Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1884-06-06

There are thousands of men in New
York to whom a 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 considerably more regular
and satisfactory than their meals. Very
many of them are what arc known as
prowlers. They walk simply TO be
amused by the crowd and the shop
windows, and they are easily distin-
guished from the business men and those
who walk for exerciec.
Upper Broadway, between the hours of
and in the afternoon, is a promenade
which has q distinctive throng of its
own. Even casual glance at the crowd
is enough to convince the observer that
the state nent that there is no leisure
class in America is ey 'oncous. The
leisure class, as far as ca be seen, as it
parades up AMI down Broadway, consists
of club men, invalids, millionaires, dudes,
bunco s.eerers, younger sons, college boys,
medical students, and numerous specimens
of the genius known as "masher." Fash
ionably dressed gamblers add to the
crowd. These men all walk with a
leisurey stride, look intently at every
face they pass, and move easily
in and cut 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--they
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 as far
as Thirty fourth street, then retrace their
steps, This they do four or five times.
Very often groups of 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 expensively. The
distinction of being described as fash.
ionable men is due entirely to extreme
neatness of attire and certain we'll
brushed, clean shaven, carefully barbered
appearance, coupled with a careful car
riage and more or less conventional
poses. No one would mistake one of the
habitual prowlers on Broadway for
business man. The trim, athletic clerks
who come striding up town at o'clock
differ very much from the prowers They
push their way through the crowds of
languid men and women who are on
Broadway, chat brightly, roar loudly at
poor jokes, and dive frequently into
doorways that are meagrely pro
tected 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 invariably prosperous looking
and robust. They, too, step on the
women's trains and jostle against the
prowlers as they stamp along. The bust
ness 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 mythical art of shopping
are the great attraction of Broadway
Few people stop to look in at shop win
dows, and nothing claims the attention
of the crowd after 4 o'clock. The women
are magnifcently 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 5 o'clock, and 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 for
iunate bachelor vino has an income which
just enables him to keep up his club dues,
own a horse and bull pup, and live in
fashionable bachelors apartment house,
leaving small percentage over for cards.
He has a red, well-fed, high -colored, and
wine-tinted face, with small mustache,
and pair of sleepy eyes. He is dressed
with the fastidiousness of q debutante of
the first ball, wears several large rings
on his hands, has very small leather
boots, and walks with the air of one who
owns at least a mile and half of the
town. After having risen at II o'clock,
breal1fasted grumblingly at his club,
and smoked his way through the morn
ing papers, he surveys himself placidly
in the mirror, and sallies forth for CON
stitutional on Broadway. He walks up
and down until it is time to drive, when
he disappears again. As rule the New
York club man of middle age is the most
unobtrusive and ornamental of prowlers.
He shirks the labor Of staring intently at
the women, and looks at everybody with
stupid and over-fed Indifference The
younger club men who have nothing to
do except amuse themselves are q bit
more obstreperous than the middle aged
ones. In nine cases out of ten they are
pronounced Analomaniacs They vote
Broadway common and stick to the ave-
nue. where they wander listlessly from
the Brunswick cafe to the bar of the
| Windsor hotel. Their faces are in some
| instances familiar to thousands 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 or hurrying along the
avenne. At such moments they view the
crowd with such impatience and disdain
as is natural to men who have the pros
pect of good dinner staring them in
the face.
The gamblers who walk Broadway are,
as a rule, rather hadsome lot of men.
They are quare-shouldered and sturdy
and well dressed. The pride of every
gamblers heart seems to be a big, we'll
curled mustache. Faces that are familiar
in front of the pool boards at the RACES
and at the walking matches and boxing