The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-07-23
WHAT NEW WORKERS READ.
A Newsdeaier's Observations On Current
Literature and its Purchasers.

wcll-dressed girl with bright, pleasing
face and charming figure stepped into q
Brooklyn ferry waiting room. on q recent after
noon. and, hastily buying copy OF Zola's
Pot-Bouille." slipped IL into her recticule
and mingled with the crowd hurrying toward
the boat bystander expressed n little sur
prise. and asked the newsdealer whether no
had many young lady customers for books Of
that kind No" said the dealer. books like
Zola's and Reynolds's are bought by a different
class from what you would suppose without
experience in catering to the reading public.
Middle aged bookkeepers. well-to-do artisans.
cashiers Of good standing. young married
women whose principal occupation is shop
ping and the like. keep these books in the
market. But. of course. all sorts of people buy
them some from curiosity. and many to keep
up with the literature of the day. l have one
customer a married man. who has library OF
books of this class and buys them as fast as
they come out"
While the newsman was talking. preten:
the cheap libraries without finding what he
wanted; two girls had bought story paper.
and were eagerly reading the answers to cor
respondents; II man returning from work had
thumbed nicely bound book and left smutch
Tf T2 On ms gs s ba 9en ana am prsR game
Boy SmuRglers. u countryman bought a city
guide. and an old gentleman asked FOL, the az
stand. taking lust time enough to put some-
thing out of place; others bought quickly;
DO you notice any difference in the demand
OF the reading public to-day and that of five or
more years ago?"". was ASKED " Oh, yes, there
Is fashion in reading matter Just as there is in
dress or pleasures. and books that were all the
20 five or ten years back have little sale to-day.
Where. for instance, are Dickens's works of late
years And among cheap trash, where is the
dime novel? The cheap popular libraries have
been doin: great deal to guide thu taste st. OF
is healthier tone in the demand to-day than
eyer bef9rs. Good works by well-known au-
man man ". dark Russell. 500 '''' " 81"
ownSS to the e2pyFEst laws most Fpn 81 the
thor5 with foreign scenes and customs. and
those who have read them steadily for the past
want something American. Hundreds of PEG;
pie come TO this stand every day who would
can't AFFORD 10 buy the bound books Perhaps
this has something 10 DO with the large num-
Der and great sale of The story papers
At this point the newsueaer stepped to the
other side Of the stand where II young fellow
was, n"rN2usly fumbing pile OF gaudily Gov
dreams. and the like. The young man sud len:
ly lost interest in the books and walked oil
without purchasing.
" New Workers." continued the newsman,
are great renders They want the latest and
best. but more than all, they want the news.
There is probably no city in III" world where
newspapers nre read So generally BY all classes
of people rs in New York. At certain times OF
the day almost everybody seems to be reading
or TO have II paper III hand. suppose one rea-
son is that prople live 50 far from their work
that they have got into the habit OF reading on
the way Habits. You know. are catching. and
SO in the morning YOU can see whole line OF
cabbie- sitting on their boxes or in their door
wuy-, reading trampS in the squares will hang
about man win h paper until he gets through
with IL. and those fellows that sandwich
galleries and cora doctors can be seen reading
tho news az arms length. Hote! lounsers are
also great readers You say mat eood-lookln z
by; well. he is brokers' clerk. gets 80 Il week.
and lives II fast rs he cun on that amount, but
h. has some pretty clear ideas on the war in
Egypt. the Jobs before Congress, and current
politics. a well as of the quality of Sullivan
muscle. the best points on the races. and the
latest sensation in theatre circ!cs."