Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-23
MEETING THE GODS FOR A DIME
BIZ ANDREW McGILL

TT WE had to choose just one street In
L Philadelphia to the exclusion of all others.
probably our greatest affection would be for
Ludlow street. We have constituted ourself
the president, publicity committee and sole
member of the Ludlow Street Business Mems
Association and Chamber of Commerce. We
propose in this manifesto TO make known TO
the world just where Ludlow street is. and
why it is SO fair.
Ludlow street is not in any sense thor
oughfarc. It does not fare through, for its
course is estopped by several bulky build
ings. II reappears here and there in
Whimsical, tentative manner We do not
pretend to know all about Ludlow street.
nor have Charted its entire course, But
the pith and quintessence of this runnel OF
culture is trod almost daily by our earnest
feet.
NUR doings with Ludlow street begin when
" we turn off Eleventh street and caress
the flank OF the Mercantile Library In an
easterly gambt. Then, with our nose cooked
for any wandering savors from the steaming
roast bceves of Tenth street ordinary wen
known to epicureans dart along until
our progress is barred by the Federal Build
ing. This necessitates portage through tine
Federal Reserve Bank on to the roaring coast
of Chestnut street. We double back on Ninth
Learys Book Store.
Here it is that our dear Ludlow street
finds its mission and meaning in nfe FROM
the tall-browed facade of the Mercantile LII
brary it has caught a taste for literature
and against the north wall Of Leary's II In
dulges itself to the full. Perhaps you would
think it a grimy little alley as 1t twists
blitheiy round Leary's, but to us 1t Is
porchway of Paradise. How many hours we
have dallied under that little penthouse
lttnO hn
All the rumors and echoes of letters find
their way to Ludlow street sooner or later
We can lay our ear to those battered rows
of books as TO whorled conch smell ana
hear the solemn murmur OF the vast oceah
of literature There we may meet the proud
argosies or the humble derelicts of that
ocean for ten cents.
YVES, they all come 10 Ludlow street in
I the end. We have found Wentworth's
Arithmetic there, old foe of our youth; and
George Eliot, and Porter Gane) and Porter
(Gene Stratton). There used to be COM
plete set of Wkle Collins bound in blue
buckram. at the genteel end OF the street
among the twenty-five centers. We were
buyng them, one by one (that was before
the days of thrift stanps). when some pluto
crat came along and kidnapped the whole
bunch. He an undiscerning plutocrat.
because he took the second volume of THE
Woman in White" while we were still read
ing the first. When went gayly to buy
Volume ii, 10 4! IL was gone.
Clark Russell Is there. with his snowy
canyased yachts dipping and creaming
through azure seas; and once In while
tattered Frank Stockton a Female Poets
of America" or "rhe Mysteries of Udolpho."
We have learned more about books from
Ludlow street than ever did In any
course at college. We remember how we
used to hasten thither on Saturday after
Moons during our college days and, fortified
with an automatic sandwich and cup of
| coffee, we would spend a derious three
hours plundering the jeweled caves of Joy.
Best of all are the wet days when the rain
| drums on the little shelter-roof and drips
down the back of the fanatic. But what true
| fanatic heeds a chilled spine when his head
is warmed by all the fires of Olympus?
TUDLow STREET has quiet sorrows Of
| IL its own, however. At the end of the
| ten-cent shelves. redeemed and exalted, even
| intoxicated by these draughts OF elixir 1t
staggers a little In its gait, 1t takes a wild
| reeling twist round behind Leary's. clinging
| to that fortress of the MUSES. as long as II
may. And then comes the thorn In it's crown
Just II has begun 10 fancy itself a
| highbrow pathway to Helcon. II finds itself
wearing against it's sober brick wall one Of
| the Street Cleaning Departments fantastic
| and long-neglected ash piles. This abashes
| the poor little street 30 that when II strikes
| Eighth street II becomes confused. tottern
I feebiy several psrchss 70 TIE north end com-
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