, 1890-06-24
WAR BETWEEN THE STREETS.


How One Small Boy Passed in safety
Through the Enemies Lines.
For vindictiveness, stubbornness and
6Ack of any mastery inactivity the war
between the states is discounted by the
wal between the streets. One was set
tied in four or five years, but the other
is perennial, and as New York gets big
ger and bigger it spreads out over
more territory. Every wide awake
small boy in town knows all about
1t. He doesn't need any war maps
to show him where the various
strongholds are. If he had maps they
would be Of little use to him, for before
he could master them he would be pretty
sure to stumble into the very midst Of
the enemy and subsequently give his
family an opportunity for valuable prac-
tice in first aid to the injured.
Strategy plays an important part in
the battles Of the small boy, and among
other things he learns how to pass
through the enemy's country in safety
a very valuable bit Of knowledge, too,
when the family grocer or butcher hap
pens to have his establishment in a hos
tile district. A reporter a day or two
ago had a chance to see how the willy
boy does this.
The reporter was walking up Univer-
sity place from Washington park when
suddenly he became aware that a boy
was trudging along by his side. The
youngster seemed to have come up
through the sidewalk-probably he had
emerged from a convenient areaway-
but, at all events, there he was, a bright
looking, well dressed, active boy, with a
small package under one arm. The bun
die ave proof positive that he was on
ONE household errand. Only a woman
could have made such q curious combi-
nation of too little wrapping paper and
too much string.
The boy stuck close to his newly
adopted companion. II the reporter
slackened his pace, so did the youngster;
IL he increased 1t, the boy was with him;
If he stopped to look in a shop window,
the boy followed his example; If he
edged over toward the curb, the boy
went with him.
In this fashion they Travelled on block
after block. Two or three parties of
boys playing In the street scrutinized
the pair closely. They seemed to have
a desire to get at the boy, but apparent
ly they were satisfied that an attack
would not be polite under the circum-
stances. By the time Tenth street was
reached the reporter began to wonder If
his small companion had decided to at
tach himself to him permanently. A
retinue is not always desirable, and
what was worse, two or three other
youngsters had fallen into the process
sion, keeping twenty or thirty feet in
the rear, however.
Half way between Tenth and Eleventh
streets the following party stopped. They
seemed to have come to some dividing
line, across which they had no business
to pass. There they stood, though, with
very much the air an industrious cat as
sumes when a mouse has slipped into a
hole just in time to avoid contact with
feline claws. AS o o as they halted the
youth with the bundle seemed to lose all
interest in their doings.
At Eleventh street he suddenly left
he reporters side. He ran across the
street at full speed, stopped at the cor
ner, and, turning around to face the
other boys, made n gesture which was
so full Of derision that his p~ursuers must
AVE felt Disguised with life for half an
hour. Then he trudged blithely away
up the side street. Evidently he was on
safe ground again and the foe had been
baked He had taken con7oy through
the lines of the enemy. and had escaped
4 lot Of personal unp%leasantness.
1t pays a New York small boy to have
a long head. New York Times.