The
resident there shows his wealth chiefly by his house; and though he
may probably have a villa at Newport or a box somewhere up the
Hudson, he has no second establishment.
Such a house, therefore,
will not represent a total expenditure of above 4000 pounds a year.
There are churches on each side of Fifth Avenue - perhaps five or
six within sight at one time - which add much to the beauty of the
street. They are well built, and in fairly good taste. These,
added to the general well-being and splendid comfort of the place,
give it an effect better than the architecture of the individual
houses would seem to warrant. I own that I have enjoyed the vista
as I have walked up and down Fifth Avenue, and have felt that the
city had a right to be proud of its wealth. But the greatness and
beauty and glory of wealth have on such occasions been all in all
with me. I know no great man, no celebrated statesman, no
philanthropist of peculiar note who has lived in Fifth Avenue.
That gentleman on the right made a million of dollars by inventing
a shirt collar; this one on the left electrified the world by a
lotion; as to the gentleman at the corner there, there are rumors
about him and the Cuban slave trade but my informant by no means
knows that they are true. Such are the aristocracy of Fifth
Avenue, I can only say that, if I could make a million dollars by a
lotion, I should certainly be right to live in such a house as one
of those.
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