Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-01-06
NERVOUS NEW WORKERS.
A Study of the ProverbIal Restiessncss OF
Gotham's business men.

A Study of the ProverbIal Restiessncss of
Gotham's business men.
Wall street is the center of New
York's nervousness. Watch the men
who frequent it and you will see that
they rush down the thoroughfare as if
pursued by some body. Jay Gould
and even staid old Russell Sage step
along with springy gait, outwalking
the messenger boys, who are about the
only deliberate persons seen on the
street On the Stock Exchange every
man is constantly on the move and it
is this desire for perpetual action
which leads members to snatch off
each others hats and engage in all
manner of horse play, such as stuffing
bits of paper down each others backs
and similar movements of an undigni-
fed nature.
The typical old keeper of a hotel
used to be man of slow movements
and great deliberation, but there is in
New York but one OF this old school
and he is Landlord Ashman, of the
Sinclair House. Frank Allen, of the
Astor House; Edward Vernan, of the
Morton House and Edward Stokes, of
the Hoffman House, are examples of
the restless modern landlord. Mr..
Stokes is perhaps the most nervous
man in New York. There is legend
to the effect that he is never known to
sit still for more than five minutes at
fin,n Nnyt RI hin, tho l;po Of,
BUSINESS is a buyer for Sweetzer, Penn
broke & Co. The salesman who sells
him u bill of goods must follow him as
he PAGES the floor or perhaps pursue
him upstairs into the upper story de-
partments of the house.
The Vanderbilt boys, with the ex-
ception of the poetic George, are early
risers, rapid walkers and nervous in
their movements. Chauncey M. Depew
rushes into his Office like a hurricane
early in the morning, and is constantly
on the move until he goes home in the
evening. Go into any of the resorts
where prominent New Workers. take
their luncheons and you will be at once
impressed with the fact of their ner-
vous temperament. The brothers of
Robert Bonner take their midday meal
daily at the Astor House. The moment
they drop into their seats we'll
trained waiter rushes out to the cary
ing-table and orders their luncheon,
with the supplementary remark: cit
is for the Messrs Bonner. hurry it upr'
Robert Bonner himself is q man of
slow movement as compared with
other New York editors. Stick pin
in him and he would probably turn
about with the calmness peculiar to
the old school of New Workers and ask
what you meant. Try the same ex-
pertinent with James Gordon Bennett
and he would wheel about and offer
to give you battle on the spot Resort
to the same artifice with Joseph Pulit-
ger and he would spring up with rage,
turn upon you and probably knock you
out in a jitfy. He is the most nervous
of all New York journalists. and walks
rapidly, with his broad shoulders
thrown well back.
The best field for the study of the
proverbial nervousness of New York is
Broadway. Watch stranger attempt
to cross the thoroughfare, and you will
see him hesitate, wait a long time, and
finally try to cross the crowded street
with his accustomed deliberate gait.
A New Yorker, on the other hand,
makes dive into the surging process
sion of vehicles, darts almost under the
feet of an up-going team, dashes in
front of down-bound car, escapes be-
ing run over by hairs breadth, and
is across in jiffy. Observe the drivers
of trucks and street-cars on Broadway
and you will see that they are affected
with the same restless spirit. Gener-
ally speaking it is impossible to accel-
crate the tide of travel on crowded
Broadway street, but the truck drivers
yell at drivers ahead of them, urge
them to hurry on, and curse in man.
ner that would fill the heart of canal
boatman with envy. The street-car
drivers keep shrill whistles in their
mouths, and blow them with a con-
slant screech of warning to drivers
ahead of them to hurry up.
All this intense nervousness seems to
have affected the reflective literary men
of the metropolis, and you will scarcely
find one who is not spare in build and
restless in movement This was par
licularly noticeable at the reception
some weeks ago to Walt Whitman, at
which the only perfectly composed and
restful parsonage was Walt Whitman
himself. limos j. Cummings. IN Phila-
deiphia Cali.
SpouoOIipo D;ar,oode