Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1892-08-13
LIFE IN A BIG CITY.
A GREAT VARIETY OF SECONU-
STORY SCENES IN GOTHAM.

Riding from south I erry 10 1dTlelh Oh
the elevated railroad lines of New York.
affords one an excellent opportunity OF
studying character and observing strange
and interesting sights as the trains dash
on from station to station along the line
Taking the Third avenue cars from the
Brooklyn bridge and City Hall one may
meet people of all classes, closely hud-
died together in the crowded coaches
Among them can be seen politicians and
policemen, bankers and Italian organ
grinders, clergymen and pickpockets,
beautiful women and rspulsive-looking
Cinnamon, Jew and Gentle, sitting OPP
po.ite and alongside each other, and all
impressing you with the idea that the
human family is, to say the least, re-
markably strange in its general makeup.
The autocrat of the elevated road 10
the forty dollar a month brakeman, who
delights in closing the car-gate on per-
spring patrons Of the road who have
grown exhausted in their mad efforts to
catch the train. After banging the gate
in the face Of an excited individual tho
designing knight Of the brake smiles
wickedly as the outraged passenger
rishes along the platform, angrily ex'
claiming, Puppy scoundrel-you did,
too-you lie--will see bout this-report
YOU to NOR" to all of which the
brakeman smiingly answers, "Rats!"
A trip up the Sixth avenue line will
serve to bring one into contact with a
peculiar lot. From Fourteenth street to
the Twenty third street station rather
.ludish looking set of passengers are seen
whose wardrobe emits an odor OF cigar
cites and cheap cologne.
Nearly all the dukes of Gotham dude
dom while riding on the cars make it
their special business to impudently stare
at and annoy the ladies, never dreaming
for moment that all the passengers are
watching their disgusting conduct.
Betwee Twenty third and Thirty third
streets a new set of striking characters
put in an appearance Their peculiar
style of dress and manner proclaim
them members of the dramatic profess
sion, hieing theaterwards for rehearsal.
The men as class have SNUG faces
and wear their hair little different
from their fellow beings, while the
women appear dressed in the height of
fashion. looking pretty indeed, despite
the ill effect Of hair dye and bleaching
powder. Intermingling with the Thes-
plan crew are often seen fashily dressed
young men with black mustaches, loud
clothes, dangling watch chains, and
heavy canes, out of whose vest pockets
can occasionally be seen the suspicious
of ha n
ticket These are known about the no.
tel corridors as gentlemen Of leisure,
though race track habitues would term
them "touts.
When the Forty second street station
is reached the valise-bearing crowd from
the Grand Central depot rush in upon the
unsuspecting occupants of the car and
fall over each other in true country
style, in their mad efforts to obey the
command of the autocratc brakeman,
who can be heard above the din madly
cxclaiming: "Move up, there, move up.
dye hear1 Lots of room up front.
Move up, move up.
During the summer months the tene-
ment and fiat houses along the line have
their windows thrown wide open, afford
ing the passengers regular panoramic
view OF all going on within. Sights
both grave and gay attract the eye as the
cars roll swiftly by. Through one Win
dow may be seen the happy young
mother fondling her newborn babe; at
another the aged grandmother calmly
awaiting the summons from above. and
a succession of window scenes depicting
New York life, such as a drunken long
shoreman thrashing his sickly-looking
wife. happy children good naturally
scuflling on the floor, a cheerful-looking
German family at dinner, the attic artist
sketching landscape in hope of selling
it in time to pay his rent, the coffined re-
mains of some poor unfortunate awaiting
the undertaker's final call, and hun
dred other scenes illustrative of life in
the great metropolis.
The Sixth avenue line is patronizcd by
the most refined looking people, They
while the time away in reading the
morning papers, magazines aud novels,
while on their way to and from the city.
The Ninth avenue line is largely patron
lied by what might be termed the mid
die class At early morning the cars on
this line are crowded with laboriug men
and women, overburdened with huge
baskets, on their way homo from Wash.
ington and Fulton markets.
The most motley looking lot of passen-
gers to be seen in New York are to be
found among the thousands who travel
up and down the Second avenue line.
Among them can be seen Italians, Poles,
Hungarians, Irishmen, Germans, French
men, Jews, Cinnamon and in fact repre-
sentatiyes of almost every nation of tho
world. They drop off at different
stations from the Bowery to Harlem,
dart down the little side streets in the
eastern part of New York and are soon
lost sight of in the madding crowd
Many of the poorer families of New
York deem summer Sundays trip to
Harlem great joy. They take all their
children along with them, and after
day in the fields at Riverside, Pelham
and neighboring places, return to their
homes happy and refreshed by the much
lookedfor outing A drive through
Central Park and out along the Boule-
ward has its charms; trip to Coney
Island or Long Branch its many attrac-
lions; but for studying life in all its
different phases, seeing queer people and
their places OF abode, hearing the lam
guage Of every nation on earth, and see
ing New York from the Battery to Har-
lem, there is nothing can compare with
a DAVIS ride along the different lines of