Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-06-13

an entirely different appearance at Sucl
times from what they did in the day time
He also said that these unusual hours wer,
invaluable to him, for the observation o
queer characters vino keep close 10 thri
hauntS during the daylight. and to seize oI
many queer trait of character which l.
only shown at such time. Those whC
have seen great city awake, yawn, and
stretch itself for the business of the day. Ol
who has wanderoI like ghost through the
streets a. the city sleeps, will agree with the
great novelist that at such times the most
familiar things take on the most untamiI-
lar appearance. Even in Springfield is this
true. Ask any newspaper man who has
been accustomed Ia work all night on a
morning paper, and he will tell you that
| tn5a. IN. The closed stores, with their
dimly burning gas, the deserted streets, the
echung footsteps of the ono or two persons
on the streets. the shrill cry of the weiner
wurSt boy fading on the night air in the dist
ancp as he haStenS home for the night the
ghoStly hickering of the electric light the
monotnnuuS taps of the night Waterman aS
/ he makes his dTrary rounds, the staggering,
uncertain footsteps of some unhappy young
man who has been celebrating his manhood
and seeing life" the signs and grOanS of
the nevrr-Sleeping engines sounding un-
naturally loud ON the still night air, and the
deep Erave-like silence, where all is So full
of life and motion in the daylight all this
produces powerful impression on the mind
of one Ia whom it Is unfamiliar. Any one
who wandrrS around the Springfield streets
from 10 p. III. to dawn will see much that is
new tn him. and much that is interesting.
Saturday night on the Springfield streets de
yrlopeS some wonderful scenes. the side
walks are too narrow to accommodate the
thousands who thrnng them. The stores
are blaze of light and the
market square looks lika a
Spanish fair 4 young artist from Munich,
Louis Ritter, visited Springfield year or
50 ago. and strolled down town on Satur-
day night He stood on the High street
balcony of the Hamlin block and gazed with
delight at the brilliant and diversified scene
Of a Springfield Saturday night market,
That would make a magnificent subject
for picture" said he, the busy crowds
with their varigated costumes: the long lines
Of stalls with heaps of fruits and vegeta-
bleS: the picturesque dress of the old
women al the stalls and the whole illumin-
ated by the glare of those tiaring torches.
Yes the scene could be used as the subject
Of a glorious picture"
After the glare of Saturday night mark
et tn see the market square at dawn the
next morning is really like going behind
the scenes of a theatre after the production
Of a spectacular play. everything looks So
cold and dead. II you had been on the
Springfield market square at dawn this
morning, or in fact, any Saturday morning,
you would have seen strange sight. just
as the gray morning begins to tincture the
blackness of the night, about a dozen
ShidOwy figures may he observed lowering
over market square with eyes deeply intent
on the ground. They look like so many
SHADOwN GHOSTS.
Can tney be ghosts? Are these the unhap
py spirits of departed hucksters, who in life
had been guilty of the enormity of selling
short weight butter rubber, spring chickens,
Olenmargerine, and pure currant jelly,
made out of gelatine and red ink? Are
they doomed to walk the night in the scenes
of their iniquity until their unhallowed
crimes are purged away? 1t looks as if
that was the size of it.
If you have never seen the dawn close
the night out of the Springfield streets, you
will regard them as you approach with
great curiosity, not annexed with awe.
This is one of the sights which only the
early morning can show. Very weird is
the appearance of the figures in the unCrr
tain light of morning. They are all stoop
ing aud looking intently at the ground.
They look like so many huge night birds
bending over, and slowly walking from
place to place As We approach nearer and
the light becomes A little stronger one can
see that they all have sticks and canes.
Several of them are old colored men, old
enough TO have severed As the
original of Uncle Tom" in their
day. With slow step they
shuttle along the square, where the market
stalls OF the night before had been placed.
Every inch of the ground receives the most
Iigid scrutiny: not the smallest dust heap
escapes Ovrrturning with their sticks: the
smallest bit of paper OF heap of green
leaves is turned over and examined; the
very ground is scraped and narrowed and
examined with the points of their canes
1t is getting lighter now; the rosy dawn is
mantling the eastern sky, and tipping with
crimson the pinnacleS of the city church
spires: we can now see what our industrious
ghosts are doing. They are the CLEANERS
after the harvest OF the night before
As they shuttle along, carefully examin-
ing every inch of the ground and pavement,
they stoop down every little while and pick
up something: now it is a potato. now an
apple, now perhaps a branch of ripe cher
rirS. Under that piece of paper is a silver
coin. which makes the Shrewdly twinkling
eye of one of our ghosts CLEAN with
deligh As he finds it: that little duSt-hrap
ha, a golden heart. Wonderful To relate
il has sheltered - guld-piecr, over which,
;.S he finds it, another ghost can scarcely
reprrss a scream of delight. 1t is the first
coin of that value ever found there. and
the effect Of such find on the searcherS is
the same As would be the finding of a golden
nugget the size of a school globe on posse
of miners IN California. Oh, unhappy