The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-04
An EAST SIDE SOOTHSAYER.
ruO GENERATIONS OF CLIENTS
HAVE SOUGHT HER OUT.
ror Thlrt, Years She Has Carried On Bust.
ness and Has No Lack OF Customers
Her Method OF Reading the Future
=, the Ca rds Some what Commonplace.

Along an East Slde street thete stietShes
row Of frame buildings with nearly 0 CEN
trv of age to their credit, They were put
IN when most New Workers built cottsges
end frame ones at that
Most OF them are hidden from view from
the river now by the himsy looking red
brick tenement houses across the street,
hut the one nearest TO the river park mas
clear view down to the river and is visible
TO the throngs that journey up and down
Wster street.
passersby might well be interested in the
,uaintness of the little wooden house and
its contrast with the neighborhood about u.
Years have passed since 1t had a coat OF
psint and its dingy boards are cracked and
weather beaten
The dormer windows in the roof have
few intact panes Of glass, and the rickety
fence would be more appropriate along the
side OF a country lane. The other houses
in this curious survival of older New York
are much the same, but their picturesque
ness is visible only to those who search it
out.
The end house possesses deeper interest
for those in the neighborhood and. indeed,
for most OF the jewellers in the old Seventh
ward 1t is the shrine Of the soothsayer
who for nearly thirty years he's helped them
with wisdom derived from occult sources,
10 regulate the affairs OF this life.
Nearly two generations have made their
wsy to the little cottage in search OF the
seeress's help and 1t is the belief OF the
neighborhood thet she has accumulated
a fortune that would enable her to live in
nearly sny part of the town she wanted.
She could long ago have ceased the exercise
of her calling, for fifty cent pieces heve for
years dropped into her gifted palm from
early in the morning until late OF night.
But she has chung to the rusty little cottage.
Her old clientele has never deserted
her Many have left the region. but not
her People who knew her as children, but
we're not allowed to enter the house, go
there as their parents did. Old patrons
have spread her fame into other parts
OF the city and brought recruits to the old
woman's steady stream OF customers.
peerinR into the future does not seem a
luxury to them. They 60 for her advic Q
just as they 60 to the bakers and the gro
GERS.
So it happens that the little room in the
rear Of the frat floor Is never empty during
her protracted business hours. The door
OF the house stands open all day.
Regular visitors push it back and make
their way to the rear room to wait their
turn. Strangers pull the bell In the centre
panel Of the door and bring up from the
lower regions an elderly woman She il
cheerful. with greater desire to be com.
municative and cordial than her limited
..ontrol Of the language will permit. She
manages to indicate that It is the busnes,
OF clients to wait In the back room until
the seefess b ready for them :,
ThrosvHh the door at the 0aCk al
the house h seen an old fashioned garden
A pink oleander tree was blooming there
yesterday and hollyhocks in many, colort
flowers grew in the central bed, About
r: ses:s i e svasnty eare e sardener
Sir women sat one day last ~. week d n the
Its only furniture was seven chairs on.
cloth was on the floor. In the hall by the
door Of the room stood another chair to
accommodate the overflow.
Il don't think you need watt one OF tn,
women told the seventh client who entered
the room and wondered where he wat
going to sit. Mime. X. never sees men afte
O'Clock in the morning until after a
This information was impaired as cas-
ually as q stranger might have been di
rooted to a trolley car. None Of the womer
in the room seemed to recognize anything
out OF the way In going to consult fortune
They we're all we'll dressed, comfortable
looking housewives, and with two excep
tions were OF German birth, Two young
girls in deep mo9 s were rel, iTi 81. b.,
been helped to remove the knotty ques
tons Of fife was enough to discourag thu
male visitor. without the rule against mel
during the midday hours. SO he departed
to return yesterday.
At half past there were two womer
in the anteroom and a third was closetee
with the seeress.
The doors leading into her room from
the anteroom and into the hall are fastened Ter
from Interruption during the, session
When tho soothsayer has finished with ONT
customer she unfastens the door leading
into the ante-room. This ia the sigma
that the next customer may now enter.
Never was priestess OF the occult en-
shrined in more commonplace surround
ings. Atmosphere is totally lacking. No
even black cat adds a sense Of mystery
Stars and other similar astrological prop
critics that the humblest seeress with any
respect for herself invariably acquires arr
nowhere to be seen.
4 crayon portrait of bearded mar
staring from shiny black frame on Tho
wall supplies in its fixed corpselike e1
until one recognizes in him the amiabl'
looking old German husband OF the for
tune teller, who usually sits by the base
ment steps with the deprecatory manner
Of great women's husbands. The tech
niqne Of a Bowery artist has given his fact
this rigid expression
Seated by table In the corner OF the room
is the seerese. She wore yesterday a red
calico wrapper, and over her shouiderJ
thin white shawl. In front Of the windos
was the restless panorama OF the Eat
River visible through the half closed shit
tiers u
But the old woman never looked a H..
She scarcely lifted her dull eyes wher the
client entered. Her hands, swollen with
rheumatism, shook az she extended them
over the table, resting for a second until
the newcomer was seated
Only two packs OF cards spread put on
the table suggested her occupation, The
bed in the corner Of the room, PILED high
in German fashion, the drugget on the
hoor, the stuffy upholstered chats about
the room and the cheap china oInamenta
on the bureau are common to hundreds
OF rooms In that region.
The secress gasped with asthma. She
feebly pulled down the window at her
elbow. Il have lost q ring, thu customer
said, taking the chair to which she
pointed, Il want to know how to get y
She reached for one Of the two packs