Evening star., 1900-06-09


way he has been abused He can't be
shaken of. either. He knows that he'll
be able to attract attention from passers-
by II he keeps his howl going long enough,
and that some idiot, attracted by the up
roar. will be sure to mix in and ask the
victim why he doesn't give the kid what's
a-coming to htm?" There are few men. who
matter Of what stern material they may
be composed, who can bear to be follow
ed formany squares by sniveling, snarl-
ing imp of this sort. and the youthful high
wayman nearly always has coin flung at
him In the long run as bribe for him to
break away.
In the Name OF Charity.
Another type of beggar that hourishes
nightly over here Is the female impostor
who goes from house to house asking for
subscriptions to charities that do not exist.
Many of these women are extraordinarily
brazen. They have blanks printed with
dotted lines for the names of subscribers
to fictitious fresh-air and free-ice and free
nursery funds for infants. and they work
the districts where well-to-do people live.
They generally make their tours after the
dinner hour, when householderS are liable
to be sitting at the front windows or
the front steps for the air and when the
men folks are known to be at home.
Some of the women who have been col
Jared at this work have exhibited remark
able refinement of manner and address.
They have their stories of the charities
for which they are soliciting subscriptions
with occasional quite touching breaks in
| their voices. upon the mournful condition
of the poor whom they are striving to help.
Some of these women have got big money
by these means, and, twithstandng the
fact that quite number of them have
been captured and punished. the swindlers
| in skirts are stil numerous and success
ful IN the residence sections of the city.
Premature Summer Gardens.
On Monday evening last the New York
r6o xx-ith TOO
| pick. 1t was not a cool, it was cold night
The habitual first nighters sat around the
| roof garden rum tables with their heavy
overcoats buttoned up to shield them from
the genuinely chilly breeze that swept the
housetops, and the women were likewise
sWaddled up in jacketS-some of them, in
deed. in furs. The young men who ven-
tured to the rooftops in antcipatory light
| suits and straw hats did their best to con-
ceal the fact that their teeth We're chatter
ing. but IT was no use. The people who
took in the initial roof garden performa noes
went through the forms of ordering and
! slipping long, cooling drinks with straws in
them, although it distinctly Tom
and-Jerry and hotscotch night.
The women who appeared the roof
| garden stages In abbreviated costumes
! looked pinched and blue around their noses
| and mouths from the cold. and they all be-
| trayed great anxiety to get into the wings
| so that their maids could wrap them in
| comforters and bath robes and blankets
| and other mountaineering things The
| Monday evening opening of the New York
| root garden season was d literal frost in
| sense net generally used in connection
with theatrical affairs.
Ups and Downs of Life.
Harris Cohen-the Original Cohen" of
| the Bowery-is broke. He is an old man
now. but he Is going bravely to work as the
I assistant manager of a hotel down at Rock
away. Fifteen years ago Harris Cohen was
worth couple of millions of dollars, cas-
| lily. He came to this country in the early
| hft1es. and started a small clothes repair
| Ing establishment on the Bowery. His bus
| lneSS grew until he had establishments
| where clothing was bought and sold all
| over the Bowery and the streets leading to
| the BoWery, and he became rich very rap
| Idly. He went into politics, organized DO
| litical clubs with his sons al the head Of
them, declined to hold any sort of political
office under any circumstances became a
political power in his ward and district
and never lost anything through his polti-
cal connection.
The horses got the Original Cohen" He
mad never seen horse race in his life until
about fifteen years ago, when he was well
| along in years. He went to one of the
| tracks with one of his sons one afternoon
Invested $50 in a pool-they sold French
mutuals in those days-and cashed in slO,-
Hn on the transaction. That $l0,H0 win
ming ruined Cohen. He bought stable OF
| thoroughbreds, raced them At Gutenberg
his gradual depletion in fortune. 1t wasn't
so gradual at first. He lost S}OO.OO0 in one
month at Gutenberg. betting on his nsgs
The horse fever burned within him, how
ever and he went the distance at the game
Now he Is broke, and is going to work
the assistant manager of KockaWay ho-
tel. All Of Cohens sons are well off, and
his daughters married well. But the old
gentleman prefers to stand his own
! base, and he's determined to go to work
again and build up another fortune. The
story Of Cohen's gradual ruin through
| horse racing ought to be instructive read
ing for the young men of the land who are
addicted to the fantastic belief that they
know how to beat the ponies"
A Foolish Fad.
The essentially idiotic custom Of wearing
mourning bands sewed to the sleeves Of
coats and jackets has taken a strong hold
over here You can scarcely walk square
without seeing some young man or woman
generally dressed most conspicuously-
wearing one of the things. Young men
wear them on the sleeves Of loud plaid suits
and at the same time they sport red neck
ties and blue polka-dotted bands around
their soft hats. young woman in brill
liant red jacket was playing golf on the Van
Cortlandt Park links the other afternoon
She wore a mourning band ON one OF the
sleeves of her crimson Jacket. A young
woman in a thin-sleeved white shirt waist
walked along 42d street yesterday after
noon with a mourning band tackled TO ono
of the gauzy sleeves of the waist. rms
mourning band custom Is an English I'M
portatton In the old country, however
they are only worn by the upper servants
of great families in which death has oc-