The Essence of New York City "typed" in popular parlance as the "city of business," when, by contrast, Boston was called "the city of science," and Philadelphia "the city of aristocracy."" A similar point of view was expressed in the questions reputedly asked of newcomers who sought admission to the high society of these cities. According to this yardstick of local taste, in Boston it was asked of a young lady "if she were clever, in Philadelphia, if she were pretty, in New York, if she were rich."16 Through the years, commentators pointed to signs of the commercial focus of the New York community even more tangible than the attitudes of its residents. One of these was the ever- increasing bustle of Broadway—what Walt Whitman called as early as the 1840s the city's "mighty rush of men, business, carts, 14 Luigi Adamoli, "Letters from America, I," in The Living Age, CCCXII (March 1922), 588. "Two Englishmen [ Rivington and Harris], Reminiscences of America in 1869 (London: 1870), 44-45. BROAD ST. LOOKING TO WALL ST.: STOCK EXCHANGE (CENTRAL LEFT) Photographed for the Society by Charles T. Miller, 1948