by steamer. At either of these places a day may be spent on
the sea shore. The surf-bathing is excellent at both, and each may also
be reached by a railway. Of late years, Coney Island has become a
favorite resort of the roughs of New York and Brooklyn, and, as a
consequence, is not as attractive to respectable visitors as formerly.

Perhaps the pleasantest of all the excursions, except the trip up the
Hudson, is the sail from the city to Sandy Hook and back on the Long
Branch boats. These are magnificent steamers, and make several trips
each day during the summer season. They connect at Sandy Hook with the
railway to Long Branch. One may leave the city in the morning, spend the
day at the Branch, enjoy a bath in the surf, and reach the New York pier
again by 8 o'clock in the evening. The round trip fare is about two
dollars. The boats are provided with every luxury, and are famous for
their excellent table. A good band accompanies each, and discourses
delicious music during the sail. The route lies down the harbor through
the Narrows, and down the Lower Bay to Sandy Hook, in full sight of the
Atlantic, and near enough to it to feel the deep swelling of its restless
breast. Those who do not care to visit Long Branch may make the round
trip in four hours.

LXXV. SAILORS IN NEW YORK.

In the streets in the vicinity of the water, there are many buildings
used as "Sailors' Boarding-houses." One would suppose that poor Jack
needed a snug resting-place after his long and stormy voyages, but it is
about the last thing he finds in New York. The houses for his
accommodation are low, vile places. They are located in the filthiest
sections of the city, and are never clean. Jack, however, is used to
hard fare. He has spent six months, or it may be two years, in the damp
and cheerless forecastle, and he will not grumble at the aspect of the
only quarters available to him on shore. He has crowded with twenty men
and boys into a space much smaller than the chamber assigned him, and he
does not object to having half a dozen room mates. The bed is a wretched
cot, but it is better than a bunk or a hammock, and Jack is not so used
to cleanliness as to make him very fastidious.

The boarding-house has a flashy air. There are bright curtains at the
windows, and the entire front is usually painted some gaudy color, and is
adorned with a sign, with the name of the establishment in gilt letters.
"The Sailor's Ret