The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-05-25
A CHAPTER ON SMELLS.

In Rohln a town OF monks and bones
And pavements tango with murderons stones
counted two aud seventy stenches,
All well dsansl and genuine snks
rhs r Sy@P Rhas gwe 2f sewers ana sinks
But tell me- Symphs what tJ power divine
shall henceforth wash the river Rhine
-Colerfdge's rob1s Taik
IL is ffty years since the above lines were writ.
ten by Sam Coeridge, on his return from a trip
made In company with the poet Wordsworth TO
the Low Countries and the city OF Cologne Cole
ridRe's mind was essentially analytical and philo-
sophical IN It's construction, but it is more than
possible that he would md himself at fault, were
ne alive now, TO separate, disin tegrate and emu
merate the various stenches that noat In gaseous
pan between earth and heaven, after they have
formed, combined and ascenoed rom that odo-
ilorous Gehenna-H Harlem hats.
ONE BAD SMELL
is generally enough to satisfy even the most ex.
acting nostrll, ana Charles Baudelain who wrote
verses 10 glorlly annual deposits, would have
nothing 10 ask for could his shade revisit earth
and stand with nostrils compressed between two
fingers on the southern and more romantic bank
or McGowan,s Creek at 1osth street. rev steps
west oil the East River. As the wind veers and
shifts in this locality on day with Temperature
as moderately high as 1t was yesterday the air
becomes foul, miasmatlc and unclean, as If the
blasts came from the PlutonIan pit, and even
Charleston buzzard would hesitate 10 enter the
perceptlble circle OF such abyssmaI doors. The
place Is only t for those birds OF night that haunt
the battle field after hard fought DAY, to groveI
and dis6gure the corpses Of the slain.
THE DgcAYED BUT ONCE FRAGRANT ONION.
From these heaps OF rubbish, garbage and con.
centrated foulness plainly visible mist, thick and
rspulsive, ascends forever. Clay and ashes may
be placed in their layers TO conceal Its compost
ton, houses may hereafter be constructed on its
fringes, but It's smells Will endure for all time.
Occasionally quick and ntful breeze comes IKE
the wings or an angel iandward, and then the
student OF animal and vegetable matter-who,
ike the aeronauts OF the balloon Zenith, may De
willing 10 risk his ltfe-wil distinguish certain
particular and peculiar odors that are emitted,
Just as the scnoolmaster In a crowded schooroom
WIN finally distinguish The voice Of the most noisy
boy in the class. Let Us stand here, where
the dirty scows are being unloaded at
the foot OF Ninety sixth street. As little
by little the terrible cloud rises over these
vast vacant lots the nrst de1naole stencil that
greets the Is that OF the rotting and fostering
onion, abandoned to its fate amid this wilderness
connected with the onion even In Its days OF fresh
tuvenescence are not fragrant by any means. But
the onion, scorned OF the housekeepers or for
saken Dy the cruel Dutch corner groceryman Ia q
vegetable TO be pitied and avoided with careful
caution. The remembrance Of the sav0ry mutton
stew and the equaHy luscious beelsteaK ana ac-
companying onion thiny sliced IL no longer called
TO memory dear. Instead you think Of porous,
liberated and dissipated vegetable, whose only
use nencefortn Is mat OF an emetic until II once
again shan terminate. Like the deceased tom
cat, whose spendtnrift life was ended by the
malicious shotgun It's stencil would serve as a
weapon in the hands OF hostile foe and might
serve admirably In Chinese warfare.
THE MURDERED TOM CAT.
closely Wedged between lot OF cobhestones
on a bed OF shavings and composite matter, It's
neck protrudIng through the bars OF a faded hoop
skirt that once saw better days. and that may
have rusrled In the FOYER OF the opera, and with
the greater part Of Its body visible from the open
mouth OF = battered and dented mix can, lies the
mownluI carcass Of muscular tom Cat, q