The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-10-28
NEW YORK ELECTIONS.
How the Day Is Celebrated in the
Metropolis.
Picturesque Holiday Sights Of a
Great City.

Mr. Ernost Ingersoll has written for The
Century paper on Election Day In New
York" Mr.. Ingersoll, after speaking of
those who take advantage of the holiday to
flock out of town, says:
Another class rejoice In this holiday as
an opportunity TO sit at home enjoying do
mestic comfort, reading in sippered ease the
postponed book or fondling the pet hobby
The people" call them silk stockings,
and have no fear of their beautifully modu-
lated expressions of censure, because they
rarely back IL up by vote.
Down at the polls they cannot under
stand this frame of mind. A certain num-
Der of citizens, to be sure come, deposit
their votes as quickly as possible and go
away with an attitude of having performed
a disagreeable duty. But TO the many who
are more or less visible there all day this
is the most important occasion of the year,
and there is hardly anything they would
not rather do than miss 1t. To be sure, 10
may be worth few dollars TO them, di-
rectly or indirectly, but plainly they look
further than this and have hazy sense of
the dignity of the act, comparable 10 the
fetch worshiper' notion Of religion They
are not ignorant, foreign, dollar day la
borers stupid and besotted with liquor, but
men earning wages enough to enable them
to pay their footing in the barroom club,
and havSg sufficient brains to make them
: serviceable 10 their captain. " Alert with
the keenness of the street, knowing every
body. and feeling above none, they are
wholly devoted to "the cause" as long as
they get fair treatment.
1t Is these men who make the voting
places picturesque In rough garb and with
lordly swagger they sandwich themselves
between neat and dignifed lawyers, mer-
chants and olergymen, proudly sensible of
their equality at the polls. Sometimes the
motley line reaches out of doors and down
tho street. AS soon as one has voted he
joins the loiterers outside aid poinpously
lights cigar, scornful of the black pipe
more familiar To his teeth
In the afternoon the brisk captain, who
has been lodging all day from poll 10 poll,
obtains an approximate list of those Of bis
side who have not yet voted, and dispatches
workers To bring them out They
search their hnunts, and presently return
with recruits. Some of these delinquents
have simply been tardy, Others are sick or
lame or blind, and are gently conducted TO
the polls, perhaps in carriage, placed In
the line, and carefully assisted to tho bal
lot box. The attention he gets on election
day Is n genuine comfort 20 many poor
devil kicked about all the rest of the year.
Now and then a henchman seizes captain
and whispers portentously I'm his ear. A
moment lator he hurries off, looking very
important, and soon reappears with a COM
panion, who is sent on alone, while he
himself stays back s,5 the corner. This
means that some voter has boon ascer-
tanned To- lie out OF town or sick abed, and
that willing and thrifty stranger has
come 90 vote Qllegally) in his name, This
Is only one OF many tricks election officers
and watchers must guard against toward
the end of the day, and sometimes at a
cost 20 the latter of no small courage, for
whisky omboldeus the toughest workers
60 try 20 stand on his head" any one
who intCrfercs with them.
The day wears on--Sunday without the
churches gray day In every sense Of the
word In the lower wards, where folks arc
close enough together To- feel one another's
warmth and whore it really matters
whether Mike OFarron or Barney Cadi-
gan is 10 DO alderman or coroner, each
crossroads has an excited crowd, but up
town the side streets are deserted, and
even Broadway and Fifth avenue are dead.
The first 90 break the silence arc the
boys crying the afternoon papers, but there
IL nothing in them except clever guess
work, unless the tension factions nt somo
polling place or the wild foolishness Of n
tipsy worker has brought on fight or
two. Election day rows are now remark
ably rare In New York.
Ioitercrs increase about the polling
places, and voters crowd forward, fearful
lest they be too late. The weary inspectors
and clerks must now work harder than
ever, and the watchers watch their very
best. This Is tho time when the schemer