Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-03-19
rHESTNUT STREETS
PASSING THRONG TELLS
TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT
Easy Enough to Mark the
Flight of the Hours by
Noting the Aspect and
Movements of the Multi
tude.

when ones uncle--every ones uncle, to
:, oxact-the popular, bediamoned gem
,,.v,op who is visited by his nephews and
,,sces only in hard times; the gentleman
,,i,b the mutely eloquent symbol of the
,nree golden spheres above his door; when
so has ones watch IT should make no
,,caronce In the matter of learning the
.,,ao should one be on Chestnut street.
Tho freouenters of Chestnut street be-
,,av the time of day, although uncon-
.,cusIv They cannot hide II. The hour
shrieks itself from their garments and
ssts from their walk and the look In
.sar owes. in the case of the women and
sirls. from their girth and their diamonds
md the weight of their watch chains, in
the case of the men.
e,ort in one second after midnight at
+ ,be very beginning, with the assumption
.hat. being deaf, you have not heard the
soiemn announcement of the bells whose
schoes are shuddering Into silence in the
aorh side streets and the hollow places
between the high buildings. There is
s,ream. of revelers hurrying in both dl-
factions and standing on the corners: Jer-
sevcommuting revelers homeward bound,
Main Line and Reading Railway points
+ jewellers likewise seeking that haven there
Il
sleepIng against the lamp posts and hop
Ing the first night liner will have fiat
wheel that will arouse them.
Now to the test. Look at the faces of
,ha reyeIers If most of them show more
traces of lingering laughter than of APP
.nrehension, and II most of the pedestri-
ans, say 80 per cent, walk rapidly and
with free swings, you Know IL is just
after midnight.
AFTER-MIDNIGHT SYMPTOMS.
The symptoms given for just after mid
night must be discarded at 1 o'clock
After that II is question of your knowl-
edge and experience until o'clock. 1t is
little things that count.
The degree of perturbation in the face
Of the pedestrian is important between
and o'cloCk-and sometimes later.
WHEN LABOR SUMMONS.
At o'clock one may discard the rev.
elers and look only at those who labor.
They begin to appear on the street from
the cross throughfares at that hour, sad
eyed women who shiver under thin
shawls, whose feet shuttle close to the
cement in spite of their efforts to save
shoeleather by lifting them. Tney are
the soldiers of the silent army of clean
ers grotesque. disproportlonate figures,
YEARLY grinding out their lives On the
surface they are sordid figures, with dull
eyes and scanned faces; eyes and faces
that by their very lack of lustre and
imprint of suffering conceal from the
world heroic, transfiguring sacrifices
stories the world would be better for the
knowing
Presently the scattered stream Trims
out and disappears. BY their numbers
.In1t hA hntt f1 a ftar x
o'clock when they are no more to be
seen in Chestnut street. for by that hour
they are inhaling the dust of offices in \
the big and little buildings. The street,
then is almost deserted, but mere and
there is a fireman, with a tin box under
his arm you know holds his lunch, al
though 1t bears no resemblance to the
cartoonist's idea of the full dinner pail.
SIX O'CLOCK TYPE.
There is the beginning of a dull hum
in the air at o'clock, for the troleys are
running more regularly and the people
and types in the street are becoming more
numerous You must look to the types,
and they are many, and each tells his
own tale.
The breadliners are surest. They are
coming away from the Inasmuch Mission
at this hour with coffee and bread inside
OF hem and steps that make brave efforts
to be buoyant. A little while ago you
saw them shuffling toward 10th street
with pitiful eagerness, half-famished men
who needed food. Now they come back
and do not avoid your gaze They step
out with shoulders back. and you know
they have been fed and 1t Is o'clock.
Then Z o'clock rolls around, and II you
are the close student of the types, you
know 1t is near before you see the young
of the alien mostly females, on their way
to the machines of the factory. The ar
tistry of time telling ends then. 1t be-
comes rldiculously easy. Overcoats of the
men get heavier as the moments pass,
and those who walk are better groomed
and in less hurry than their brethren or
an hour earlier. 1t is o'clock, and CHEST
nut street Is filing up like narrow dehle
with the host of an invading army.
Slowly the girth of the men increases
AT o'clock important-looking, comfort
able men are patterlng along. They get
more comfortable every hour. Automo-
biles begin to line the curb. At 10 o'clock
they are banked solidly along the street.
and out of them climb fat men with
brusque manners, who fling curt orders
TO chauffeurs, sometimes in livery
THE MIDDAY RUSH.
Eleven is marked by the real rush OF
he shoppers you nave peeh ""'Ne
since o'clock.
Who shall not know the noon rush! ana
by studying this rush as 1t decreases
toward l o'clock, with its undertow OF
those returning to desks. he would know
when o'clock had come.
At o'clock the banks close. You know
It is o'clock not by the barred doors
but by the men standing outside OF them
biting their finger nails and talking TO
themselves.
The bank clerks and some of the stenog-
faphers appear at 4 o'clock, but II you are
In doubt about them you may ignore the
types and turn your eyes TO visions OF
lazy loveliness. Looking at them and
o'clock will go by you so rapidly you WIN
never know.
By the rush that follows until long after
o'clock, however, assuming you have
not forgotten all about the time-telling
test, You will know the hour and the min
ute. The serubwomen going and return
ing mark the time until the theatre-goers
seil you it is nearing s. 1t is s, and 1t Is
eso o'clock. After that you must go back
70 your first study of types until the
.heatres dlsgorge their throngs. then back
70 the reYelers again. and soon 1t is mid
Aisnt, and you may look at the ticket
SVEN by your unele-everybody's uncle, to
ee exaet-and stop wishing you hadn't put
your watch away.
NO VAUDEVILLE FOR MELBA