The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-11-28
SCENES ON THE BOWERY.
DESCRIPTION OF A FAMOUS
NEW YORK STREET.
Dsrksned ~ Roofing OF Elevated
Trscks-rhs Home OF sharp Bsr-
gains and the Haunt OF
Bwlndlors.

swlndisrs.
At first view the Bowery impresses
you as place which ought TO come up
TO the romance. As you come up
Park Row. itself q curious place. you
find yourself getting into deep shadow.
like the entrance to cave. The air
smells close and musty. The sunlight
has taken the freshness with it There
arc elevated tracks hanging low. and
SO closely covering the street that
rain seldom falls upon 1t This is
Chatham Square. the entrance to the
Bowery. Leaving the deep twilight
OF Division street to the right, says
Harper's Weekly you 60 straight up
into the broad yet dark highway OF
east-side life crowded both in street
and sidewalks noisy with u multitude
OF sounds, some OF which are to be
heard nowhere else, Swallowed by the
tracks OF the elevated, which hang
low over the entire width Of the street
from Chatham Square to Grand. and
In these ten or fifteen blocks Is con-
tanned the true Bowery. Here are
Jumbled together a queer and varied
lot of enterprises.
In and around Chatham square the
chief business is the lodging house.
On the outer walls are hung great
signs bearing pretentieus names, The
Windsor, The Grand Windsor The
Atlantic The Pacific, The Grand.
Some OF these places. the most OF them
in fact have a front as inviting as the
names; there is gaudy paint shining
brasswork. an air of cleahness. luxury
even. This splendor is entirely out OF
keeping with the price lists hung be-
meath the signs and over the sidewalks
generally 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 an
especial inducement All this appears
from the street.
After the lodging-h houses you will
notice the dime museums. And hero
again is that pretentious exterior
the gay paint the big signs all the
promise OF good things within. There
are pictures of curiosities that 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 England" 1t is all
fraud. all fake; and though you may
have gone in expecting cheat you
will have SO far surpassed your ex-
pectations that you will look sneak
ingly about you as you come out The
shooting galleries with the gaudy
swinging targets-lions. tigers. ele-
phants-are equally delusion. and
you will never get the quarters that
reward hitting the bull's-eye FIVE
times. The photograph galleries,
where tin-types are to be had at phe-
nomenally small prices, will give you
likenesses to make you wonder at
your own possibilities OF LONELINESS.
Then there are the shops. The
Bowery is great trading place. The
lower east side does most of its shop
ping there-buys its hats and shoes
and shirts and gowns and furniture
There are queerer shops in other
streets not far from the Bowery, but
the Bowery is the headquarters for
swindling in merchandise. as in
amusement
Bargain signs hang over every door.
Every one has just assigned, has just
burned out, is leaving business.
Everything is going at sacrifice. All
things are at bargain prices; yet moth
ing is bargain. There is every
whore a dreary monotony of cheap
ness-the cheapness that shines in the
windows and falls to pieces in the
arms of the purchaser on his way
home. A dollar will buy more hero
than anywhere else in the city-and
also less.
Among these shops are the pawn
brokers-pretender and swindlers, as
the others For they are not pawnbro-
kers for all their three ball signs and
their conspicuous directions as to howl
to reach the private entrances. They,
like the auction houses. sell bad jewell
ry, freight watches nickel plated
chains, gold washed rings They|
pretend that these things are uDre
deemed pawns. In reality not pawt
Is in all the display.
In fact the whole Bowery, in all ID |
In all its business enteb |
prises, is based upon the grand primil |
principle OF the philosophy of huh |
bug-that you can get something br |
nothing. That is the wherefore ofall
this Hardness, all this vain show. his |
paint and gliding and glitter. TIese
fakirs cater to the belief OF low iitel- |
ligence in its own shrewdness andcun-
ing.
A stranger in New York walled up
one side OF the Bowery and dom the
other When he emerged from It's
gloom. he said. Il never befort knew
how ugly the human race ISL The
Bowery is ugly. and the MIN and
women who move about in it hare its
Faces lower as the air.
Real laughter-vim OF heAth and
spirits-is as rare rs burst OF SUM-
shine. The people are clegly on tho
edge OF life. fighting anxioyly. haras-
sedly, for foothold. and seemingly
never quite Iaining it. Jew frames
are stalwart: few shoulders do not |