Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-06-18
WHOLE NO. 272.
[From the Portland Advertiser.

A GRAPHIC PICTURE OF NEw-YoRK
CTY.-"There is much that is ludicroUs
IN the motley crowds rushing through
Broadway at different hours; but when
the city is seen in one view, the sight is
solemn one. If you are called to de-
part, or il you by any chance, arrive i'm
the dead OF night, the vacancy and si-
!eDce OF the streets, are exceedingly i'm
pressivc. Two hu dred and forty thou
sand people obeying the laws Of nature,
at least in repose. The dead of night,
strictly speaking, lasts but a very short
time in the principal thoroughfares: for
the termination of The play at about i2,
and OF fashionable parties at |, keeps up
Il rumblng of carriages for an hour or
two, until the most remote routes have
been performed, and the horses are re-
TUNED to their stables. After this is
over, half hours and even hours Of al
most total silence sometimes intervene,
whTle the watchmeD, in the dome Of the
sick and the watcbful, that another day
is approaching, whether desired or ap-
pretended by them. A cannon is fired
al break Of day, on Governors Island;
bat before this, the lines Of milk, bread,
and butchers carts are in motion, and
some come rafting down the Island from
above, while others are collecting at tho
Ferries Oh tho Long Island and Jersey
shores, and all are soon dining the
streets. From the heights of Brooklyn,
you may hear their rafting, increasing
from feeble beginnings, until joined by
the drugs proceeding from the north to
the south part OF the city to their stands,
it sweils into an unintermitted roar, like
the sound Of Niagara, at Queenstown, to
stop not till midnight Some time after
daylight, while the lamps at the stea
boat docks, are still glimmering, and
those in the streets which, by mistake,
have had oil enough, the first smoke be-
gins to rise from the houses of laborers,
IN the upper wards. Some FIVE or ten
early risers, are just putting sparks to
wood or coal; and their example il SO
contagious, that fires are speedily blaz-
ing in every house, and almost every
chimney in the city. In the cold sea-
son, this is singular sight; and when
the wind is from the south in the morn
ing, the heavy cloud which generally
overhangs the city, is blown northward,
leaving the Battery in tho light Of tho
sun, while many Of the other parts, are
deeply obscured. Soon after sunrise,
floods Of daily emigrants from the upper
wards, meeting at Broadway and Canal
street, pour down TO the wharves, the
mechanics shops, and the houses in
building, many Of them with convenient
little tin Kettles, containing their dinners
and preparations for heating them, all
bound to their work. Then comes tho
clerks of all degrees, the youngest gen.
orally first; and these, in an hour or
lhereabouts, give place to their masters,
who flow down with more dignity, but
scarcely less speed, 10 the counting
rooms Of the commercial streets, hun
dreds Of them, especially in unfavorabls
weather, in the omnbusses, which rem
der the streets SO dangerous now and at
3 or 4 O'Clock, IN the afternoon. Ere
these crowds have disappeared, they be-
come crossed and mingled with some Of
the fourteen thousand children, who 60
to the public and primary schools at nine,
and an unknown number who frequent
the private schools Of all sorts. Then
are seen, also, the students of Columbia
College and the University, the medi-
Gals in winter hurrying 20 Barclay street,
lawy ers, clients and Witnesses gathering
about the City Hall, and the Marine
and Ward Courts. Things as
Meu are.