The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-29
AN HOUR IN CASTLE GARDEN

where Vhey Sleep-ServRnt Girl Bx-
Did any of our readers ever pay visit TO
Castle GardenG Perhaps some of them NAV
have done SO from motives of artistic curiositv
TO view a crumbling relic of old New York.
while those more practical may have passed
an hour there vainly endeavoring to select
from the reeking horde of emigrants a cook or
ehambermaid. Castle Garden proper is stu
ated on the northwestern extremity of the
piece ofground known as the Battery. A large
circular building, covering half an acre in
extent with flat dome of whitewashed wood
work perforated with glass windows, whether
70 let the numerous stenches made escape or
TO permit the air from the outside rather
foul at the best--to pass in, is a problem only
10 he solved by the Commissioners of Emi-
grafton.
STONE with the old embrasures for guns still
remaining, as they appeared when the first
Bonaparte issued his famous Berlin decree to
crush English commerce. The parapet gate
wav. or entrance to the Battery, as it was
called. still exists in all its huge proportions,
with its square cut blocks of stone, and
through its portals have passed in ten years
$500, COO emigrants from every nation on the
face of the globe as contributions to the future
voting population of the States. level,
arid, sandy plain denominated the Battery,
for the reason that no guns are visible fronts
the Castle Garden, and is encumbered with
peanut stands, apple stands, lemonade stands,
stands where Bologna sausages and large
loaves of Dutch bread are exposed for sale,
and where gingerbread cakes as large as pie
plates can be obtained for the moderate sum
of two cents. Aged but vituperative Irish
women of masculine frame, with bleary eyes,
tawdry garments, and faces lined with the
wrinkles of hardship, dispense the delicacies
Of the season to the emigrants. The peanuts
are not equal to pdtes ae .toie graS as a relish,
the apples rot in the sun for want of
purchasers, the sausages are mouldy and not
fit for sengerfest consumption; but the crown
ing glory of these retail huckster-stands is the
lemonade kept by them in dirty wooden or tin
pails This delicious beverage has three in
gradients or component parts, namely, mo-
lasses, vinegar, and water. A few decayed
and repeatedly squeezed lemon rinds, intended
TO deceive the keen eye of the observer, float
on top of the dirty-looking fluid. The tongues
of the Danes de Ia Halle at Paris, or the noto-
riOus fsh-women of London, cannot outrival in
acerbity and virulence these women when once
let loose upon any offending party. We wit
messed an instance of their agreeable proficiency
in the art of abuse. A haltgrown boy of the
street had, it seems, purchased glass OF
lemonade from an aged Celtic priestess, and
after putting it to his lips, such was the horror
and sensation of disgust experienced, that the
glass involuntarily dropped from his grasp
and fell to the ground, where it lay for mo-
ment broken into small fragments. With a
bowling rage the savage sprang at the boy,
crying
"What did 90 brake my glass for, 90 scamp;
ayeh?"
81 did't mean to-" whispered the gamin, in
whining tone.
"I'll tache you to brake my glass, which
cost me twenty cints, you young vagabond,"
and so saying, she fell upon the lad in great
rage, and beat him in the face with her
Clenched fists, for minute or two, to the
great delight of the spectators. The boy
would have been half murdered but for the
Intervention of a burly policeman, who stood
at the gate of the Castle Garden, curling his
beautiful moustache, and admiring the grace
full curve of his shapely leg. This majestic
being advanced with a commanding step; in
stantly the crowd fell back in reverential awe
at his portly presence.
"WOt's all this R'' said he, in a voice like
thunder. "Wot's all this about should like
ter knew? Can nobody speak ?'' and the
majestic being glared in inquiry upon the
terror-stricken crowd.
81 only w-a-r-rumed that spalpeen's ears
for breaking my glass;" whined the virage,
and with proverbial gallantry the noble police
man, finding that the sympathies of the crowd
were with the woman and the broken vessel,
turned to the reckless boy and threatened to
warm him soundly for his brutality. The
boy shrank off in a meek manner, and Castle
Garden saw him no more.
Feeling considerable premonitory dread as
to our reception by this formidable being in
blue cloth, we asked in an humble manner
'Sir, can you tell me if strangers are per-
mitted to enter the Garden P'
The "sir'' Modified this gentleman to a
great extent, and in a gracious, patronizing
tone, he signifed his permission. Entering a
long, narrow passage, with flight of stairs at
the end we assembled and found ourselves in a
large room dedicated to the clerical staff en-
plOyed by the Commissioners of Emigration to
transact the business of registering the emf
grants. A number of frOwsy-looking and
gawkish emigrants sat outside of an enclosure,
waiting for an opportunity to procure infor-
nation. Whether their universal contact with
emigrants, who are looked upon as so many
cattle by these fellows, has rendered them
gruff when asked for information promptly
and rigidly impassive or deaf whenques toned
mildly, we do not know; but it is certain that
for stoical indifference a Castle Garden clerk
would compare favorably with Zeno himself
While waiting in the Office q scene occurred
worthy of mention. A huge Irishwoman, with
red hair and freckled face, evidently not an
emigrant, but rather a drunken, besotted
specimen of the race, advanced towards the
desk, carrying a red-headed baby, with 3
scrofulous affection in its face and head. A very
impassive young gentleman, with blaci
side-whiskers, who sat at desk, cried out il
a stentorian voice to the woman, who had n,
stockings or shoes:-
''What do you want l'
l.. Araoo Tos1, ,aR1lx hn1ro