Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-02-15
THE GAZETTE.
MONDAY MORNING. FEBRUARY IS, 1858.
WALL STREET; WHAT III Is, AND
WHAT 1T IS NOT.


The following paragraph, which we lind
in . late number Of the N. Y. tribune, gives a
rather amusing, and at the same tlmssgraph-
ic, idea of Wall street:
mo other t~horoughfare is like it. It's fea-
lures are peculiar. No Change Alley is like
il; no other Bourse-no other Rlalto. Trim
ity Church looks down upon it, like a SUPER
visor. but Trinity Church capnot Christian
ize it. Like a melon growing next TO a
tumyk kin, the church may have a SAVIOR Ut It's
neighbor, but Wall street will never obtain
any flavor from the church.
The name of Downing street, in London,
is irrevocably associated with diplou acy; 50
is Wall street with stockjobbing; but a.
Downing street is not full of foreigo minis
tiers with faces Palmerstonward, neither is
Wall street occupied solely by the members
of the bankers board.
Wall street is not q long street, though it
is felt a long ways. A man, without corns,
can walk the length of it 10 five miGutes.--
Another, if he should keep 90, would find
him in the East River. 1t is not a wide
street. Bids have been made from curb TO
curb. Wheels get locked" there daily, es-
p~ecially near the head of it, and a vast deal
Of highly ornamented profanity is done by
sweet tempered carmen, who, having wedg-
ed themeelves in, seen to think that, like
the poor debtors" they can swear themselves
out.
1t is not O handsome street; still there is
nothing wooden in it, except, perhaps, the
heads of soma stock buyers. White marble,
brown freestoue, terracutta and substa' tai
granite, bespeak its wealth. Here is that
wonderfully intricate building, the Mer.
chants Exchange. as foil If lawyers, lusu-
rance and other Offices. as a dog is Of heas.-
Near by is the locus in quo Of the brokers
board, where many millions Of dollars daily
..change hands and cross over" while the
members cheertully (speaking in metaphor)
''bslance to their partners" 10 the rotnnda
of the edi6ce real estate auctiUneers are cry
ing sssiduously, yet without shedding q tear
over sacrifices OF property to al almost iaou-
lous amount.
On the outer side Of Wall, at the corner OF
Nassau, and facing Broad street. stands
nay, it don't stand, but ~Squdta--the Custom
House, where there has been so much hard
swearing over fraudulent invoices and point
ical assessments, that the white marble col
umns have turned as gray az the old m"u's
hair, or as Chelmsford granite, which they
much resemble.
% the other side Of the street is an Illus
trious row Of banks and insurance Offices,
with foreign insurance. agents, land agents,
coal agents, railroad agents, steamship agents,
and many other sorts Of agents, lSatan's too,
perhaps,) including some lawyers on the Sc
coud aud higher floors. The Placements
swarm with brokers. Every nook and Gran,
ny in all these buildings command high
rents. Add to this picture innumerabie
groups of earnest-talking, &C. lding, chatfern ny,
gesriculating men, dividing the rapid cur
rents Of merchants, brokers, clerks, foreign
consuls, fnanciers. and commercial edit r.,
who are continually passing, and you, who
have never seen the notorious thoroughiarc,
will have a tolerably graphic idea Of Wall
street.