Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1899-08-11

TO mustc-The Goose Market ana Its
Habitues-PInygroun
NEW YORK, Aug. 10.-[ Special. mot
half the strangers who come sightseeing
to New York see half the sights worthy
| of being seen.
Not one in ten among New Workers
knows much about the most interesting
things in the town. Here are a few
words about two or three Of them which
no visitor should fail to look up.
Recreation Piers.
The various recreation piers are 10.
Gated at the river ends OF various streets
on both sides of Manhattan Island. All
! in all, they are among the best conceived,
most sensible and most beneficial fea-
lures of Gotham's plan for the enter
tainment of the million.
The recreation piers are handsomely,
even artstically, designed. Each is OF
two stories aud surmouuted by a grace
ful pointed roof. The lower story II
each is used for ordinary commercial
purposes, and the rental accruing there
from is the same or nearly. as great as
would be realized were not the recreation
idea carried out. The upper story is de-
voted altogether TO the pleasure Of the
people. II is reached by easy stairs from
the street, its floor is level and smooth
and comfortable scttees are lined up
along the sides and at the ends. Near
the middle Of the floor there is a band
stand, where trained musicians play pop.
ular airs sometimes varying the pro-
gramme with choice pieces of classical
music. Admittance is free to all. the city
paying FOR the music as well as main
tanning the pier. \ large proportion of
those who frequent the piers occupy the
settees, but a still larger proportion
promenade in pairs and groups from end
to end of the long floor. These summer
days and evenings-they are kept open
and lighted till 10 or II o'clock every
! night-the piers are crowded almost con
stantly. Just who originated the idea
does not seem to be generally known,
and perhaps it was not brought for
ward by any one person. 1t has certain
| ly proved a godsend TO hundreds of thou
sands.
There is no better place than a recrea-
ton pier TO get a good notion Of the
towns vast population and the remarka-
| bly, mixed nature of its constituents.
! When the attendance is at its best, the
number present on a single pier is often
as large as 1000, for the floor Of each is
| 200 feet long by ~ feet wide, and there
cry type-Amcrican. English. Scotch,
| Irish, German, Magyar, Pole, Russian.
| Chinese, and costumes OF all sorts, from
the shabbiest, plainest suits, some of
| them ragged even, TO the showiest and
most obtrusive, are to be seen. Old men
and women, sturdy young men who work
! at hard labor, pale faced, narrow shout
| dered clerks; delicate seamstresses, gayly
| dressed shopgirls, 1irtatious young ciga-
rette rollers and children from families
! Of every grade but the rich-all these en-
| joy the recreation piers with n zest that
/ bears direct relation TO the squalor and
closeness Of their living quarters.
The Goose Market.
Quite rs interesting and as difficult OF
| duplication in the United States is that
| curious institution known as the goose
| market. II is located at the corner OF
/ Essex and Hester streets, on the east
| side, and in the midst OF the section Civ
en- over to the Hebrews who work at
| handicrafts-the ghetto il would be term
! ed in n European city. 1t may be visited
! to advantage any day in the week ex-
| cepting Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath,
when nothing is doing, and il may be
seen in all its energetic glory on Friday,
the great maCket day of the week.
The goose market is not so termed be-
! cause the selling Of geese, live or dead, is
the chief trade of the locality, for every
"kosher" edible known is there bought
and sold in great profuson, but from the
fact that, goose flesh being better liked
by the working Hebrews Of New York
than either chicken, turkey or duck, it is
the leading meat dealt in. A visit to this
market is almost equivalent to a visit TO
the Hebrew quarter of any great old
world town. The sellers and buyers
choke the streets every secular day. On
Tuesdays it is almost impossible to force
a way through the excited throngs for
| truck or carriage or horse drawn vehicle
| of any kind. 1t is this market which
caused so much discussion among the
authorities when Roosevelt was police
commissioner. and the human jam at
Hester and Essex streets has often re-
| quired the attention of the local guardi-
ans OF the peace, not because of fighting,
drunkenness or disorder among the bar
terers for the working Jews of New
| York do not drink, fight or do disorderly
things, but simply because in their COM
mercial enthusiasm buyers and sellers
sometimes mix themselves up in hopeless
confusion.
Many tongues besides the English are
| " ia uttliu III hiNtiH ldIls VI view 1bths
At the goose market on busy days Eng
fish is entirely crowded out, some Rus
sian, some Polish, some German being
heard, but the prevailing speech, as a
matter of course, is Yiddish, that singu-
lar jargon which has come into existence
smong the Jews of every land and is
made up of words and phrases from
every civilized and some uncvilized
tongues, thrown together almost without
form and literally without grammatical
rules Of any sort.
Public Fairgrounds.
Not far from the goose market is one
Of the public Fairgrounds which New
York has recently opened to serve as
breathing places in addition to its many
small parks
This playground covers two or three
blocks, and its benefit to the swarming
children Of the neighborhood cannot be
oyerestimated. 1t is not a beauty spot;
on the contrary it is dingy and dull in
appearance. No emerald turf covers the
ground, few or no trees shade the inclo-
sure, no fountain pleases the eye with
its beauty or delights the ear with the
purling sound Of falling water But it
is fitted up with swings for the girls and
horizontal bars and other gymnastic APP
paratus for the boys. 1t affords accom-
modations for games of football and
baseball. There is a running track. Shade
Il