Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-06-28
A NEW YORKER ANALYzED.
HE Leading Characteristics and Hls
Various Rscreations.
His Amusements---How he Gsnblss---His
His eoSe for Fast Horses---Bif-
ards and Cock and Dog
Fights.
San FrazciSoo Chronicle.

AH~O A-aSeAe ~ OAPAoAh ~ ~ 04A
merate the amusements of the average New
Yorker, for the same reason that it is hard
to determine. just what constitutes q New
Yorker. he is made up Of a score Of min
gled nationslities; so the recreation of the
people here combines the varied character
istics of diversion in many lands. Yet l
think, since l have been watching that curl
Gus combination, the New Yorker for more
than a quarter Of century. l shall be able
to sif and sort out those forms Of smuse-
ment that are peculiarly his from the long
list of weIl-patronized games, diversions, and
sports that are INDUCED in here, but almost
wholly by foreigners. The Puritanical ele-
ment that is so strong in our statutes COM
pels the New Yorker to do a great many
things by stealth that he is not at all asham-
ed OF, and deprives him of many pleasures
that be hungers after. The same laws meet
with no opposition in the staid old Dutch
settlements Of the State, like Albany and
Poughkeepsie, and these are virtually the
same statutes under which the sedate Phila.
delphisns and the circumspect people OF
Boston move and multiply complsceutly;
but TO the New Yorker they are like q
curbed bit and short traces to FESTIVE horse.
He is ~dreadfully and ~shockingly fond Of
drink, and he contains so many foreign 10.
heIitsnces that he knows pretty we'll what
to drink and when. Whether he is a million
aire or q clerk, he likes wine with his
meals. whisky when he is earnestly DESTROYS
of a drink, and lager beer forever and al
ways. Sundays differ from other days in
this regard, only insomuch as he wants more
to drink then thar at other times; but as
the city is really governed by the country
members of the Legislature, who are in the
majority, he finds himself obliged to sneak
in the aide and back doors Of the gin mills
where he is known, and forced to stay oct
Of the places where he is a stranger.
If it happens that he is a saloon keeper
himself he must put up the sign Hotel"
and either by perjury or bribery account for
the three beds" which constitute a hotel
according to the laws of the State, and with
out which no one can get a license. FIT.
teen years ago the New Yorker, if he was
fast at all, was q drunkard; but since he has
eaten of The fruit Of foreign knowledge he
has become cunning and remained excep
tioDally sober, all things considered Again,
the law letters him in his appetite for the
theater. he is ~pasionstely fond Of the play.
house. he gives right royal support to
,wenly-one theaters, all permanent, all pay
ing, nearly all paying handsomely, and four
ofthem-Wallack's, the Madison Square, the
CoDique, and Booth excelled in beauty and
general excellence by but one playhouse in
the world. A city that patronizes to such
an extent upon six nights Of the week must
mics the opportunity to enjoy it on the
seventh night.
bath breaker, and it almost a necessity that
he should be. Nobody works harder six
days in the week than he does. From morn
ing until night he works, walks, talks, and
eats at high pressure. He is the abject slave
of competition, which, while it may be the
life of trade, is certainly in New York the
death of tradesmen. His fellow citizens
from other cities are constantly calling him
to account for this. In the Chicago, 81.
Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, Philadelphia and
Baltimore papers he reads that he ID hoggIsh,
mercenary, cold and unsocial. Boston went
to the extreme Of saying in a magazine ar.
ticle that the New Yorker has no civicism,"
which, being interpreted, means that he is
devoid of public spirit and love Of his town.
The New Yorker never. understands why
he is so harshly criticised until he goes
among his ~neighbors. He rushes into a
Chicago store half ont Of breath, slips down
his sample box, and whips out a card.
81 Sm from the great house Of Such 4
Co, New York" he says, "and want to sell
you so and so"
The Chicagou either buys or not, but when
the New Yorker has put his hat IN the back
of his head, preparatory to dive out Of the
store, the ChicsgOian says: "By the way
have you been out on our Drexel Boulevard
No? Then let me drive you out this after
noon" He meets the same reception in
Cincinnati and st. Louis. In Boston the
hospitality Of the merchant is only q little
less warm, and in Baltimore the driving
New Yorker is positively bored with kindly
advances. But the idea Of asking q visitor
to his store to go to central Park, to drive
on the road, to drive at Coney Island, or to
take in Fifth avenue no more occurs to him
than flying. Indeed his partner would think
him light headed if it occurred to him and it
was permitted to interfere with his business.
Blu; for this deficiency he more than makes
I'D on Sunday. ae spends sufficient then
to prove he is not mercinary. His country
legislators, who rule him with o rod Of iron,
shut all the thesters; so he takes to concert
halls. billiard rooms, card tables, ball rooms,
watering places, horses, boats, cock fighting,
dog Sighting, cunning, and the like.
Music is his delight. He is fondest of
light but performed the remarkable
feat of supporting two Italian opera troupes
at one time this winter. French opera has
always paid here, and some OF orr biggest
houses of entertainment are concert halls.
The New Yorker is inordinstely fond OF
good eating. He has no distinctive dish
like the t~errspin of Baltimore or the sersted
bean of the Bostonian, but as l have de-
scrihed in q previous letter, has built up an
enormous traffic in French and ltshan
meals, a Ia table dhote. Delmonico finds
it profitable to maintain three gorgeous es-
Adjustments, and six other high'toned and
hish-priced restauranteurs find It sdvanta-
peous to compete with in his specislies.
There are at least two hundred 6rst'class
places that are opponents of other methods
of cooking, to say nothing OF hundreds OF
lesser dining rooms al over the city. Per
hays it is this love for good food and pas
sion for gambling, Of which the New Yorker
is also o victim, that account for the many
big clubs he supports. The club phase Of
the. New Workers. life deserves q letter By
itself. Of the stylish clubs there are the
Manhattan, Union, Knickerbocker, Har-
uon;a ronturv Armv and NAVY New York.
ST. Nicholas, and the University, and then
follows the Merchants, the Down Town, the
Press, the Racquette, and the Turf, the lat
ter being the youngest and the one which
has the reputation Of sheltering more gam
blers than any other. Leonard Jerome, bis
brother Larry, Pierre LorillarS, and the
clubmen generally are on Its rel of mem
bership, and the FIRST member to die, Philip
s. Van Rensselaer,, Is said to have lost more
at cards than he coald afford 10 just before