The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1904-03-05
GHOSTS In BIG CITY.
HAUNT THE CROWDED STREETS
OF NEW YORK.
Bygones Of Every Age, Disposition
and Character May There Be Seen
-EeIipsed Only by the Famous
Latin Quarter of Paris.

The favorite abode of ghosts Of
every age, disposition and character
is not the lonely country cemetery,
but the crowded, yet lonely, by-street
and tenement of the great city. And
the ghosts of New York do not, like
those Of the old deserted cemetery,
inspire awe or terror. They arouse
feeling of pity, a realization of forever
lost opportunities.
Wall street has plenty of ghosts.
Sometimes they are men who in past
days led the market, made and spent
money like. water, had scores waiting
on their words for an indication how
the tide of fortune would go. In those
days the ticker seemed the slave Of
the present-day ghost. But the ticker
is always a treacherous servant. In
the end it proved itself the master.
Now the man who once dealt in thou
sands of shares of stock sits in
dingy, little bucket shop, happy when
he has enough for "tWo-dOllar turn
He has become one of the ghosts Of
Wall street.
The literary ghost is distinctly
different type from the ghost which
haunts Wall street. He is sometimes
known to the newspaper offices, but
far better to book and magazine pub
fishers, for the teeming newspaper
world has little time or regard or
money to expend on ghosts. Not that
the literary ghost is a pauper or
"sponger." His pride-for in some
ways the literary ghost is very SEN
sitive person-saves him from that.
He does considerable work, and much
of it is of more than mediocre quail
ity But it is generally work for
which another receives credit, while
the ghost considers himself fortunate
to get a money emolument, small as
this generally is.
The Rialto, too, has ghosts of its
own. In fact, ghosts are probably
more common among actors than in
any other profession. Many of them
in their day filled important roles on
the stage. But the pace was too swift;
they dropped back and down. Like the
ghosts of financial and literary life:
however, they have not yet Abandoned
the hope of some day making hit.
They also resemble the literary
ghosts in that most of them have long
stories to tell Of merit kept down by
jealousy, though with the actor ghosts
it has been the envy Of managers and
fellow-actors, not publishers and au-
thors, which has ruined them.
New York is the greatest haunting
ground in the world for ghosts of all
classes and descriptions with one ex
ception-the Latin Quarter of Paris
In Paris, the only city where real
bohemian life obtains, the ghosts are
a regular institution, are known to
all the residents of the Quarter and
are aided in their rather intermittent
efforts to make living. Bib, Paul
Verlaine's old companion and secre-
tary when the poet was unable to hold
a pen in lis r -rvous fingers, was an
exemplar of the Latin Quarter ghost.
For years Bib, out at heels and
elbows, yet always affable, courteous
and debonair of manner, wandered
about the Quarter. In his hand he
invariably carried small bunch Of
pencils, by the sale of which he osten-
sibly made living. But it must be
confessed that it was principally from
the contributions of the students and
other residents of the Quarter that the
good Bib obtained funds for his food,
lodgings and even more necessary alb
sinthe, the green fairy the faithful
devotion at whose shrine ruined both
Bib and his more famous master.
But, despite some light shades, the
picture of the ghosts existence is q
dark o1e They are far more pftiable
subjects of sympathy than the tramps
sleeping on the park benches or the
destitute ones of cheap lodging
house. The tramps have only the
physical discomforts of life to battle
against. But the real sting of the
ghosts existence comes not from cold,
or hunger or lack of home, but from
the thought of what might have
been."-Edwin ]. Webster in New
York Times.
/ The Cowboys Song.