New-York tribune., 1884-01-13


Ieer with yvtIcb he passes YOU He is never alone
When he makes m incursion into the regions OF
civilization. he brings companion, exactly as
policeman takes another policeman when he patrolS
Whitechapel. His clothes are OF fashion which
Il would be an afectation of useless civllty 10 de-
scribe as secondhand. YOu perceive that the
secondhand clothing business is of wholesale
kind rs well as retail and that the superior dealer
sells TO the inferior, who again has lower stage ol
customers and of these our friends OF to-day Duy'
II is the same with the women of the same class
They wear bonnets and gowns which have served
more than one wearer before and you may see more
than one gown which in its better days has been a
ball dress The faded aud tattered raimcnt is all
the more dreary TO look at because it was once
elegant or splendid. With the men this transforma-
ton of the costume of polite society into the cover
inc of ragamufins produces an effect hardly less re-
pclling-pcrhaps moro so. II Is what the CONT
mental European always comments on Inc man
thus clad, costcrmongcr, mere ruf1an, OF honest
vork,noman. is not only il-clad, with nm in
describable air Of founess, but he is absurd. The
twice and thrice-worn coat degrades him. As Taine
long since said a being who rigs himself out in such
clothes cOnfesses that he is the refuse or resdnum
of society. NJ. Taine adds, with true ana rght
feeling that French peasant or French working
man is in France man unlike men of other classes,
hut not inferior; MS DlOuse ~ his o"h dS .ho Sc-
tlenan's cont is his own it has never been worn by
ANYBODY else. But an English artisan who hides
his nakedness with the cast-Off raiment of others
announces himself their inferior.
Niuglinr with these are y less wTetched but even
more grotesque set of men. This stnted, shrlv-
elled swaggering cad is clerk TO small shopkeeper
hard by PettcOat-lane. of the Jewish persuasion.
He marches by companies of thrces all loud-taIk-
ing, two smoking. Their clothes are not second
hand, but they reek of the slop-shop; they are i'll
fitting, and Of foolish PATTERN huge checks bright
colOrs with pockets where it puzzles you to think
how a mans hand can reach. If there IL any more
cheerful variety Of human being, IL is the iow boys
who arc TO be met, to whom holiday means vaca-
ton and who are doing their best 20 make believe it
is a fine day and 10 be merry. The Etonian goes by
in his strange travcsty of grown-up raiment: tall
silk hat, black jacket black waistcoat, bnck silk
tie in a sailors knot, broad white linen collar
turned over his jacket light trousers rather too
small for him One little chap, not from EtOn but
a shoot from private shop for learning, stumps
past in ilat Oxford cap by the side of huge papa.
something in thn cheese and bacon line, enormously
stOnt and shapclcss, in coat of black broadcloth,
double breasted, garment worn of no EnGltshman IN
the morning unless he come from behind counter
The papa rolls and plunges along with movement
that threatens 10 capsize tho boy at his knee; but
plenty
decent and indecent. The most hopeless sight of
the whole day is young and pretty woman lead
ing by the hand child of whom she looks too
younc 10 he the mother her cheeks flaming red, her
bonnet on one side-not, should say professional
street walker hut whatever she be, reeng drunk
IN Oxford-st. at noon of this Christmas holiday.
Along half the length Of Oxford-st. and the whole
of Bond-st. Just four shops are open. You may buy
candy or cigars, at your cnoice no other Wand or
article of luxury or necessity whatever except, of
conrse beer and spirits. In the half mile from the
Marble Arch to the top of Bond-st. there are. as
count eleven houses for the sale OF these liquid re-
freshments. every one OF them open, OF course
every one doing a roaring trade They are full in-
side and there is an overflow about the doors of
each loahng men md women who have been and
are now debating whether they shall repeat their
visit or go on TO the next. 1t is am told. the
quality Of the beer which determines this delicate
question, for there is no BritOn, male or female.
drunk or sober who has not an opinion about beer.
The ordinary scavenger services are suspended, as
If il we're hopeless make head against the food of
filth which along the pavement Tho side
walks are defled. The roadway is almost as muddy
Mt certain points tho best swept streets of New
York All this in one of the best parts of London;
within sight of the green expanse of Hyde Park, or
in pretentious streets,-nny, in Mayfair itself.
-2sth. One Of the scqucls of the Bank Holiday
is TO be sought in the police court reports. Mr.
Alderman de Keyser. at Guildhall Police Court, on
Thursday morning declared his pleasure at finding
not a single case Of drunkenness. 1t was very
gratifying continued the excellent Alderman. to
know that the state of education i'll the present day
was such that the people knew how TO enjoy them
selves in n reasonable manner. But he paid hOm-
age to truth by adding that he believed this beauti
full condition of things had never occurred before
The people Of this country and tneir system Of edu
cation must be supposed 10 have arrived at this
state of perfection in single year-nay IN some
FIVE months, for the last Bank Holiday was in
August. People of less optimistic turn Of mind
will note that 1t is only in the Guildhall Police
Court, in the City itself, that the millennium has
reached its full splendor; At Bow Street there
were fourteen charges Of the kind known as drunk
and disOTderly; at MarylebOne, twcnty-siX at
Southwark, twenty-seven: at Hammcrsmlth.
twenty-threc. The immOderate dTinker of the City
went west, as before. for his enjoyment.
In some cases he went still further toward the
setting sun. He was TO be found IN the country.
He always is on such occasions. grevcd father
writes 10 the papers from " alton that he took ms
boys for quiet walk round by Gotham, Esher and
Hersham (the last two places which the prudent
cockney avoids pronoqnclngl; But the walk was
less quiet than he had hoped. "Our way" cries
the grieved father. " was numbered with drunken
men as battlefield is with dead and wounded, the
dead being represented by the drunk and in
cApable lying in the bitches. and the wounded By
the drunken staggerers whom met. usually IN
couples shouting and singing in q maudn manner
and making day hideous with their horrd
pressing spectacle. The only thing CGn add 70 my
gloomy narrative is that have given the gloomy
side of the picture and that only. There is a
brighter side, but what have written s simply
except for tho police court items. added since an
account of what | saw and of what made the
strongest impression me during a half hours