The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-15
EVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

store uptown there hangs a placard announcing
the rewards distributed to drivers during the
preceding month. The highest Of those rewards
is 800, and there are three others running
down to S25. A stranger in this room tho other
day supposed that the money went every month
TO tho most expert of the compAny's drivers. but
rewards arc won, 1t appears. for distinction Of q
very different character. The man who gets
the first prize Is that one of tho company's
drivers who brings back the smallest number of
packages given to him for delivery. The
extent to which the store will 60 to dis.
courage tho return Of parcels shows how
Improbable the business must DO. But 1t
is difficult, on the other hand. to SEQ what
steps the. driver can take to compel persons to
have decided they don''t want and n WON'T have Az
This part of their duties must require a combi-
nation OF finished, diplomacy and impressive per
sonality that ought to be rewarded with an occa-
sional prize. The employees of the largo depart.
ment stores in Paris after a certain length Of
service, or for, particularly capable service are
allowed to deliver packages at the hotels. and
from the strangers stopping there they are fairly
ness profitable. This is a goal which ali Partisan
drivers seek, and they, are conscientious and
9bliging, for the punishment held over their
heads Is removal from this desirable and lucra'
tive line OF work.
Frock coats are not rare In New York, and
young men who wear them with tho proper air
are perhaps as numerous; and undoubtedly
scarcer than either is the opportunity to make a
good living without very hard work and with.
out exacting hours. A Paris scheme of adver-
tisement has lately combined these elements
with results that have been profitable to the
young men and their employers, and tho wear
and tear on the frock coats has not been great.
An entorprising music hall proprietor there en-
gagged q number Of young men who could wear
their frock coats and top hats we'll and sent
49,. -1~- ~ - ln-...- Il
resort. The men went to some popu-
and after behaving like the rest Of
denly burst out into the chorus OF some song.
which happened at that time to be given n every
s sans a IN ne sn,s h Pan1lSs'f tho m piase h and m rneh 1hisy
as many of the performers on the programme as
could be placed Ia the brief time they were al.
next cafe and repeated the advertisement there.
Possibly the same. indulgence shown to the fcl-
here. and they would probably find themselves
in a police court II they persisted in the attompt
But there seems to DO two or three days pay in
the scheme for the men with the necessary frock
coats and voice enough.
The bicycle policemen have TO keep an eye on
the Riverside Drive cycle path in order that the
disposition to use the place for an academy may
not be gratifled to such an extent that the wheel
men not engaged in learning some new stunt
may be al owed to ride along without damage to
themselves or their wheels. The cycle path in
the morning hours is not crowded. and as its
surface receives the falling wheelmen with less
unsympathetic hardness than the asphalt on the
boulevard there are always riders along tho
path assiduously devoting themselves to learn.
ing some trick Of riding. One result of this was
shown yesterday morning. A stout woman in a
pink shirt waist was absorbed in the effort of
learning to ride without placing her hands on
the handle bars. Her face was drawn with an
expression OF intense suspense while she wab-
bled uncontrollably from one side Of the path to
the other. Hovering about her was u fat man
on a wheel, and one OF his careless circlings hap
pcned to place him momcntarily in such a posi-.
ton that he was coming down the path, while
she was going up. After having moved for a
bicycle, the woman shrieked TO her companion
to watch her. SO he Immediately turned. collid-
him, and the two men With their two Wheels
were piled up in the gravel OF the road. Neither
badly twisted. It is the disposition OF every,
body who wants to learn a new trick to select
the bicycle path for the scene Of his frst attempt,
rious, arc becoming more frequent every day.
Broadway at several points will be q much
plcasantcr street than it has been for some time
past il the police instructions to keep moving
the crowds that gather in two or three spots
are followed up by prompt action. One particu.
lar corner on broadway above Thirty-fourth
street is so crowded with %loungcrs that it Is
always dangerous for women to pass, and fur.
Their up. at Thirty-eighth, as we'll as Thirty-ninth
street, there stand continuously groups Of men,
who, il they are not so numerous, are quite as
persistent. A barroom fight near one of tho
upper corners the other night drew "A crowd
tina, appeared TO contain several hundred people
within u minute or two. All day these groups
OF men stand on the sidewalk They are said to
be made up OF unemployed actors. although there
are conspicuous figures in them who probably
have very slight claims to that title. A hotel
proprietor not u long time ago was anxious TO
rid himself OF the presence OF n number OF mon
who honorcd the front OF his hotel with their
presence for nearly twenty hours out OF every
twenty. four. and he applied u series of sharp
tomarily adorned. A hotel keeper further down
town had to have n separate Office 10 rid himself
Of the crowd that loitcred in front OF his estab-
lishment. They were OF about the sane general
makeup rs tho groups that have this summer
again attracted the attention of the police.