The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-04-07
HoLYoKE's HIGH STREET.

A Bright Promenade Where All Kinds
 Meet in Free and Easy comradeship.
 A certain New York man when in town on a pleasant Saturday evening aIawys likes to go down to High Street and watch the crowd and min- gle with it. He says 1t lcohs like Broadway and has the Fifth Avenue promenade spirit, brought out under the most democratic conditions. Some- body else has said that High Street of l a Saturday night suggests Dufferm Terrace in Quebec, one oft,he most fa- nous promenades in the country. The Holyoke Sunday letter in the Springfield Republican takes up one side of this High Stree1 proraenad- ing, but says nothing about the other To quote the Republican,s letter:
 "of course there is no dlsguisinR the fact that the High Street promenade is one of the great soc'al in@itutions of Holypke. If you 15a'r balia,e 1t take a stroll some Thlrsday CT Sat urday evening and watch tIle groups 1 Probably in no city of the size in tho country are there to De found SO many people as out on tie :4tga Stree. promenade u,at know aud speak to one another Further and not to Holyoke's cr:dit, is the sact that there is not anot0er city in New Enslsnd where the young men are as familiar to and with the young women as can daily be seen on HolyoKe ~. ia the hours of the promsnade, Tn fact there is an air of banteriug cam araderie of freedom of sceesh. ., carc- less ignoring of convention. that is quite different From rnora ssnsd arld sedate cities. Therein lies the diff culty of adjustment by force. Those 1 in whose hands rest the enforcement of law are very sensitive to ridicule, and if there is one thing in which the youth of Holyoke are efficient it is ridi- cule. But it is evident that in the drifting of Holyoke from townhood to cityhood there are yet left many of the township swadding clothes. One of the strongest evidences lies in this freedom acording to people loafng on the streets, that has reached such a pitch as to be an actual menace to the good name of the city. The city au- thorities must sooner or later secure that descent respect to the rights of all on the thoroughfares that proper ad- ministration of municipal affairs re- quires. And i mutst be done with tact yet firmly"
 Now for the other side of the ques- ton. The Oracle asked a working girl quite lately, why she walked on High Street Saturady or any other nights. The answer opened the Oracle's eyes, as it may open other peoples. It was this;
 We girls walk on High Street be- cause it is the safest street in the city for an unescorted girl to walk and not be spoken to except by her friends. Tn the winter time 1t is the cleanest street in the city, and the only street where you can get over the crossings High Street is wide. It is brilliantly lighted. No man could scare you there. If anybody said anything to you, that is all he could do. The stores are pretty and interesting. You can see people and keep up with things. It is better than saying unkind things about people and you don't see up out on High Street at all after 10 o'clock. Usually we are in earlier"
 It struck the Oracle that this was pretty sound reasoning, and the girl was right You don't hear of any waylayings and snatching of purses in Holyoke, happening that have put young women in Springfield and New Haven on the defensive, every time they go out without an escort. Work ing girls and men must get as pauch out-of-door life and exercise as pos sible.
 The cosmopolitanism of High Street promenade, could be developed only in a city like Holyoke where everybody meets on the common busi- ness thoroughfare, where rich and poor and the moderately situated all meet to do their shopping. If Hol- yoke were larger there would be East Side shops and North End shops, but now, happily, there is only High Street and every Nation on the globe contributes to the gayety of that brightly lighted street on a Thursday or Saturday night, iwth no dark cor ners or dangerous places, The cur few requires younger children to be home early and if High Street isn't elevating for the crowd that walks there. it is at east diverting and en- tirely safe.-Holyoke Transcript.