I Have Heard Cards Of Invitation
To These Receptions Refused To Foreigners Bearing Illustrious Titles, And
To Persons Who Have The Reputation Of Being Millionaires.
At the same
time, I have met those of humble position and scanty means, who are
treated with distinction
Because of their talents or intellectual powers.
Yet I have never seen such a one patronised or treated as a lion; he is
not expected to do any homage, or pay any penalty, for his admission into
society. In these circles in New York we are spared the humiliating
spectacle of men of genius or intellect cringing and uneasy in the
presence of their patronising inferiors, whom birth or wealth may have
placed socially above them. Of course there is society in New York where
the vulgar influence of money is omnipotent, and extravagant display is
fashionable; it is of the best that I have been speaking.
CHAPTER XVII.
The cemetery - Its beauties - The "Potter's Field" - The graves of children -
Monumental eccentricities - Arrival of emigrants - Their reception - Poor
dwellings - The dangerous class - The elections - The riots - Characteristics
of the streets - Journey to Boston - The sights of Boston - Longfellow -
Cambridge university.
It may seem a sudden transition from society to a cemetery, and yet it is
not an unnatural one, for many of the citizens of New York carry their
magnificence as far as possible to the grave with them, and pile their
wealth above their heads in superb mausoleums or costly statues. The Père
la Chaise of the city is the Greenwood Cemetery, near Brooklyn on Long
Island.
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