The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-06-24
LOST IN NEW YORK.
BEHAVIOR OF THE POLICEMAN, THE
BOY AND THE SPECTATORS.


Women shopping.
GAS n general thing" snid the western
woman, IL would cross the street rather
than pass one of your New York crowds.
l mean those crowds that seem to gather
Us If by magic when there is an accident,
or fight, or n horse down, or an arrest,
or any one Of a dozen things which are al
ways happening here.
Somehow it always makes me miser-
able. | think about Oshkosh, and of how
we have neiphbors out there and care what
happens To each other. Did you ever look
at the people in these groupsg They are as
unmoved as the old granite blocks with
which you pave your streets They make
me shiNer, those men and boys, pushing
and gaping in a curious circle mt some one
who has Just been mangled by q cable car.
They are as coldly observant as if they
were secondhand dealers sizing up your
old furniture. If there is good deal of
blood, their eyes shine. If it's Just cnse
of heart disease, or II simple illness, they
go on, as apathetic as ever. Generally they
make grim joke and then forget the
whole affair.
"A fight produces different sort of
crowd. But | don't like it any better. The
men are more attentive then. They smile
too. Laugh if things get hot enough are
visibly sorry when the policeman arrives,
and then-go on, rs apathetic as ever.
The women, too, haunt me- They
don't always stop and join the crowd, but
pass with look of indifferent curiosity,
too accustomed to such things to be i'm
pressed. hate theml" said the western
woman vigorously.
- I2ut tLp rrboy 1o eIo ,,-o,+ 80, L..
expression soitCning, 81 saw q different
crowd, and l suppose it was as typically
New York one as any of the others. It
was at the corner of Fifth avenue and
Fourteenth street. 1 saw this gathering of
people as l came down the avenue, and my
first impulse was to cross the street and
avoid it, But, do you know, there was
something queer about it-something that
impressed me when was almost block
away?
1T wasn't compact crowd, such as
you generally see. 1t was more indecisive
ard wavering. People would go few
steps, then turn to look back. Sometimes
they went fully 90 feet and then went back
again. AS got nearer 1 saw that most of
them were women. That in itself distin-
guished it from the ordinary crowd. Peo-
pie were looking down toward the side
walk, and at first 1 thought that the at
traction was merely some amusing me-
chanical toy. But when saw the faces,
knew was wrong. Many of them were
smiling, but not with amusement. Ten
derness, pity, gentleness, PERSEVERANCE that
was what l read in the faces, and it puZ-
zled me tremendously until saw police
man standing in the center of the crowd.
Then it dawned on me in flash.
There was lost child That explained ev-
erything-thC consideration of the crowd
which forbore to press too closely about
the frightened little stray; the sympathy
which dragged them back to it as if by
strong undercurrent; the smiles, half
tender and half rcassuring, with which
some of them had spoken to it encourag-
1ngly. watched the faces in the crowd,
and for once l found human nature the
same as have known it where you don't
have to scrape off the varnish of indiffer-
ence in order TO see what is underneath.
The eyes of the women softened. Some of
them pushed their hands up under their
spotted wells and tnushed the tears away.
Their mouths, those tired irritated I'M
loving and unlovable mouths, which l call
the shopping district mouth, relaxed and
curved into softer lines. Their whole face
seemed to be remolded by the force of some
inner feeling, and different soul than
that of the bargain hunter looked out of
their eyes.
Il don't think that half of them saw
the child who really stood there, his little
grimy hand in the policemans protecting
palm. That child wore "a blue and white
sailor suit, and his hair was red. But l
looked into the women's eyes and l saw
far different things. l saw toddling
2-year-old in n sheer white muslin frock, |
and its hair WASH t red, but golden. And
L saw sturdy little chap in trousers
such tight trousers and such fat little legs
and his hair was soft and brown. / saw
u curly head lying ON u pillow and two
tiny hands crossed on the little breast, and
they were strangely still But then 1
looked into that woman's eyes only through
the tears which blinded her.
well, said the western woman, with
an apparent mental shake, "you see how
different it was. l hadn't happened to see
a lost child before, and it was a revelation
to me. The little fellow himself made my
heart big with admiration. He was so
plucky, so reserved in his trouble, so dig
nified under the most trying scrutiny. He
did not wall as most children would have
done. l don't think he ever shed "a tear.
Iio kepJ MS llttlc lips pressed grlmly to- !
gether and said never n word except when
some one spoke to him. Then he answered
briefly, and his eyes pathetically searched
the face before him for a ray of hope.
When they gave him candy instead of
hope, he accepted it with grave THANK
your but he did not eat it, and he showed
that ne found the denouement disappoint-
ing.
The policeman was not the least inter
esting person in the group. l have always
found the New York policemen kind
enough, but in blase and cynical fashion.
If were Analysing their character, take
It on the average, l shouldn't think of in
'luding sympathy among their predomi-
nant qualities. They accept most events
With the stolidity of long custom. They are
rs little affected by any ordinary accident
rs hard drinker would be by thimble-
ul of beer. And that is the reason why
his policeman interested me almost as
much as the crowd did He was gentle
serious, sympathetic. He did not say much
o the child, and that showed his penetra-
ion. But there was something in the