New-York tribune., 1880-09-26
STREET pHYsIoGNOMY.
py cuARLEs T. CONGpON.

lE<CIJS-IHE fkSii iIe'-H"S '''~
HEAVENLY MAID IN Our sTEEfr-A FEAST o'
rur IAxcUAGEs--gnr slioP Girls.
An streets have their reculiariies ours we
have lived in so long that we think that there
q. mo highway like it upon the great grld'roheo
man of Manhattan. 1t isn't genscel-not III INC
least so-tough it used to be- and there are the re-
mains of n fine street about 1T, as balley Ju"ioi
discovered the remains OF hne woman aoout
Sarey Camp. We have plenty OF brown STONE
that old mineraogical test OF fashon--Dnt
mainly il incloscs boarding-hcuses. Wnen IL ISM
n boarding house it is a lodgng-house; ana upon
the door posts Of either we often see waiered oits
of paper with Furnished Room to Let" inscribed
thereon. What the inmates of the pension viii
have for dinner we know very well; Tor qlte
early IN the morning we see the butche" boys orN-
inc furiously ur to this door that-sometimes
the young Jehus nearly drive over us-and as they
carry in the basket we mark the beef ana the veal
and the mutton which are destined, ABOUT SIX
o'clock in the evening. either to appease the ap-
pettes of The boarders, or, maybe, to leave them
hunrrier than ever. We recall the saw about tho
Bountiful Giver who sends the meat and the ul-
mentonablc and disreputable parsonage VINO SENDS
the cooks. We are as 1t were, compelled 10 tnese
reflections for all day long street is in dietary
ychicular state If it isn't the milkman-always by
n singular chance hailing from Orange County-t
ia the baker who usually has name of many con-
sonants ana few vowels painted upon his cart. ana
thus tells us that the staff OF life which he dis
penses is of Teutonic manufacture. we know
which houses give their boarders ice cream. ana
unon what days that rcfrigerating luxury is fur
nishea The groccrs wagon further bctrays the
internal economy of the house before which IL
stands ana we ind out whether tho goods como
from a cheap shop upon an avenue or from some
celebrated and expensive purveyor of delicacles
In, fanf lHny a
houses without boarding in them. We can judge
by the maid who gives the door steps their matu-
final scrubbing for sometimes she is unwicdy and
slovenly and dispirting to behold ard sometimes
she is neat and 1.-the and exhilarating.
Something. too we gather of the grade OF the
establishment from its patrons who after dinner.
before they begin to writhe with predestinate dys-
pcpsia. stand in groups upon the door-steps anu
pick their teeth and stare ladies who may be pass
ing out of countenance. We say to ourselves that
the gents in the most fancful of necktics. and Ill
pantaloons of the largest figure, are those VINO
slumber all night in the hall bedrooms, or some
where on the fifth floor back-those whom the hun
criest of mosquitoes would disdaiu to touch. 1t
is hard to understand what exquisite pleasure there
can be either in picking ones teeth or in smoking
bad cigars in tue presence of the public. But it
il a pe.uliarity Of the people of our street
not TO STAY in doors when 1t Is possible
10 stand or sit outside. Sometimes it would
seem that the whole population. Old ana
young. masculine and feminine. were trying
for n communication OF Toom-rent by prolonged oc-
cupation of the stoop 1t Is doubtful whether they
accomplish much unless they have landadies OF
genus heretofore nndescribed.
lonrht to have said that our street, beginning In
tolerable respectabity, degencrates rapidly as IL
reaches the river and becomes mere medley OF ten
emeni-houses and corner groceries. do not blame
the little ones of the lower regions for swarming up
into our comparatively cleanly quarter-not even
though they nosily play school and " Ring round
rosy under my window when have work to do.
Poor little things! Who could have the heart to
sneak to tlem sharply, or bid them go to the hot
and suualid and noisome holes which are all the
homes they havei 1t would be inst little pleas
anter il their faces could he washed. and their
looped and windowed raggcdness cleansed and
darned. Then, do not know how it happens. but
we have more bow-leggcd children upon our street
than there would seem to be any occasion for. even
10 secure picturesque variety like Hogarths line
Of beauty but not IN the little limbs OF infancy.
Alas we have every kind of astrological eccen
tricity upon our street. / will back it for wooden
legged men and women crutches against any
fhorou ghfare in the city. am not sure that we
might not be beaten In blind men. though we have
some frst-rate specimens. and specially one
of o resigned and religious cast of cOunten-
ance with tin sign upon his stomach
setting forth his loss of vision, and begging
the benevolent passer-by to purchase one
Of the lead pencils which he tolds in his hand. 1t
is mystery to me that blind men should 80 often
resort to the sale of lead pencils if they thought
that the whole world had suddenly betaken itself
to sketchng, or to making memoranda. We have
a more ambitious blind man under the protective
shadow of the elevated railway. who sells news
papers and who manages to get along much better
without ewes than some people DO with pair each,
and with spectacles to boot He Is sharp rivalof
the fat old lady the corner opposite, who comes
up from a collar when you call her, as If she were
the embodied Genius Of Intelligence, and were
stuffed full Of Exciting Rnmors and Startling Ca
tasrropbes. The men of our street with chival-
rous delicacy which does them honor, invariably
patronize the stout newswOman; but the ladies.
have Observed with that intuitive bcnevolence
which does them so much honor. almost invariably
buy The TRIBUNE of the blind man nor do be-
lieve that they cheat him in making payment,
partly because they wouldn't if they could, and
partly because they couldn't if they would for he
is uncommonly sharp is the blind man.
But there are other things sold upon our streets
besides newspapers. 1t is made clear to us that
man does not live by news alone nor yet by bread
and that there Ia an eternal appetite abiding in the
human stomach for the escuent peanut We SOS
this uxury-shall we. In view of its enormous con-
sumption call ii q necessity Tin great white heaps
upon the stalls or we observe the little circular
ovens going round and round, while the honest
vegetable is roasting within for the benefit OF those
who relish it in hot state But the peanut-stand
seems plain and Quakerish. with Its drab-colored
burden, beside the great. glowing. brilliant heaps
of fruit which are offered for sale in its neighbor-
hood One Italian vender at the corner seems to have
brought with HIM a sense of color from Florence.
or more probably from Naples and he heaps up his
apples and peaches his pears and his melons. with
n taste which Pomona herself might approve should