New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-12-25
LETTER FROM NEW YORK
Scenes on broadway.

NEW YORK, December Is, 1858.
The approach of the holidays has made
Washington dull, and caused me to spend
little time in this great city. A walk on
Broadway at any time gives food for much
reflection. Early in the day the tide
runs downward; CLERKS, seamsresses,
mechanics, merchants, brokers, bankers
all hurryiug onward with anxious faces and
thoughts apparently intent upon daily
bread, schemes of advancement, prices of
stocks and speculations of various kinds;
and this, year in and year out, with only
such variation as time and circumstances
bring about among individuals; and, like
the drops of water in a mighty river,
giving place to others who come after, With
out especially changing the,geuerA course,
vindicate the mechanical and stereotyped
character of city life and the contracted
habits and views of those who live in it.
Later in the day the iders and strollers,
who have no seeming object and end in
view but TO satisfy curiosity, form the mass
of the throng. Beggars, organ-grinders,
hand bill distributors fantastically dressed
to attract attention, mingle in the crowd to
gain scanty and seemingly precarious live.
lihood, but probably with the same regular.
ity of receipts, upon an average, as any
other class.
| Toward sunset the current has changed,
| and the ebbing tide has changed for the
| flood, the concourse moving upward, and
| in the more fashionable portion of the thor
| oughfare gay and fancitul bellies and beaux
stroll along to see and be seen, vieing with
| each other in efforts to excelin the extremes
\ of fashion, sometimes going beyond the
| limit of modesty and discretion, aud regard.
| ed AS objects of derision rather than Of ad-
| miration.
| To one who is not much accustomed to
| the routine of city life, these gaudy and
| eXerting displays dazzle and amuse; and,
| for a time, beget in him desire to make
| one of the crowd and spend his life in the
midst of them. But the observation and
| experience of few days serve to open his
eyes to the unreal and unsatisfactory ma
ture of what he beholds; and his admiration
| is changed to disgust, and sincere wish to
| get as far from them as possible and to ex-
change them for the more rational and sa-
| tisfactory enjoyment of the quiet and com
[ fort of domestic retirement, where there is
| less show and more substantial comfort.
The demoralizing effects of city life, where
| there is such constant strife and contest
| for supremacy, and even for responsibility
| and influence among ones associates and
compeers, is evident from the formal
coldness it begets among those who
! enter the lists Tor fame, fortune
and fashionable supremacy, and whose
! example spread like an epidemic among
| the classes who, without going to the same
| lengths of folly and extravaganza, initiate
| and approximate as closely as their means
and spheres permit. A mans influence and
| position in society is measured here by the
amount of his wealth, or by the cut and
quality of his coat. But we may say with
! the poet: God made the country, and man
made the town. Aud this holds good not
/ only in regard to the material and physical
| objects OF each, but is equally true of the
/ character disposition, habits, words and re-
! ligion of each. Advantages then, doubtless,
/ are to be found in a populous and thriving
| city like this; but whether these are not ali
more than counterbalanced by the artificial
manners and corrupted morals, aud hollow
heartedness which prevail, is the great ques-
| ton.
! Broadway, from Canal street upward, is
having its pavement renewed and improved
by the substitution OF thin slabs of granite
for the square blocks, which latter are
| found soon to become smooth, slippery and
| dangerous to horses. l have seen no less
| than three or four fail down in single day,
| and scarcely day passes without seeing
one or more. Improvements are good and
! desirable, but the Improvements and
| changes in the pavement of Broadway have
| beeh going on from time immemorial, and,
| probably, win continue to do so for long
/ time to come, unless some one can invent q
| pavement which is proof against the con-
stant attrition of an endless train of heavily
| laden wagons, omnibuses and vehicles of
all kinds, rumbling over 1t by day and by
night. But the pavement, like the build.
ings aud the city itself, will all, no doubt,
be very fine If, as has been facetiously and
Justly said, 1t is ever finished. A project is