The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-08
SCENES IN THE PARKS.
The Breathing Places of New York and
the People Who Visit Them.

the People Who Visit Them.
From the NeU York Press
The reporter speaks from experience when
he declares that no one can sit for an hour
in park and keep his eyes open and not
find types of character that will well repay
study. One is not required to make great
mental effort in this study; it comes half
unconscously. No matter what may have
been the object in going to the park, whether
to think out a tedious problem, to pass an
idle afternoon or to rest the eyes in the
greenery of the trees he will, as has already
been remarked, find himself watching his
neighbOring lOungers and wondering about
them and why they sit idly here while the
great workaday world surges around and
past them. He will, perhaps, If the day be
warm and dreamy enough, catch himself in
an almless negative sort of way formulating
little stories of their lives, specializing the
while whether they be probable or not.
Where and how does he lives He is in need,
hungry, maybe? Perhaps a stranger in the
city. Is he happy? Is he miserable? These
and a thousand and one other questions will
suggest themselves to the saunterer.
One of the first conclusions the student
Will arrive at is that the regular habitues,
the people who come early and stay late, do
not use the parks for the advantages of the
air or view, but as a retreat, Most of the
people, he will concede, come to escape dis
comforts of some kind, come because they
have no other place TO 60, or because they
prefer its comparative quiet to the rush and
hurry of the street. In short, they make of
the parks place of refuge rather than of
pleasure, and thus the breathing spots are
made to serve an end for which they were
never intended. This is only applicable,
however, to the regular habitues, the every
day corners, and not to the Sunday inunda-
ton of weekday workers. These latter find
real pleasure in the stretches of sward, in
the sparkling fountains and in the sylvan
hooks, so cool and refreshing to the tired
eyes of the worker in Office and shop, fac
tory and street. Before this food of ener-
getic people the regular sitters retire and
you will look for them in vain on Sunday
But their places will be filled by others lust
as interesting in their way. Their day is
short, however; they go back to their work
and the regular sltters reappear and once
more reign supreme.
One of the most familiar figures to be
seen about the downtown parks is the / e.
Gently arrived emigrant, who has spent all
of his money and is still without situation
The other day the reporter met a type that
was representative. He was sitting discon-
solate aud alone on one of the park benches,
with his hands far down in his empty pock-
cts, his toes burned in, shoes down at the
heel and a gaunt, hungry look on his I'M
shaven, cadaverous face. He was thor
oughly discouraged and generally disrepu-
table. The rose-hued dreams Of lucrative
employment and big wages that had drawn
him from his distant home had vanished
into thin air, and he was a pitiable picture
of despair. Like many another who has
gone through the same experience he had
doubtless come to the conclusion that it re-
qulres talent and industry to succeed in this
country as well as in any other He was a
characteristic type of the battery habitue
and one of many in like condition, who
sit and watch the Goddess of Liberty all
day and wonder the while where they are
going to get dinner. And while doing the
battery the saunterer will notice that it is
given up almos6 entirely TO the newly ar
rived American citizen. Here he lounges
supinely on the benches smoking his pipe
and looking over the waters toward his dis
tant home. They make picturesque groups
III their odd dress and with their strange
manners. These newcomers still have their
little store of money and life in the great
free country is to be happy and devoid of
trouble. But perhaps not a few Of them
will soon be disenchanted and find that they
VIII get few if not as many of the hard
knocks of life in the new country as they
did in the old
But the reservations where are to be found
the greatest variety of character outside of
Central park are i'll Union and Madison
squares Here can be found types from
every grade of society, and one can observe
each in turn as best suits the mood in which
one happens to be. OF course it is always
pleasant to sit and watch the children at
their play. They go toward making UP the
most enjoyable pictures of park life. The
searcher after character, however, is not
called upon to study them, but rather to
look upon their antics as a diversion, after
surfelt OF somber pictures to be found on
the benches. They have scarcely past as
yet to sit and ponder upon, they are soon
enough to awaken to the stern realities of
life, and it is well that none can lift the
veil that hangs over the future and show
what is to be. Their bright colored dresses
and wraps contrast agreeably with the green
or the grass and trees, and their merry
laughter and CHEEKY shouts as they play Is
music in the ears OF the silem sitters on the
benches. Hide and seek, wicket, hop, skip
and jump, rule the day. Roller skaters
dash by over the smooth asphalt with di-
lated nostrils and glowing che,sks, while the
sparkling eyes Of the rope shippers tell how
much pleasure they find in IN exertion
which, If used in the right way by the
shabby, languid men who look laz.ly on,
would bring them the wherewith they SO
much need.
Among the female habtues Of the parks
that have grown familiar TO the stroller is
the poor working girl, or woman, who has
stopped for moments rest. 1t cannot be-
gainsaid that her dress is not sometimes a
TITLE shabby, but then it is always clean