the largest library building in the world.

The city's parks are many. Central Park, in the center of Manhattan, ranks among the world's finest pleasure grounds. It is two miles and a half long and one-half mile wide, and has large stretches of woodland, beautiful lawns, gleaming lakes, and sparkling fountains. Here, too, are the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cleopatra's Needle—an obelisk thousands of years old, presented to the city by a ruler of Egypt. And here are reservoirs which hold the water brought by aqueducts from the Croton River, about forty miles north of the city. This river was for many years the sole source of Manhattan's water supply. In 1905, however, the city began work on an immense[19]
[20]
[21] aqueduct which is to bring all the drinking-water for all five boroughs from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountain region.

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

MANHATTAN ISLAND AND THE CITY PARKS

THE TOMB OF GENERAL GRANT

The tomb of General Grant is at the northern end of Riverside Park, which is on a high ridge along the Hudson River above Seventy-second Street. Riverside Drive, skirting this park, is one of the most beautiful boulevards in the city.

Then there are Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Pelham Bay and Van Cortlandt parks in The Bronx. The city zoo and the Botanical Gardens are in Bronx Park. And in addition to all these there are more than two hundred smaller open spaces and squares scattered over the city.

Columbia University, New York University, Fordham, the College of the City of New York, and Barnard College are among the most noted of New York's many educational institutions.

About five million people live in this wonderful city, and to supply them all with food is a tremendous business in itself. During the night special trains bring milk, butter, and eggs; refrigerator cars come laden with beef; and from the market gardens of Long Island fruits and vegetables are gathered and taken to the city during the cool of the night that they may be sold, fresh and inviting, in the morning.

Great numbers of New York's inhabitants are from foreign lands. Several thousand Chinese manage to exist in the few blocks which make up New York's Chinatown. A large Italian population lives huddled together in Little Italy, as well as in other sections of the city. Thousands upon thousands of Jews are crowded into the Hebrew section on the lower east side of Manhattan. There is also a German and a French colony, as well as distinct Negro, Greek, Russian, Armenian, and Arab quarters. Most of these are in lower Manhattan, and in consequence lower Manhattan is by no means deserted when the vast army of shoppers, workers, and business men have gone home for the night.

WHERE THE SEALS LIVE IN BRONX PARK

THE ELEPHANT HOUSE IN BRONX PARK

VISITING THE BIRDS IN BRONX PARK

The necessity of carrying these shoppers, workers, and business men to and from their homes in the residence sections of the city and in the suburbs gradually led to the development of New York's wonderful rapid-transit system. Within the borders of Manhattan itself, horse cars soon proved unequal to handling the crowds that each day traveled north and south. So the first elevated railway was built. Then six years later, a second line was constructed. Others soon followed, not only in Manhattan but also in Brooklyn and The Bronx. Raised high above the busy streets by means of iron trestles, and making but few stops, these elevated trains could carry passengers much faster than the surface cars, and for a time the problem seemed to be solved.

THE OLD AND THE NEW

A NEW YORK ELEVATED RAILWAY

The traveling public was rapidly increasing, however, and before the close of the nineteenth century both the surface cars, now run by electricity, and the elevated trains were sorely overcrowded during the morning and evening rush hours. More cars were absolutely necessary, and as there was little room to run them on or above the surface, New York decided to make use of the space under the ground, just as it had already turned to account that overhead.

NEW YORK'S FIRST TWO-STORY CAR

A SUBWAY ENTRANCE

The work was begun in 1901. A small army of men was set to blasting and digging tunnels underneath the city streets,—a tremendous task,—and in 1904 the first subway was opened. Electric cars running on these underground tracks carry passengers from one end of the island to the other with the speed of a railroad train.

SUBWAY TUNNELS

A FERRY BOAT

But what of the means of travel for those living outside of Manhattan? Years back, business men living on Long Island had to cross the East River on ferry boats. This was particularly inconvenient in winter, when fogs or floating ice were liable to cause serious delays. Besides, as New York grew, such numbers crossed on the ferries that they were overcrowded. Relief came for a time when,