Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-10-23
THE BOW cry.
SCENES IN A NOTORIOUS NEU
YORK THOROUGHFARE.
n Crowded Street and Sidewalks
The Home Of Cheap Lodging
Houses and Dime Museums
The Shops.


to the romance As you come up Park
Row, itself curious place, you find your
self getting into deep shadow, like the
entrance to a cave. The air smells close
and musty. The sunlight has taken the
freshness with it. There are elevated
tracks hanging low, and so closely cover
ing the street that rain seldom falls upon
it. This is Chatham Square, the entrance
to the Bowery. Leaving the deep twi-
light of Division street to the right, you
70 straight up into the broad yet dark
highway of cast-side life, crowded both
in street and sidewalks, noisy with a
multitude of sounds. some Of which are
to be heard nowhere else, shadowed by
the tracks of the elevated, which hang
low over the entire width of the street
from Chatham Square to Grand, ard in
these ten or fifteen blocks is contained
the true Bowery. Here arc jumbled to-
gether queer and varied lot of enter
prises.
In and around Chatham Square the
chief business is lOdging-houses. On the
outer walls are hung signs, bearing pre-
tentious names, The Windsor, The Grand
Windsor, The Atlantic, The Pacific, The
Grand. Some Of these places, most of
them in fact, have front as inviting As
the Names there is gaudy paint, shining
brasswork, an air of cleanncss, luxury
even. This splendor is strangely out Of
keeping with the price lists hung beneath
the signs and over the sidewalks, gener-
ally on cloth, through which a light
shines at night, that he who runs may
read. The prices range from fifteen to
fifty cents. Clean sheets are offered at
some places as a special induccmcnt.
All this appears from the street.
After the lodging houses YOU will no.
tice the dime museums. And here again
is that pre,ensious exterior r--the gay
PAINT, the big signs, all the promise Of
good things within. There are pictures
of curiositics thai would appeal to the
most blase museum goer. Inside it is a
sad swindle. Ladies' and gentlemen,
this is an image of the horned lady now
living in Asia. This is an image Of the
two-headed calf now exhibiting in Eng
land 1t is all fraud, all fake; and
although you may have gone in expect
ing a cheat, you will have 50 far sur
passed your expectations that you will
look sneakingly about as you come out.
The shooting galleries with the gaudy
swinging targets-Iions, tigers, elephants
are equally delusioo, aad you will
never get the quarters that r'waFd hit
ting the bulls eye five times. The pho
tograph galleries, where tintyps' are to
be had at phenomenally small prices,
will give you likeucsses to make you
wonder at your own possibilities OF
homeliuess.
Then there are the shops. The Bow
cry is a great trading place. The lower
east side does most of its shopping
there-buys its hats and Shoes aud shirts
and gowns there and furniture. There
are queerer shops in other streets not far
from the Bowery; but the Bowery is
the headquarters tor swindIiug in mer-
chandisc, as in amusement.
Bargain signs hang over every door.
Every one has just assigned, has just
burned out, is leaving business. Every
thing is going at a sacrifice. All things
are at bargain price; yet nothing is a
bargain. There is everywhere dreary
monotony OF cheapness-the chelpness
that shines in the windows aud falls to
pieces in the arms of the purchaser on
his way home. A dollar will buy more
here than anywhere else in the citY-and
also less.
Among these shops are the pawn
brokcrs-pretenders and swiudIers,as the
others. For they are not pawn5rokers,
for all their three-ball signs and
their conspicuous directions as to
how to reach the private entrances.
They, like the auction houses, sell bad
jewelry, fre-gilt watches, nickle- plated
chains, gold-washed rings. They pre-.
tend that these things are uuredeemel
pawns. In reality not pawn is in all
the display.
In fact, the whole Bowery, in all its
in all its business enter
prises, is based upon the grand primal
principal of the philosophy of humbug
that you can get something for moth
ing. That is the wherefore Of all this
tawdriness, all this vain show, this paint
and gliding and glitter. These fakirs
cater to the belief of low intelligence in
its own shrewdness and cunning.
A stranger to New York walked up
one eide of the Bowery and down the
other. When he emerged from its gloom,
he said, 81 never before knew how ugly
the human race is" The Bowery is
ugly, and the men and women who move
In it share il homliness. Faces lower as
the air. Real laughter-vim Of health
and spints-is as rare as bursts OF sun
ihine. The people are clearly on the
,dge of life, fighting anxiousIy, harass.
IDLY, for foothold, and seemingly
never quite gaining it. Few frames arc