Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-25
HABITUES OF BROADWAY.
TYPES OF THE CLASSES SEEN ON
THAT THOROUGHFARE


FERROUS Characters.
There are thousands of men in New
York. says the New York Sun, to whom
walk On Broadway in the afternoon is as
much matter of habit as their three
meals a day. In some instances they
look as though their daily walk was con-
siderably more regular and satisfactory
than their meals. Very many Of them are
what are known as providers. They walk
shop windows, and they are easily dis
tinguished from the business men and
those who walk for exercise.
Upper Broadway, between the hours Of
. and in the afternoon. is a promenade
which has distinctive Ihrong of its own.
Even casual glance at the crowd is
enough to convince the observer that the
statement that there is no leisure class in
America Is erroneous. The leisure class,
as far as can be seen. as it parades up
and Down upper Broadway, consists OF
club men, lnValids, mlliOnaireS. dudes.
buncO steerers, younger sons, college
boys, medical students. and numerous
specimens of the genus known as "mash-
err Observation-Disclosures gamblers add
to the crowd. These men all walk with
face they pass, and move easily in and
out among the women. They move at
about the same rate Of speed as the ladies'
who wander about from store to store
shopping, and though they may have
walked UP and down the long stretch of
Broadway for years and years-as many
OF them, indeed, have-thev seldom meet
an acquaintance. They pass each other
with Indifferent stares. They walk from
Fourteenth street up to the Fifth Avenue
Hotel on the west side of the way, drift up
Fifth avenue 3s far as Tbirty-fOurth street,
then retrace their steps. This they do
four or five times. Very often groups
CT a hundred or more cluster about
the entrances of the Fifth Avenue
and Brunswick Hotels, where they
stand in various fashion-plate poses
and stare at the girls. These men do
not dress elegantly or extensively. The
distinction of being described as fashion
able men is due entirely to extreme neat
ness of attire and a certain well brushed,
clean-shaven, carefully barbered appear
ance, coupled with careful carriage and
more or less conventional poses. No one
would mistake one Of the habtual prOWl-
ers on Broadway for business man. The
trim, athletic clerks who come striding
up town at O'Clock differ very much
from The providers. They push their way
through the crowds Of languid men and
brightly, roar loudly at poor jokes, and
dive frequently into dOOrways that are
meagrely protected by green baiZe doors.
Many bankers and merchants drive up
town in their cabs as far as Fourteenth
street, where they alight and walk briskly
to their homes in search of an appetizer.
They usually get it. These men are in
variably prosperous looking and robust.
They, too, step on the wOmen'S trains and
jostle against the providers as they stamp
along. The business men and the clerks
dOff their hats quite often, and are usually
acquainted with very many more people
than the habitues of Broadway.
Undoubtedly the girls and women who
indulge in the mythicOl art of shopping
are the great attraction of Broadway.
Few people stop TO look in at shop VIII /
dOws, and nothing claims the attention of I
the crowd after O'Clock. The women
are magnihcently dressed, and the men
appreciate their gorgeousness. After /
school hours there are very many girls !
who take run up and down Fifth |
avenue, but they seldom venture ON
Broadway. The school girls usually dis /
appear before O'Clock, aud their places /
are taken by the shop girls, who are
usually more picturesque and pleasant to /
look upon.
A familiar figure on Broadway is the /
middle aged club man. He is the fOrtu- /
nate bachelor who has an income |
which just enables him to keep up his |
club dues, own a horse and a bull pup, /
and live in fashionable bachelors apart |
ment house, leaving small percentage /
over for cards. He has a red, well fed, /
high cOlOred, and wine tinted face, with /
q small mOustache, and a pair of sleepy [
eyes. He is dressed with the fastidious- /
ness of debutante Of the first ball, wears
large rings on his hands, has very small /
leather boots, and walks with the air of |
one who owns at least a mile and a half /
of the town. After having risen at II |
O'Clock, breakfasted grumblingly at his |
club, and smoked his way through the /
morning papers, he surveys himself plac- |
idly in the mirror, and sallies forth for a |
constitutional on Broadway. He walks /
ND I'D down until it is time to drive, |
when he disappears again. As a /
rule the New York Club man of |
middle age is the most Unohtrusiye and /
ornamental Of providers. He shirks the !
labor of staring intently at the women.
and looks at everybody with a stupid and
oYer-ied indifference. The younger club I
men who have nothing to do except amuse
themselves are a bit more obstreperous
than the middle-aged ones. In nine cases
out often they are pronounced Angloma-
MACS. They vote Broadway common and /
stick to the avenue. where thew wonder
bar of the Windsor Hotel. Their faces /
are in some instances familiar to thou
sand of New Workers, who have no idea
who they are. Late in the afternoon they
may be seen in crush hats and evening
dress driving to dinner in their cabs of
hurrying along the avenue. At such
they view the crowds with such
impatience and disdain as is natural to
men who have the prospect Of a good DIN
her staring them in the face.
The gamblers who walk Broadway are,
as a rule, rather a handsome lot of men.
They are square-shOuldered and sturdy
and well dressed. The pride of every
gamblers heart seems to be big. well
cGEled p oC,,,,-- Faces that are IA
mar in front Of the pool uG9rds at the
races and at the walking matches and
boxing contests are to be seen every day
with shining beaver hats strOlling up and
down Broadway. They smoke constantly,
and greet each other with almost imper-
ceptible mods, while they stare at the
dressed women, and specu-
late as to what they Will do with their |
money when they "strike a heavy Win
ner." 1t has often been noticed that
good many New York detectives look
like gamblers. They have the same
sturdy figures and the same carefully
wrought moustaches as the gamblers,
There are many middle-aged men, with
gray boards and white hair, who are as
patrOleTs of Broadway as the
youngest Of the providers. Some of them
are eX-army officers, others retired bust
ness men, and many of them men who /
have been unsuccessful and who are out /
of employment, but who seek amusement I
with the crowd. Every day there are +
fresh recruits from the country who stroll I
up and down in open-mOuthed admiration, /
and follow with intense interest the noted /
figures who occasionally pass them. All t
the men and women who are more or less /
famous in New York pass up and down I
Broadway at some time or other. In fact, /
it is said that all the famous people of the T
earth must in the course OF time stroll by /
the Fifth Avenue Hotel. This applies as /
truly to Lord Coleridge, the Lord Chan /
cellOr of England. as to S0rakicni, the |
champion wrestler Of Japan. or the hun /
dreds Of the well known faces of famous /
actors, popular politicians, we'll known /
bankers and notorious people OF various /
sorts nothing need be said. They have /
been written about so many times that /
they now take the parade up and dowR /
Broadway as much for an advertisement |
as anything else.
There are men and women who have /
wandered up and down Broadway for /
years and years, whose faces are familiar /
49, l.