PROFESSOR MORSE and the TELEGRAPH
There lived in New York at this time a man whose name was Samuel F.B.
Morse. He was an artist and was interested in many branches of science.
He had founded the National Academy of Design and was Professor of the
Literature of the Arts of Design at the University of the City of New
York. This man believed that an electric current could be transmitted
through a wire and so make it possible to convey a message from one
point to another. One night, after having worked on his idea for years,
he invited a few friends to the University building, which overlooked
Washington Square, and showed them the result of his labors. It was the
first telegraph in the world. This was a crude affair, but Professor
Morse proved that he could send a message over a wire. In the year 1845
he had advanced so far that a telegraph line was built between New York
City and Philadelphia. Then all the world recognized the genius of
Morse. The people of New York especially honored him, and even in his
lifetime they erected a statue of him which you can see to-day in
Central Park.
By this time the city had crept up to both Greenwich Village and Bowery
Village, and had engulfed them. On every side were houses, some of them
five and six stories high, where before they had been but two stories.
An open space nearby Bowery Village was called Astor Place. This was the
scene in 1849 of a famous riot, which came about in this wise: Edwin
Forrest, an American actor, and William Charles Macready, an English
actor, had quarrelled about some fancied slight. So when Macready came
to the city to play at the Astor Place Opera House, some friends of
Forrest's gathered and sought to prevent his acting by shouting their
disapproval. This was the excuse for an unruly mob to gather outside the
theatre and storm the house with stones. Macready escaped by leaving
the theatre by a rear door. Then a regiment of soldiers came and after
using all peaceful measures to quell the disturbance, fired upon the mob
and killed many of them before the space was cleared and quiet restored.
[Illustration: Crystal Palace.]
Castle Garden, which had once been Fort Clinton, had become a place of
amusement. Here Jenny Lind, "the Swedish Nightingale," sang, and many
another artist of rare ability was seen and heard.
Now, too, a World's Fair was opened on Murray Hill. Held in a
fairy-like building of glass, made in the form of a Greek cross, with
graceful dome and arches, it was a Crystal Palace in fact as in name,
where all the products of the world were shown. But, unfortunately, a
few years later it was burned to the ground.
There are always some wise and thoughtful people who think of the
comfort of others, and some of these realized that it would not be long
before the Island of Manhattan would be so covered with houses that
there would be no open places where one might enjoy fresh air and
recreation. They said it would be well to have a garden laid out for
this purpose, with walks and drives as needed. This was done and an
immense tract of woodland and forest, almost as large as the city itself
at the time, was set apart. As this was in the centre of the island it
was called the Central Park. Millions of people have been thankful for
it, although they have not put their gratitude into words.
We have now come to the days of the Great Civil War, when many men
left the city to join the army. Now there were those who did not see
the necessity for war and had no desire to be soldiers, so when more
men were called for there was a riot; a terrible and destructive one.
A mob swept over the city, a murderous, plundering mob that left a trail
of horror wherever it touched; and before it was put down a thousand
persons had been killed or injured, and $2,000,000 damage had been done.
This was the Draft Riot. The Civil War ended, the city prospered,
growing greater and greater, until in the year 1878 the stages and
horse-cars could no longer carry all the people. Then railroads elevated
above the streets were built that could carry great numbers swiftly to
all parts of the city.
New York, already become one of the great cities of the world, advanced
with giant strides.