The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-01-12
A PICTURE OF NEW YORK.

A PICTURE OF NEW YORK.
Some two weeks ago, we cut the following
thrilling passage from the New York correspond
ence OF the Louisville Journal, since which, we
have noticed it in several contemporary prints
The heart sickens at the startling, and, SO far as
we are informed, graphic picture. Since the
evils OF the existing social system are deemed by
well-ordered minds inevitable; were itsnot well
that phlanthropsts should unite in some system
to mitigate them, and to alleviate, since they can
not cure, this agonizing. disease in the body
polite!
Thursday and Thursday night i. snow ed stead
ny and delIciously; and on Friday we celebrated
that great metropolitan holiday, !. the first sleigh
ing Of the season." The city looked as if tre-
mendous bal masgue had been suddenly turned
into the streets, in the height of its revery. The
scarfs and feathers of the laughing ladies--the
gaudily trimmed and luxurious cougar-skns,
which enwrapped the fairy cars, that glided like
dreams over the sparkling snoW---the ring of the
merry bells-the crack of the eager whip, and
the prancng and caracoling Of thousands Of sleek
and we'll fed stecds, attached to the most exaui
site and graceful vehicles--all presented such
scene Of mirth and glowing hilarity that it was
very d'flcult totsay neigh to angnytaton, to go
sleigh-riding. 81 .4s5sa ,.s n,
But beneath this musical and flashing surge
Of Joyous and happy life slowly beats the agoni-
zed heart of the suffering poor The starving
children press for food around the knees of their
shivering mother---the nladdened father and
husband,g without a. shelter for his offspring,
clasps his pale wife in mute despair, and calcu-
lates the chances of robbery or suicide-oflen
resolving upon the one, and, frightened by the
cries Of his hungry children from his purpose,
fIrs hoo I~no IL n 4
wiring your heart with real and living pictures
of such misery and destitution as seem to belle
the noble destiny Of humanity and disproYe the
goodness Of Omnipotence! could take you,
five minutes walk from the crowded and brilliant
throng in Broadway, to the dens of crime and
starvation, where man seems brute, woman a
fiend, and childhood--the season of Joy and
Dsmiles-a wretched and bitter mockery, without
hope or heart.s The gorgeous rainbow that
spans the whirIing torrent OF metropolitan life
rests its bases on such dark depths of misery
and crime as it makes one shudder but 10 think
OF. The continual excitement of life in a great
city-the struggle Of bafed aspirants after social
distinction-the utter heartlessness begotten by
the rlvalries of an insensate money aristocracy-
create, as it were, determination Of blood to
the brain, which ends in prostitution, intemper-
ance, and theft-the apoplexy and epilepsy Of
the social system. Many Of our most dashing
iAASAA CuCtCo III dW tHCU supplies OF
money from the precarious fortunes Of the faro
bank or rouge el noir, and when these fail, for
gerry, swindling, Or theft, becomes their only re-
sort. Many of our most blaze and distingue
women, who give tone to fashionable society,
and at whose nod the doors of every circle fy
open in haste to give them welcome, draw their
income, which supports them in all their extrav-
agant folhes, from sources that must not be mem
toned in my page, but which may be too readi-
" Imagined. Could the Mysteries Of New
York" be fairly and honestly written, the exag-
gerated rhodomontade and raw-head and bloody
bones Of Eugene Sue would appear insignificant
IN comparison. shall never, give you names
either directly or by implication--nor will re-
cite personal and individual adventures; but if
time serves me, as / think it will, during the
long winter evenings, shall endeayor to present
you some pictures Of metropolitan life in a Re.
public, that may not only interest the mere
reader of gossip, but furnish food for thought to
the wise and good There are rank ulcers fes-
tering beneath the surface Of things here, that it
would make you perhaps shudder to have laid
open with the scapel and firm hand. After
all cui bono 2 will think upon it. sl s.lf ts..s