The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-12-16
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
The METROPOLIS BY DAY-LIGRT--How THE
PLoPLE LIVE STREET SCENES - The
THERMoMETER Or LIFE-A HYDRA HEAD
The Poor IN DECEMBER.


The PooR N DECEMBER.
New YORK. Dec. II, 1871.
If you lived In New York for even twenty
four hours, you would be tempted &c e1cia!m
10 the language of Stephen Blackpool. when
he interviewed Mr.. BOunderby-'Its a.
muddle-a' a muddle" Metropolitan life is
/. series Of Kaleidoscope changes; of scenes
that are never reproduced. You wonder
where all these people come from, how they
live. and into what recesses they suddenly
melt and disappear at night. Take the e1
psrence of one day. If you are an early
riser, you will find the town almost as quist
as country village. ThsihurryiDg market
wagons are perha ps the only prelude TO the
chorus Of the opening day. By and by, ths
mechanics and porters come Struggling along
-"'liks angels vists, few and far between"
4 stray omnibus heaves in sight. rumbliug
heavily on the silent street with its first load;
policemen stretch wearily and welcome the
compauionship CT the accumulating throrg !;
stores begin to lift thsir iron eye-lids. and
look sleepily on ths boys whose business it is
to wash down their glass faces and make
thsr toiiettes-for first class Broadway es
tablishmsBt you must know, goes into full
dress regularly frst-class belle. TheL
come the "seven o'clockers," j" the sewing girls
and younger clerks, and all the lesser co8-
wheels ia the vast machiuery that coins New
York wealth. The ferry boats from Brook
( lyu. Jersey City. and other suburbs. now
emptyiDg their tbouSa uds, and the strset
cars are disgorging. Up town, the people
are scarcely awake. and the smoke curling
lazily from the chimneys are only the pre-
monitory symptoms of breakfast. In the
more fashionable precints tho ms jority have
but recently gone to bed. aid you sre not
likely to see their faces again until the after
noon. when they will. probably, be peepins
At you with swollen eyes from ClUO-house
windows and restaurants.
NINE O'CLcCK !-Ths human tids is 1ow-
ing fast and fui--merchants. bankers. pro~
tesSlonal men, weil-to-d do clerks, all swelling
the stream that low runs down Broadway
almost uninterruptedly for two hours. Ten
-eleven-twelve The current changes it's
phvsiCgnomy. You are an2eng the shoppers
There are two hundred thousand ladies on
the strests and in the stores, sper ding tho
money that the other crowd, who have dis
appeared behind yondsr walls, are working
to make. You begin to recoeu re some Of
the Broadway Statues" Of both sexss the
people who make the fashions and who fol-
low theCa the old rOues. with pockets full
OF pawn tickets. and bills for their last
months board; the young women Of 10 par
tcular reputation, who lead toe "stylcE, I"
like SO many self-c0usti!utod perambulating
light houses in a fog Of fancy goods and
the old women ho ehaperons society, feed
ths lions Of the town, and except their faces
which are enameiled, are put together and
taken apart, morning and night, TO the end
that they may enact daily lie, deceive the
world. and possibly cheat the undertaken.
Two O'CLcCK The nlaslstrom is in
wild whTl. From Thirty-fourth street to
the Battery, you see psople-people-peo
pie. In Wall street and on Exchange the
bulls and bears are shouting like iuuatics.
Fortunes made and lost ia an hour. You
can scarcely elbow your way through the
excited mass. Attempt to cross Broad way
now. from tho Astor House to the Herald
Office, and ten chances to one but you will
carUm like an animated billiard ball on half
dozen vehicles. before you aIe finally "poCk-
cited" on the side. walk. Ifowu the 5treet
aud up. and IN all of the cross streets, there
is one immense tanglo Of horses, wagons, car
rlases. and omnibuses. out of which only
Ne" York policeman can evolvs anything
Ike order. Thc bcggars. flower girls and
evening news-boys are in full blast. Steam
is putting automatically from 4 thousand
pipes in buildings where trades ere being fol-
lowed; goods are coming in and going out
and every body appears to be doing some-
thing, with feverish rush, as if to- morrow
was the days Of Judgment, and eternal hap-
PinesS depended on the i'm mediate accumula~
tion of few more dollars and cents.
Four O'CLOCK The tide begins 30 turn
hoEssward. The multitude wear tired and
hungry expression. Wives and sweethsArts
have come partly down town to enjoy walk
with their husbands and lovers. and tho
l;~hf h
the consideration that is bsEtowed or that
portion sf our personal corporosity covered
by the last two buttons on . mans waist
coat. The crowd wants dinnsr. Al six it
is dark. The procession begins to assume
SONS Of its earlier characteristics. The poor
vorkers-heaven help them in this cold
wexthsr-thinly clad and w0r,e fsd. melt
gradually out of sight among the cheap
boarding houses, down the side streets. and
in an hour more you have "BrOadUa =:
night" with its fare Of gas lamps, fancy
signs lager beer saloons. and gam bling hells,
aud the freshsr crowds who seek in the at
fractions of this hour to perpstuate perhaps
until morning the excitenenGs Of the day.
1t would be q curious task to follow up
some Of these dissolving views-though it
cannot be done IN a short letter like this
for the result would reveal interesting fea
NuEcS Oi TIC ny "IlCu III TWO sIlOTL
hours swallows population of nearly g
million of psopls, and magically pours them
forth again on the morning Of the next day.
You encounter the shadows of the picture
at every turn. To-day. for instance, kneel-
ing on the kurb stone in Union Square is a
bare headed old man of seventy he is
bind and playing sad notes on fiddle.
hoping thereby to draw penny or two from
tbs passers-by. into The hat that lies before
him. The weather is SO cold that his hands
and face are purple. but the muf1led crowd
hurry on. That man is either an apotheosis
of the worst form of poverty, or first class
impostor.
There arc poor women sitting at their lit
tie stands selling newspapers. If they ske
out fifty ceuts day. it is tbs most they sx-
pect. Your organ grinder has little four
year old child with him. who reminds you of
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