Publishers' Preface
THIS volume aims to give scrupulously exact descriptions of life and scenes in the great metropolis under three different aspects: 1st, "As Seen by a Woman;" 2d, "As Seen by a Journalist;" 3d, "As Seen and Known by the Chief of the New York Detective Bureau." It was essential that each of the writers selected for this undertaking should possess a thorough practical knowledge of the subject, combined with ability to describe what they have seen and experienced.
The first division was assigned to Mrs. Helen Campbell, whose life has been spent in New York city, and whose well-known sympathies for the poor and unfortunate, combined with long experience in city missionary work and charitable tsnterprises, peculiarly fitted her for this portion of the work. Her interest in missions and her labors among the lower classes have brought her face to face with squalor and misery among the hopelessly poor, as well as with degraded men and women in their own homes; while her ready sympathy gained for her access to their hearts, and thus gave her a practical insight into their daily life possessed by few. Who but a woman could describe to women the scenes of sin, sorrow, and suffering among this people that have presented themselves to her womanly eye and heart?
To Col. Thomas W. Knox was assigned the task of delineating phases of city life that a trained journalist of many years' experience in ISTew York is more familiar with than almost any other person. To the advantages of his facile pen and quick
