Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-25

| along Broadway within the last decade, and
| especially the past five years.
Not far distant from one of the most
sumptuouS of the metropolitan hotels, built
and furnished at a cost of cool six mil
! lion dollars, there stands a representative
! hotel of this sort. The wash room a row
| of basins, is just in the rear of the office
| desk, the familiar roller towel is decidedly
| in evidence, and as for the water cooler it
| has as disreputable an appearance as its
| counterpart in the country hotel which is
| the bane of the travelling mans existence.
| The service, too wildly calls to mind the
| country hotel yet the place is crowded at
! all times, and especially a the lunch hour.
Not long ago man of finance went into
| this hotel for his midday meal. When the
waiter brought the pot of tea ordered the
! cup was missing.
where's the cup?" asked the diner.
! Getting washed" said the waiter.
| We've had such rush that the dishes
| have all run OUT
A moment later the diner could not locate
| a fork.
where's my fork?" he asked.
Run out of forks, too said the waiter.
| But I'll get you one just as soon as they We
! been washed
| The village hotel all through, yet notwith-
| standing this fact the proprietor is making
| a fortune out of it, which is more than can
be said for some of the lessees of the pala-
| tial hostelries along the great white way
! just around the corner.
Near this particular hotel another village
scene is daily enacted-horse swapping and
buying in the open. A certain big horse
company here has its headquarters, and
| from morning till nightfall the street is
| crowded with farmers who have come to
| town from Long Island, up the state and
| New Jersey to look for horses suited for
| farm work. Viewing this scene, no one
| who has lived in a village is compelled to
call in the aid of his fancy to make him
| believe that he is beholding a picture of his
boyhood. And if he feels he needs further
proof that he is back in his youth all he
| has to do is to glance at the signs blazoned
| on the walls about him-Bulrs Head Hotel,
| Horseman's Tavern and the rest
Secret of It All.
| Nor can the village store. Despite the
| numberless advantages which the big de-
I partment store possesses, its NdimiEutive
| rival still fourishes in all it's traditional
| glory in the residential sections, where fiat
| and apartment houses predominant. 1t is
usually housed in store room on the
ground floor of some six or eight story fiat
house and its stock consists of everything
| under the sun that a woman could want,
or make use of. as clothing. In it you can
, buy yard of Calico or a paper of hooks
and eyes, or Nroll of cotton for quilts, or
| three-eighths of a yard of corset cover
| beading. No sale is too small for this
metropolitan village shopkeeper, who must
| make good living taking in the pennies
| else she WOulu HdTuly stay IN the business
| all her days, living back of her shop with
| her family all the while and being called
| to the front by the tinkling of a bell SO
| placed that when a prospective customer
| opens the door the bell gives warming.
In sooth, wherever the observer of Man.
| haitian turns, the village part of the city is
| as much In evidence as it's metropolitan
| part, and to get from one part to the other
| it is not always advisable to take the troll
| ley car. or the elevated, or the subway, bu,
| the horse car, just at present a pretty
healthy survivor of the days when New
! York was a good deal more of a village
| than it is now. Horse cars at the Battery
horse cars part Broadway, horse cars
| in the Wall street district horse cars right
past the doors of the big shopping stores
surely here is contrast startling enough tc
| satisfy the most exacting, and is as mat
| ter of fact. sufficient to bring forth from
| many foreign visitors the comment that the
city seems TO be just building itself. DOM
you know.
| Therein lies the real secret of the reason
for the Existence of the village within oul
| metropolis. The metropolis is still being
| built, and will be building for decades to
come and until it is fully built the visitor
| to little old New York" will be highly
edited by sights that will carry him back
| to the hamlet in which he first saw the
l light of day and grew, perhaps, to young
manhood. f.S.