[To our perception “York” seems]
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☞To our perception “York” seems a very harsh and unmusical proper name, though its antiquity , and our familiarity with it, blunt the edge of its repulsiveness. “New York” is still less euphonious, and we have often thought it a great pity that at the Revolution the Empire City was not re baptized by the old Indian name, Manhattan. But in the English language there are three degrees of comparison; and when, as in this case, we find one name ugly, and another uglier, we may rely on finding an ugliest also. The genius who first compiled the cognomen of “East New York,” and affixed it to the pretty suburb on the north-eastern frontier of this city, deserves to be held in everlasting remembrance by its inhabitants. How the place has continued to grow and flourish, while weighed down by the incubus of such a name, is more than we can comprehend. Nevertheless, the fact is that it has grown and thriven amazingly—quite as fast, in proportion, as either district of this city, or even New York itself. The latest sign of progress and advancement which we notice is the appearance of No. 1 of a weekly paper called The East New York Journal,1 published by Geo. W. Cobb, and which, if the promises of its salutatory are fulfilled, cannot fail to become a useful agent in building up the village. We learn from the paper referred to that East New York contains already a population of 2000, which number moreover is steadily increasing; it has expeditious and cheap communication with the metropolis, and boasts a Literary Society and a Cricket Club. We sincerely hope that the new Journal may thrive and prosper side by side with the place of its birth. It appears that there have been already two unsuccessful attempts to establish papers there, but Mr. Cobb, in referring to that somewhat discouraging fact, comforts himself with the reminder that the Atlantic Telegraph2 project failed twice before the task was successfully accomplished. So, he thinks, it may be with the press of East New York.
Notes:
1. The East New York Journal was an obscure Brooklyn paper edited by G.T.C. North, a "young friend" of the Brooklyn Daily Times during Whitman’s editorship and an avid cricket enthusiast. The Journal thanked the Times for its multiple promotional puffs, with the following joke: Why is the BROOKLYN DAILY TIMES likely to become a principle mantel ornament? Because its copies are bought for a cent apiece (centre-piece)" (in Brooklyn Daily Times, January 29, 1859: 2). [back]
2. The Transatlantic Telegraph was the first cable connection between the United States and Europe, built by Cyrus West Field and the Atlantic Telegraph Company. It sent its initial message—a note from the British Queen—in 1858 and, although the cable spanning from Canada's Trinity Bay to Ireland was only in operation for three weeks, had a major impact on transatlantic relations of the antebellum period. [back]