was Herman Melville, whose sea-tales are compared to those of Cooper. James Macauley wrote the Natural, Statistical, and Civil History of the State of New York, and William Starbuck Mayo wrote two books for boys. New York's Position in Literature.-Thus while New York was becoming famous through her canals, manufactures, railroads, commerce, and wealth, she was also gaining through her literary men an enviable reputation both among her sister states and across the sea.

CHAPTER XLII.-SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Social Status. At the close of this period the people in all parts of the state were in a better social condition. The constitution of 1846 had abolished feudal rights, and only a few remnants were left. Travel was more common now that the fare from Buffalo to Albany was reduced from $20 to $6.15 in 1853, and similarly on other routes. Provincialism died out in consequence. The log-rolling and the barn-raising began to disappear, though the party and the dance remained. Mass-meetings, political gatherings, and conventions were held. Democracy was prevalent in spirit and practice. Log houses gave way to comfortable frame or brick buildings, and a thousand conveniences unknown before were enjoyed in city and country. The individual counted for more than ever in the history of the state.

Morals and Religion. -Increased wealth, a higher intelligence, and a better social plane had their religious

and moral effects. There were 4,400 ministers in 1845, and five years later 5,000 churches. The Roman Catholics had the largest number of the 703,000 churchmembers, and then in order came Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Reformed Protestants, and Dutch Reformed, with a number of smaller sects. These organizations with their private schools and institutions of charity, their missionary societies, Sundayschools, and other channels of activity, were a powerful factor in pointing the way toward a higher civilization.

Prison Reforms.-Morals were improving. A law forbade lotteries which had once been used to raise money for state, church, and school. No one could any longer be imprisoned for debt. "The Prison Association" was organized (1844) and the Clinton state prison authorized. The humane "Auburn prison system" was adopted (1821), to be copied over the world. Homes for the sick, orphaned, blind, deaf and dumb, insane, aged, and other unfortunates were built in various sections and endowed by the benevolent rich. In 1850 there were 10,280 criminals and 60,000 paupers supported at a cost of $818,000. Miss Dorothy L. Dix in 1844 stirred up the second great prison reform. The county poorhouses had become breeders of pauperism and "disgraceful monuments of public charity." They were reorganized and conducted on different principles. Plagues and Disasters.-The state had its plagues and disasters. In 1832 the Asiatic cholera appeared. It spread all over the state and was especially fatal in the cities. In New York half of the 6,000 persons afflicted died, 336 died in Albany, over 100 in Syracuse, and many in Utica, Rochester, and Buffalo. The people were

greatly frightened. Though bad in itself, the cholera led to the creation of a board of health in nearly every city. It reappeared in New York City in 1849 and carried away 3,000 again, and broke out the third time in 1865, but was checked in its ravages. The hygienic reforms resulting from the disease led to the removal of a dozen "burying-grounds " to places outside of the city. The reform was followed in other cities over the state.

Great Fires played havoc in the cities owing to the wooden buildings and lack of protection against fire. The most disastrous were in the metropolis. When Washington evacuated the city in 1776, 493 houses had been burned. A gas-pipe explosion in 1835 caused the burning of 528 houses and the bankruptcy of nearly all the fire-insurance companies. This fire occurred in freezing winter weather, and the suffering was intense. Ten years later 345 buildings, valued at $10,000,000, were burned and many merchants and insurance companies were crippled. The fires were also blessings in a way, for old buildings were replaced by brick and granite structures, and crooked streets were straightened. Like the phoenix, a new city grew up out of the burnt one. Three weeks after the last fire Mr. Hone wrote in his diary that "fine stores were in process of construction amidst smouldering ruins." Of course the suffering among the poor was very great. Every city in the state has had an experience like New York. When the Chicago fire took place New York sent $3,000,000 in goods and money to the suffering.

Water-supply in New York City. The cholera led to a denunciation of the drinking-water, and the disastrous fires caused complaints against the fire departments in

all the large cities, but especially in New York. These expressions of public opinion brought action. In 1774 the legislature had given the city permission to issue $12,500 in paper money to build a reservoir for supplying the city with pure water. The Revolution stopped the enterprise and left the city too poor to begin it again. The "Tea-water Pump," a natural fountain, supplied the people for a long time. Many had pumps in their back yards. As early as 1798 a committee reported in favor of bringing Bronx River water into the city. The project was used by politicians to further their own interests. Aaron Burr, then an assemblyman, had the Manhattan Company incorporated with the especial privilege to run a bank and likewise with the right to supply the city of New York with water. A well was sunk and water was forced into a reservoir fifty feet above Broadway. From there it was distributed over the city in wooden pipes. The supply, however, was soon inadequate and the quality bad.1 A fire (1828) led to the construction of a big well uptown, and a reservoir with iron pipes running through the chief streets, but soon the supply was again too small.

Croton Aqueduct. This condition called attention to the Croton River as a source of water, but it was forty miles away. A survey was made (1832-3) and the work of constructing the Croton aqueduct was authorized. The greatest engineering feat in America up to that time was completed July 4, 1842, and the great city

1 From this company's charter and operations arose the term "watered stock." The Manhattan Company now stands very high financially.

had the best of water in abundance. A huge reservoir was formed by damming the river, and then a granite aqueduct of horseshoe form, 7 feet wide and 8 feet high, was built 40 miles long. It rested upon 114 culverts, ran through more than a mile of tunnels, and then across Harlem River, over the "High Bridge," into the city. It cost $9,000,000. By 1850 over 200 miles of pipe had been laid in the city, and a reservoir, covering 105 acres, had been built in Central Park.

Celebration. Well might the people make the completion of this grand project a day of civic and martial rejoicing. It was to the health and comfort of the city what the canal and railroad were to trade and industry.

Enlargements. Less than fifty years later the city had grown so rapidly that the water-supply was once more insufficient. An additional aqueduct was built (1885-1890), therefore, from the Croton River to the city. By using more tunnels it was made seven miles shorter. It is circular and 124 feet in diameter in the tunnels, but elsewhere horseshoe-shaped and about 13 feet wide and 13 feet high. The Harlem River is passed by an inverted siphon 150 feet below the bed of the river. Already this supply is inadequate for the homes, shops, and streets of the great city. Up to 1868 nearly $16,000,000 in water-rent had been paid the city. The action of New York was copied all over the state and elsewhere.