The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-02-08
QUAINT NOOKS.
A CurSOry View Of Some Of New YOrk'S
0ut-of-the- Way CuriositieS.


where are gradually collected from year to year
dusty old pieces Of furniture. worm-eaten and
soied books, and dim cracked pictures by un-
known painters. The spirit OF the past seems re-
posing where 1t is very seldom met by the spirit OF
the present Visitors to these places-sanctuarles,
II they 30 might be called-are queer as the places
themselves, relics OF other generations, parched.
dried, specialized Or, II belonging to q younger
age, gifted with exclusive traits OF oddly, and
whom melancholy indigestion and erudition have
marked as their own.
Old London Is noted, among other things, for
such nooks hidden away In her labyrinths OF brick,
cobwebs and cobbles, and the British Museum
holds the august rank of being the holy Of holes
OF them all, without the ignOminious necessity
hanging over It's proprietor to sell something Of
its stock or break. Its proprietor, the English ma
ton, takes especial pride in the mighty collection
of mildewed, decaying and obsolete relics Of the
past which there have congregated, and reveres
them with
SORT OF AWFUL REVERENCE
Not so with the contents of the obscure book
stalls, where amid tumbed tiers Of volumes,
bound in velum or wood or parchment or paper,
aud dusty, cobwebbed, rckety shelves, the
dealer in these "Od clo'sn Of thought sits
or PAGES all the day, like an alchemist among his
crucibles. Certes he frowns darby upon whoever
enters looks at him keenly as If to read his Utmost
mind and his standing as an antiquarian, and an
swers MS questions with a curtness which seems
well to appreciate the value of the answers; but
for all that, though it may cut him to the SOUL he
welcomes the sale OF o book or old map or dnapi.
dated engraving with . look betokening inward
satisfaction at the opportunity being offered to
grasp with his leathery hands some OF the "drty
lucre" which his intellectual surroundings, one
would imagine, would cause him to despise. This
is picture OF certain men whose livelihood is
gained by specializing in the Oldest and rarsst of
books
New York assimilates itself slowly to the great
est city OF the Old World. 1t Is the work OF age for
1t to become as impressive in its great buildings,
so many OF which are yet to be up-built, and in
the strange aspect OF Its Oldest quarters, to per-
sons who are accustomed only to the more modern
abOdes OF comfort and aristocracy. Some of the
features which most lead one to reflect upon the
future Of this, the metropolis of the future world,
are those which are half hidden in the obscurity Of
Its most unirequented streets. They will point
the keen observer to that coming period when the
small island upon which the city stands will be alb
soutely choked by embodied human life, and the
hundred streets Will present labyrinthine will
derness, In which neighborhoOds will become as
distinctive and tenacious OF their traditions and
characteristics as In old London ITSELF
One OF the most striking features Of the portion
Of New York which bears the relation to It's Bel
grava OF Chancery court to Rotten row is the re-
gOn given up. Is if through sort OF dumb tall
ing from virtue to Old clo', pawn and Junk shops,
one OF the principal portions Of which is described
below.
IMMEDIATELY OFF CHATHAM SQUARE,
In narrow crooked lane one seems to step into
the centre OF another city-a city OF bargainers,
bickerers. Jews. The very atmosphere is heavily
laden with odors Of the unwnolesome decay
OF old garments, old books, old furniture,
old metal. The street either side is lined
by lofty rows OF houses, reaching up toward
the sky for the height OF six seven stories. Be-
tween these modern tenements Earthly purga-
tories) are huddled some low, squalid, squatting
ruined wooden houses IN so tumble down and
greasy state that it Is wonder how any men or
in them. From the small grim windows, half
opened, and revealing within other still more sick
hang bundles Of old clothes; below them, from the
awnlng.posts, swing other quantities OF rusty
habilments, steaming out the gathered excresence
much human wear into the damp and pungent
air, and fing it with such heavy depressing doors
That the passer-by is more willing to run than
weighs upon his lungs.
DID you ever reject upon
AN ''OID CLO'S' SHOP?
How many human beings have had association
with the articles that burden its Shelves that lie
in tumbed heaps on the moor, in the corners, or
to the public to enter and to bargain What diff
ferent kinds OF men have these threadbare broad
sions have they been worm The staggering
young gallant, who while deeply in debt made
such havoc among tender hearts OF grocery
mems daughters or blushing factory girls;
the precise bachelor, whose wardrobe was
stolen one summer night while he was smoking his
cigar the veranda with his adylOve at mis- side;
the penny -a.iner whose reliance upon his own all
powerful wit carried him beyond his means; the
broken hearted politician whom the chances of
reduced
to the stagnant pool OF impecuniOsity where tears
cannot amend his loss or his want; the clerk with
poor salary, and either dissipation NEAR ones
and dear ones" to drain his purse, and other char
acters OF q thousand different kinds are the now
garments have had place In the world of things
since their first birth in some fashionable or un-
fashionable tailor shop, or meath the tired fingers
OF some duttful wife or mother. Who shall tell
their story 1t should be poet, for the assertion
is warrantabe that IL would have pathos enough
as well US humor.
Is world of itself, into which few mOrtals con-
verge except such as have known Its limits before.
Ii Is the resort OF she most desperate thieves OF the
metropolis, and on either hand OF the stranger,
who walks wOnderingy, hurrledly perhaps horror
strickeh) along its filthy pavements are dens that,
If the devil does not abide within he might explore
with PROFITS TO his store Of available and practical
knowledge Down under the ground, in darkness,
amidst slime and cobwebs through uncertain
passages, by slippery steps, that seem leading to
the end Of the world, are such hooks as are never
dreamed of even by persons who read the Arabian
Nights and dime novels in their youth and in their
later days deem life wholly prosac. These places
are called "noles," some oil them
'HOLES IN THE WALL
rom the fact that they are entered through secret
passages known but to lew persons. The houses
are inhabited by race OF cheats, who, with the
instincts OF thieving take the safer part buying
the fruits OF crime and sheltering the criminals
when II comes to "the pinch" How they live one
knows not, unless 1t be somewhat alter the man.
ner OF those people OF the cities the earth who
In veness became so bad that the great event of
the deluge was devised to destroy them AMI sweep
them away to death. Such Is Baxter street, the
''Rag Fair' OF New York
In other uncertain, crooked, dilapidated thor
oughfares there are shops where everything under
the sun may be found, from the ancient plate Of
once honorable families to the tarpaulin OF the
sailor. The windows are dirty, DARK and dismal
and filled with all manner OF articles. Old brOcade
dresses, hung up by hooks, OF the style OF ten or
twenty years ago; walking canes rings by
scores, set with rarest gems or the most worthless
glass, IS the case may be; watches Of rich work
manshipi trinkets that have gllstened In
trast with beautiful compilations; and what not
the Lord knows
The writer never visited one OF these places.
which event always happened of course) only
from curiosity, without being thoroughly be-
W1dere0. The DfusiOn everything O