The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-01-11

Well, here we are in 1885, and a dirty star
we have made of it. A sea of slush, a nue.
0 OF mud. dominated New York and Brooklyl
II ternoon, when a blizzard blew, making al
attempts at celebration absurd and futile
The old year went out in appropriate silence
and the new year came in with a calathum
plan serensde. From the Battery to Harlem
Lane, the town seemed to be one vast horn
Every tug in the srbor has a whistle, ant
! those on the rivers made noise enough fo
twenty. 1t would be difficult to say wher,
all The blowers came from, but it is shrewdIy
surmised that BROOKLYN and Jersey City
Hoboken and Ramapoofurnlshed each it
quota. There never was such q hurrahine
!. con atenat of inhsrmonious distur bance
since the Dutch took Holland. New Year,
day is, as q rule, devoted to making resolu
tons and calls. Many of the former were
well treated esterday, but calls were gently
: aid aside for a more sultale occasion. In
all paris of he city locomotion was diff
cult, and in all the streets wheeling was at
tended with EN- barrassment and labor
Fifth aven ue was mushipgly dirtv from end
to end. and little basins of slush filed every
side street. The great avenues OF travel
were lined on either side by wiDrows Of
mud, with ash barrels for variety and tomato
cans, hoop skirts, dirt and refuse for orns
lmentatioD.
In spite of sundry well-intended efforts to
convince the people of New York that they
really wanted to make calls, it was evideni
that the gentle house wives didn't believe
leuch to be the case On Fifth avenue, Mad
ison avenue and hundreds Of blocks on in
ltersecting streets, q majority of the houses
were provided with card baskets In other
uuArHo the paa and laA0 ~ GnfIon new
ex pected TO make pro tenn postmen of them
selves, and push from stoop to stoop for the
sole purpose of exercising their legs and de
posting pasteboard IN the baskets. It's .
wise theory to i've by that other people arr
just as wise and cunning as ourselves. . The
men of New York we're not to be caught in
such a dimsy wicker trap. So they
SENT THEIR CARDS THRsUGH THE MAILS,
greatly to the annoyance OF the carriers, and
the chsgrin of the ladies OF the house. Al
Ingenious advertiser had several Thousand
cards struck of, narrating the marvellous
Qualities of his soap, aud hired messenger
boy 10 put them in all the baskets hung
lout M town. Bad boys stole baskets; others
Exchanged cards. 1t is not likely the caro-
custom, SO lar as door baskets are concerned,
! will ever obtain in this city. There is too
much physical outlay, and not sufficient
Ompensatjon.
There is nothing stickier or more ruinous
to clothing than the mud of Gotham. If TO
this be added dirt and salt from the car
tracks, ~drippings from the l. roads and q
thousand and enc understandable elements,
toere is provided a mixture the like OF which
was never dreamed OF until this extraOrdi
nary age. As driving ABOUT the slush GOV
cred street was an impossibility, a few thou
sand fellow citizens undertook TO walk
They turned up their trousers legs at the
bottom aud sturdily strobe along. Boois
were soon plastered thick with shiny slush
and cut through by sailed ice water, whit.
trousers half way to the knees were coated
and spattered and made unsightiy by the
mixture above described. Treacherous p aste
brought many q man to his knees, and,
while backs were sprained, clothes ruined
and boots plasteTed, tempers became our
and profanity Jared harshly on the ambient
New Years air.
1t was a nasty" day.
Livery stable people had counted on a rich
harvest On one or the other horn of posi-
bility, expecting either sleighipg or great
demand Tor cOupes, b~roughams and Car
risges. There was no sleighing, and the few
lslush pushers who attempted it in the ParE
excited the disabilities OF all who saw them.
And il was more than folly to attempt to
utilize a coupe TO advantage. The streets
were in no mood for the proper celebration
of the aay. Hence disappointment IN all the
great stables. Itinersnt umbrella men and
eootblacks had a good time Of it, and SO dio
the florists. In fac, the most noticeable
feature of the dsy-next to the fish horns
and steam tooters-was the almost universal
display of choice flowers. All the florists in
the city worked all of Wednesday night and
far into Thursday's forenoon, putting up
their orders aud arranging their attractions.
Although there was bat little drunkenness
on the streets there was
A VAST MOUNT OF DRINKING
in saloons, restaurants and cafes. A great
many Brooklyn and Jersey City men, dis
Ousted with The 6lthy condition of taen
own towns, came to New York TO make q
day of it. And they succeeded. Near the
ferries there are many drinking places, al VI
! which did a thriving business The New
York end OF the big bridge is about as dirty
and Ill kept q spot as can be found. In fact,
it is almost as foul and unk empt as the City
Hall park and Poftotice street. Near it are
! ses ersl run shops also, and they, too, were
flied ali day long. The bar rooms of the
p great hotels along Broad way, aud the cafes
OF the chief RESTAURANTS up town, did q ire
: meDdous business, vastly more than had the
day been pleasant or the sIeighing Deen
{ hue. Several dinner parties were given IL
, Deimonico 5, the Brunswick, the Hotel
Dam and The Casino In Central Park, and
J from 5 in the afternoon on through tie
teariy n later hours CT the
evening. when the electric spars
: aud the blazing gas impaired q bright sBd
CHEEKY Look TO homes and window, q more
! .easonable face appeared upon the New York
' scene. Matinses were not particularly well
> p~atronized, but IN the evening the vast
, clearinghouse cement sought refuge in the
pisy house. with the strangers within oui
: gates. A number OF sanguine drivers es
: say ed sleighing in the park and along the
!, boulevards, but it was sorry sport, and roao
houses coined no fortunes. rne strangers
c element, which is i looked TO for bridge pat
~ronege, was conspicuousls absent, aud tie
} ferry boats made many trips with but two OF
= three passengers on board.
The dismal day wore slowly along, and nc
: one was sorrv when the sunset gun an
{ nounced its close. In every element OF dis
: graDtled and dissatisi ed humanity the frs
= day OF the glad new year was an unqOes
3 tionsble success, but Ia every essential o
= holiday recreation and physical enjoyment
ii was about as near q hZZle as anv known 4
, any citizen of Gotham in this or any othe
century.
This, as you know, is the metropolis of tb'
: continent, q great big city with a little NIT
&c of q head, and
FL VERY LITTLE IN IT
I'VE are subjects absolutely under the domi