upers. There are many fine mansions along the | main street, and hidden on the lateral thorough. | fares are a score ur more of cosey houses, occupied | by well-to-do owners. It is only recently that New Yorkers have begun to seek Sag Harbor as a site for Summer cottages on the Newport plan, and Chef Justice Daly is the pioneer. CHIEF JUSTICE DALY'S HOUSE AND GROUNDS. To northward of the viliage is North Haven, formed by an arm of the bay extending in shore to | westward. Looking to southward 1s an elegant | country Mansion surmounted by an open cupoia, which, at umes, whether by daylight, moon- light or starlight, 13 one ef the features of Sag Harbor. You wend your way thither, crossing a venerable bridge, and gaining the highway, are soon before the entrance to the ground, The man- | sion itself is simple and unpretending, reminding | you that it is not too much metropolitan to be | rural, neither too much rural not to be metropol- | itan. It might be either, and in either situation | it would be a charming residence, {t appears to me to be a compound of the Swiss cottage and the English couutry residence, together with some architectural novelties, which are the proprietor’s own, The heuse stands on a high groun and 1s surrounded oy serpentine drives, blooming flower plots and antique vases. A Summer house surmounts @ gently rising elevation and the eye 1s attracted by a rare art in thia country, that of “thatching.” 1 climbed over the fence aud walked along the water | front a distance of a quarter of a mile, and there I | beheld the true attractions of the place. Chief | Justice Daly's little feet of sail and row boats les secured +o his private pier, at the land end of which | 18a neat bathing house. Rustic seats are placed | along the water terrace between thri/ty cedars, | and look ont upon the superb view to southward. | lt was when sailing in tae cove just belore twi- light, with a golden sun and crimson sky, that [ | could best appreciate this model mansion. A few beams of light, furnished with the most brilliant glow, illumimated the bow windows as from within and relieved the balconies which surround three | sides of the mausion, as it stood boldly out against | the northern sky; and do you know what my thought was as little weet of air tried to keep the sail from Mapping against the mast—how marvel- lously is this my ideal of Mount Vernon—the Mount Vernon in the noontime days of Martha Washing- ton, with the patient Potomac flowing by! THE SCENERY from Chief Justice Daiy’s place includes all that makes landscape and Waterscape charmingly pic- turesque. At your feet isa broad sheet of mildly | tinted water stretching away @ mile or two to the , wooded shore opposite, the rising slopes of which | are overgrown with firs, pines, cedars and eims, | presenting to the eye vast tracts of luxuriant foliage, | bere and there pordered by the suver sheen ¢| coves and inlets, Little sloops and sailboats are | beating through tideways and eddies; rowboats, with the perpetual noise of propulsion, disturb the | peaceiul slumber of the valley, and the merry song of the excursionists 1s echoed and re-echoed by the | bluffs and woods; and as your eye wanders over | the scene you detect in a hall hidden road a car- | riage or two dashing away to the Hamptons. A | clear aztre sky vauits this wide expanse of beauty, | a Cool southwest breeze is constantly blowing | THE SALUBRITY of Sag Harbor and its environs [ could say much. It is An appetizing, life preserving atmosphere. It builds up the dilapidated city man and disposes | “him to pleasure seeking pursuits. Tle shell fish are admirable, and clams, bine fish and bunkers al id, The vegetables are fresh and inviting, LIFE HERE is made up of many varieties. If you like surf bathing, @ pleasant drive of six miles and you are at the Atlantic shore, while for still water bathing you have only to Plunge in the waters by the shore | of the village. Water is everywhere. Let the reader take @ map of Long Island and he will dis- cover that East End forms 4 checker-board of land and water—of coves and peninsulas—of islands and bays; 80 you can spend several seasons here aud then not exhaust the list of excursions. Parties are coming and going all the time, and the country | inns find ali they can do in entertaining the merry | People who are fying around from one place to an- other, THE ROADS are in an excellent condition. To wy heen | (the surf) ts adrive of four miles, to Easthampt seven, to Sag six, and Montauk Point twenty-five mules. The surrounding country everywhere, with the exception of the point of the island, is under a state of high cultivation, the soil being dare people who come here aro generally well-to- do city people, seeking @ quiet place in a refined Gnd healthy atmosphere, At the Last Kad House | Spencer I found a charmimg company that did not flatten out one’s daily life by unnecessary and cold {or- malities, Of course there are the little disagreeable aspects to Tog Wand “season” life, as there are to Long Branch or Saratoga existence. If you find one extreme at the big caravanseries in low neck dresses and funeral demeanor, you find the other here in acrobatic babies at the dinner table, when they attempt to bashe in their soup dishes. THE PUTURE OF SAG HARBOR AND ITS ENVIRONS must be great. This is all that Newport is, without Newport's stiffness and unwbolesome mode, It is just the site for Summer cottages, it which, I may add, may be built for a comparative trifle. Land with water frontage is w: from $100 te $160 an acre, and a beautifyl house, with grounds and outbuildings complete, can be owned for $10,000, Itis not as accessible by land and Sound as one or he mente in the neighborhood resence of Chief Justice Daly, the Howells, Mr. h, of Brooklyn, and others, will largely con- to the development of the place. I may in closing, that I have been astonished. at the ignorance prevailing in the popular mind concern- ing this island and especially concerning the east end, After vil it almost all of the watering places of the world, Lcan say truly that I have se!- dom found a tract of country and an e: e of water affording more opportunities for rational en- joyment than I have seen about Sag Harbor. NIAGARA FALLS. “WHAT A FALL WAS THERE.” Passing Clories of the Great Cataract. EXTORTION AND IMPOSITION. Are the Landlords to Blame P THE SECRET OF THE TROUBLE. Fencing In the Falls and Caging In the Rainbow. A New Departure for Next Year. NIAGARA FALLS, August 17, 1873, (Supposed to be from the river.) Yes; itisa fact. Niagara Falls, on the American side, have been closely fenced in, and the beautiful rainbow, that was wont tu be the golden halo crowning the great deluge of waters, has been effectually caged—to be sold out in lots to suit purchasers. What with the unenviable reputation the Falls have obtained in later years for the remorseless and interminable extortions and im- positions inflicted upon visitors, it was scarcely within the bounds of reasonable calculation that this last GRAND CLIMACTRIC OF SORDID GREED could be conceived, and, least of all, carried out. Bat that itis so there is no gainsaying, as those who have paid their twenty cents per day, or fifty cents per season, to pass the portal and enter the confines of Prospect Park—whtch commands the only view of the American Falls {rom terra frma— can testify. WHAT IS THE EFFECT f Now let us examine what has been the effect of this sublime imposition. It has been the straw that hae broken the camel’s back; but it was a very big straw—big as an Aristook sawlog. It has pre- vented thousands of visitors from enjoying the sconery of the Falls tnis season, which has been an extraordinary dull one at best. It has caused the grand dining room of THE INTERNATIONAL to echo frequently to the footsteps of some solitary waiter, and the velvet carpets of the magnificent drawing rooms and parlors of the same hotel-palace to be pressed only occasionally by the feet of some gentle couple on their wedding tour. It is very grand, no doubt; butt is so solitary, so lonely, so dreary. ; “Is not this splendid, my dear Augustus?’ re- marks a newly wedded Southern bride. “Very splendid, my dear, very splendid. Like our cotton warehouse on a short crop.” The colored office boys have become so used to ease that it is as much as they can do to measure @ block of tesselated tiling at a time in their speed to answer a bell. The porters wilt like suntiowers in the evening, for the sun of stamps no longer cheers them during the waiting day. The clarion voice of the omnibus herald no longer prociaitms, “All going West!” or “All going Fast!’ Naught is heard but the soft and silvery tones of the hack driver as you pass along the piazza, “Take you anywhere for a quarter. sir.” The hotel clerks appear to be busy—of course not writing Ddéllet douz, or anything of that sort—but seeing that the accounts of the guests do not get too far behind; while the landlord himself, the well-meaning Fulton, gathers comfort from the conversation of some particular friends. A party of New Yorkers, among them some members of Sheriff Brennan’s family, are among the resent arrivals at the Inter- Rational, and appear to enjoy themselves highly. There is no trouble at allin gettinga room at the International just now, and ifa visitor wishes toescape the imposition of Prospect Park, let him go from SCYLLA TO CHARYRDIS, that ts from the Park to the new Suspension Bridge, and see how he will like the state of the extortion market tn that airection. But Mr. J.T. Bush, one of the directors in the Suspension Bridge Company, ‘who has @ beautiful place, with extensive surround. ings, on the Canada side, near the Clifton House, of which, by the way, he is the owner, is-of opinion that there will some time or other be a reduetion tn the rates of toll for man and beast over this bridge—about the time, perhaps, when specie pay- ments are resumed in the “States,"’ Of all the hotels at the Falls this season seems ‘ave the call. 8 probably arises from the fact that it is so near the Falls that vieitors can hear thetr roar, although the Falls may be invisible, and extortion has yet not reached that refinement of perfection—so to speak—as to oblige guests to put cotton in their cars. There seemed to be some- thing ofa stir among the people at the Cataract this evening, among the arrivals being those of General James Harlan and family of Kentucky, QUEER SERVICE TO CUT SHORT A DINNER. Aband of music was playing on the piaaza of the Cataract as | strolied thitherward. I was inno- cent pacnen, toinquire the object of that music. “Oh,” said some one, “it’s to make the people hurry through their dinner.’ I thought the man who said this might have been arunner fer the House, where, it wilt be remem- bered, the Duke Alexis and suite had that celebrated déjeuner which cost almost @ duke's ransom. It was a slander, at any rate, for I noticed that the few who came from the dining hall did not gather on the piazza to listen to Wiehl’s strains, but loitered through the elegant drawing rooms with their children until it was time for the maids to put the latter en roost, Let me here observe that no one stop- ping at the Cataract should neglect to take a view of the Rapids by moonlight, as seen from the bul- cony in the rear of the hotel, before retiring, The sight is worth a view of the Falls themselves, and can be seen for nothing, excepting the courtesy of the landlord, who no doubt would be pieased to show the same attention to strangers as he did to @ party of New York gentiemen this evening. THE MUSIC AT THE FALLS this season is somewhat cut up. Not that the musicians themselves have been made hotel hash but that the one band from Buffalo has supply music for the International and the Cataract. It performs at certaim hours at one hotel and at other hours at she ovher; and, as the airs are pretty much the same, and can be heard nearly as welt by taking @ few steps one way or the other, as they occupy the dif ferent plagzas, the variety is, of course, truly of, to charming. It 18, however, a rather economical roceeding, lessening the expense both in pay and lager; and everything has to be cat down, you know. THE HOPS AT THE FALLS. That they have hops at the Falis this season I have no doubt. Ihave not been here long enou to teil; but I am free to say that the hails of the International and the Cataract are not so volum- inously attended as the landlords could wish. member when Andy Johnson (then President) was “swinging around the circle’ that General Grant (now dent) did a quadrille in the. Interna- tional dining room, arranged splendidly for @ ball room, ina manner that seemed to indicate that he was prepared to dance it ous on that ine—oF in that set—if it took all the might. Before sunrise, however, te General, now Preitent ceased fring’ and retired to his yoy ip good orner. Present anc at the same time were late Admiral it and his accomplished Si William H. many more, then well ka + 15 cae ell known to and holding nigh official positions. Fulton did bis best to make the affair a success, and, viewed even at this distant day, it was pre-eminentiy so. Toonigut T see, no President Johnaon, vio General Seward—none of these m nore Z| them; nor nor like the spirits those who have de) into dark sea of the future; nor any of the crowds that followed them; nor any of the crowds that made this the then great Mecca Sa Stl mae ae aa Say Sa of the on an at this hour in the year 1873, one r FLIRTATION seems to have become one of the lost arts this sea- son at the Falls, lt#might have disappeared over the Falls some bi it moonlight night, or it might have gone up in 8 balloon from it Park, or it might bave gone to St. Catharine’s, or it might have sought shelter in that new cave which it 1s said has just been discovered under the Falls; but certain it 1s there ts not even @ skeleton skirt of it to be noticed on any evening, no matter how dell- cious it may be— evening 1 mean. And yet there may be some! Ing of the kind going on all the time unknown gand unseen by human ken. Among all things mortal it is the casiest thing in the world to be mistaken, G ARB THE LANDLORDS RESPONSIBLE ? ‘The question is asked, are the landlords respon- sible for the present barren condition of business at the Falis, Partly they are, but in a great mea sure they @re not, In the first place, the regular charges for accommodation at the principal hotels are not at all unreasonable, They are not much higher than the average rates of those at several first class hotels in the city of New York. But they are to blame for allowing their help to expect fees for every little service rendered to a guest. If they pay thelr servants—I mean all classes—suitable wages, they can establish rules peremptorily stopping the receipt or expectancy of a fee from a& guest by @ servant, upon of the prompt dismissal of the latter. would effect @ radical cure in that quarter. Of course, the landlords should not be held accountable for what rogues and sharpers do on the streets and else- where outside their walls, Moreover, they should establish fixed rates for carriage hire from Adve) own stables. ‘This carriage business is one sourc of extortion at the Falls that makes a man shiver before he concludes to engage an ordinary, or even an extraordinary, hack. Then again are the uni- versal duiness in business, the tightness in the money market, the system of retrenchment re- quired by those who have been receiving good salaries, but who have either had them recently greatly Teduced or had them cut off alto- pashan, under, say, such a queer reform régime as has now full sway in the city of New York. These people usually spend a good deal of money at the watering places, during ase son, while this year they are obliged to ‘hold i tieir horses.” Theae Jatter reasons may be ascribed for the prevailing quietude at the general run of pleasure spots; out here at Niagara Falls, where existe one o! the greatest natural wonders to be found in the world— @ wonder that every man, woman and child in Christendom who ever went to school or read 8 book should benold at least once in their lives—here we find this great wonder, that should be aa free to human gaze as the sun, moon or stars—we find this wonder fenced in, boxed to be peddied out in one direction at so muchasight. [repeat my bellef that a pretty general Knowledge of this fact among pleasure seekers has prevented thousands of people from visiting the this season. PROSPECT PARK—WAAT IS IT? The following circular, which a visitor receives as he pays his entrance fee to the Park, will ex- plain the formula of the business :— PROSPRCT PARK, NIAGARA FALLS, Visitors will be charged ‘as tollows:—For entrance to grounds, which embrace the most comprehensive views of both the Canada and American Jalls to be had on the American side, for the day twenty cents each; for the svason fifty cents each, For entrance to stairs and cai to the river and return, twenty-tive cents each. To Canada by cars and barges and return, fifty cents each. One-half the above for persons under fourteen years of Tho attention of visitors is asked to the sublime view which may be obtained atthe base of the American Fall. But from the barges while crossing the river the grandeur of the cataract is better seen and its power more pertectly realized than from anywhere else. Tho salety of the terry has been tested by the experience ot more than fifty years, during which not a single life has been lost on it Visitors are requested faterierence with their personal comfort. HAVE THESE PARK MANAGERS THE RIGHT TO EN- CLOSE THE SAME? It 18 stated that the parties who have under- taken to 1orm a company and enclose the premises now known as Prospect Park have not a perfect title to the preperty, and that their present action is a usurpation which will be tested at law, The roperty, as it is generally understood, was leit y its original owners, under certain conditions, for the purpose of having two roads con- structed through that portion now fenced in, leading to the American fall, for the benefit of the public, Whether by delay or inatsen- tion the riod for which this grant is to hold good has expired, certain parties, I understand, propose to test. In the meantime but little work is being done to beautily the Park. indeed, all labor upon it, with the exception of that periormed by two workmen, was abandoned on the day your correspondent visited it, It is, how- ever, a beautiful spot, the only one commanding a complete view of the American fall, its stone pro- tected pant running directly as it were into the edge of the immense volume of water that leaps with thundering roar and velocity into the chasm below. Such @ spot was never intended for the base uses of personal cupidity, and the hope and the prospect is that A NEW DEPARTURE FRENCH SUMMER RESORTS. A Series of Norman Watering Place Letters by E. C. Grenville Marray---No. 6. Trouville, a Relic of the Second Exnpire. Prawns at St. Gouin and a Plan for a Grand | ‘ Combination Government. French Fashion and French Economy. TROUVILLE, July 20, 1873. Ihave been at Trouville since yesterday evening, having journeyed hither from Etretat by train as far as Havre and from Havre to these shores by steamer, along with a gale of wind which had not been bidden to the feast, but came, nevertheless. I did‘not leave Etretat without regret; for French journalists cling te you like those syren water flowers, which catch you by the leg while bathing and draw you under. There is no withstanding their seductive company. Their talk is not like that of other men, and a couple of days in their society sends you forth to meet the world with your views all wrong, as if you had got into the London cocks with a tasting order and had tarried unduly over the port vats. Before leaving Etretat a chronicler took me to St. Gouin to eat prawns at the hotel kept by one Mile, Ernestine and to write my name and an eloquent sentiment in her album. The prawns were fair, Mile. Ernestine ‘was fairer, and her album fairest of all; so much so, indeed, seeing half the journalists in France had left their signatures appended to lively sayings on its pages, I felt there was nothing for me to add and left a statement to that effect, much to Mile. Ernestine’s surprise. Mile. Ernestine is a person whose hotel and fortunes the guild of French writers have set afloat by sheer force of puffing and biowing. The hotel differs in no wise from other hotels, but it is something to be waited upon by a lady ina peach silk dress who talks of Dumas, Monseiet, Noriac and Villemessant as if she had given birth to them all, and of her prawns as if they were brothers to the said Villemessant & Oo. My chronicler, having nothing in particular to do—which seems a chronic complaint with him—volunteered to accompany me to Trouville, and assured Mile. Ernestine that we were engaged in brewing a plan for the reconcilia- tion of all rival factions of France into one govern- ment; the Count of Chambord to reign every Mon- day, the Count of Paris every Tuesday, Napoleon IV. on Wednesdays, Thiers on Thurs- days, MacMahon and Gambetta on Fridays and Saturdays respectively, and Sunday to be a free day with no government at all. She wished us joy and so did 1; and the upshot of itis that I am here at the Hoteldes Roches Noires watching out of my window an extremely small French boy on the beach, making sport of an ex- ccedingly big wave which I expect will upset him presently, along with his wooden spade and his toy bucket. There! It is just as @ predicted. The small boy, in making believe to kick away the sea, has got merged in brime up to his calves, anda tender mother rushing out from behind a stranded boat has pulled him away and cuffed his ears—thus adding insult to injury, as the parrot said when they took him away from his native land, and, fur- thermore, made him speak the language of his op- pressors. But Ihave not time to moralize as to whether an opportune cuff on the ears a beget {n the youthrul mind a prudent warning of the sea; for a bell has just made the passage tuneful, ‘and my chronicler tells me that breakfast, like tide, waits Jor no man, FASHION AT TROUVILLE. A déjeuner 4a fourchette, an afternoonon the sands anda meeting with a dozen acquaintances blessed with florid complexions, must be suppose: to fill up the space ofpaper between this paragraph and the foregoing. ‘ouville is not as fullas it was last week, for many legislators have just posted of to be present at the general scrimmage which 1s to take place in the Assembly on Monday, apropos of the pings gl on the Cabinet’s nome policy. But they have left thejr wives behind.them, and we Were thus but one of the weaker sex to every three will be taken next year, and the Park and tts un- rivalled prospect be thrown open [ree of all charges to the public. WATERING PLACE NOTES. Chauncey Shaffer ana wife are at the Union Hotel, Saratoga. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, still sticks to the Union Hotel, saratoga. Sheiiff Matt. T. Brennan and family are at the Gregory House, Lake Mahopac. Another hotel is to be built at Saratoga, near the Eureka and White Sulphur Springs. It is recorded that Cozzens’ Hotel at West Point is doing unusually weil this season. There were over five hundred arrivals at Sara- toga Springs on Saturday and Sunaay. The cottage of Mrs. Colt, widow of Samuel, the Pistol man, at Newport, is valued at $50,000, dudge Dowling, of this city, is in the enjoyment of exceilent health at the Union Hotel, Saratoga. The story is kept alive among the ladies at Long Branch that Tom Murphy’s son is to marry Nellie Grant. Uncle Dantel Drew sticks to his rooms in the Ocean House, at Long Branch, like a burr toa sheep's back. Tbe members of the New York Yacht squadron are to have a hop at the Sea View House, Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. Governor John A. Dix will leave his Summer home on Long Island the last of this week and re- turn to the capital. Congress Hall at Cape May is to have another wing added, which will accommodate one hundred gentleman—no ladies admitted ’ Hon. H. A. Nelson, of Poughkeepsie, ex-Secre- tary of State of New York, arrived at Saratoga last’week and took rooms at the Union Hotei. Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Me., is so crowded | with Summer resorters that the school house and church have been opened to furnish lodgings at night. A part of Howland’s Hotel, at Long Branch, was built before the war of 1812, and shows marks of cannon balls from a British trigate, which ran ciose im shore and gave the settiement a salute. General Frank P. Blair, Jr., of St. Louis, is at Clifton Springs, in this State. He will remain | there another month, attending to bis health, | which he believes will be permanently restored. Three hundred acres of land fronting on the | ocean near Sankaty light, Nantucket, Maas,, have | been purchased by a company of New York gentie- men for the purpose of planting another summer resort, Atlantic City, ts on an island ten miles long, and varying tn width from a halt to three- quarters of a mile, and is only five feet above the level of the ocean. Its winter population is 2,500; summer. from 15,000 to 20,000. A isdy trom Pennsylvdnia spent two weeks among the fashionabdles at the Grand Centrai Motel’ Saratoga, and when the time for departure came, to the utmost horror of all the other ladies, it was found she had only one trunk. A spring has been discovered near Lake Ma- hopac, in Putnam county, N. Y., which has been found to contain constituents similar to those of Congress Spring, and now Lake Mahopac wants to enter the list of water places as a rival to Saratoga. William Wilson Corcoran, the Washington banker; United States Senator Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia; the rebel General Joseph E. John- son,"ex-Governor Randolph, of New Jersey; Gen- eral W. H. F. Leo, son of General Robert E. Lee; General Custis Lee, General Gilmer and family, of Georgia; General D. M. Barringer, formerly Minis- ter to Spain, who is improving in health; George ladies who made plans jor this a amuse- Ment over the breakfast table. My friend, the small boy, came in with red earsand dry stock- ings to take his share of the banqueting, and hia mother dilated on the perversity of his ways while he polished off a beelsteak as if he had made a bet about it, Heisa boy who will play @ noisy part in life if he takes aiter his father, who has fired many big guns in his day; but then, as his mother remarked, “your father never let his stockings get wet, sir.” A wise saying, which set me reflecting that the connection between fame and wet stockings Was pernaps less slender than is commonly supposed. Trouville has no shingle, but sands, and on these sands disport themselves yearly all who beleng to that newborn plutocracy Which the Second Empire hatched, As I mentioned in a former letter, Trouville owes its rise mainly to a Paris physician, just as Deanville, its suburb, was launched by the Duke de Morny and his charm- ing wile, now Duchess of Sesto. You reach Dean- ville by a oridge over the little river Soucques; but there is no reason for trying to reach it, as its vil- las and palaces are now deserted, and the place offers that saddest and bieakest of aspects—new rains. M. de Morny founded a town which was delightful and even sumptuos while be lived, but which has not survived him. Trouville stood some risk of walking in the the ghastly steps of Deanville, for its patrons were almost all imperialists, an imperiaiists were mostly engaged im the Bank- ruptcy Court shortly after the last war. But President Thiers took pity on the place and bright- ened it with his honest spectacles year, and the town has revived in consequence. It is emi- nently fish. clean and expensive. Ifyou come here witha t purse you will be calling for the rat!- way tables on the very afternoon of your arrival; if you come with aheavy one you will enjoy the sensation of seeing it grow smaller by degrees and beautifully less, withont being able strictly to ac- count for the phenomenon. AN INVALID LADY'S TOILET. Trouviile Is fond of good dressing and gets a good deal of it. A lady of my acquaintance being ordered here ior health issucd her mandate for twelve dres- ses to cheer hor on the pilgrimage. The dresses being behind time she declined to stir without them, and remained in Parts an extra week— she would have remained & year—sooner than be In the humiliating predicament of having nO uew fashions to tread the sands with. Where Frenchmen bbe their money is @ mystery nearly as diMcult to discover as the Northwest Poa sage, but they appear always to have their pockets full of it, and they make {zt stretch so that their five- franc pieces act like the guineas of more benighted people. lt must be India rubber money, yet per- haps the only secret of its elasticity 18 that it is never expended save with @ view to effect. I have never caught a Frenchman dropping a eytne pound note anonymously into the poor- box and never shall, If his country calls upon him for subscription in aid of sick, wounded or flooded folk, he magnificently sends which he calls a hundred francs, and which rolls on his tongue like ® sackiul of nuggets. He makes no heavy bets, either, and, if he gambles at cards, utters such Monumental interjections over the loss of $50 that you set the sum down as 10,000 guineas and admire the man for his extravagance. A number of eminent Frenchmen and Frenchwomen have kindly gone to work here to rebuiid the cottage of avenerabie fisherman whose chattels were re- Moved towards the Atiantic by a hurricane. There are six and forty of them about it and they have rman tweive pounds five shillings between em. AMUSEMENTS AT TROUVILLE. There is no excuse for being dull tu Trouville, for you may fancy yourself in the Champs Elysées quarter of Paris, the sea being substituted for the Bois de Boulogne. ‘The Casino is small, but thinks quite as much of itaelf as if i¢ were three times the size. Then there are historical ex- cursions—first to Dives, whence William of Nor- mandy did not start for conquest of England, though a column there swears that he did (the real place was St. Valéry sur Somme, a hundred mies up the coast, in Picardy); and the Chateau de Bonneville, where the same William entrapped Harold into taking his oath that William should have the crown of Engl Then there are the two statues of St. Arnoult and Laasay, both pic- turesque and antique; the village of La Youques, which, when Willam Rufus embarked there to go ‘and take possession of his deceased father’s crown, was @ fourisning maritime city. Two churches, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Thomas, testify to its former greatness, and it is impossible to walk through the deserted aislos—in either of which the whole population of 1,100 soa ang ad to what, may be the. Tato of ineay eculating as to what K other now prosperous city @thousand years hence. Be cautions here, a8 elsewhere, of patting faith in the relics of old La Touques. I would giadiy have believed that r offered me Brown, of the Chicago Times; William Wirt Henry, grandson of Patrick Henry, and about thirty other Generals are sojourning at the White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, an iron porringe! eae hacia onaring Eat wat uguian a a @ and Liverpool not yot viliage invented; but travel inoculates you Y orioee ta which not even the sight of an town can cure, sa Lieft the porringer to {ts fate and came back to dinner, BONAPARTISTS AND SHERRY COBBLERS, Dinner and Casino done, I am alone again with mic + and the moon. The Casino was less than that of Die’ not so domestic ag teas of Fécamp, less cheery n that of Etretat, had characteristics ofits own. The visitors were neither religious nor bohemian, but they seemed to think there was no need of religion or bohemian- fem to make them enjoy the quadrille of the Pile de Mme. Angot, so they danced to them in the rastling dresses which @ Parisian man maptag- maker had turned out for them, and between whiles they talked of the good oid days of the Second Empire, like trreciatmable Bonapartists a8 they most of them are. They also retreshed them- selves with coffee, ices and sherry cobblers—iavorite subjects of contemplation here when the weather fly low, 1s sultry and the soaga’® GRENVILLE MURRAY. CHINA. : Court Formalities During the Imperial Re- ception of the Foreign Ambassadors. How His Majesty Welcomed the Repre- sentatives of the Outside Monarchs. The Youthful Ruler Slightly “Fast.” SHANGHAR, July 12, 1873, The great desire of foreign Ministers in China for the last ten years has been consummated. They have been introduced into the august presence of Chinese royalty, And yet it seems that this de- voutly wished for consuinmation has been brought about by an Eastern nation. Japan has hejd the key of this seoame, and she it is that has justap- plied it to the lock of Chinese diplomacy. The Min- isters have had their audience, but the Japancse Ambassador was the first that was received. The audience took place on the 29th ult., it having been postponed no less than three times. The details of the affair so far are rather meagre, but I gather that it was right royal. 4 DOUBTFUL INVITATION. ‘The edict ordering the audience was published on the 22d of June, but it seems to have given but little satisfaction on account of its ambiguity and the unsatisfactory titles by which the different Ministers are referred to, The edict reads as fok lows :~- eat Hehe forelen Mssaters G) Ge. puulie euuusary> res ding (2) in the capital have urgently pressed (3) for an audience in order that they muy present letters from their governments. Let now those Ministers residing in the capital who have brought letters trom their govern ments be admitted to audience. Respect this! ‘The Chinese term which fs used for minister is not as respectful a term as another character fre- quently used to designate their own Ministers, and is never used by the Tsung-li-yamen in addressing foreign Ministers. A sovereign, speaking of his own envoy. might use that character, but in apply- ing a term to the Minister of another State a cer- tain superiority should be implied. The term “ ” he Min! vane Boon long amd loud in thelr, entreaties for an audience, and this beng made the ground for granting it, the expression leads one to suppose that the audience is granted as @ matter of favor and not of right. The tone of the edict ig not satis- factory, and seems toimply that this is the first and probably the last. COURT SCENES AND STRANGE SIGHTS IN THE IMPERIAL PRESENCE, The accounts of the audience vary, but I learm from the most reliable sources that it Was about aa follows :— Tho Ministers of Russia, the United Stars, Great Britain, France and the Netherlands assembled at stx o’clock on the morning of the 2th of Juno, at the Pes Tang, £ ¢. the Roman Ostholic cathedral, ani from thence were conducted by our old triend Chung-How ta the temple where the Emperor prays for rain. Here re- treshments were served, and they were Kept waiting for over an hour, atter which they were led to a pavilion near the Keception Hall, | ‘This Hall is situated not in the “Forbidden City” where the Emperor holds his Cou but near the marble bridge across the lakes outside, a1 is the place where the Emperor receives the Ambassa- P Corea Siam, Mongolia and other tributary States. JAPAN SLIGHTLY AHKAD. At length the arrival of the Emperor was announced, andthe Japanese Ambassador, who would appear to have been in waiting apart trom the others, was first in- troduced to His Majesty, accompanied oF, his interpreter. He read a short address, which was briefly acknowl edged by the Emperor, on which he withdrew. The other Ministers were then introdnced In the order given above. Herr Bismarck, interpreter for the German a and the only interpreter that bas been employed in Whole audience business, was present as interpreter, stood just behind Mr. Viangally, the Senior Minister or doyen of the Foreign Legutions, who read in French @ bologna to the Emperor for himself and his col- asus. by is a¢dress was then read in Chinese by Herr Bis- marek, atter which each Minister stepped forward and laid his letter of credence hoe the table that stood it front of the Emperor, who bowed as cach letter was ere. ‘The Emperor then briefly replied to the address, hoping that the sovereigns and rulers of the countries repre- seuted were enjoying good health, &c., and acknowledg- ing the letters which had just been presented, fie then bowed, and the Ministers withdrew, Thereatter M. Geoffroi, the Minister for Franee, was specially presented to His Majesty, to whom he read a | delivered the leter of his government in reply to the Emperor's ietter carried by Chung-how to France. The interpreter of the French Legation assisted at this inter- view. Everything passed off quietly. VERY HOPEFUL. ‘The scene was a very grand affair. No less thatt ciety hundred Mandarins were present. All the Ministers wore fall court dress, except, of course, the American Minister, who wore the usual evening dress, The Japanese Ambassador also wore the foreign evening full dress. One of the members of the court is said to have been somewhat offended at pag and remarked to Se ee! that “he ap- peared not as a Japanese nobleman, but rather as a foreigner;” to which Soyeshima replied, ‘Such trifles are unworthy the consideration of the mo- ment. Let us rather speak of the business which brings us here.” This is good, if true. THE ADDBESS OF THE FORBIGN MINISTERS read thus:— We beg to congratulate Your Majesty on behalf of our rer pecare, governments upon your accession to the throne. 6 join in wishing Your Majesty ong life and Bappines, and that your reign may be as happy and as gioriot that of your illustrious ancestor, Kang-hi, than under Whom China was never more prosperous. ‘And may the intercourse between Uhina and the Western nations ever be marked with mutual esteem and friendship. ROYAL REPLY. The Emperor replied in Manchu, which was ‘translated into Chinese by Prince Kung, and then into English by Herr Bismarck :— We ho the Emperors, Kings and_ Presidents here retinoctted, werg dn good, health, sua thet ait forteer questions bet ween China and the Western natious would ever be amicably settled by the Tsung-l-yamen, DRIEF REPORTS BY THE PRESS, , Before the audience took place the Pekin contained a short notice to the effect that on such and such a day the Emperor would repair to such and such a temple and give an audience, not men- tioning to whom. The three t appeared on the three days succeeding the audience contain nothing at all about the affair. Hence the ioreign ress claim that the audience itself is but half ot he game. Unless the factia published throughont China that the “Son of Heaven’ has at last con- sented to meet the representatives of foreign ~~. erson an equal footing nothing will have gained thereby. THE EMPEROR is described as having a very blasé, worn-out look for one 60 young—eig! teen years of age. FUNERAL OF A STUYVESANT. The funeral of Mrs. Helena Stuyvesant, relict of Peter Gerard Stuyvesant, took place yesterday, at half past eleven o’clock A. M., at St. Mark’s Church, New York. The body was interred in the family vault of Governor Stuyvesant, under the church. The Hon. Hamilton Fish (nephew of the deceased), the ladies and gentlemen oF his family, and o large representation of the Stuyvesan' Rutherford and Pierrepont families were present. The rector of St. jark’s church and two assisting clergymen were present. The bearers were Judge elt, Jon: a - J. tam Kemble, ton, Rufus Prime, Thomas Lud- pham, Doctors Wilkes, Flint and Edw Beverly — Robinson, Anthon: Bleecker, Matthew Clarkson, Wan James K. Livin low, William S. 0. A. White, THE FORGERY ash To Tae Epiror oF THs HERALD1— In your re-ort of the arraignment of James B. Wartzburg beiore Justice Dowling, at the Tombs, on account of a heavy forgery, there are a few vital mistakes, which you will do me the favor to correct. The ohecks forged by this Wurtzburg were drawn to the order of cash and paid by the paying teller of the Tradesmen’s National Bank over the counter, and on the mere assertion that he was still my clerk and in my em- loy. He had never been introduced by me to the bank aa @ competent person to receive aoe amounts, It is further stated that the bank noti- fled me that my account was overdrawn at a cer- tain time, which is likewise incorrect, as the case of forgery was only discovered after a protested cheek was presented at my office. The cashier of the bank was properly notified of the traudulent actions of this Wurtzourg the very day he was de- tec! and the book had tobe balanced on the Sr een on