er of attorney, of course, for discovering us?"

"Yes," said Hudson. "As Columbus used to say when he discovered San
Salvador, 'I do it by the right vested in me by my sovereigns.' 'That
oversizes my pile by a sovereign and a half,' says one of the natives;
and so, if you have not heard it, there is a good thing for one of your
dinner-speeches here."

"Very good," said the chief, as they jogged down-town on a swift Sixth
Avenue elevated train towards the wigwams on 14th Street, and going at
the rate of four miles an hour. "We do not care especially who discovers
us, so long as we hold control of the city organization. How about that,
Hank?"

"That will be satisfactory," said Mr. Hudson, taking a package of
imported cheese and eating it, so that they could have the car to
themselves.

"We will take the departments, such as Police, Street-Cleaning, etc.,
etc., etc., while you and Columbus get your pictures on the currency and
have your graves mussed up on anniversaries. We get the two-moment
horses and the country chateaux on the Bronx. Sabe?"

"That is, you do not care whose portrait is on the currency," said
Hudson, "so you get the currency."

Said the man, "That is the sense of the meeting."

Thus was New York discovered _via_ Albany and Fort Lee, and five minutes
after the two touched glasses, the brim of the schoppin and the
Manhattan cocktail tinkled together, and New York was inaugurated.

Obtaining a gentle and philanthropical gentleman who knew too well the
city by gas-light, they saw the town so thoroughly that nearly every
building in the morning wore a bright red sign which read--

+----------------------+
| BEWARE OF PAINT. |
+----------------------+

Regarding the question as to who has the right to claim the priority of
discovery of New York, I unite with one of the ablest historians now
living in stating that I do not know.

Here and there throughout the work of all great historians who are frank
and honest, chapter after chapter of information like this will burst
forth upon the eye of the surprised and delighted reader.

Society at the time of the discovery of the blank-verse Indian of
America was crude. Hudson's arrival, of course, among older citizens
soon called out those who desired his acquaintance, but he noticed that
club life was not what it has since become, especially Indian club life.

[Illustration: CLUB LIFE IN EARLY NEW YORK.]

He found a nation whose regular job