The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-07-16
IN THE ITALIAN QUARTER.
ITALY's SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN
NEW YORK.
How the Residents Dress, Act, Live
and WOrk-SidewaIk EHucksters-
Dissipation and Pleasure.

of New York city, can such grotesdue
realities and picturesque, if sometimes
sorrowful, incidents be observed as those
which exist in the Italian colony. 1t
embraces the district lengthwise, from
Worth street to Spring, and crosswise it
extends from the east side of Mott street
to the rear Of the west side of Mulberry.
The colony comprises only the most ig-
norant and the poorest of the children of
Italy, and within the territory named
there are not two dozen families of other
nationalities. Not many years ago a
handful of Americans, and a sprinkling
of Europeans might have been found in
the district, but the steady influx of the
Neapolitans with their peculiar mode of
living, caused line of demarcation to
be drawn, and left that section in their
possession. And the district is faith
ful reproduction of uncultured Italian
life. Within the territory virile vice
keeps abreast of virtue, thick. lined pow
erty rears its gaunt head with infinite
ease above the modicum of moderate
wealth, and whichever way the eye may
glance characteristics startling, customs
fanciful, scenes outlandish may be OBJ
served. The people live within them
selves. They revel in their peculiar and
| rlotous fun, breathe the uncloistered at
mosphere of friendly fellowship, and
earn a livelihood in a manner peculiar to
| the Italian.
The women of the colony are fantastic
and diverse. They are fantastic as to
dress and diverse as to their habits and
modes of living Some of them are slat-
tern, coarse in their homeliness and clown
ish in their rusticity. Others avoid the
ground-swell of vice. They are cleanly
in their habits even if ignorant, and i'm
prove themselves each hour that passes
in the gradation and continuity of their
lives. But all are picturesque. Every
woman wears jewelry. Long pieces of
gold of antique make hang from their
ears. No matter how poor the woman
may be the pendants are there Some of
them have bands of gold or silver on
their wrists, and here and there one may
be seen with a glitterlng carcanet around
her neck. The women wear low shoes
in every case, and heavy garments made,
as a rule, out of fustian cloth. Generally
the upper portion of the costumes is worn
mantilla-wise over their heads. The eff
! feet is never somber, for their dress is al
ways garnished with some fimsey gew-
| gaw. Nearly every woman carries baby
strapped to her back and never seems
to be conscious of its existence. The
rest of the brood toddle along as best
they may.
But the male population must be from
the very dregs of Italian civilization. All
are inelegant. Some are disfgured, 9TH
ers grisly and many cadaverous. Every
one of them wears a stiff Derby hat.
This is the only article of dress in which
they are alike. Their habits are not
cleanly. Towash their faces once a week
is the greatest punctilio the majority of
them observe. Their dress is fantastic,
too. Some of them wear clothes that
once may have decked the persons OF
European royalty; others add to their
appearance by wearing the cast-off gar
! ments of American dudes, and none of
them is the possessor of brand new suit
of clothes. When not working or en-
gagged in games they stand in groups and
! jabber. Each one of them carries at his
waist hook that aids him to dive into
barrels and ash heaps for many things of
value to nobody until made so by Italian
ingenuity. Some of these fellows are in
tensely jealous, some are good -humored,
and some are habituallv churlish.
But the most familiar feature of the
many to be observed in the colony are
the sidewalk hucksters. From Worth to
Broome street booths litter the curb
stones. Behind them women and chill
dren are ensconced, but rarely, if ever men.
What do they sell7 Everything that he or
she of the Italian colony may need in every
| day life. Old clothes and hats are ped
died from three or four booths. but the
traffic is mostly confined to articles of
food dear to the palate of the Italian.
! They live simply and find on the curb
stone stands the food which comprises
their daily meals. What do they eat9
Stale bread, decayed fruit, beans and old
vegetables of every variety. The beans
are the only sound commodity sold. The
bread is several days old and is pur-
chased in the wee sma' hours for mere
pittance from the bakeries. The oranges
are unripe and the bananas decayed. The
cabbages are rotten and the potatoes
woTm-eaten. The hucksters buy the
miscellany for almost nothing, and all
day long they sell their wares to their
compatriots A loaf or two of this stale
bread, rancid orange, two bananas and
a gill of the prepared beans can be pur-
chased for five cents, and whole family
can subsist on ten cents worth. If the
Italian has made a lucky strike or is feel
ing jubilant, he repairs to one of the four
restaurants in the colony, and there he
can purchase from the following bill of
fare which is displayed conspicuously on
the outside:
| Sonee' ''''''''''''''''''''' Scents.
| Souee ana bread ..................."3
Beefsteak and potato.
Mutton chop and coffee. ...............6
| maccarom' '..'.s....''...s.'.
fuddlngs. ............,.........o "
Most of the sidewalk hucksters have
husbands working elsewhere, and conse-
quently they save all the profits of their
sales. These people comprise the aris-
tocracy of the colony, because they com
| Drise the major norton of the mOdicum