The weekly loyal Georgian., 1867-08-24
New YORK. Aug. Is. '67.

In my last l lett the reader at the
Bowery, as Saturday night was draws
ing its sombre curtains over the busy
pulsations of life in the great mctrop-
oils. Amid the glare of gas lights
ard the rafting of cars, the motley
crowds pursue their way; mechanics,
with their wives and without their
wives, shopping or chatting at the
corners and in the beer saloons work.
ing girls, whose hearts are light as
they distribute the we'll earned wages
OF the week in the stores and shops
some for a new dress or bonnet, and
some for articles needed by the dear
ones at home careworn women tug
ging along with their market baskets,
happy now in expectancy of good
Sunday dinner, and hundreds, hard
featured and rough, to whom Sunday
is no more than any other day, and
who lOiter about with no settled home
or business-now in the station house
or the tOmbs, and now at some cheap
lodging house. Here is the Atlantic
Garden, an immense beer saloon, with
seats and tables for several thousand
persons and music stand and i'm
meRse organ, where 0rpheus contends
VITA Gambrinus for sway over the
genial throng. Next door Thespis
holds court in the old Bowery, where
hIIrdreds of newsboys and boot blacks,
am other -unnfitiguted scrubs, crowd
the pit and galleries, affording to the
curious observer more interesting
picture of life than can be gathered
from those in front of the foot lights.
The low cellars and dance houses
which formerly abounded III this part
of the city have recently been the
object of special vigilance from the
police, and we abandon the idea of
making any subterranean observations.
The much abused Excise law has
greatly changed the Sunday aspect of
the city. The saloons and cellars
where jewellers held their orgies, are
all closed, and suburban purlieus now
reap the harvest of ruin formerly gar
nered in their reeking precincts in the
city. Excursions are announced TO
Rockaway, Keyport, the Fishing Banks,
Glen Cove. Newburg, Newark, and down
the Sound, while myriads of thirsty
souls throng the ferries, and pursue
their revels in Hoboken, Williamsburg,
Jersey City, and numerous other out of
town localities. SO that, while the
friends of the excise law boast that
Sunday arrests in the city have dimin-
ished one half under its salutary inllu-
ence, it is believed that drunkenness
and Sabbath breaking have been in
creased under the statutory risorS which
have closed the city rum holes.
The city papers are constantly harp
ing on the shortcomings of the police,
and the sanitary commission but New
York reveals to the senses of the stran-
ger few evidences of Glth, and the police
are most polite and gcntlcmanly. ]
have noticed with admiration their
uniform courtesy in giving directions to
strangers, and their care and gaIIantry
in protecting ladies and children from
the dangers of the streets. They are
certainly fine looking body of men,
and dressed i'll uniforms of blue. with
Panama hats or blue caps, and white
gloves, they make a handsome appear
ancc.
Complaints of the dullness of busi-
ness is widespread, and thousands are
out of employment. The placards that
strike the eye at every turn, offering
stores, parts of stores, rooms, Easements,
and lofts "to let" are significant that
the wheels Of business are not
running smoothly. The prevailing
folly OF living beyond the income, seeks
relief in letting apartments, taklng'a
few boarders, or abandoning the city
for a home in the suburbs, and hence
the multiplicity of placards, observable
at every turn, and quite as numerous IN
Fifth Avenue, and other fashionable
streets. as elsewhere. The truth is, the
war opened many easy ways for making
money, and thousands assumed style
of life under shoddy prosperity that
they cannot maintain, now that the
reign of shoddy is over.
Wholesale trade is especially dull,
and the fall business, usually actlve
at this time, has not opened A fe"
merchants are here from Texas,
and here and there one from
the other Southern districts. The
fine crop accounts give promise of a
large Southern demand for goods, and
those in the Southern trade are conf
dent OF a good business after awhile.
There is no material change in imam
cial affairs. Money continues distress
ingly easy and | will illustrate TINS
expres sion in the remark OF an eminent
banker. who. ON being appealed to for
| charity, replied: Madame, | am sorry
| cannot help you but my means are
| all lying idle. cannot loan my money,
and having no income, | cannot con-
tribute to your wants" So money that
| is unproductive is not really always
wealth. ~