The record-union., 1894-06-20
PICTURE OF LITTLE ITALY.
Brander Matthews Painting "Vig
nettes of Manhattan.''

Brander Matthews Painting s'Vig-
nettes of Manhattan.1
Brander Matthews, in a series of short
stories called "Vignettes of Manhattan -
| is giving the readers of Hdrpe9's Maya
zine glimpses of the varied life in New
| York such as no other literary man has
attempted. The subject of the "Vignette,
| in the June number is the Italian settle
ment in Mulberry street, now one of the
| most picturesque parts of the city. Here
| is little sample:
At this corner Suydam turned out of
| the side street and went down street no
wider perhaps, but extending north and
| south in devious and he5itating way
not common in the streets of New York.
| The sidewalks of this sinuous street were
| inconveniently narrow for it's crowded
population, and they were made still mar
rover by tolerated encroachments of one
! kind or another. Here, for instance,
from the side of a small shop projected a
stand on which unshelled peas wilted un-
| der the strong rays of the young June
| sun. There, for example, were steps
down to the low basement, and in q COR
| ner of the hollow at the foot of these stairs
there might be pail with dingy ice
packed about can of alleged ice cream,
| or else a board bore half dozen tough
| brown loaves, also proffered for saleito the
chance customer. Here and there, again,
the dwellers ia the tall tenements had
! brought chairs to the common door, and
were seated, comfortably conversing
with their neighborS, regardless of the
fact that they thus blocked the sidewalk,
aud compelled the passer-by to 60 out
| into the street itself.
And the street was as densely packed as
| the sidewalk. In front of Suydam and
| De Ruyter, as they picked their way
along, was swarthy young fellow with
| his flannel shirt open at the throat and
rolled up on his tawny arms. He was
pushing before him a handcart heaped
with gaily colored calicoes. Other hand
carts there were, from which other men,
Young and old, were vending other
wares-fruit more often than not; fruit
of a most untempting frowZiness. Now
and then huge wagon came numbering
through the street, heaped high with
lofty cases of furniture from rumbllng
and clattering factory near the corner.
And before the heavy horses of this
wagon the children scattered, waiting till
the last moment of possible escape.
There were countless children, and they
were forever swarming out OF the houses
and I'D from the cellars and over the side
walks and up and down the street. They
were of all ages, from the babe III the
arms of its dumpy, thick-set mother to
the sweet-faced and dark-eyed girl of 10
or u really, though she might seem a
precocious Ia. They ran wild in the
Street; they played about the feet of their
mothers, who sat gossiping ia the door
WAYS: they hung over the railing OF the
fire escapes, which gridironed the front
of every tall house.
Everywhere had the Italians treated
the balcony of the fire-escape as an out
door room added to the scant aocommo-
dation. They adorned 1t with flowers
growing in broken wooden boxes; they
used its ratings to dry their parti-colored
flannel shirts; they sat out on it as though
it were the loggia of villa in their native
land.
Everywhere, also, were noises and
smells. The roar of the metropolis was
here sharpened by the rattle of near ma
chinery heard through open windows.
and by the incessant clatter and shrill
cries of the multitude in the street. The
rancid odor OF ill-kept kitchens mingled
with mitigated effiuvium of decaying
fruits and vegetables.