The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-05-25
PHASES OF LIFE IN GOTHAM
Woman's HelpIessness When Brought in
Contact with the Bustle of q Big City,
And Mans Foreetfulness as Shown BY the Post
Office RecOrds-Some of the Things Seen in
Spring Time-ImpOsitions at the Cafes.

tOut8Ct WIN tuo dCtlN6 Du8iuS83 WOflu IL
often amusing and always interesting.
When q woman comes into one of the great
Office buildings down town. in search of
somebody or something. she 10 usually at
once deprived of what common sense she
may ordinarily keep in stock. The prob
ability is that she will inquire of the first
person she meets whether Mr.. Somebody
has an Office there. This person may be an
utter stran ger to the city. If he isn't he
will refer her to the bulletin or the ~janitor.
or the elevator man. Now. the bulletin
may possibly contain one hundred or two
hundred names. and may be spread all over
the wallis of the corridor. or posted up
alphabetically in the dark elevator. In
any case it Is confusing to q woman not
familiar with the scheme. She may sse
half @ dozen uniformed men and boys
rushing about. but can't tell ar elevator
man or assistant %janitor from q district
messenger or telegraph boy. She will get
of at the wrong floor. get lost in the halls,
get into ever 80 many wrong Offices, and
finally arrive at her destination in q white
heat of worry. What strikes her as the
most remarkable thing about il all is that
nobody seems to know anything about any,
body else. Men may occupy an Office In
one of these buildings for years, and know
nothing whatever of their next-door
~neighbors. And what strikes the office men
and everybody connected with an Office
building as most remarkable Is the fact
that women, as q rule, are utterly oblivl-
Gus to signs. They will 60 directly past
the plain gold lettering that announces
men and business, and inquire In the very
next room. A woman can ind anything IN
a bureau drawer or at the bottom of q
trunk by instinct. which il more than .
man can do: but she scars above signs.
There are q good many absent-mlnded
men among the business men of New York,
as the records OF the postofice will show.
Those who mail letters without any ad-
dress and those who mail addressed letters
without any stamp are on hand In force
every day. The man who incloses money
In such letters Is not wanting. i went over
from the Astor House. one day. and talked
to q clerk. through o slx-inch window,
about IL. buying q dollars worth of stamps
At the. oil, Q as an evidence OF good faith.
When / arrived home. some ak miles away.
j discovered that / had given q five-dollar
bill To the stamp-man and had come away
without the change. The next morning |
was somewhat nervous concerning that "a,
and FASTENED to the postofice. The stamp
clerk was serving q long line of customers.
the first word immediately and silently
handed out four one-dollar bills.
II didn't know but what, among so many
fools" said /, you might easily forget
one"
Possibly" ne dryly retorted. But you
were the most conspicuous one yesterday.
Twos did you say, siri"
SIGHTS OF THE SEASON.
One of the wonderful sights to be seen in
New York at this season of the year is the
throng OF variegated humanity that flows
into the city in the early evening of Sun
day. This crowd is composed of the middle
and lower classes chiefly, who flock to the
country north of Harlem. to the ferries. to
the railway stations, to the boats on river
and bay during Sunday forenoon to enjoy
the only holiday they have in the week.
Men. women and children Of all ages and
every nationality are 20 be seen, and num-
bered by tens and hundreds of thousands.
The elevated trains from Harlem. between
the hours of 8 and Q o'clock in the evening,
swarm with these flushed pleas
S Sc.., s'sks There And the no,hi fun npa
it elsewhere upon top of earth.
Nearly every other woman and child comes
in literally laden with flowers n grasses,
and the usual stuffy air of the cars is redo
lent with the delicious perfume of field and
farm. They tell the story of q delightful
day spent beyond the oppression of brick
and mortar and blazing stone. Separating
here and there along the route, the atoms
of these countless human swarms bear the
evidences of their days pleasure in their
Drowned faces and buoy ant steps to their
homes. 1t is q charming sight and one
never to be forgotten by the beholder. 1t
t~estifies with irresistible eloquence of the
future grandeur of the American metrop-
oils that has so much variety within easy
reach and at so small a price that the poor
cot laborer can enjoy it.
The first balmy days of spring bring out
the Rr0adwav lCnnQar in forca eft ia
one of the most trying things, don't you
know" remarked q lady. Ito walk down
Broadway from Thirty third street to the
Fifth-avenue corner, on account of the
along the store-fronts, theater and hotel
entrances and bar-ro0ms. They dare not
speak to . lady. but they i~mpudently stare
at her and make sneering remarks sOme-
times to each other about her. Very often
this is done within her hearing. What is
she to do? Ii she so much as looks up in
d~ignantly they all gaze at her point blank
and perhaps laugh, OF course nothing can
front, the Brewer House corner and the
theater entrances and hotel steps are the
worst. j know the police have tried to
break il mp and succeeded in q measure
last summer. but 1t Is q greater nuisance
thar ever lately. i'll complain at home
my brother SAYS: Then why don't you
keep of of Broadway just as if nobody
had any rights there but the actors and the
loafersp'
The steamer chairs that line the curblng
in front of the shops where q speciality is
made of travellers outfits indicate the ap-
preaching annual exodus of the more rest
less Americans. The names and addresses
painted on these show a large proportion of
people of other cities. "Mr. Henry Jones.u
Mrs. Henry Jones,D Miss Jones' 'Miss
Samantha Jones,n Bill jones' or their
equivalents show how the foreign rage runs
in some families, as the chairs mentioned
not unfrequently demonstrate. When the
experienced traveller sees these things he
mentally figures mp the tips and trouble
they represent, and the recollection of 1t all
quite reconciles him to remaining in New
York. I'VE have orders for more steamer
chairs" said q dealer, than We ever had
before at this season of the year. l do not
know whether this means more travel
abroad OF whether it Is because people are
learning that q deck chair is necessary
for comfort in q trip across the Atlantic.
If / were the executive authority of O line
of ocean-going steamers, should favor
supplying my vessels with deck chairs for
the accommodation of first-class passen-
gers. There is no more sense In making
passengers pay for a seat on deck than there
IL In compelling them TO buy their w
blankets
IMPOsITIONs AT III CAFES
The observant and frugal eater will note
the difference in price between the same
articles served in the eentlemen's cafe and
the ladies' department. of the same estab-
lishment. Bnt he will never understand
why there should be such q difference. Ar
tlcles of food served in the ladiea' reafaurant