The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-09-03
A MOST PICTURESQUE SCENE
All Nationalities Are in Evidence There
Some Types That We're Seen
Society Gossip of Birming-
ham and Suburbs.
by ANNIE KENDRIck WALKER

New York, September f.-(Special Cor
respondence) -If the typical New Yorker
is out of town at this time of the year, his
prototype of the lower Eastside is at the
height of his glory. He is in town all
the week when Sunday finds him with
thousands of others at gay Coney Island.
where there are hundreds who go to see
this bohemia. 1t is a fascinating side to
glimpse even on ferry boat, poking its
way out of New York harbor. At the
Ccney Island pier 1t is more so, for the
Sunday crowds there in point of picures-
queness. are unlike those of any place
along the coast.
A hundred thousand people pass through
the gateway at Coney Island on Sunday.
Every nationality has its representatives,
but they are SO massed together that every
Individual is looked upon as a typical
by Islander. On Sunday there is O
Q of domesticity. which swarms of
\ide children give to the otherwise
mosphere. If theCN-iS Ola
= 70 redeem Coney Islal2~it is that
thousands of little opes from the tene-
ments play on he beach for hours, which
Is prooaoiy -2e only bath they get. With
TINS re2H1re eliminated there remains the
lo1Shest element of New York's Eastside
when the tide comes In the tenement chill
dren are crowded into the New York ferry
boats, and then 1t Is that Coney Island
shorn of innocence. Is at its worst.
From the Shamrock, lying off the har-
Dor, awaiting to be looked at Erie Basin.
fiuttered the English flag. A woman was
making herself conspicuous on the upper
deck of the ferry. "Who wants to look at
wars.ips now?" she was saying in a loud
voice, as she glanced indifferenty in the
direction OF the yacht. Her companion
laughed Don't you KNOW" ne explain
ed in bad English, that yacht belongs
to Sir Thomas Upton, and sh's over here
to challenge the Columbian" But 1t was of
little moment to the woman. The Prov of
the Olympia cutting through the waters
of the Narrows would have been all the
same to her.
She was Sunday type, bound for Coney
Island.
The beach there literally swarms with
human beings. From the pier 1 watched
the breakers, the crowds on the beach, the
emptying of the ferry boats 1t was
sood-natured crowd, apparently, taking its
weekly plunge and If Coney Island begun
and ended with it's beach, there would be
less need of reforms. Where the waves
wash the shore is but a beginning, the
end Of which is the district known as the
bowery, which always representing the
worst element of a city has had its at
fractions augmented since the midway
plaisance held sway at the Chicago fair.
Without its picturesqueness, and with an
absurd attempt to picture the life of the
lowest classes of Europe. the plaisance at
Coney Island is quite the most horrible
phase of wickedness that New York will
ever attempt to solve. 1t Is so glarfng and
so evident that the bohemian side which
1 went to see, and of which hoped would
make good newspaper story. was almost
lost sight of. did not anticipate seeing
Salvation Army on the beach, but even
with my expectations at the very lowest
I at least did not dream of such problems
with which this great city must deal It
would do no good to even touch upon
this side, for New York is not giving a
thought to Coney Island.
The thoroughfare there where one sees
a picturesque part of this bohemia is
where the crowds coming from the pier
stroll for hours, and fioclking to the music
halls and cafes go in for night of 1t.
If the habtues of Coney Island were cos
TUNED in their native dress, 1t would be tn
most vivid picture that one could possibly
find. But the crowds there are Ameri-
canized to the extent of dress and the
American woman will find a reproduction
of her shirt waist and sailor hat on the
majority of the Coney Island bellies
The booths the cafes, the thousand
catch-pennies which line the street on
either side, brilliant with lights are
thronged with a curious crowd, and the
spielers screaming above the music are of
course but a reproduction of a big fair
But 1t is the color of the scene that im-
presses one, and the consciousness that
Will lnHEl To no, oa,o1o,,I,x la .-....