in the metropolis, and with that diverging
system of railways, overspreading the continent, which has in the
commercial capital its natural centre of radiation.

We have no word of criticism to speak, only words of most hearty
admiration, for the safe and speedy water-service on the lines of the
ferries which has given us heretofore such easy transportation from
city to city, without delays that were not unavoidable, and with
remarkable exemption from disaster. So far as human carefulness and
skill could assure safety and speed, in the midst of conditions
unfriendly to both, the management of these ferries has been peerless,
their success unsurpassed. To them is due, in largest measure, the
rapid growth already here realized. They have formed the indispensable
arteries, of supply and transmission, through which the circulating
life-blood has flowed, and their ministry to this city has been
constant and vital. But we confess ourselves glad to reach, with
surer certainty and a greater rapidity, the libraries and galleries,
the churches and the homes, as well as the resorts of business and of
pleasure, with which we are now in instant connection; and the horizon
widens around us as we touch with more immediate contact the lines of
travel which open hence to the edges of the continent.

If we have not as much to offer in immediate return, we have, at
least, a broad expanse of uncovered acres within the city, for the
easy occupation of those who wish homes, either modest or splendid, or
who shall wish such as the growth of the metropolis multiplies its
population into the millions, crowds its roofs higher toward the
stars, and makes a productive silver mine of each several house-lot.
And to those who visit us but at intervals we can open not only yonder
park, set like an emerald in the great circular sweep of our
boundaries from the waters of the Narrows to the waters of the Sound,
but also their readiest approach to the ocean. The capital and the sea
are henceforth brought to nearer neighborhood. Long Island bays, and
brooks, and beaches, are within readier reach of the town. The winds
that have touched no other land this side of Cuba are more accessible
to those who seek their tonic breath. The long roll of the surf on the
shore breaks closer than before to office and mansion, and to tenement
chamber.

The benefits will, therefore, be reciprocal, which pass back and forth
across this solid and stately frame-work; and b