s the boats crept along the canal, and at each town bands
played, and speeches were made, until on the tenth day the Governor and
his party reached New York--the first to make the journey across the
State by water. They were taken to Sandy Hook, the Mayor of New York,
with many others, attending, and surrounded by all the ships in the bay,
with their colors flying and their whistles blowing. And there at Sandy
Hook, Governor Clinton poured a keg of water which he had brought from
Lake Erie into the waters of the ocean.

Thus were the waters of the Great Lakes and the waters of the Atlantic
Ocean united, and the city was illuminated as it had never been before,
and great bonfires burned all night, in honor of the wedding.

CHAPTER XXXVIII

THE BUILDING of the CROTON AQUEDUCT

It really seemed now as though some fairy wand had been turned toward
New York. Blocks of houses of brick and stone sprang up, and buildings
of every sort crept up the Island of Manhattan and were occupied by more
than 200,000 people. The city was the centre of art and literature and
science in America. The streets were lighted by gas; there were fine
theatres; and the first street railroad in the world was in
operation--the first step toward crowding out the lumbering stages.
Newspapers were multiplying, and there were now fifty various sorts,
daily, weekly, and monthly. The dailies cost six cents, and were
delivered to regular subscribers. In the year 1833 the _Sun_, the first
penny paper to be published in the city, was issued. It was a success.
Boys sold it on the streets in all parts of the town. This was the
beginning of the work of the news-boys, and after this they were to be
found all over the country.

But now there came another great fire. On a December night, a night so
cold that it was said there had not been such another in fifty years,
flames broke out in the lower part of town near the river. The citizens
battled with it as best they could, but it burned for three days,
destroying almost all of the business end of the city. For years
afterward it was called the "Great Fire," and was remembered with dread.
To-day there is a marble tablet on a house in Pearl Street near Coenties
Slip, which was the centre of the burned district, where you can read of
how fearful the fire was and how thankful the people were that the
entire city was not destroyed. But the houses were quickly rebuilt, and
New York prospered more than ever be