The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-17
Howard Fielding Entertains a Friend
From Interior Massachusetts, In
the Metropolis.
Tho Experience Developed Several
Quite New Situations to
the Host.
Il IL . Little Expensive, but It's Called
Sport, and There's = Good Deal
ia \ NAmc.
Written for THE HELENA INDEPENDENT !

"6 A RULE. WHEN PEOPLE
VI whom / used TO know. but whose good
/gl points / have forgotten, write to in
form me that they will visit the CITY
and will DO pleased TO see ito sights under
my direction. / invent a pressing engage
ment In tho interior OF Connecticut. But
SRmmy's case was different. Sammy has q
lot of money, and ! could not bear to think
OF the chance that, in this great and wicked
city, he might bs robbed by somebody
else. I determined to protect him; 10 stand
between his innocence and the itching
palms OF my fellow citizens. 80 when
he wrote that no was coming, l promptly
replied that ] would meet him ~ Del
monico's about dinner time. His sejoin-
der by wire requested me TO meet one of
the Sound steamers and breakfast with him
at 1880. I have not breakfasted at that
hour since compulsory prayers were abol-
ished at college in my freshman year; and
the Indications were that his visit to the
great city would result in more novelty for
me than for him. However, I arranged =
little programme which Thought would
give Sammy 1 very fair idea Of life and
death in the American metropolis. ! shall
here endeavor to describe his impressions
80 that the reader may got. for the moder-
nts price Of a sunday newspaper, an amount
of information and diversion which will
cost several hundred dollars more il OBJ
taiusd on the spot.
The hrst thing that struck Sammy WAS
the vast and hurrying thronR. II struck
him in an elevated railroad train and nearly
tore his clothes off. New York il = very
crowded city. The numerous and compsr-
atively cheerful cemeteries Of Brooklyn on
the one hand. and the malaria Of New Jsr-
ssy on the other, do not furnish sufficient
outlet for our surplus Of population. The
way We fall over each other is appalling to
q stranger. l thought the spectacle would
be novel and instructive to Sammy. who
lives in an interior Massachusetts, city,
whore one may walk down the principal
street in business hours and meet not even
. creditor. @
We passed the forenoon as agresably as
could be expected. A forenoon isn't of
much use anyway. Most people use it to
work in, but I never could reconcile my
to Park Row, to show him the big lows
paper offices. and for a time we amused
ourselves Watching q man throwing rolls of
paper Weighing 500 pounds apiece, out of a
cart onto the heads of the passersby. Then
we strolled over to Broadway to see a man
" sWOA u ' OAA ~ kop PASoouApiJ VA y
I asked Sammy if he had ever seen a
modern buffet lunch, and he said he never
had. 10 l took him to sac one. He saw it,
and then he requested me to take him
whore he could get something to eat.
and though he fights very woll in the light
weight~class, he Is not designed to- profit by
q buffet lunch. The alleged nutrition IL
piled upon a counter, and the animals take
food as best they may. My long reach and
longer experience enabled me to obtain
sandwiches and cakes over the shoulders of
the throng, whereas Sammy got nothing
but a cup Of coffee, which was poured down
his back by Il gentleman behind him.
However. he got a good idea of the amount
which can be obtained by a skilful, long
legged man by settling my account at the
desk.
Later We formulated our plans for the
day. I asked him what he had como here
to see, and he replied that he had always
thought that the statue of liberty and the
obelisk in Central park must be very inter-
esting. ,, HI u...
my dear boy said l. ''you can never
get any idea of this town by hunting up
obscure inanimate curiosities Of that sort.
But there is going to be a prize fight in
Jersey City tonight that will be q liberal
education for a young man; and, in the
meantime, we might run out and see the
Brokedale handicap. / have q sure thing"
Samuel accompanied me willingly, for his
relatives at home had told him to stick
close by me and not to go running away by
himself into places which a well-brought-
up young man should never visit. On the
way to the race course he asked me what |
had meant by a sure thing, and l explained
to him as much of ii as one can really I'M
derstand without personal experience. He
said that he had meyer bet on anything, but
did not think 1t was wrong IT one were sure
not to lose his money. l assured him that
some of the best people I knew were habit
ual bettets; indeed, a few of them were SO
good that they were not required to put up
cash. He remarked that he would prefer
was obliged to confess that l was not one
Of the few.
1t is pleasant to watch the childish OK
citement which possesses a man when he
attends his first horse race. This delight
full emotion lasts all the way down to the
track; it survives the dust and cinders of
suburban railways; but it generally evapor-
stes when he finds that he 10 to have only
about ten minutes of actual racing and
four hours of standing around. l took
Samuel into the pen whore the enthusiasm
for that noble animal, the American race
contained several thousand more men than
it would hold when va arrived. The place
was open to the air of heaven, but the air
very discreetly remained outside.
While ! went to bet our money on the
sure thing I left Samuel between a wooden
post which helped support the pavilion and
the equally wooden intelligence of one of
those men who advise newcomers profess
s~ionally. As l had taken charge of all the
money Sammy could spare l did not regard
the proximity of the professional gentleman
as dangerous. When l came back Sammy
was looking quite pale. partly from the
effects of the cigar which the professional
adviser was smoking aud partly from nor
vousness over his money. He ventured to
suggest that my sure thing might &c wrong.
Thereupon a facstious person who over
heard him remarked that my young friend
was picking up the business very fast.
"Well. Sammy, old sport" said I. what
do you think of . betting rinRT'
haven't seen one YET" said he. 'I've been
waiting to find somebody who was 80 short
that l could see over his shoulders. If l
encounter a man of that size l will endeavor
to look about me-"
II was now time for the first race to DO
run. and we vent out to see it. l saw it,
but Sammy got wedeed in behind a six
footer just as the horses started. and il was
all over before he could move. Then We
went back to the bookmRksrs and waited
another half hour or more.
l could see that my friend was not having